Our first full day in Sri Lanka (yesterday totally doesn’t
count seeing as we were asleep for most of it!) and it was jammed packed of fun
stuff! Given we didn’t do it yesterday,
we were up early ready to depart at 6.30am for our hike up Sigiriya Rock. Here’s
the description of it from our little tour book:
“The Sigiriya Rock
rises majestically from the jungle floor.
It is famous for its “mirror wall”, so called because of its highly-polished
surface. Halfway up there are frescoes
in brilliant tempura. Sigiriya dates
from the 5th century AD.
Sigiriya is also renowned for its ancient paintings, which are
reminiscent of the Ajanta caves of India.
It is one of the seven World Heritage Sites of Sri Lanka. Sigiriya may have been inhabited through
prehistoric times. It was used as a rock
shelter mountain monastery, with caves prepared and donated by devotees to the
Buddhist Sangha.
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At the entrance to Sigiriya Rock and the
water gardens |
According to the
chronicles of Mahavamsa, the entire complex was built by King Kashyapa (AD 477-
495) and after the king’s death, it was used as a Buddhist monastery until the
14th century”
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| Following the instructions to the letter at the Water Garden |
Again, the day was overcast – but not raining, so it was
actually perfect for the hike and climb up 1,000 steps! Because we were there early, it wasn’t too
crowded. The Rock itself is only part of
the complex – its surrounded by beautiful water gardens, incredibly well
preserved with gravity-powered fountains that still work after heavy
rains! We strolled through the gardens,
taking care not to walk on top of the ancient walls as per the signage (unlike some
other tourists who obviously decided that it didn’t apply to them). After the
water gardens, the Boulder Gardens – with various pools and caves built into
these massive lumps of rock.
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| Part of the Boulder Garden |
And then it
was time to ascend Lion’s Rock – so named because of the huge carved lion that
used to guard the entrance – all that remains now are its feet – but you can
just imagine how incredible it must have been.
The Rock is the highest point around and ManpanionTM was mildly obsessed
with how the King must have been to have decided that was where he wanted to build his palace complex. On top of the highest rock for miles and
miles. It would be an impressive feat of
engineering today, but back in the 5th century AD?? There must have been some seriously clever
people to have figured it all out back then.
Apparently it took about 14 years to build (how do the archeologists
know this kind of stuff??) and the King lived in it for about 17 years with his
court and harem of 1,000 women. The
famous fresco paintings (unfortunately wasn’t allowed to take a pic) were all
of amply-breasted and bejeweled ladies – painted directly into the plaster when
it was wet, so the colors were remarkably vibrant given they are well over a thousand
years old! The King had a reputation of
being a playboy, so I guess covering a huge rock with pictures of semi-naked
women was par for the course back then.
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| Yikes. |
After quite the workout, up lots of steps and metal
staircases with see-through steps (don’t look down!), we reached the top. The sun was still hidden behind the clouds,
but the humidity had already started to rise (it was just past 8am by this
point), so we’d definitely worked up quite a sweat! Unfortunately, though, we couldn’t really see
very far from the top because of the clouds – it reminded me of my previous
trip to Bhutan when we’d driven to the highest point in the country – and could
see eff all then too! But the structures
on the top of the rock were very impressive – particularly the multiple swimming
pools (on the top of a rock!!! How???).
Anyway, after wandering round for a bit, we headed back down – saying hello
to some monkeys along the way and avoiding any run-ins with killer wasps or
bees. We headed back to the hotel for
some well-earned breakfast!
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| Lions Gate |
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| About to ascend.... |
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Slightly misty but impressive view of the
Water Gardens |
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| One of many bathing pools on the rock |
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| King's throne where he used to watch his harem perform for him |
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| Cobra Rock |
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| Breakfast menu at The Water Garden - YUM! |
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| Office at the Ayurvedic spa |
After breakfast, we had a choice for how to structure the rest of our day. We were booked to do an elephant safari in the afternoon, so needed to decide whether we wanted to try and squeeze in another excursion beforehand to an ancient ruined city, about an hour’s drive away. We decided to pass on the drive to Polonnaruwa ruins in favor of getting a super authentic Ayurvedic massage treatment instead. Rather than just get a massage in the hotel spa, instead Kingsley took us to this place in the middle of the jungle, used by both tourists and locals alike. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take many pics because we had to lock all our valuables away, but think “mud hut with reed roof” and you’re there. We chose to have a treatment with a 60 min massage, then 45 mins of hot oil being drizzled on your forehead, followed by 20mins in a steam room (think small mud hut, reed roof and leaves on floor). It was fabulous. The massage was super relaxing – especially with the sound of the rain pitter-pattering on the roof above with a few drops occasionally squeaking through. Matt didn’t really care for the oil treatment as I did (its supposed to open your third eye) but he loved his massage, so we both enjoyed the overall experience. It was a great way to continue to decompress from the long journey and the morning’s exertions.
