Sri Lanka photos 3: miscellany
Rushing through some of the other pics. One of the highlights of our stay was the climb up the 600-foot Sigiriya rock fortress, at the summit of which was the palace of King Kasyapa in the 5th century AD. There's a long-shot view of the Sigiriya rock in the last post; this is a close-up of part of the rock, with a spiral staircase for tourists (click to enlarge).
It used to be known as the “simha-giri” or “lion mountain” – it's believed that to climb the final stretch of the rock, you had to enter a stairway through the mouth of a giant stone lion. The head of the lion was subsequently destroyed by invaders but the paws on either side remain.
More than 100 metres above ground level, in a depression on the rock face, are the 1,500-year-old “Apsara paintings”. The painted band used to cover an area of 140 metres around the rock surface but sadly only a few of the figures survive today.
Buddha statues are to Lankan tourism what castles are to northern England and Scotland – you can never have enough of them. These are from the Dambulla cave temples, which can be accessed after another good climb (not as steep as Sigiriya though). The cave interiors were dark and the camera wasn’t too effective, plus photography is frowned upon here so these had to be taken surreptitiously. Did what I could.
Giant reclining feet.
[For much better Sigiriya and Dambulla photos, check the Wikipedia entries here and here]
At the temple of the tooth relic in Kandy: one of the Buddha’s canine teeth has its resting place here, apparently, though all you’ll ever get to see of it is a golden casket that contains around 9 other golden caskets, in the smallest of which is kept the tooth. Here’s a collection of statues from around the world, depicting the Buddha according to the distinct styles of different countries.
Strong element of commercialisation here – the caretaker of the tooth is a rich man, the Nilame, elected by the monks not only on the basis of his standing as a good Buddhist but also his wealth. Incidentally, the series of paintings depicting the Buddha’s life and the posthumous history of his tooth is “sponsored by the Bank of Ceylon”.
Waterfall on the way to Nuwara Eliya.
We visited a tea estate near here. More than the thousands of tons of tea leaves, all going through various stages of processing, I was interested in this ancient machine, used as a calculator during the early days of this tea plantation.
On our way down the mountain from Nuwara Eliya, we passed the river Kelani, near the banks of which several scenes in The Bridge on the River Kwai were shot. The place is also a base for white-water rafting.
There was a charming café in a little clearing near the river, where the tables and chairs were made out of raw, untreated wood. Very quaint to look at, and extremely heavy.
A collection of Lanka’s famous masks in a showroom.
This was in the basement of a gem factory-cum-showroom: part of a lifesize representation of the arduous gem-mining process. Just before this, we saw a short documentary on how precious and semi-precious stones are extracted from the earth’s surface.
It’s startling to see how primitive and unglamorous the early stages of the procedure are: grime-covered workers crawling about in deep, watery pits, communicating through makeshift talking devices that resemble children’s walkie-talkies, trawling through dozens of stones for that one potentially valuable piece – which they will never be able to reap the benefits of themselves, despite being the first to get their hands on it. Of course, there’s nothing new in the idea of the poor man’s labour being used to benefit the shrewd businessman and the already-rich, but in this case the nature of the finished product makes the contrast much starker. What the documentary showed was worlds removed from the associations we commonly have with jewellery: the glitz of a Swarovski showroom, celebrities flaunting their rocks on society pages.
Which also means that though this post wasn't meant to be thematic, it begins and ends on the rock motif.
[Related posts: pics 1, pics 2, tourism overkill]
It used to be known as the “simha-giri” or “lion mountain” – it's believed that to climb the final stretch of the rock, you had to enter a stairway through the mouth of a giant stone lion. The head of the lion was subsequently destroyed by invaders but the paws on either side remain.
More than 100 metres above ground level, in a depression on the rock face, are the 1,500-year-old “Apsara paintings”. The painted band used to cover an area of 140 metres around the rock surface but sadly only a few of the figures survive today.
Buddha statues are to Lankan tourism what castles are to northern England and Scotland – you can never have enough of them. These are from the Dambulla cave temples, which can be accessed after another good climb (not as steep as Sigiriya though). The cave interiors were dark and the camera wasn’t too effective, plus photography is frowned upon here so these had to be taken surreptitiously. Did what I could.
Giant reclining feet.
