And the trip continues. New Year's Day took us north from Kandy to the Cultural Triangle area - specifically Dambulla.
We made a few stops along the way - the first was a Hindu temple in Matale. It was a beautiful temple, and there were a lot of people celebrating the New Year with offerings.
Next was a Spice Farm. We got to see where a lot of the flavours we were enjoying come from - and of course take some home with us.
Last stop in this area was the local farmers market. This is where farmers bring their crops and restaurants and distributors buy directly. Even during the holiday, business was happening - people need to eat.
Our home for the next 3 nights was Amaya Lake.
Next day was a climbing day - Sigiriya Lion Rock. This rock houses the ruins from a capital established around 500 BC - that lasted around 20 years. It was discovered again around the 1830's by the British. In the 1980's archaeological work began to uncover the city. It is called Lion Rock because of the Lion carved into the rock.
Here are photos from the hike up the rock (upper left is the lion's paw).
And some photos from the top - we had a pretty clear day.
Our animal for today was monkeys.
After the climb we had some local lunch then off to 2+ hour Ayurvedic massages. This is what I had done. I don't remember what it all was - I fell asleep.
Dinner on the way home was at a restaurant - Mango Mango - more Kotu Roti
And we had swans waiting for us.
Next day started with Dambulla Cave Temples. Beautiful Buddha's and cave paintings. We hiked up one side of the mountain to the caves and down to other side to the Sath Paththini Devalaya.
Here are some of the Buddhas
Here are some photos outside showing the temple built into the mountain. The white temple was added as a facade in front of the caves much later to help preserve the caves.
We then hiked down the other side of the mountain to a large golden Buddha
This afternoon was a huge highlight of the trip - another safari - this time specifically for Elephants. And boy did we see them. They are all just too precious to collage together.
And we saw a few birds
Next day we moved on to our final stop of Colombo. Food was a highlight at this location. Anthony Bordaine has traveled here a few times and we hit a few of his recommendations. 1st stop was lunch at Ministry of Crab. The crabs and prawns were delicious (and huge).
And our final stop was Galle Face Hotel - beautiful view of the Laccadive Sea.
For dinner we hit the streets for more traditional Sri Lankan cuisine.
I added the photo of the local beer since it was the most expensive part of the meal. They sent a guy (literally) running to a convenience store for us tourists.
On the next day, we continue the Food theme. We took a cooking class at Cooking by Colour with Mohara Dole. She created a factory in her home to made and sell pizza dough and branched out into cooking classes in another part of her house - at 75 years old - impressive. We made some amazing curries.
Here is the table we were greeted with - we knew we would be working.
Here is some of our work in progress
And the finished products
We then spent the afternoon exploring more of Columbo. Starting at Gangaramaya (Vihara) Buddhist Temple - which was one of the most unique temples we have ever seen. It was a huge collection of knick-knacks and tchotchkes. We asked out guide, and even he could not explain exactly what was happening. (We picked this location, not the guide - he had never been there)
We then walked to Seema Malaka Temple - a beautiful temple on a lake.
Here are a few more views from our hotel before our last dinner in Sri Lanka
Our last dinner was again an Anthony Bordaine highlight - Pilawoos. Again some amazing curries, and of course, kotu roti.
Those are just a few pictures from our amazing trip to Sri Lanka. We took approximately 1,600 photos, and we might have gained a kilo or 2 from the food.
