My Roadtrip Through Sri Lanka - Day 1

Day 1… But first the previous evening!

My holiday was about to begin and a late night the previous evening – why am I not surprised… but before I talk about the first day let me quickly take a flashback to the previous evening. It was a hectic day for me and I was not able to do half the things that I had kept for that last minute – the most important being withdrawing money for an advancement payment. And as Murphy’s Law state – when things go bad, they are likely to get worse. So now I was not only cashless, I realized when I went to the ATM to withdraw money later in the evening that all I could withdraw was 20 K Sri Lankan Rupees and I had to give the agent about 97K. No it wasn’t a case of limited amount of withdrawal at one go, it was a case of not having a balance left in the bank. I was expecting some monies to be deposited by my office which they didn’t. No need to panic I told myself, I can ask Fari for it, anyway she needs to pick up my bag , I can always tell her to give me the money for now and at the end of the trip I can return it to her. So I call her and she asked me to come over as the 2 kids were driving her a bit crazy at that moment. No sweat I say, I shall just hire a cab and come over. Ten minutes later she called, rather frantically I must say, there was a bomb blast at one of the place that was enroute to her house and she asked me, no make that she ordered me to stay put at the hotel and wait for her call before I “ do anything silly”. Murphy’s Law was just proven right!! I needed the money before morning as I was set to leave pretty early and I was in a fix. Thankfully she saw reason and agreed that instead of taking a cab, if I hired a car from the hotel it would be alright. Not that I am making a light of bomb blast situation – but I guess by now as world citizens all of us have learnt to take blasts in our stride and have developed the fatalistic attitude to life of “ what is meant to happen will happen”.

So to make a long story short, I went to her place, dropped my extra bag at her place, picked up the monies, promised to email her the itinerary and call her every night and whenever possible in between, I was back at the hotel past 10 in the night. Post that a quick dinner and all signs of sleep vanished. Wrong time to have a bout of sleeplessness but could not be helped. I think I finally truly slept at about 2 a.m. and woke up by 6 a.m. I had to be in the lobby by 6.30 as Yohan the driver was going to be there by then. And the first good sign was that I was ready by 6.30 a.m. and Yohan was at the lobby when I went down. A good start to a wonderful holiday…

Day 1: Colombo to Dambulla via Pinnawala.

Since Yohan was already at the lobby, I quickly grabbed some bakery stuff from the breakfast room and some bananas and we set off for Pinnawala sans breakfast or coffee. The distance between Colombo and Pinnawala is about 90 kms and we had about 3 hours to reach the Orphanage to catch the feeding and bathing of the elephants. I made myself comfortable in the backseat and enjoyed the ride, which was pretty much similar to a drive down any South Indian cities, townships flying past with palm trees and other trees along the roads. At some places it reminded me of Goa too. Due to the late night I found myself catching catnaps in between. We passed Gampala, a small township known for its pineapple plantations. A small tidbit, Sri Lanka has 2 types of pineapple, the usual big ones and the red small ones… the small ones are usually used in Ayurvedic medicine. The farmers had lined their fruits alongside the roads and it again reminded me of back home, where farmers displayed watermelons, oranges and other such fruits when you passed small townships where they are grown aplenty.

Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

We reached the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage about 9.30 am in the morning. Indians don’t have to pay as high as the Westerners for the entrance and I was very happy about that. The security person at the entrance was a first of his kind – a smiling one. He thought I was Sri Lankan and was kind of embarrassed by his mistake when I told him I was Indian. “The skin colour same madam” he said trying to explain the source oh his assumption. I didn’t mind it at all. The orphanage was everything I thought it would be and more. I have seen elephants at many occasions prior to this. At Madhumalai forest – I also had encounter with an entire wild herd as it crossed the path where we were driving in the night and I remembered we quickly shut off the engine and watched in complete silence and awe as these huge beast crossed the path. I have also seen enough elephants in captivity and have had “elephant rides”. But this was different. These were wild animals and yet not completely wild nor were they completely domesticated. I think I would call them ‘quasi wild”.

