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Well what a day this has been. Definitely a day of highs and lows so best I start at the beginning. Up this morning for breakfast, pack up and be picked up by Sanjana at 9am. This time he had a jeep to load us into and off we set. The itinerary was Kandy via Dambulla and the cave temples, some other sites along the way and then on to Kandy.

First stop Dambulla for the Cave Temples….bloody hell!! We hiked up to the ticket office and then we hiked and hiked and hiked up and up these giant, uneven steps which were fine for half the trip as there was a stone wall to hold on to and landings between reasonable sets of steps. So far so good!! In fact I was even feeling cocky that my pilates was really paying off. Then, as is the way, bingo, bango and all opportunities to hang on to anything at all vanished just as the steps got steeper and more uneven…then the man selling T shirts along the way cheerfully told us we were half way….HALF FUCKING WAY!!!!!!! Jesus, Mary, Joseph and Buddha!!!!

I stuck with it though and fortunately my own personal Buddha was endlessly patient and acted as an anchor when needed. I have to add to this story that a Dutch woman in our Guesthouse last night told us it was ‘a little bit up’….I just do not know where these European mountains goats are coming from. I think they just like to see us suffer. Anyway we made it up to the Temple Caves and it was really worth the effort. They were gorgeous, filled with massive buddhas and impressive rock art. There are 5 of them in a row and they are really magnificent.

Then on we went to the next stop which was a C1 temple with lovely stone carvings in what is supposed to be the true centre of Sri Lanka. I don’t know the name and Rose has LPG in her room but it was very nice as I write this.

Next stop a Herb and Spice Garden. A ‘guide’ leapt on us on arrival and took us around for ‘free’. He was a herbalist with a daughter studying in Melbourne. He went through many herbs and spices and their powders, tablets, creams and oils, all of which he spread all over us. This ointment for Rose’s red skin(not really red), these tablets for me to lose weight…in fact if he mentioned that one more time I was going to punch him in the nose. No charge for all this except if we wanted to buy the products at the end. The tablets that were going to save my life (lower my cholesterol that isn’t up, cure my heart that is actually fine, and make me immedately lose weight – probably can’t argue with that one) were $130 for 2 weeks supply…guess I just have to die quietly!! We bought the cheapest things we could find…creams to improve both our skins and Citronella to try and keep the mozzies away.

On we went to Kandy and here our woes started. The traffic was horrible and the trip was taking ages. We then plug in the address for our ‘homestay’ (a fact that we hadn’t realised when we booked) into Sanjana’s GPS and we enter these backroads…climbing, climbing, climbing and seemingly miles away from Kandy. We took ages to find it after wrong turns and dead ends. Anyway we eventually got here and were dropped off by a very relieved Sanjana who couldn’t wait to get rid of his responsibilities. We said we thought we might have made a mistake and he just said ‘Yes’!! We paid him extra for his day so it cost $130….probably fair!!

We found our hosts and this place is weird as!! The woman is just hard to describe and the kindest reason for her weirdness would be that she was dementing. Once again I had to endure comments such as whether the two of us could fit into a Tuk Tuk!!! She kept asking Rose questions about me as if I wasn’t there and popping out to ambush us whenever we’re near. A very strange woman and by this time we both were totally despondent…this was definitely a mistake. We agreed we needed a drink…pronto…and ordered a Tuk Tuk to take us into town….an expensive ride compared to what we’re used to.

But then, as is the way with travel the worm turned once again. Rose picked out a pub from LPG … a lovely relic of the colonial era and we sat on a lovely balcony and ordered our wine and beer. Now here is the next discrimination for the wine drinker. You can’t buy a glass in Kandy (in the pub I mean) and have to buy a bottle…the price of a bottle $33 !! I asked if I could take the bottle away if I didn’t drink it and the answer was no, they have to have the empty bottle to demonstrate to the govt that it has been drunk on the premises….well shit!!!

In the midst of all this we met Bob from Bendigo who has been living in Kandy since his beloved wife of 50 yrs died 2 years ago. Bob most assuredly had the alcoholic shakes but we both loved Bob immediately. He encouraged me to take on the bottle of wine as a challenge.

So I had a couple of glasses and told them to keep it for me while we went off walking and we’d come back for a meal. They happily did this. In the meantime Bob had gone off on his pub crawl of the old Colonial Pubs in Kandy….impressive!! We went off for a walk around town and when we arrived back to eat Bob had come back ( I think he loves us too….he’s very lonely). So we ate and it was predictably easy to finish off the bottle of wine with our meal. We have arranged to meet up with Bob tomorrow night and he will take us around to his pubs and to the restaurant he likes to eat at. I think we’ve made a friend for life!!

