Friday 4th February 2005 is National Day here in Sri Lanka where the country celebrates its independance, in 1948, form the UK. As our factory, along with most of Sri Lanka businssses I believe, closes down I have decided (well my wife has actually - but I heartily concur) that we will take a long weekend and head off into the interior of Sri Lanka. I have managed to obtain one of the company pool cars for the duration and so the world is our lobster pot :)
Tonight we will travel from Wathupitiwala, where I work and around 1/3 of the way to Kandy on the main Colombo to Kandy Road, to Kurunegala, some 50+ km to the north east.
We have visited Kurunegala many times during our stay in Sri Lanka. It is a sizable town by Sri Lanka standards, probably most famous for the rock outcrops which dominate the town. Once a capital of one of the kingdoms of Sri Lanka it now appears, at least to us, as a rather nice backwater. If you are passing Kurunegala there is a large, modern, statue of buddha on top of one of the rock out crops that is worth a visit. You can drive up to the top and then walk the 100 or so yards to the statue. The views are breathtaking. We visited in back in May 2004 and on the way back down noticed many wasps nests hanging from trees and also passed a large monitor lizard lazing of a rock face. It was at this time that we stayed at the Kandyan Reach hotel (which I can recommend both for the accomodation and food) and met our best friends in Sri Lanka Sheila and Dylan Thomas.
Dylan works as a project manager for an Australian funded road construction project over here in Sri Lanka. When we first met them they were living at the Kandyan Reach hotel but they have since found a bungalow they are renting and we have spent many happy hours sitting on the veranda with them, drinking Lion beer and listening to their stories from the many countries they have lived in (India, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia to name just a few). It is to visit them that brings us constantly back to Kurunegala and tonight is no exception :) One restaurant worth mentioning in Kurunegala is the Pot & Spoon, where it is highly likely we will be tonight. It is a chinese restaurant that has no alcohol license but you can bring along your own beer. The prices are extremely reasonable and the size of the food dishes is extravagent.
However, this weekend we are venturing further afield with them. Dylan has booked us all, along with their guest Tait, the son of one of Sheila's friends, into the Sigiriya Village. We have visited here before in December 2003 and enjoyed it very much. The accomodation is OK and the food was excellent. My clearest memory of our stay was being woken early in the morning by a lot of noise on our chalet roof that turned out to be monkeys scampering about!
Sigiriya itself is famous for the rock. A huge 200m high rock with practically vertical sides it was the site for a palace many centuries ago. Little remains now but some foundations at the top and the odd ruin on the way up to the top. However, the views at the top are stunning. Climbing the rock is not as difficult as it looks from the bottom. I did it in 45 minutes and I am 37 and do not consider myself very fit at all. I took a guide with me when I climbed the rock in December 2003. I think I paid around 1000 rupees but the fee is completely negotiable and I gather ou can get one for as little as 300 rupees. I'd certainly advise taking some water on the climb (it is basically like climbing a huge staircase) and beware that there can be quite a breeze at the top and so it can be cooler than you'd expect. I climbed in the morning (between 08:00-10:00) as I'd been warned the rock face soon heats up and makes the climb much more arduous as the sun gets up in the sky. Whether I'll do the climb again this weekend remains to be seen. I have brought my walking boots with me just in case.
If you are in the area of Sigiriya I'd strongly recommend a visit to the Dambulla Rock Caves I found these much more impressive than Sigiriya. They are caves in the mountain side that have become buddhist temples. Some of the cave walls and ceilings are completely covered in paintings and there are many many buddist statues. This was one of the most fabulous places I have visited in my life and although the guidebooks indicated photography was forbidden there were no signs and as everyone else seemed to be taking photographs and the monks has no objection I joined in too.
Anyway, enough reminising about previous visits. It's about time I was thinking about picking up my car and heading off for this long weekend