The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is one of its kind in the world. Here elephants that were/are orphaned are taken care so that the population of these does not dwindle and they do not get extinct. Currently the orphanage houses 70 elephants including the babies (the youngest being 6 months old), a blind one and a maimed one. A hunter blinded the male elephant and it was not nice to see this proud animal in that helpless state. I was told that he does get wild sometimes – I guess it would be his way of venting out his frustration. A landmine maimed the other elephant. War as they say spares no one, not even innocent animals. There are about 30 Mahouts to look after these 70 elephants.

Amongst few of the interesting things I learnt was how to identify a male from a female. If you observe an elephant closely you will see that while some have curved backs, others are almost square. The curve ones are male while the square ones are females. Apparently the Asian elephants also have a class system and the females from the upper class (Athkule: Ath - meaning tusks and Kule meaning class) do not breed with the lower class. The sure way of identifying a Athkule male elephant is the tusk and his massive size, also when they are standing with their head in an upright position, their trunk touches the ground and curves in a bit The female however is just massive without the tusks (Asian female elephants do not have tusks so calling them Arhkule is a bit of a misnomer). I learnt that there were at least 5 classes and I left it that not venturing into details. The other interesting tidbit I picked up was that it seems that elephants have the highest incidence of homosexuality in the animal kingdom; I really don’t know how true that is. According to Yohan when males are separated from females for a long duration, either because they are unable to breed due to some man made obstacle or if they are pregnant (they carry their babies for 18 months) it seems they turn towards the other males for little bit more than male bonding!

And yes a tradition particular to me is dropping money on such trips, which I duly did after tipping a Mahout who allowed me to take a touristy snap with his elephant – a tusked one. Anyway the money wasn’t much and tradition was maintained.

At about 10.00 a.m. the elephants from the orphanage are taken across the road to the river, a branch of the mighty Mahavali River for their bath. Now this sight by itself was worth the visit to the orphanage. Here it was almost as if one was observing them in their natural habitat. The Mahouts guided them to the river and let them loose… it was their time by themselves. It was a sight I will not easily forget. Mother bathing her baby, teenagers having mud bath on the opposite bank (due to the heat they keep having these mud baths which cools their bodies). The males are bathed at one corner while the females and the kids on the other. They make sure the males are bathed well as they are not too many of them at the Orphanage and so they are a bit pampered lot, also they can get a bit unruly at times. The females and the young ones are left to themselves with a special bath attention once in a while.

Amongst elephants babies are a taken care of by the entire herd. Babies are a collective responsibility – considering it takes 18 months to deliver one I can understand the special care. Any female from the herd would feed the baby in case it had to be fed and the mother was otherwise occupied. Hmmmm I wonder what she would be upto? Another particular trait of the elephants is that they are not the “Wham Bam Thank you Ma’am” kind either. They have a full courtship as well as intercourse ritual … Now I know what kept Mama away at feeding time.

After bathing one big male elephant I was tired – it’s a tough job scrubbing those beasts. Just joking it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I sat on a table, shaded by a tree and had a quick sandwich and some lemon soda (no breakfast remember) and watched the elephants having a public bath. The bathing ritual is for 2 hrs after which they are taken back to the Orphanage. Post breakfast and once the elephant were back at the orphanage we were on our way to our next stop for the day.

Ancient Cave Temples ( Rock Temples) and the Golden Temple - Dambulla.

The Amaya Lake Resort at Dambulla was the pit stop and on the agenda was a visit to the Golden Temple and ancient cave temples also known as the Rock Royal Temple. Dambulla is about 100 kms away from Pinnawala. We set out hoping to make it there in time for a late lunch. A single woman traveling has its own peculiarities – I sat at the back because I didn’t want to get too friendly with the driver and yet he was the only companion on the long drives. Yohan I must say was a good driver- he kept the right amount of distance and made the right amount of conversation to ensure that it wasn’t a complete dull drive.