Our Tuk Tuk driver came back to pick us up as pre-arranged….God knows how anyone would know how to get here other than this driver who lives down the road.

Rose came back to my room and as she was leaving to go to her room the mad woman popped her head out of the window and accosted her. I quietly locked my door with a self satisfied grin which soon left my face when I realised I couldn’t get hot water out of the shower…..What a day!!!

Today we set off again with Sanjana to explore the sites that were not covered by the $30 ticket we bought yesterday to visit the archaeological park area. And really we thought it was a much better day and the sites we went to were lovely. We started in the Royal Pleasure Gardens and they were indeed a pleasure. They had two swimming pools, one for the king and one for the queen. Around one of the pools were some beautiful carvings of elephants which I particularly liked. Just an aside as I sit outside on the verandah writing this a rat just ran across the roof…great. Anyway these gardens sit in the side a large lake so the setting is lovely and monkeys play in the forest which is a treat for me and a massive pain for Rose. The other thing is that at all these sites there are ‘wild’ dogs, but not actually wild, nonetheless you wouldn’t like one of them to take a bite of you. Fortunately they are generally not in the least bit interested in you.

On to the next site which was my favourite was a place where the Indian monks worshipped when they came over from India and needed a secluded spot as they didn’t fit into the prevailing society. It is the Vessagiriya Cave Monastery. The area consists of massive boulders that make a cave. The overhang of which is inscribed with Indian lettering, etched thousands of years ago and there is the faint remains of a beautiful cave painting of a dancing woman. Also bowls ground into the rock where they ground up the spices to give to the gods. It overlooked lush fields and forest area. We walked over the massive boulders and it felt like a lot of areas in Northern Australia with similarities to early evidence of Aboriginal customs. It was very special.

Then we saw a very, very large Buddha in a monastery area with Buddhist monks all over the place in their bright, bright orange robes. This was on the way to the Sri Maha Bodhi, the sacred Bodhi tree grown from a cutting and brought across from India. It’s supposed to be over 2000 years old (authenticated by an uninterrupted succession of guardians)!! This is the most holy of holy places with much praying, chanting and laying of flowers before the tree.

Near there is the Ruvanvelisaya Dagoba which is a very spectacular white dome surrounded by elephant friezes. Now, the thing is that you have to take off your hat and your shoes when you go anywhere near these sacred places. Western (at least our) feet are nothing like as tough as Sri Lankan feet so generally I have to hobble along but today went to another dimension when we literally burnt the soles of our feet as we fled across the concrete. It was a trial by fire!! It had already been a long walk into this Dagoba and then my poor feet had to endure this. Earlier in the day the bandage had fallen off my big toe which has a small skin tear so the poor driver had to go back into town to a pharmacy for us to get some more tape as we hadn’t brought it with us…I’m such a disaster area!!!

By the way, just for my record rather than to entertain anyone, we passed the Lowamahapaya (Brazen Palace) on the way to the Dagoba. The remains consist of 1600 columns that used to be a massive pavilion of 9 storeys to accommodate 1000 monks.

Then lastly for today we went to the Thuparama Dagoba which was a smaller version of the previous one with the barefoot dance continuing on red hot and pebbled stones that play havoc with soft feet. This Dagoba is said to enshrine the right collarbone of Buddha just in case you were wondering where that had got to.

Our tour with Sanjana was then over, it had cost us $25 for each day all up ($12.50 a person per day) and we had seen everything we wanted to see…and more. So we were satisfied when we went back to Lievi’s, our slightly grotty but rather loveable, ‘guesthouse’. But it wasn’t long before we had to set out again for a late lunch. This time we headed to Milanos Tourist Rest, none too flash and deserted by tourists at this time of year so not too exciting.

Then it was back again to sit on our verandah. And as the sun goes down the mosquitoes smell blood and descend determinedly. We are dining here tonight for a first time experience.

We have arranged for Sanjana to drive us down to Kandy tomorrow stopping in Dambulla on the way to see the Cave Temples. It is costing us $100 but it is an easy way to do the trip rather than a crowded bus. The budget travellers around us are a bit bemused but there you go!!

Later: The dinner here was a delightful Sri Lankan chicken curry and rice. Really one of the best meals we’ve had. Its no alcohol for me at the moment. It’s annoying that you can get beer anywhere but anything else is like hen’s teeth!! Goodnight all.