Dambulla

Before going to Dambulla, I opted to grab some lunch first as the hike did use up a lot of my energy. I requested Lasantha to take me somewhere cheap and we ended up in a bakery where I ordered two kinds of bread and hoped it would be enough for the rest of the day. I treated Lasantha his share as well. We also had to refuel our tuktuk and it was then that I saw just how dire the overall situation was for the Sri Lankan people. The fuel shortage extended all the way to Habarana and the lines for the fuel extended several kilometers, these tuktuk drivers probably had to line up for several hours or even the whole day just to get their share of gas. Tourists get first priority and Lasantha was able to squeeze directly first in line, with much of the other drivers letting us pass. There were even soldiers stationed at the station to probably keep the peace as tensions were quite high.

Dambulla was a short ride away from Sigiriya with a tuktuk and Lasantha dropped me at the starting point and told me to meet him at another spot so he could take me to the Golden Buddha. I told him that I wanted to hike there instead so he can just wait for me there. The Dambulla Cave Temples were the main attraction here and the Golden Buddha was an added bonus that I didn't even know existed. I was starting to feel the fatigue as I started to do another hike up to the caves. On the way up, there was a lady offering some flowers to give to Buddha, she said give how much you want so I gave her a dollar which I thought would make her happy but it was much to her dismay. On hindsight, it was probably worthless. I still didn't have much rupees me at that time unfortunately. At the entrance to the temples, I had to leave my shoes at the shoerack outside, and the signs explicitly mention that it is not allowed to bring them inside the bag. The moment I saw a rugged fellow "guarding" the shoes, I knew I had to cough up some more cash aside from the ticket that I already bought. I entered the compound and was immediately approached by a tour guide. He was following me around and started to explain stuff to which I cut him off and told him that I don't need a tour guide so off he went all disappointed. I really wanted silence to appreciate such places and the cave temples were exactly that. It was quiet, without people and the cave interiors had a different level of energy. There were a lot of Buddha statues in various positions and Buddhic cave paintings coated the cave walls and ceiling in hues of red, black and gold. I left the flower I had at one of the altars for Buddha. There were around four caves that I went from one to the next, meditating in front of Buddha at the most grand one. There was a small group having a tour and every time they were about to reach my cave, I would go to the next one just to keep the tranquility going. I left the temple grounds to get my shoes back and I asked this local family how much to give the guy since they also got out of the temple at the same time as me. They advised to just give whatever so I just gave the lowest denomination I could. I continued on to the other side of the mountain for a trek to the Golden Buddha. There were much more monkeys hanging around this trail and I have no idea why but there were a lot of couples chilling here as well.

The Golden Buddha here is advertised as the world's largest Buddha statue in the Darmachakra Mudra. It was pretty huge indeed, as I was approaching it, there was a lone monk who passed by me. Lasantha was there waiting and showed me a way deeper inside to get a better view. At this point in time, the sun was overbearingly hot but I managed to snap a couple of good photos. Lasantha was telling me that he can take me to the lakeside near Pidurangala Rock for a walk but there was still a lot of time before sunset and I wanted to visit Popham's Arboretum which was 3 kilometers away so I convinced Lasantha to add that to the day's itinerary.

I didn't know much about the Arboretum except for the stuff I read online in that it was a good nature trail. They said that there was a choice to donate or not but it turns out it wasn't voluntary so I don't think they should be calling it a donation. I tried to fill my canister with some water but it always ended up full of ants. I have no idea why but I still chose the longest trail which would take more than an hour to complete despite the fact that I was climbing the whole day and was going to be doing another hike later in the day. I was following the signs which was all color coded, yellow being the one I chose which extends to around more than 2 kilometers. I once again found myself all by my lonesome but this time entrenched deep within the bosom of nature. My shoes crept on dried leaves as I pushed on deeper and further away from civilization. It was definitely meditative to just keep walking without any thoughts, I was simply just another living being making my way around. There were a lot of wildlife all around especially birds and insects. At times, when the wind stopped blowing there would just be total silence which sometimes made things a bit unsettling. I might have taken a wrong turn or two and had to back track to find the right sign posts again but I eventually finished the whole trail and found myself back at the starting point. I was served tea and after resting for a bit, we headed off.Read more