Rock Cave Temple, Monkey Trouble, and Vegetable Market

January 12

Rock Cave Temple of Dambulla, Monkey Trouble &Vegetable Market

Achieving Enlightenment 

Today we decided to cancel our 6 hour drive to see Polonnauruwa, another UNESCO World Heritage site and the 2^nd capital of Sinhala kings dating back to 11^th century AD.  It was a hard decision not to see these reportedly amazing sculptures but the 6-8 hour ride over bumpy roads seemed to deter our enthusiasm. 

Instead we elected to have a relaxing breakfast.  Breakfast at this hotel is an amazing mixture of foods from all over the world… many spices, lots to choose from and hard to stop eating.  I find I love the sambol, dahl and hopper. 

Sambol

Hopper

Monkey Burglars in Paradise

Man against Nature... the deck whee John risks his life

Back from our breakfast feeling smug we open our room door to find chaos. We have forgotten to close the balcony door and those not so sweet monkeys rampaged our room.  They managed not only to eat John’s carefully saved Lindt dark chocolate bar and take his entire bottle of nuts but they also had opened my simvastatin pills (in a child proof bottle) by tearing the plastic top open with their teeth. There were pills on the floor and deck everywhere.  I imagine some monkey now has good cholesterol levels.   My computer and camera were on the floor and thankfully not broken.  Open packets of fluid electrolytes were spread all over the rug.  On the very edge of the balcony perched out on a board about 80ft above ground was John’s brand new down jacket.  I closed my eyes as John walked the ledge and reached for the jacket. Even our bottle of wine (unopened) was on the floor with the ice water spilled.  Seems these monkeys knew exactly what they were looking for but why they wanted the statins was a mystery to us.  Perhaps they keep up with the advances in modern medicine. 

Feeling less empathic towards these langur monkeys than the day before, we leave at 10 am for a different UNESCSO site, the Rock Cave Temple of Dambulla which contains over 150 Buddha images.  Our guide greets us delighted with news that Basil – the brother of the ex-President and Minister of Defense has fled to Los Angeles with his Lamborghinis.  It seems that despite the Sri Lankan government’s criticism of the US, it is still a good place to escape to where Basil will be at home with other wealthy billionaires. 

Golden Temple and Mudras of the Great Buddha

Arriving at the Golden Temple site, I was at first disappointed at the Disney-esque commercial air of the entrance. However, after a hike up the stairs and rock face, entering the first of a series of 5 separate caves I gasped, immediately struck by the simple beauty and peacefulness of the cave. 

I felt like I wanted to meditate here. 

This cave seemed a sharp contrast to the Pindaya Cave we had seen in Burma which had 8500 Buddhas crammed together with fluorescent lights and fake flowers.

This first cave, the Temple of the King of the God, has a 47 foot reclining Buddha and other seated Buddhas.

47 foot reclining Buddha 

The uneven feet means the buddha has not reached enlightenment yet 

The second cave’s main Buddha statue, is situated under an archway decorated with dragons with the Buddha’s right hand raised with palm facing outward and fingers upward ~  in a pose conveying protection.  

There is a vessel inside this cave that collects water than constantly drips from the ceiling which is used for sacred rituals.

 

 

 The third cave was filled with many Buddha statues including a beautiful reclining Buddha. 

Feet symmetrical indicating enlightenment 

The fourth cave’s central Buddha figure has his hands in a meditative pose that is right hand on left with palms facing upwards. 

Our guide tells us that the dagoba in the center of the cave was broken into by thieves who tried to steal jewelry. 

Dagoba

The fifth cave is the newest and less than 100 years old but still looks old to me.

Our guide explains to us about dharma ~ the moral code of Buddhist behavior. We also learn more about mudras ~ the symbolic non-verbal hand gestures or positions.  While we have seen these gestures on the Buddhas, our guide demonstrates them for us. These symbolic finger patterns are an external expression of ‘internal resolve’, suggesting they are more powerful than the spoken word.  

No Arguments

Protection 

I particularly, like the gesture for no arguments but learn later from Marie that the guide is wrong and that this really means teaching discussions . 

 Returning from the caves we are greeted by many monkeys who wait hoping for food. This time I take very few pictures of them and don’t find them so cute.

Vegetable Market

We tell our guide, Karu we would like to see more “authentic places” and decline going to the gem factory, or for an elephant ride. Karu is very accommodating and takes us to a wonderful vegetable market. Here we see men bartering and loading bags of all sorts of vegetables onto trucks, many of which I can’t identify.  Steve talks to some of the vendors in Tamil and word spreads that there is a “white man” at the market who speaks Tamil. 


We all thoroughly enjoy this event and spend as much time here as we did at the Golden Temple. While it doesn't have a feeling of peace and enlightenment here, the men working create a sense of energy, collaboration and happiness to the air. 

Ginger

There is a picture of the new President Sirisena on the wall who has promised the farmers lower taxes and more support. 

Hope for the future 

John grabs a tuk tuk and heads back to the hotel while the three of us go with our guide Karu to find an authentic restaurant. The place he takes us to could be thought of as the McDonalds of Sri Lanka. However, there is no menu and we ask for vegetables. An enormous plate of rice arrives along with small dishes of fish, dahl, beans, sambul, a coconut and an eggplant dish. There is one dish which Marie and I don’t eat after Steve tells us it tastes like glue and the fish seems overcooked.  This is clearly not a Michelin’s meal and the price of one dollar a person reflects this fact.

Swim in Infinity Pool

After returning from our lunch, we nap followed by a swim in the beautiful Infinity Pool. A pack of monkeys play around the pool, birds fly overhead and the view was amazing. We might be in heaven. 

Infinity Pool