From Sigiriya to Kandy

Leaving Sigiriya we stopped briefly at a Buddhist museum.  The main interest, though, lies not inside the museum but with the towering gold Buddah that rises behind it.  Like the forth road bridge this Buddha is constantly being repainted.

In the hills immediately above the museum is the main attraction on the road between Sigiriya and Kandy, the Buddhist monastery at Dambulla.  The guide books claim this is the most impressive cave temple in Sri Lanka, with five caves under a vast overhanging rock, carved with a drip line to keep the interiors dry. The white plastered gable

entrances were only added in 1938. The ceilings of each cave are painted with intricate patterns of religious images following the contours of the rock, whilst the interiors are filled with sculptures of Buddha in various positions of meditation.  But there are also statues of the last Kandyan king, and much older statues of Hindu gods.

As our journey progressed towards Kandy the landscape changed to a series of hills and valleys, but also the countryside gave way to densely populated areas.  This was a more affluent area, the single roomed tin roofed shacks that we had become accustomed to seeing, replaced with two storied homes set in their own gardens.  The traffic increased, and upon entering Matale we got caught up in a traffic jam where the tuktuks bounced around us like dodgem cars. There is a large Muslim population here, but our attention was drawn to an impressive Hindu temple where, by chance, a religious festival was taking place.  We were unable to enter the temple but we were able to watch the procession as men paraded around the temple carrying religious effigies on their shoulders, closely followed by the women and children wearing brightly coloured saris.