Although we had intended to eat breakfast on the road we had enough time before our 8:00 departure to have something at home. We started our trip in the rain. I guess there has been quite a dry spell here of late. It came down in buckets. We first went to the city of Kurunegala. Up on a mountain overlooking the city is a very large seated Buddha. We drove right up to the top even though that probably loses one a bit of merit. We made a donation to light it for one entire evening in memory of Jay’s mother’s death next month. That was a little less than $10.
Next, we headed to Ritigama. It has a cave temple and ancient temple. Due to Internet research we knew to look for Dutch tiles dating from the beginning of the last century. The scenes show Dutch life and contain Christian motifs. One can almost bet that a special place just as the impressive mountain-sized rock would have a religious site.
Last, we returned to Kurunegala on our way to Panduwasnuwara. For a brief period of time in the 12th century, it was the capital of Sri Lanka. Unfortunately for us, the President was giving a speech in the area. As his life is still in danger from foes, he takes impressive security measures. We could not enter the archaeological site. When leaving town we were even whisked off the road into an alley way. The president arrived by helicopter and a motorcade rushed past us. There were literally thousands of soldiers up and down the road attempting to make sure no assassination attempts were made.
We got home after visiting a final cave temple right in Minuwangoda. This area is rather flat and finding a rock that big just a few kilometres from the house seemed strange. We pulled into the driveway at about 5:15 pm. I was so happy to take a shower.