Sri Lanka - Cultural Immersion

In an effort to immerse myself in the local culture, I started my second day with a curry breakfast. I love curry but my only wonder is, who has time to make curry and rice first thing in the morning? I can’t even be bothered to wake up early enough to put make-up on in the morning most of the time!

Dambulla

The following days were culture-based, starting with a visit to the rock temples of Dambulla. The entrance to this complex is impressive, as visitors are greeted by the biggest statue of the Buddha, robed in gold, that I’m sure many have ever seen. Sri Lanka is one of the few remaining orthodox Buddhist countries, but here we were surprised to find that Hindu temples and Buddhist temples often exist on the same site. There is a clear culture of respect between the two in Sri Lanka, which was heartwarming to see.

We made our way up a rocky outcrop to a series of temples that were carved into the rockface. Buddhist culture requires that visitors do not show skin above the knee or on the shoulders, and that shoes are removed before entering a temple. A white walkway stood beneath an overhang of the rock, leading the way to the temples within the rock. Temples consisted of multiple statues of the Buddha in varying poses and varying sizes. Some of the sitting Buddha statues had crochet mats in their laps, upon which offerings of flowers could be placed. Lotus flowers are a popular offering, as they represent purity due to their journey through the mud to flower above the water. There was also a Hindu temple in the rock, at which our guide explained to us the tradition of tying a coin in material and trying it to a post at a temple. This gesture is made as a promise, and once the promise is fulfilled, the promise-maker will return to the temple to collect the coin. The site also contained a fig tree, said to be derived from that under which the Buddha found enlightenment. Around this tree was a colourful striped flag, which we learnt is the Buddhist flag and saw time and again throughout our trip. On leaving the temples, we were greeted by the sight of a group of toque macaque monkeys outside the entrance, many of which had babies. Although a pest to the locals, we couldn’t help falling under the enchantment of their cheeky faces and awkward Beatles-style haircuts.

Kandy

On our way to Kandy, we stopped at a herb and spice garden. We were given a tour and shown various plants, from pepper to nutmeg to cacao, seeing how they grew and their culinary and medicinal uses. Sri Lanka has its own type of holistic medicine known as Ayurveda, which revolves around cures from nature, without synthesised drugs. This garden was our first experience of the Sri Lankan tourist ‘factories’, albeit my favourite. Such attractions are always found several in a row and consist of a free tour, followed by a strong obligation to buy something in the shop. 

After a riverside lunch, we arrived at another factory tour. This was a wood-carving factory, in which they made very expensive, albeit beautiful, wooden elephants, furniture and boxes. We started with an introduction to the different types of wood used, then watched a demonstration of how the sawdust of the ‘rainbow wood’ could be used to make different colour paints. We were shown the rest of the small, 1-roomed factory but rather than watching the craftsmen at work, our guide pointed out which pieces were being shipped to Europe in the hope we might follow suit, before we were led to the ‘showroom’, which was a shop at least twice as big as the factory itself.

We then made our way into the centre of Kandy, a buzzing town with an absurd mix of global chains and crumbling corner shops, along with a large helping of traffic jams. The focal point of the town is a man-made lake, built by King Sri Vikrama Rajasinha in (1807). On this lake sits the Sacred Temple of the Tooth Relic, which houses a tooth relic of the Buddha, beneath a golden roof. The relic is kept in a casket in a room inside the temple. Thinking this would only come out for special occasions, we were surprised to learn that the relic is revealed three times a day by monks for rituals.

The temple complex was the largest I’d visited and was very grand. There was an individual check at the door to ensure everyone was dressed respectfully. As we walked through the grounds towards the temple, we saw some temple elephants being fed. Our guide explained that whilst it may seem cruel that they were in chains, the elephants were in heat and could get frisky and aggressive. I suspect, however, that they may always be chained due to the risk of a rogue elephant to the public. Elephants for display or parade need tusks (a ‘tusker’), but not all male Asian elephants grow tusks. As such, these elephants are taken from the wild as adults, rather than bred in captivity, and I would suggest this makes them more unpredictable. It’s clear that elephants are respected and admired in Si Lankan culture, hence why they are kept at grand temples, but its also clear that they do not get the standard of living that a wild creature would. Such respect is demonstrated by the entire room dedicated to a previous royal tusker (the most important of temple elephants), called Raj, who served for over 50 years. The room was full of pictures, newspaper clippings, Raj’s parade clothes and, will you believe it, a stuffed Raj, standing tall.

In Kandy we also visited a local bazaar – a colourful market with fruits in all colours, both familiar and new. New to our experience were; velvet tamarind (a sour snack), bitter gourd, cobra gourd and wood apple (makes a delicious sour drink). Our guide then took us to a café for a traditional Sri Lankan curry and rice. Whilst different types of curry weren’t offered, just ‘curry’ we had a chicken curry that was in a completely different sauce to a vegetable curry. Both were tasty and served with dhal and ‘sambol’, a spicy Sri Lankan condiment.

We were lucky to be in Kandy at the time of the Esala Perahera, a festival in which a replica of the casket that contains the tooth relic is carried through the streets in an elaborate parade. Our guide got us seats in stands built along the street (only tourists seemed to pay for stand seats – the locals happily watched from the streets) to watch the parade in the evening. The parade was nothing short of spectacular. There were whip-crackers, dancers, drummers, fire bearers and elephants dressed in richly coloured robes, complete with fairy lights.