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Dambulla

Dambulla … the city and the market

The city of Dambulla is strategically located in the “center” of the so-called “cultural triangle” passing by Kandy-Anuradhapura-Polonnaruwa, being necessary passage point and often “basis” for those visiting Sigiriya, the sacred place for Buddhists and unavoidable site in history and Sinhalese culture.

School girls at Kandy Road. Dambulla
School girls at Kandy Road. Dambulla

But by itself Dambulla has enough interesting features here if you stay at least for a day, and the city itself despite not having great attractions besides Cave Temples, and being crossed by two national roads, has a cheerful wholesale fruit and vegetable market that provides a lively and colorful spectacle, with the intense movement of people and goods.

Dambulla Market
Dambulla Market
Dambulla Market
Dambulla Market
Dambulla Market
Dambulla Market
Dambulla Market
Dambulla Market
Dambulla Market
Dambulla Market

Appearing at first glance a local unimportant when visiting Dambulla, being out of the tourist routes, the market located between the bus Terminal and the Cave Temples, provides an intense and lively atmosphere. It is clearly a male territory, divided between drivers, porters, traders and sellers, who in a constant bustle buy and sell goods. The market occupies a wide area but is totally packed with trucks, vans, hand-cars… and between porters, transporting the products on the back or on the shoulders, in an intense effort that leaves dry and muscular bodies.

No one walks around here and everyone seems absorbed in his task, with a routine made from mechanical gestures. However, a strange, yet for most women and foreign, it always causes curiosity, able to stop some conversations. But an exchange of glances, always returned with a smile that is contagious and is spread by groups of men, which often compete to appear in a photograph, leaving them proud and sure with a topic of conversation for the next few minutes…

Dambulla Market
Dambulla Market
Dambulla Market
Dambulla Market
Dambulla Market
Dambulla Market
Dambulla Market
Dambulla Market

Where to stay in Dambulla:

The best option is to stay close to the Dambulla Caves Temples, which are within a reasonable distance to be made on foot from the bus terminal.

Just opposite to the temple entrance, on the other side of the road (Kandy Road), gets a yard along which are aligned parallel to the road several houses, with some of them renting rooms.

 

It is recommended to Gold Rock Guest House, next to the “Oasis Tourist Welfare Center” that is mentioned in tourist guides and is usually full. The Gold Rock Guest House is located in a family house where the family, occupies the top floor, with rooms for rent available on the ground floor, surrounded by a pleasant garden. The atmosphere is very nice and comfortable with family to show up very friendly and helpful, providing all the information. The rooms are good, clean and well cared. The location is great within a 2-minute walk from Temple Cave and less than 10 minutes from Dambulla Bus Terminal.

In addition to all this, the stay of two nights in Dambulla provided nice chatting with the owner of the house, an English teacher, and her daughter that was a great opportunity to learns and understand more about the culture, habits and Sinhalese traditions, which are otherwise difficult to grasp. The generosity extended to a delicious rice and curry prepared by the owner, where the delicate flavor of coconut oil marked the difference between the many “rice and curry” tasted along the stay in Sri Lanka.

Gold Rock Guest House

Address: 45, Kandy Road, Dambulla

Contact: 066 2248 114, 71 118 8958

Email: [email protected]

Room for one person with bathroom: 1000 LKR

no Wi-Fi

Gold Rock Guest House. Dambulla
Gold Rock Guest House. Dambulla
Gold Rock Guest House. Dambulla
Gold Rock Guest House. Dambulla
Gold Rock Guest House. Dambulla
Gold Rock Guest House. Dambulla
Family from Gold Rock Guest House. Dambulla
Family from Gold Rock Guest House. Dambulla
Contacts. Gold Rock Guest House. Dambulla
Contacts. Gold Rock Guest House. Dambulla

Where to eat in Dambulla:

Near Dambulla Bus Terminal (Kandy Road) there are several options, with some restaurants opening early in the morning, with delicious coconut hopper, sweet string hoppers (lavariya) and the usual rotis, samosas and other deep-fried snacks that can also find throughout the day. In the evening, it is time for kotu and rotis. At lunchtime is not difficult to find a rice and curry, but that runs out soon, so it is not recommended to delay lunch.

sweet string hoppers (lavariya). Dambulla
sweet string hoppers (lavariya)… filled with coconut and sugar. Dambulla

Opposite the stop of private buses (Anuradhapura road) is a very recommendable restaurant with Sri Lankan food, which also provides food for takeaway.

… but the best meal was, without a doubt, a delicious homemade rice and curry at Gold Rock Guest House, that was a good example of the Sri Lanka generosity.

home made rice and curry
home made rice and curry

Internet and wi-fi:

At Kurunegala Road, close to the clock Tower, on the first floor, above an electronic shop.

