A Trip to an Eco Paradise (Part 02)

The day began with a gentle knock on the door by a room service waiter, who brought our Bed Tea. We immediately stepped in to the balcony as we were dying to see the out side from our Balcony. The view we had from our balcony was fascinating as the entire area has been covered by four magnificent views as per our opinion.

01. The closest view was the hotel garden area which covered by a lush greed garden with small, medium and larger trees (we came to know from the hotel, that during hotel construction they haven’t destroyed a single large tree, as they have removed these larger trees and has relocated them in the Hotel Garden)

      02.Kandalama lake, which covered a whole large area

03. A range of Mountains, headed by "Sigiriya" (There are two wings in Kandalam where rooms are located. One is Sigiriya Wing, which has the Sigiriya Rock view, and the other one is Dambulla wing. Both the wings have Kandalama Lake view. But most of repeat guests, prefer Sigiriya Wing as it has a hidden classical taste than Dambulla wing)

04.004.The Romantic Sky, which stands above all the artists who lived and who are living, as it blends the natural colours at it’s best which soothes your soul. To highlight this picturesque scene , I’ll sight the exact words which was used by an elderly English Guest who seated on a bench looking at the sky in the afternoon with his wife. “It’s a dramatic view”.

By the time we reached the restaurant, it was around 8 am. We were greeted by a Restaurant Hostess with her warm welcome smile and Greetings “Ayubowan”. The name of the Restaurant was “Kanchana Restaurant”. A five star buffet was laid which covered entire range of Breakfast items, starting from Cereals which goes up to Fresh Tropical Fruits. Two action station Chefs were busy preparing Eggs of your choice and Waffles.

We seated next to the window, which overlooked Kandalama Lake. There were no curtains used to cover those huge glass windows (which covered the entire left [lake view] side of the restaurant).



A special note need to be kept on the fresh juices as there were a range of tropical fresh juices offered for Guests. There were Beli, Wood apple, King coconut, Lime juice...etc, with no added sugar. A glass of fresh juices will chill your thoughts and the unmatched lake view will soothe your eyes which finally rejuvenates yourself while enjoying a Five Star Buffet Breakfast.

We left the Hotel by around 9 am and reach Dambulla Temple after a 15 minutes of drive.

Temple has added some new features, such as sculptures of monks who are going for a Buddha Puja and a large Buddha Statue, which was gold plated.

You have to climb around half a Kilometre to reach the top of the temple. The journey won’t be boring as you’ll be entertained by many monkeys’ right through out your climb. But don’t get that close to these monkeys as it will not be safe. But note that, they will not attack you or jump towards you, as long as you maintain our discipline.

I forget to add a note, that there are many Monkeys’ at Kandalama Hotel too, and they will reach up to your balcony some times. The hotel is giving very clear instructions to their Guests by saying that guest should not feed these monkeys’ at all and need to close their balcony window in case if they reach your balcony. These safety precautions has to be followed in order to safeguard yourself.

 Please mind that hotel has not taken any measures to evacuate these monkeys’ permanently from the Hotel premises, as it would harm and tarnish their Eco concept and image, which stands as a Truly Genuine Eco Friendly Five Star Property. So you need to adhere to these hotel rules and regulations. As a general practise, "You should not violate any of the rules which are enforced by the local authorities, where ever you go for a Vacation , trip or a project".

To get more details on Dambulla Cave Temple, please refer Wikipedia (The Free Encyclopaedia) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dambulla_cave_temple

If you are interested in reading a new blog on Dambulla Temple (which was written by our dearest Friend "Robing Low" who went on the trip with us. Dambulla Sri Lanka (Life-in-Boston.blogspot.com)

      As usual, you’ll find many sellers near these temples, who sell ornaments’, small sculptures, statues, paintings…etc. Depending on your bargaining capabilities, you’ll go for a good offer. Keep discovering!

Our next stop was at Matale Spice Garden. Lets meet up soon with Spicy Adventures and Spicy tips for a Healthy life.

- Asela -