We arrived at Amaya Lake Resort about 2.30 in the afternoon. As I was on a full board basis, lunch was to be taken immediately. My first impression of the Resort was that it was very impressive. I was later told that it is quite popular with honeymoon couples and I can understand why. It had this calmness about it. It is on the bank of Lake Kandalam. The rooms are these eco friendly cottages – each one at a distance from each other so as to allow privacy. On the whole it was a place where you could easily soak yourself in the peace around and wish never to go back. I walked around the banks of the river, and sat under a tree that had a tree house. Right across was the Kandalama Hotel – another very beautiful resort I was told. It was designed by the famous architect – Geoffrey Bawa. Stories go that while he was alive none of his hotels could change anything that he had designed without his prior approval. Not even the uniform of the staff!!! Now that’s what I call having power

So far the day for me was going pretty fine. I had traveled about 210 odd kms and I was raring to go for more. I met Yohan at 4 so that we could go to the temples. The beautiful Rock Temples sits at height of 100m to 150 meters above the road in the southern part of Dambulla. There is a short hike up to go to the caves but before that the entrance tickets have to be bought from near the Golden Temple. The Golden Temple is a relatively new temple built on the foothills facing the highway and was completed in 2000 by Japanese donations. It had a huge statues of a Buddha (30m high) sitting in a dhammachakka mudra (dhamma turning pose). It is quite imposing in height and although the temple claims it to be the largest statue in the world – according to Lonely Planet it is not even the largest in Sri Lanka. The temple also has a museum but I gave it a miss and preferred going directly to the Cave Temples.

The climb up had me huffing and puffing – signs that I am far from the healthy self I think myself to be. Of course the added extra 20 kg on me doesn’t help either. The thing is that I didn’t even have to climb all the way from bottom. There is a mid way drive till where the car can go. Anyway Yohan thought I didn’t need a guide here and I thought otherwise. When I reached the top it was this quite place. Right outside the main door of the temple there was a place to remove our shoes (I conveniently forgot my money in the car) and a guard that checks your ticket. As soon as I entered a guide came to me. See earlier I was of the belief that a guide is not needed – it’s just a waste of money (that is why I didn’t take a guide when I went to the Golconda fort – later I regretted it). A guide orients you to what you will be seeing, he is there to answer questions and though he might not always have the answers and sometimes make some up for you – having him is around is much better than not having one.

So a quick tidbit here – the Cave Temple or Royal Rock Temples as they are also called is a series of 5 ancient caves in which successive kings built temples. Each one has its own significance and stories. It is believed that the caves became a place of worship around the 1st century. The first one Devraja Viharaya (Temple of the Kings of Gods) has a 15 m –long reclining Buddha. The significance here is that since the toes of both his feet are not joined together it essentially denotes that he is a state of Nirvana and is not is arresting pose. The colours used are all natural colours. It’s a small temple.

Moving on to the next one – Maharaja Viharaya (Temple of the Great King) is definitely one of the most spectacular one. It is I think the biggest one. The cave is named after the 2 kings whose statues it houses (Valagamba and Nissanka Malla). The Buddha statue here has a Abhaya mudra (where the right hand is raised – a pose conveying protection) and is situated under a archway decorated with dragons. There is a vessel in the idle of the cave which collects dripping water that is used for rituals. This cave also has some very beautiful naturally colored frescoes. By the way do you know what a fresco painting is? A fresco is done when the plaster is still wet and so there is no room for mistakes and once the plaster dries up the colours are imbedded in the plaster.

The other three caves are relatively small – they are the Maha Alut Viharaya (New Great Temple), the Pachima Viharaya (Western Cave) and the Devana Alut Viharaya (Second New Temple). It was in the Second New Temple that I saw a Buddha statue that seemed to have been, well newly painted. When I asked the guide about it – it seems there was a Westerner lady who in her enthusiasm to click a picture in the cave actually climbed up to the statue and sat on its lap and clicked a picture. Well Not allowed – they had to wash the statues and therefore paint it again. See this is what you don’t get to know when you don’t have a guide along. So after having seen all the caves we began going down. I gave the guide is tip as well as tip for the guy who took care of my slippers and we were on our way. Oh yes when I was on the top of the mountain the view is superb and I could also see the Sigriya Rock quite clearly from here – that was my destination for tomorrow.

Once back at the hotel, I picked myself a book and sat in the verandah based coffee shop of the hotel. I loved the furniture’s in this resort. And while I sipped tea and read my book in the background I could hear beautiful flute playing. Right behind me on the tree house sat a man playing the most appropriate music for the time and environment. I loved this hotel and I think another trip is a must. So with this ended my day 1. I had a long second day so it was early to bed since it would have to be an early rise again and a climb to Sigriya.

November 29, 2007