Dumbulla, Kandy, and CMB, Sri Lanka 2/2

We got to the top of Sirigiya and saw the remaining foundations of this ancient rock fortress. Imagine you live in a place 3000 years ago that has gardens and pools that you and 500 of your closest friends stayed in, at the top of a steep rock cliff? The guide told us there were 500 concubines living there, but I like to think they were a group of besties who liked to chill out all day and dance all night.. If you think of it that way, it sounds like fun to me...

Pool atop the Lion Rock fortress of Sirigiya.

Monia and I ambled back down the hill and said goodbye to our tour guide, Siri was excellent. Our driver gave us cold towels and cold water and we spent a few minutes recovering while he drove us to the Dumbulla caves. These are ancient caves that have lots of rock sculpted buddhas and al fresco cave paintings. Really gorgeous.

Nirvana buddha in the Dumballa caves.

We let our hair down that afternoon, getting massages and having a fun dinner and drinks in several of the Kundalma Hotel restaurants.
In the morning, Monia and I travelled on to Kandy, which is a well known resort city. There we checked in to the Cinnamon Citadel resort and then embarked on our first tuk-tuk ride! It's hard to believe that neither of us has ever rode in a tuk-tuk-- but Kandy is the place! I got to drive the tuk-tuk back home later-- I don't know why he let me drive his tuk-tuk, but Monia nearly died of a heart attack. It was really fun for me though!!!

Cinnamon Citadel Hotel in Kandy

This guy let me drive the tuk tuk!!!

In Kandy we walked around the beautiful dam lake that looked like a European city. We stopped in the mall and bought more t-shirts and tea. We toured the Museum of World Buddhism. We saw a traditional cultural dance performance. We ran into the Swiss ladies that are cycling around Sri Lanka, we met them at the Kundalama Hotel the previous day. I shared pics I took of them when I saw them cycling on the road. I also ran into Sam, a student that I knew from working at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke back in 2010. Small world!

Kandy Lake

Sri Lankan thali at the Empire Cafe

Near the Queens Hotel is one of the better restaurants of Kandy, though the menu seemed catered for tourists.. We were happy with the food. Empire Cafe probably used to be more authentic, but our waiter was nice and we enjoyed the atmosphere.

Our worst car ride was the way out of the mountains to the airport hotel, which was our last day in Sri Lanka. It was three hours in hot, smelly, dangerous traffic. We got to stop at a spice garden and see lots of things like chocolate, cinnamon, pepper, vanilla, etc. growing in it's natural environment. I bought a bunch of tea, oils, spices and gifts, like a good tourist. But the few hours in the car really did us in..
When we arrived at our cruddy hotel near the airport we were both pretty deflated. City Hub hotel is trying, but there is no spa and nothing to do.. We had about 12 hours before we had to go to the airport for our flight back to Dubai, and I usually prefer to stay near the airport for many reasons, but this was not a good choice in this instance.
If I were to redo anything about this trip it would have been to stay the last night at the Jetwing Lagoon hotel in Negombo, even though it is a little further away. We were so bored for those 12 hours and neither of us even slept more than a nap! Oh well, I can't complain about this wonderful trip. We had a good time goofing off in the airport before the flight and both rested on the Emirates flight back to Dubai. Monia's cute boyfriend picked her up too! I was very happy about this visit to Sri Lanka and hope to go back again sometime soon! End of Sri Lanka report. Next trip: Amsterdam.

EK 651 to CMB to DXB