Year 3 -30 January 2026 -Kandy to Dambulla/Habarana -Sri Lanka
We woke at a reasonable time and had breakfast. Some swam first but we all assembled at 10.00am to meet Chinta and Setari and to get in the van.
We drove through Kandy and left toward Dambulla. We were leaving and the English Cricket Team were arriving to play at a ground about 10km away. Kandy has a nice colonial feel about it and it had been good to visit.
We then drove some 2 hours to Dambulla where the Rigiri Dambulla Cave Temples are located which are within the Dambulla Rock. It was a bit like a mini Ayres Rock. The rock towers 160 m (520 ft) over the surrounding plains. There are more than eighty documented caves in the surrounding area but the main attraction is the 5 caves described below. .
These caves are the most venerated of all Buddhist Cave Temples. There were 5 caves and the first was quite small and the oldest at 2,100 years old. These temples were originally created by King Valagambahu 1 in the 1st century. He sought refuge here and built the temples in gratitude to the people who helped him. The site was then repaired and further embellished in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The first cave is about 16 m long and is filled with a sleeping Buddha carved from a single piece of rock with his lifetime attendant Ananda standing at the feet end. The walls and ceiling are painted but they are very faded.
Cave 2 is the temple of the great kings and is by far the largest and the most spectacularly decorated. The cave is over 50 m long, 25 meters deep and 7m high. There are over 50 Buddhas here and statues of various kings. The walls and ceiling are all painted in various murals.
Cave 3 was built by one of the last kings with lots of Buddhas and murals everywhere. Cave 4 & 5 are smaller and again have many Buddhas and murals. The sight is impressive and the caves very interesting to explore. We had to take off our shoes and wear the purple sarong again.
We climbed down the 350 steps to the van again and not far away was a 100 foot gold coloured Buddha – quite a contrast of the modern to the ancient Buddhas.
We had passed through on our root the main spice growing area of the island and Dambulla has the largest fruit and vegetable wholesale market on the island.
After the caves we then drove to our hotel (Cinamon Lodge) which was in Habarana some 30 minutes away. We came across two wild elephants on the road and the traffic has to contend with them and vice versa.
The hotel was a lovely old colonial style hotel with lots of gardens and land and the rooms were in little blocks with old style furniture. It had a pool table so we played a few games and then had a good buffet supper.
We are going to another famous place tomorrow called Sigiriya and to do an elephant safari.
The picture of the day is of a Buddah from The Temple Caves.
Need/Opportunity Year Three
In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK.
I am looking for crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town (mid June to end of July) and from Cape Town to the Azores and then to the UK (mid August onwards). If of any interest do email me.
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com