Dambullah Cave temples

Friday
Sri Lanka Day 1
Laura arrived in time for breakfast, having travelled overnight from Kuwait. She had a shower, and then we were on our way. We passed numerous fruit and vegetable stands on the side of the road, and several people selling king coconuts, and our driver stopped at one of these, for us to sample them. The king coconut is native to Sri Lanka. The trees are shorter than regular coconuts and they grow wild throughout the island, with little human intervention. The fruit is yellow/orange and are used simply for the liquid, which is high in electrolytes and very refreshing. We continued our journey, arriving at our accommodation in Dambullah around lunchtime. Having checked in to our rooms, Atlee , our driver, walked with us up the lane to the Main Street and took us to a restaurant where they had a buffet lunch. He never ate with us, but would make sure we were settled, and then go off and join other drivers I guess somewhere round the back, where he would get standard Sri Lankan fare - i.e. extremely spicy! Unfortunately, we were rather disappointed with our accommodation here - our air conditioning wasn’t working properly, there was no toilet paper in the bathroom, and no light in the light fitting! We complained and they moved us into another room, which was somewhat better. Later in the afternoon, Atlee came to pick us up to take us to the Golden Temple Buddhist museum and the Cave Temples. The museum is crowned by an imposing golden Buddha, 98 feet high, and the entrance to the museum is through the mouth of a dragon! From the museum, you climb up steps to the five cave temples carved out of a granite outcrop that towers over the town. As we climbed we saw several monkeys scampering about in and under the trees. The views from the top over the surrounding country were quite beautiful. The temples have their origin in the 1st century BC, when King Valagambahu sought refuge in the caves after being exiled from Anuradhapura. When the king regained his throne after 14 years, he converted the caves into rock temples in gratitude to the monks who had offered him sanctuary. The caves are filled with statues of the Buddha in various sizes and mudras, or positions. The walls and ceilings are decorated with paintings. By the time we were heading back down the steps, the light was fading. In the evening, we returned to the same restaurant, but this time ordered from the menu.
One year ago: Parrott alley