Culture Club Dambulla

... c'etait des festins a chaque repas et ici j'ai pas fait un seul vrai repas a part Pizza Hut.... J'ai pris des lasagnes au boeuf, pas bonnes, ils sont meme pas capables de faire une bolognaise.. Par contre le pain a l'ail etait bon.
Puis internet qui ne fonctionne pas bien, et me voila bien enerve pour la soiree.
Heureusement le tuc tuc qui m'a ramene etait bien sympa quand il a su que j'etais francais car il etait dans la marine et est alle a Marseille et ...

... a flock of doves, nibbling their lunches and waving at us. Simon took their photograph and they were enchanted to see the results on the digital camera.

Over the next few days we visited some strange and some impressive sites. The most impressive were: Dambulla, the site of the tallest statue of Buddah, sitting serenly in meditation overlooking the town; Polonnaruwa, the 11th century archaeological site of temples and royal ...

... we arrived there was a huge plastic Buddha on top of the museum with many orange monks along the top of a cave. We paid our 1150 rs/£5.50 ticket and climbed the steep stairs up to the cave. ..past all the cheeky monkeys... It was a lot hotter here than Kandy. There were 5 caves at the top with the second one being the largest cave with many Buddhas and stupas and pictures on the ceiling, which was impressive.

... it was a much better guarded location. Local hero Vijayabahu I saw them off in 1070 and retained the capital. When King Parakramabahu I took over in 1153, he embarked on a huge building programme of buildings, parks and lakes/reservoirs, with really impressive water systems to support them all. Nissankamalla tried to follow his engineering masterpieces, nearly bankrupting the place, but Pollunaruwa became ass susceptible to invasions by the Indians, as Anuradhapura ...

... so that they gradually got more and more impressive. Each cave was full of Buddha statues, mostly sat in the meditative position, some contained statues of kings and Hindu gods too (Ganesh, Vishnu)

What was the most amazing about the caves were the paintings on the walls and the ceilings especially in the final cave which contained scenes from the Buddhas life, including a painting of him defeating a ...

... we walked out in utter disbelief. The Ancient City tour was quite a whirlwind though I have to say that I don't think I could have handled seeing them all via bus since that would take well over a week. Our jam packed three day tour afforded us the ability to see way more than we would have had we used public transportation so I highly recommend using a driver even if it's not your usual style. There is a ticket you can buy that includes the entrance ...

... begging power! After clearing this area, I came across a large troop of monkey hanging out on the path and in the trees. Since I am forever fascinated by these creatures I sat down to watch them. These guys are use to tourist and did not mind that I was among them. Suddenly the monkeys started to scream and violently shake branches. Another troupe of monkeys appeared from another tree and all ...

... both have left their impression on the landmark. The base of the rock is surrounded by two moats and then inside that - gardens - some of the oldest landscaped gardens in the world. As you walk up a central path the gardens on the right have been excavated and repaired......the gardens on the left have been left untouched for Archaeologists in the future to uncover when techniques and learning is better. There are terraced gardens, rock gardens, fountains which ...

... I had expected more from the palace area on top but it was still well worth the entrance fee. We met up with our tuk-tuk driver and headed back to Dambulla and towards the caves. The paintings in the caves were very impressive but the entrance fee had more than doubled and as a result wasn't that good value for money. Still, it took the number of UNESCO sites seen to 2 for the day and 5 in total in 5 days! Sri Lanka packs a ...

... governments warn you against travel to third world countries when their own countries are for more dangerous to travel. They don't warn you not to go out after dark in UK. A woman that got pushed off a train platform for telling two guys not to smoke in the morning. I feel much more threatened in England than in Asia. Well I hope you enjoy the pictures of different hikes at slightlychilled.tv Happy Travels Spunkywads