[For much better Sigiriya and Dambulla photos, check the Wikipedia entries here and here]
At the temple of the tooth relic in Kandy: one of the Buddha’s canine teeth has its resting place here, apparently, though all you’ll ever get to see of it is a golden casket that contains around 9 other golden caskets, in the smallest of which is kept the tooth. Here’s a collection of statues from around the world, depicting the Buddha according to the distinct styles of different countries.
Strong element of commercialisation here – the caretaker of the tooth is a rich man, the Nilame, elected by the monks not only on the basis of his standing as a good Buddhist but also his wealth. Incidentally, the series of paintings depicting the Buddha’s life and the posthumous history of his tooth is “sponsored by the Bank of Ceylon”.
Waterfall on the way to Nuwara Eliya.
We visited a tea estate near here. More than the thousands of tons of tea leaves, all going through various stages of processing, I was interested in this ancient machine, used as a calculator during the early days of this tea plantation.
On our way down the mountain from Nuwara Eliya, we passed the river Kelani, near the banks of which several scenes in The Bridge on the River Kwai were shot. The place is also a base for white-water rafting.
There was a charming café in a little clearing near the river, where the tables and chairs were made out of raw, untreated wood. Very quaint to look at, and extremely heavy.
A collection of Lanka’s famous masks in a showroom.
This was in the basement of a gem factory-cum-showroom: part of a lifesize representation of the arduous gem-mining process. Just before this, we saw a short documentary on how precious and semi-precious stones are extracted from the earth’s surface.
It’s startling to see how primitive and unglamorous the early stages of the procedure are: grime-covered workers crawling about in deep, watery pits, communicating through makeshift talking devices that resemble children’s walkie-talkies, trawling through dozens of stones for that one potentially valuable piece – which they will never be able to reap the benefits of themselves, despite being the first to get their hands on it. Of course, there’s nothing new in the idea of the poor man’s labour being used to benefit the shrewd businessman and the already-rich, but in this case the nature of the finished product makes the contrast much starker. What the documentary showed was worlds removed from the associations we commonly have with jewellery: the glitz of a Swarovski showroom, celebrities flaunting their rocks on society pages.
Which also means that though this post wasn't meant to be thematic, it begins and ends on the rock motif.
[Related posts: pics 1, pics 2, tourism overkill]
on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008, 7:35 am in Travel › 
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Thanks Jabs. The rock is amazing. I get twitchy just looking at the outcrops. Shite… we’ve traveled the verld looking for adventure, and adventure was there at our doorstep (dahleej?).
If you dont mind sharing, can you please share some details around the travel logistics - visa, travel planning?
khoofia: visa is on arrival, no real problem there as long as you’re not carrying land-mines in your suitcase. We planned our trip beforehand through a travel operator (Tui - one of many operators that organise Lanka tours). Had been advised to avoid the coastal areas at this time of year, so decided to visit Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, and also most of what is known as the Cultural Triangle - Anuradhapura, Sigiriya and Dambulla. There are other centres of historical/cultural interest in that vicinity too, which you can throw in - like the “second capital” of Polanawaru and the giant Buddha statue in Aukana - but I wouldn’t advise you to pack in too much if you’re going for a short vacation and if leisure is one of your priorities; one downside to our stay (though we were more or less prepared for it) is that we spent a huge amount of our time on the road. Also, while the scenery in and around Nuwara Eliya is great, there really isn’t much to do there apart from walking around. Kandy was more interesting in terms of places to see - the Botannical Gardens and spice gardens, the temple of the tooth, the town centre with its picturesque lake, a few other attractions, plus shopping options. And the hotel we stayed in at Kandy - the Topaz - was excellent, really enhanced the overall experience.
I meant Polannaruwa, not Polanawaru.
Thanks!!
This was a fun read.
I went to Nuwara Eliya in summer of 2004 - it was so beautiful to look at with the monsoon clouds, misty rains and the red tin roofs.
I got car sick coming down the mountains, tried to nap and so I missed all the gorgeous scenery along the way. I could hit myself for that now.
I also saw the Elephant farm on the way - it ws an interesting experience being in a tiny enclosure w the rest of the ppl while the huge herd of elephants made their way down to the river. Felt like we were the ones inside the cage.
Thx for posting the pics!