Travelling towards Giritale today, we stopped to view the magnificent Standing Buddha of Aukana, which reaches twelve metres high. Sculpted in the fifth century by a master craftsman, it's still relatively isolated in its jungle setting and as with many of the places visited so far was not crowded with tourists.

The downside of this is that the ground, a mixture of sand and flattened rocks get really hot. Why this is important is that whenever you visit a Buddhist there are strict rules which must be followed that include going barefoot, covering shoulders and legs to below the knee, not wearing hats and NEVER taking a photo of a Buddha with yourself in it. These rules are strictly enforced by tourist police and locals. Needless to say, after about 11 when the sun is hot you feel like you are dancing on hot coals as you walk around the spaces!

Our next stop was Dambulla, where a series of caves have been turned into temples dating from the 1st century BC. This UNESCO World Heritage Site still attracts scores of worshippers. After climbing the hill……another five hundred steps this time, we visited five separate caves, which contain a large number of Buddha images, as well as sculptures of Hindu Gods.

To be fair I am getting a bit ‘blessed out’ (a Yorkshireman with dubious past can only be blessed so many times without feeling guilty) so the lunch breaks throughout the day are very welcome.

This time I stopped at a roadside restaurant which was quite full and enjoyed a traditional Sri Lankan lunch of curry and rice...plus ca change! Whilst there were quite a few westerners present, the lunch stop was incredible with the curry being cooked to order on open fires surrounded by the small plots where the vegetables were grown…a beautiful spot!

We then caught a bus to complete the journey to the small town of Giritale to explore the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka's second capital city which reached its height of glory in the twelfth century, when it was a thriving commercial and religious centre. The city has maintained many of its spectacular buildings and monuments, with arguably the most impressive being the Quadrangle. This sacred precinct originally housed the ‘tooth’ relic. It contains a superbly decorated circular shrine which is one of the most ornate buildings in the country. Guide books are non existent and so I never did find out what the ‘tooth’ relic was, or why it was so important.

It was in the sacred pool of this temple, a small lake full of muddy water and lilies, that I was surprised (to be honest it was a bit of a ‘brown trouser’ moment) to see a large ten-foot crocodile rise from the depths and nonchalantly swim away from myself and the few other visitors. We stepped back from the lake bank pretty quickly!

Another famous feature of this deserted city is the group of carved images of the Buddha, known as Galvihara. These four colossal figures are all hewn out of solid granite and the Reclining Buddha alone is no less than fourteen metres long.

We ended up the day in a great old colonial building. now a hotel overlooking another huge man-made lake for a well deserved beer (or three).



This blog was conceived and written by Nigel Buckland