The Golden Temple of Dambulla

More impressive, perhaps, was the view when we made it to the Golden Temple of Dambulla. In terms of impressiveness, it's only been a sacred pilgrimage site for a cool 22 centuries. With 157 statues of the Buddha, five temples and a series of the best preserved cave temples in the country, Dambulla is immense, and surprise, surprise, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Golden Buddha outside is only the start:

We climbed hundreds of stairs in high humidity to the top of a hill for a Buddha's view of the world:

And then abandoned our shoes for the pleasure of surmounting rocks in scorching heat in order to get the view of Buddhas in the cave

Inside the caves did not disappoint:

Here Buddha reclined, sat up, pointed his feet outward:

The caves were delightfully cool after the hot, humid outside. But the hills of Sigiriya loomed in the distance: 

And so we made our way onwards to our penultimate stop.