Day 9 - Dambulla (second day)

17.10.2024

Day 9

Fulltankers had a slow start to the day. After our heavy dinner buffet the previous night, none of us were in a mood for a big breakfast. Today we plan to visit the famous Dambulla Royal Cave Temple, an UNESCO world heritage site.

It was after 10 am we went out, first to find a place for a quick breakfast. We found Dambulla rest house, managed by Ceylon Hotels Corporation - similar to our KTDC. All of us preferred a light breakfast, which is what we got and enjoyed.

Soon we are on our way to Royal Cave Temple. It is a short drive and took about 15 minutes. The cave temple is on a hill and it is a fairly steep climb of about 400 steps to the entrance of the cave. Some of us were a bit apprehensive of the steep climb, but we decided to go ahead. Time to test fulltankers stamina!!

The walk up the stairs (kings way route) was shaded and not nearly exhausting as we expected, as we paced ourselves quite well to reach the top in about 25 minutes. We did well!

Today being Poya (full moon) day there were a lot of local people climbing. We could see them buying flowers in the middle of the climb for offerings.

Visitors have to follow dress restrictions - shorts and footwear is not permitted. There is a counter to place your footwear at no cost, or if you are inclined you can give a donation. But for shorts, there is a workaround as there is a vendor selling colourful sarongs! Two fulltankers in shorts quickly bought the sarongs and we entered the cave temple. 

The place is rich with heritage. Its a cultural masterpiece. We engaged a guide to take us through the caves and explain the details.

The temple complex dates back to the first century BC. The cave monastery, with its five sanctuaries (caves) is under a vast overhanging rock, is the largest, best-preserved cave-temple complex in Sri Lanka.

The first cave is called Cave of the Divine King or Temple of the Lord of the Gods, contains the huge reclining Nirvana Buddha, which is carved out of solid rock.

The second cave is called Cave of the Great Kings, and is the largest cave but has been altered several times over the centuries before being completely restored in the 18th Century.

The third cave is the Great New Monastery and the fourth is the smallest cave known as Western Temple.

The fifth is newest cave, once used as a storeroom. The images here are built of brick and plaster and are consequently of inferior quality.

We got back to hotel well past lunch time, bit tired, thirsty and hungry and ordered in room dining. After a light lunch all of us decided to rest.

Though we had planned to have another poolside dinner today, we had to call it off. On Poya days, alcoholic beverages are not allowed outside. We had ours in the room and later went down to dinner, which in the closed confines of the restaurant was a different experience.

Sri Lanka cricket team is staying in the same hotel as we are, for their ongoing T20 matches. We happened to meet few of them and their coach Sanath Jayasuriya.

Anecdote - fulltankers during their travel always carry refreshments, but for the first time we forgot some of it in our Kandy hotel. We came to know when hotel people called us and it was a shock to us! We put our brains together, to avoid the looming disaster. We reached out to Ms. Sharmini Serasinghe, fulltanker friend whom we met in Colombo and with her connections Mr. Mahesh took trouble to bring us the lost inventory. Thanks to Sharmini and Mahesh, all is back to normal!

End of day nine.