By the time the treatments were over and we’d showered and dressed, it was about 2pm so time to go directly to meet our guide for our Elephant safari experience. Here’s the blurb from our book:
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| Oscar P on safari |
“The amazing Minneriya National Park is renowned for its elephant populations and beautiful scenery. Enjoy a safari drive in search of the Asian elephant, a highlight for many during their tour through this fascinating tear-drop isle. Minneriya National Park is situated in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka. The park affords the opportunity to sight herds of elephants throughout the year, however August and September are the best time to view the famous gathering of the wide elephants, the largest known meeting place of Asian elephants in the world. There are also monkeys, deer and lots of different bird species.
As Minneriya is pretty much the only national park you can visit without having to stay there, it does mean it can get busy and it also means the jeeps and guides are not as polished or professional as you may find in other places”
It was crazy!! We met our jeep and guide and headed over to the park – where there were literally dozens of jeeps waiting to get in! It was controlled chaos! For the next 2hrs, we bounced our way on muddy trails (occasionally veering off into the dense foliage!) tracking down elephants – along with everyone else! But somehow, it all seemed to work fine – I guess the jeep drivers are very well practiced at not getting too much in each other’s way – and there did seem to be somewhat of a democracy at work, with the drivers continually moving and shifting so to allow everyone to get their turn at the best view and photos. I’d been up close and personal with elephants on my brief trip to Laos (sorry – I know I didn’t blog that one) but it was cool to see them out in the wild. The weather was co-operating and, though it was still overcast, it wasn’t raining so our driver rolled back the canvas hood so that we could stand up in the back of the jeep for a better view.
After about 2hrs of being bashed around in the back (I will have bruises on the side of my hips tomorrow!), it was time to head home. It was only a short drive back to the hotel where we said goodbye to Kingsley for the evening and, somehow, actually managed to stay awake enough for dinner! Tomorrow, we say goodbye to Sigiriya and the Water Garden hotel and embark on the next leg of our travels – we’re heading to Tea Country!!!
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| The main pool at our hotel |
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| Hellooooo!! |
We also stopped at a little roadside food place to buy some supplies for the journey - I wasn't entirely convinced as it was all fried - but the fried chicken sandwich we had was actually delicious! I also got a completely British white bread cheese sandwich as back-up - that was also yummy in its floppily anemic way! Obviously because of the colonial history, there are elements of Britishness everywhere - from the baked beans and bacon at breakfast, to the national obsession with cricket, to the school uniforms for the kids. Most of the signs have English as well as the local Sinha dialect, so even though its very clear we are somewhere exotic, there are flourishes of familiarity. And - of course - the tea. 
The train finally rolled up about a half hour late - Kingsley was driving with our baggage to Hatton while we took the train, so he hopped off the train after he got us seated (quite literally - someone was in our seats to start with, so it took a few minutes to sort that out - by which time the train had started moving, so he had to jump for it!!). And I can totally understand why someone had tried to pinch our seats - they were the best ones in the whole train!! Right at the very end of the train, in front of large panoramic windows that gave us a completely unimpeded, picture perfect view as we chugged (and bounced, rather alarmingly!) our way through the gorgeous Sri Lankan countryside. 
We were staying in the Summerville bungalow - the others had equally Game of Thronesy sounding names (Norwood, Dunkeld and Castlereigh, for example). Our room was called the Garnet room - and was cute enough but it had a rather unfortunate damp odor and feel to it. Its perhaps not surprising, given the bungalow is slap bang in the middle of a rainforest, but it was a bit of a shame. They changed the linens and, after dinner, lit the fireplace, so that helped a bit. They did offer to move us to a different bungalow but, by that stage, ManpanionTM had developed a bit of a man crush on our chef - a wunderkind in the kitchen who had created some seriously spectacular food for dinner! Its totally worth putting up with a bit of a damp smell for such good eats and a spectacular view!!