Clock Tower. Dambulla
Clock Tower. Dambulla

Transports from Dambulla:

The Dambulla Bus Terminal is located at Kandy Road, about 10 minutes from Dambulla Cave Temples, and hence buses to Sigiriya and Kandy, among others destinations.

Dambulla Bus Terminal
Dambulla Bus Terminal

But if you want to go from Dambulla to Trincomalee or Colombo, you must browse to the location where private buses stop. There are many buses linking regularly the east coast and the capital and which must stop at Dambulla. This buses stop at Anuradhapura road, next to a mango tree… yes! mango tree! It seems strange but this is the reference point used by the local people. The concentration of tuk-tuk also helps to locate the place, that has no signs or shelter, but where usually are some buses stopped waiting for passengers, before continuing the trip… or some people waiting for the buses.

Private bus stop at Anuradhapura Road. Dambulla
Private bus stop at Anuradhapura Road. Dambulla

This private bus stop is about 700 meters from Dambulla Bus Terminal, walking north from the terminal to the Clock Tower, and then turn right and walk about 200 meters more.

For how is lodge near the Cave Temples, and wants to go to the private buses stop (Trincomalee and Colombo directions), have to walk more than 2 kilometers, which can be done on foot. But to make it easy you can catch one of the many buses that stop in front of the main entrance to the Cave Temples (no bus stand… just wait along the road) and ask for one that stops at “Clock Tower” or “private bus”. The bus ticket costs 10 LKR. A tuk-tuk costs 100 LKR.

Kandy Road. Dambulla
Kandy Road. Dambulla
Dambulla Temple Caves. Entrance near Kandy road
Dambulla Temple Caves. Entrance near Kandy road

 

Dambulla Population: 70,000

Dambulla elevation: 168 meters

Dambulla and the Buddhas

The city of Dambulla is strategically located halfway between Trincomalee and Colombo, as well as between Anuradhapura and Kandy, getting little kilometers of Sigiriya. Dambulla beyond its attractions is waypoint required for those visiting the cultural triangle called passing by Kandy-Anuradhapura-Polonnaruwa.

But Dambulla appears on the tourist map by the Buddhist temples that nest in caves and for that simply called Dambulla Cave Temples, which are located on top of a granite massif rock that pop up from the flat landscape where the green tropical vegetation is torn by other rock elevations, among which is Sigiriya, sacred place for Buddhists and unavoidable steeped in history and Sinhalese culture.

view from Dambulla Temple Caves
view from Dambulla Temple Caves
view from Dambulla Temple Caves
view from Dambulla Temple Caves… with Sigiriya (Lion Rock)
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves

Perhaps the simplicity, by age or by the atmosphere of being on a rock, a visit to these temples was strongly marked, where neither the lively conversations of the visitors or by the loud explanations of the guides, were enough to break the magic of the place.

The caves, five in total, are aligned along a horizontal fault in the rock mass, which was partially covered with a construction that “closes” the caves and creates a gallery along the rock. These temples dating from the first century B.C. and was subsequently the subject of restoration and renovations in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, during Kandyan Kingdom (or Kandy) which lasted until 1815, when the British troops arrived.

The interior of the caves is profusely decorated with paintings, where between religious motives are geometric patterns, mandalas and floral designs, and constitute a vast and valuable example of the Sri Lankan Buddhist Art. But what stands out at first glance are the dozens of Buddha statues in different styles and sizes, carved in wood or stone, representing Buddha in the usual sitting pose with different mudras (position of hand with different symbolic and spiritual meanings), but also reclined, representing the last moments before leaving the physical body and attain nirvana.

Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves

Many Sri Lankans come here to worship these stunning images that look in the serene face, depositing lotus flowers and praying. The atmosphere is dark and invites reflection and introspection, spiritual practices shared by all religious and belief, left a strong mark of this visit which extended for a long time, giving an opportunity to observe the comings and goings of pilgrims.

Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves
Dambulla Temple Caves

Dambulla_Cave Temples_DSC_8122

 

Dambulla Cave Temples fee:

In January 2016 admission to visit the Dambulla Cave Temples was free.

A recent decision by the Sri Lankan government eliminated (perhaps temporarily or definitively) the entry fee, which previously was $10 (about 1500 LKR).

Dambulla Temple Caves. Entrance near Kandy road
Dambulla Temple Caves. Entrance near Kandy road

 

Where to stay in Dambulla:

Gold Rock Guest House

Address: 45, Kandy Road, Dambulla

Contact: 066 2248 114, 71 118 8958

Email: [email protected]

Room for one person with bathroom: 1000 LKR

no Wi-Fi

Dambulla… the city and the markets

 

Where to eat in Dambulla:

Dambulla… the city and the markets

 

Transports from Dambulla:

Dambulla… the city and the markets

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