Lanka trip Day 2: Beat in kandy

After witnessing a a mini war on first day and enjoying a good journey on the way to kandy, it was the next day where I had some plans to go out and explore the lankan land.

After discussing and chking out some info in the media, I decided to explore Dambulla and return back to kandy on second day. Dambulla is a must visit place as it has some beautiful Buddhist temples and nearby Dambulla is sigriya.

Major attractions of Dambulla include the largest and best preserved cave temple complex of Sri Lanka, and the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, famous for being built in just 167 days. The city also boasts to have the largest rose quartz mountain range in South Asia, and the Iron wood forest [Wiki].

Sigiriya is an ancient rock fortress and palace ruin situated in the central Matale District of Sri Lanka, surrounded by the remains of an extensive network of gardens, reservoirs, and other structures. A popular tourist destination, Its situated about 15 kms from Dambulla.

So plan was set and as usual I woke up at 9.30AM instead of 7.30 AM. Too lazy to get up as it was a leisure trip for me. After having some bakery stuffs which I had got last night, I got ready to start to dambulla. I had info that the busses to Dambulla leave from goods Shed near Kandy station. I met the guesthouse owner and had a chat with them. He suggested me to visit sigiriya and then he suggested me to start as early as possible and reach the destination. I left for goods shed near the ralway station at 10.30 . On the way I went to the View pint on the mountain and took some snaps and there also I saw heavily guarded military people, it was for our own safety. The guys were so young that they looked like in their early 20’s … young army, ready to combat at any emergency.

After I reached the gods shed station , I asked a police person where will the bus to dambulla be. My god, the problem started there. He understood it a gampola. He pointed to the bus which was standing next to him. Then I asked the bus conductor, he also misunderstood and said it will go to dambulla. Damn it . after the bus started and went near the  peridaniya university complex. Then I got to know my day went for a toss. I had got ticket to gampola instead of dambulla. I reached there and I went to the railway station opposite the bus stand. I met a gentleman who was about 60 yrs , I asked him the way to Dambulla. He told that I am in opposite direction and also he apologized for the mistake done by policeman. I was astonished that were people in SL who can help you in guiding you to proper place. So kind of them, it was great to meet them. Also he told me to go back to kandy and visit temple of tooth and return to guest house as time was less. I started back to kandy @ 1PM and reached there at 2PM.

Note: Older generation SL people help you a lot. They guide you to proper places in case if you are lost. Also they are good in understanding English and you will fell more comfortable talking to them. Thanks people for helping.

Reached kandy and roamed from market to clock tower. I went to ATM to withdraw money as I needed some to survive there. Stupid, corp bank card didn’t work. So I had to leave and walked around the main kandy road and ate some ice-cream and had some juice to refresh myself. Got some cash in the nearby ATM with ICICI bank card.

I thought of getting a SIM card for emergency communication. Etisalat were selling the SIMcards for 100SLR with 25 RS talktime. The guy who was a sales person spoke in half English and he asked my identity proof for the connection. After I got the card, he said that it will be activated in 5 minutes and I can recharge in any of the shops. Then I went to a nearby shop to get it recharged. The IDD call rates to India was 2RS per min ( it will be 4RS after tax). The additional rates are not told in advertisement. Still it was cheap . for 125RS you can call 28 minutes to Indian mobiles and u get a SIM also.  Mobile tariff in SL are dirt cheap. If any one needs them , they can get in airport itself by producing your ID proof. I suggest you to go for Mobitel or Dialog or ETISALAT. All offer 2Rs call to India. In future days it might get reduced to 1RS also. After recharging I started to walk towards the top of the kandy to go to Bahiravokanda Vihara Buddha statue. After a long walk of about 30 minutes from kandy city, I reached there. Here also I had torrid time asking direction with the police people. They need to be trained in English badly.. One more middle aged SL helped me to get to the location. They were so kind in giving directions. Also they said not to deviate.  After traveling through Kandy international  stadium , I reached the top.

Note: If you don’t say anything many places u will avoid unnecessary shelling out of money. Cause foreign tourists are asked to pay money for certain places. Here also I had to shell out 200 SLR. There are numerous reload phone booths to charge your mobile currency. Since you are a visitor, it is advised to go to a nearby shop where reload is done and get it done. After reload, u will get a message from operator which confirms your money is safe.

After spending some time there, I started to descend down the mountain. I had a small stopover in the temple and took some snaps of Kandy city and spent some time sitting and watching people.

Since the 17^th was a full moon day, it was a holiday in SL. All kandy was empty. I planned to go to kandy temple of tooth as I had more time with me so that I could avoid the next day hassles.

I reached temple of tooth. This temple has many entrances; you can choose to go through any one of them. You will be frisked when you enter the complex, not once but twice. I entered the complex near to the International information centre. This entrance had some temples and there was a huge crowd of people who were listening to preaching as this day was auspicious to them. I entered into the temple after dropping my slippers in the counter. I walked through the crowd and getting frisked once again, I entered the temple complex. Note, foreign tourist needs to pay 1K SLR to enter into the complex by getting a ticket.  

One good thing is that you can take photographs inside the temple and no one will stop you to do so. But u cant take ur photo facing back of the statute as it is not ideal. There are signboards saying that.

The temple is so beautiful that the architecture is ultimate. Got some photographs , the idol was covered ,so couldn’t  get the glimpse of the statue. Went to the first floor where the tooth was kept, this is not displayed to public. After getting some snaps I reached to the temple complex, visited the kings palace. Then it was time to exit out of complex. I spent more than two hours in the complex and then clicked some snaps. Me decided to leave at 6.30PM. After reaching the main road, roamed around the streets. I had a vanilla milk shake in the shop. The owner recognized me and said I have seen you somewhere, I said no; he said that he had come to the guest house with his GF last night. Actually he introduced himself last night, I had forgotten. Then I remembered him. After having a wonderful milkshake for 40 SLR, I said bye to him and left to the guest house. En route to the guest house I searched for my dinner as I was hungry. En route I found that no hotels were open and all hotels were serving non veg. Since the SL ppl will not have rice in night, it is difficult to get the rice.  

Was walking near the main kandy road, there was a mobile shop selling dosas. I decided to get it . Got one masala dosa and 2 vadas for my dinner. I gave him 100SLR, he was saying something. At the same time one couple ( again mid aged) came , I asked them what was he telling. They toldme that I needed to give him 10SLR more and he said whatever price he is telling was correct. So kind of them, I paid him the cash. Thanked them and started to walk towards the guest house which was 20 minutes from there.

On the way I took some snaps of the kandy temple of tooth , it came too good with the night scenary settings. Wlaked back to guest house and found that the hotel whre the fight happened sterday was clsed. I thought that I got dosa and did a good thing. Else I shuld have been walking back to get it.  Reached the guest house, had a nice dosa. The stuffing was spicy and was in SL type. Anyway it wuld not have mattered me as I was too tired and then decided to go for sleep. The next day was my travel day to Colombo as the trip at kandy was complete. I had got the reservation done on the first day itself as I didn’t want to face the same situation as the travel to kandy.

That’s it for day 2 @ lanka.  The next post will have my trip data on the 3^rd day. Kandy is a city which is very old and they have preserved the tradition. You can find old buildings and architecture is superb. A must place to visit. Do give it a try. Lonely travelers u can do adventure. A person traveling with family, it is advised to plan the trip properly as it is difficult for you to do adventures. There are lot of travel agents who can get it done. Also look into the tripadvisor and lonelyplanet weblink for hotel details.