Special Blessings

Our first night in Kandy we were wandering along and happened upon the world heritage Temple of the Tooth Relic. In order to respectfully enter Buddhist temples you need to have your knees and shoulders covered, and both RockyB and I always have a scarf/sarong at the ready. The eagle-eye security guard noticed that Rocky’s sarong had images of Buddha on it and immediately banned it from entering. She also re-wrapped mine and it was such a tight pencil skirt that I could only take tiny little Geisha-like steps. Rocky paid a deposit to borrow one and in we went.

In the Hindu area of the temple, the temple priest waved us over and did a special blessing for each of us where he held our hands, recited some stuff, and gave us a coloured smear onto our foreheads. This was followed by pointing at the offering plate of money and instructing us to make a donation. I pulled out 100 rupees (about $0.50) and the priest indicated that I was being too much of a cheapskate by pointing to a 500 rupee note (about $2.50). Embarrassed, I complied. I was feeling even more sheepish when RockyB laid down a 1000 rupee note and thought she must have really been ‘feeling it’.

As we were walking away I confessed to Rocky that I felt like such a cheapskate and she started laughing, revealing that she was initially going to give a 50 note but saw my interaction. She realized she had given her last 500 note as a deposit for her sarong so was very reluctantly parting with her 1000! She was contemplating trying to make change from the plate of money but thought better of it. Rock-Awn laughter ensued.

We found a little restaurant where we had a fun travel interaction. Mr. Nathan was extremely attentive: washing our hands for us, wanting to find out all about us, and staring at us as we ate. Of course we had to take photos with him and promised we would come back.

We did go back a couple of days later and he was a good sport about doing a jump shot with us. He’s so excited to stay in touch over WhatsApp. These connections are one of the reasons why I love travelling.

One day we walked up to a huge Buddha statue.

We had great views of Kandy as we could go up to the level of the Buddha’s shoulders. It was such a peaceful and serene setting.

On the walk back down we loved visiting a brightly painted temple.

That evening we revisited the Temple of the Tooth Relic for the evening ceremony, but it felt extremely touristy and confusing. We had much better experiences in the smaller, less crowded temples.

Feeling a bit ‘templed out’ and ‘special blessing-d out’ we spent a day at the Uddawata Kele Sanctuary, a large forest reserve in Kandy. At the entrance we had one of many examples of what I’m calling a ‘change standoff’. In Sri Lanka’s primarily cash society we are constantly trying to strategically break up the large bills dispensed by the bank machines into smaller notes that can be used at restaurants and vendors. It’s not unusual to see tourists going to the grocery store to buy a small item with a 5000 rupee note, just to get change. Frequently when paying the vendor will ask for exact change as they claim they don’t have change to give. Sometimes I have it but don’t want to use it all up, and more often I don’t have the change. Nevertheless it ends up with a staring contest of both of us waiting for the other to find the change. At the forest reserve the entrance fee was 930 rupees, but she said she didn’t have change when I paid with 1000! For the record I won the stand-off and we spent the whole day recharging our batteries in nature.

For the 3rd time I was a stand-in for BRod for their anniversary (10 years, 14 years, and now 20 years!). We celebrated with massages and drinks at an upstairs patio.

We relaxed by Kandy lake one afternoon but got caught sitting under a tree for almost an hour of jungle rain.

We took a couple of buses to get to Sigriya (SEE-gree-ya), our home base for the next 5 nights. Through Booking.com I rented us a room with private bathroom and fantastic daily breakfast for a grand total of $43USD (for all 5 nights!!). The best part (other than no squirrels in the ceiling) is the lovely family who own the property.

We explored the Dambulla Cave Temples, a temple complex that dates back to the first century BCE. The 5 caves are intricately decorated with carvings and painting. After exploring we sat on the steps and watched a troop of monkeys terrorizing tourists and stealing food from offering plates.

My first glimpse of the Sigriya ancient rock fortress gave me the feels. It is called ‘lion rock’ because it used to have a giant lion carving, but now only the feet remain. The palace at the top was constructed in 477AD. It was a sweaty stair climb to the top, but absolutely worth it!

We followed our gut instinct when picking a tuk tuk driver and were rewarded with Anu, who took us around to a few different viewpoints of Sigiriya.

Anu dropped us a Pidurangala in time to hike up for golden hour and sunset. This climb is beside Lion Rock and offers great views of the monument. There are 2 severe bottlenecks on the trail where hikers can only be headed in 1 direction and this resulted in many stoppages and some confusing times where nobody seemed to be hiking down, but we also weren’t moving forwards. There were a few tourists behind us who were trying to queue-jump, but in true Canadian style we politely stood beside each other, elbows up, holding the line.

When we reached the top we understood why so many people wanted to do this hike. The sunset views of Sigiriya and the countryside took my breath away.

Today we opted for a pool day at a hotel down the street and it has been just what we needed. A few more stops are left in this Rock-Awn adventure so I’m sure there will be another blog.