The first few days of our journey in Sri Lanka featured multiple well-known world heritage sites - I called it a cultural trip. The simplified version of our itinerary was Colombo > Dambulla > Sirigiya > Polonnaruwa. Some people do include Anuradhapura as part of the , but we eventually took it off our schedule in view of time constraints and its isolated location.
Unfortunately, our vacation fell on a long weekend in Sri Lanka (Christmas eve, Christmas day itself and boxing day are all public holidays here), when a lot of Sri Lankans were travelling as well. Due to the terrible traffic conditions, we only managed to visit one or two attractions per day. Glad that we didn't make our itinerary too packed at the first place and we had spare time to cover all the places we planned to visit, somewhat relieved! Nonetheless, it wasn't a pleasant experience spending too much time on the road, therefore my advice is to avoid such public holidays while planning your trip to this country, in particularly to avoid temples during peak periods.
Accommodation
Sirigiya - Heritance Kandalama
Well, I was expecting more given the price we paid and how famous this place was. For those who are not aware, it's designed by the late architect, Geoffrey Bawa. The hotel is secluded and surrounded by lush greenery, with unique designs incorporating natural rocks.
Cost per night = USD 427 or RM1,739 per room for 3 pax
(+) Beautiful lake scenery, good choices for buffet breakfast, good facilities including 3 swimming pools (1 being infinity pool)
(-) Not value for money, the hotel was under-maintained, small cramped room
Beautiful lotus was given as door gift to the ladies.
Freshly made Roti Kutto.
The lake view was promising.
Having fun at the infinity pool.
Polonnaruwa - Hiru Tourist Rest
This was the cheapest accommodation throughout our trip, and yet I thought it was a good deal. Basic but the condition was acceptable for a short overnight rest.
Cost per night = USD 56.70 or RM231 for 6 pax (2 chalets, each can fit up to 4 people)
(+) Value for money (especially for people who are trying to save up), hearty breakfast, friendly host, beautiful paddy field within walking distance
(-) Basic room, poor soundproofing that will affect the sleep quality of light sleepers
I have to admit that the breakfast was quite satisfying.
Attraction
Dambulla Cave Temple
Opening hours: 7am to 7pm
Entrance ticket: 1500 LKR per pax
After bidding goodbye to Colombo, we took hours to finally reach at our destination of the day - Dambulla Cave Temple. It was already late afternoon by the time we reached here, way behind my planned schedule. The weather was fairly gloomy for any spectacular photos, please bear with me!
To share a little more about the place, there are a total of 5 caves (or shrine rooms) to be visited. It takes some efforts to climb and reach the caves, approximately 10 mins. Remember to purchase your entrance tickets before starting your climb. It's hard to imagine beautiful paintings covering the wall of these natural caves and you gotta see it yourself. Similar to all other temples in Sri Lanka, you have to dress modestly to enter, including no shorts policy for guys.
Unexpectedly, it's actually a great place to watch sunset, according to our driver aka part time tour guide, Mr Chandra. However, as mentioned earlier, the weather was not in our favour and the sun was completely blocked by thick layers of clouds. For information, we spent about 1 hour around the area, which was sufficient to cover all the attractions.
A lot of locals were resting on the grass field outside the cave temple.
Sirigiya Rock (Lion's Rock)
Opening hours: 7am to 5pm daily
Entrance fee: USD 30 per pax
Our next afternoon was spent on a hike at Srigiya Rock (we spent the entire morning at Heritage Kandalama). It's a tough choice to choose between Sirigiya or Pidurangala Rock (Srigiya's neighbour). For people who like to avoid massive crowds or have a brilliant view of entire Sirigiya Rock, Pidurangala is preferred. The only thing that stopped us from Pidurangala was the challenging hike towards the end where you have to tackle the massive boulders blocking the way up. In addition, we didn't want to give up the opportunity to visit Sirigiya rock fortress and giant lion paw.
It's subjective whether the hike is challenging. Online reviews revealed that some people only take 1.5 hours for a round-trip. Nonetheless, even an athletic person can be stuck in the hike for hours on a bad day - exactly what we had experienced (kindly ignore the fact that we were far from being athletic). We started our hike about 2.30pm after visiting the museum for a short while. This was an initial delay due to a short shower but luckily the weather turned better later on. Owing to the "human" congestion, we took nearly 5 hours to complete the hike. The bright side was we could rest every few mins as we had to stop or slow down frequently due to the jam.
Considering the amount of efforts to reach the peak, we spent a fair amount of time (about an hour) to explore the top and admire the beauty of Sirigiya Rock. We were also fortunate enough to witness the sunset while we were queuing to begin our journey down. However, please be careful when you go down in complete darkness (i.e. there were no road lamps to guide your way). It's better late than never.
At that point, I really appreciate the presence of Chandra who followed us throughout the journey and brought us out of the "maze". It's easy to miss a right turn that led us to the carpark area, where a lot of tour guides were waiting for their guests to return. Chandra also did a good job for being a part-time tour guide and explained the intriguing features of the palace remnants on top of Sirigiya Rock.
Left: Pidurangala Rock
Right: Sirigiya Rock
Finally conquered the Rock.
My super fat thigh, argh...
Polonnaruwa Heritage Site
Opening hours: 7am to 6.30pm daily
Entrance fee: USD 25 per pax
I couldn't name the various ruins/sites/attractions, as we literally just followed Chandra's guide and listened to his introductions for each place (though what's left in mind currently was probably close to nothing). Quite impressive place with delicate details. We spent the entire morning here, before heading to Kandy.
Little bro looked bored here, haha! Only food could entice him.
The Citadel (royal residences).
The Sacred Quadruple.
Siblings - 3 idiots.
Bought this red dress from Airspace but I looked quite chubby in it? Hmm...
Food
Sirigiya - Gamagedara Village Food
Address: 65/A1kayanwala (just off Sigiriya Road), Sigiriya 21120, Sri Lanka.Authentic home-cooked buffet that impressed me with the vibrant taste of traditional Sri Lankan food. Even though all the dishes looked similar (curry-like appearance), every dish came in unique flavours and seasonings to complement the main ingredients, including eggplant, jackfruits, long beans, pumpkin (my favourite) and chicken.
The must-have dish to complete any meal In Sri Lanka was dhal curry made of lentils. According to driver Chandra, this is one of the most important staple food in the country and every restaurant has its own secret recipe. Anyway, I love the food here very much and will definitely recommend everyone to give it a try!
Start missing the various curry dishes in Sri Lanka.
Coconut sambal, love its fragrance.
Sirigiya - Chooti Restaurant
Address: Sigiriya Rd, Sigiriya 21120, Sri Lanka.
This restaurant didn't earn a recommendation from me and my family, despite its relatively good online reviews, maybe we ordered the wrong dishes? Anyway, I believe that food tastes especially good after a tiring workout. If you don't find the food appetising even when you are famished, I think the food was really below the standard. The killing point was the saltiness. :(
Polonnaruwa - Restaurant Mahanage
Located near Polonnaruwa heritage site, this restaurant serves Chinese and Sri Lanka fusion buffet. I realised that Sri Lankans really enjoy buffet, or maybe they like to bring the tourists to buffet place? Anyway, I found the food was rather decent. At least they kept the food warm and topped up the dishes efficiently. Sorry that I couldn't even find the address of this place, please ask your driver/guide if you are interested.
Hope you guys enjoy this post. It took me tremendous info to find the relevant information and write up the post, haha! :)
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