Today we left Habarana and made a stop at the Dambulla cave temple. The temple is high up on hill so we had another good workout climbing up to the top. Below the temple is the world’s largest Buddha (in that particular pose). The golden statue stands (well sits) at 100ft. It’s quite impressive.
The cave temple has several rooms with many frescos and statues. It really is quite amazing to see all the details and colours so well preserved.
Our next stop was at a spice garden where we were shown various common spices and herbs used in cooking and Ayurvedic medecine. We also had a cooking demonstration of a tasty okra curry dish. I bought some spices and look forward to trying them out when I get back home.
We then drove further up into the hill country to Kandy, Sri Lanka’s 2nd largest city and home to Buddha’s tooth relic. Taken from the funeral pyre after Buddha was cremated, it was taken to Sri Lanka and gifted to the king. It has lived in a few places around the country but now lies behind closed doors except for special ceremonies. The Temple of the Sacred Tooth in Kandy is beautiful so even though you won’t see the tooth, the art and architecture are worth the stop. There was also a monk leading prayers and it was soothing to hear all the voices chanting the mantras. A nice way to end our touring for the day.
