Crumbling angled brick walls, terraced several feet high from each other, surrounded me as I stepped on one of its edges. I gazed down, admiring the remains of this ancient Sinhalese fortress with its now muddy pools, dusty stairways and ruined terraces. To be honest, it really wouldn’t stand out from all the temples I’ve visited around Asia, especially those in Siem Reap, except this one is built on top of a massive natural rock, 660 feet high from the ground and with no natural stairs to climb on to.

THE CAVE TEMPLE OF DAMBULLA

We’ve been eyeing Sri Lanka’s so-called cultural triangle ever since we obtained our tickets to this country. We knew we’d just have to pass by the area during the middle of our Beach Hop Asia 2016 tour. Sri Lanka is the longest country we’d be staying in for our two-month trip around Asia.

Sri Lanka hasn’t surprised us yet. From the air, minutes before we landed on Colombo’s tarmac, we saw a land carpeted in greens. I have never seen anything like it. Colombo, however, doesn’t live up to that promise. To be fair, it is a city. But a city that also didn’t live up to my expectations. I was half expecting it to resemble the jumble of life that is Kathmandu, but it was just too modern. Well, not modern enough to be your typical gleaming metropolis, but not that backwards to be a culture-rich place like Kathmandu. It does have its moments, from its cute trishaws, marvelously hand-painted trucks, to its unique red and white architectural facades. Early the next day, after our Colombo day tour, we pushed for the town of Dambulla, where Sigiriya is, hoping to finally find that magic.

LOVELY ARCHITECTURE IN COLOMBO

The original plan was to take a local train from Colombo to Sigiriya. Which really wasn’t possible, lol. What’s possible is to take an almost six-hour train ride from the Colombo Fort to the Palugaswewa train station, then take a local transport, like a bus, if there’s one, or a trishaw, all the way to Sigiriya. Lucky for us, we have our own rented car via JNW Lanka Tours. But our driver was having none of it.