Day 03 saw us heading on an, at times, butt-clenching five hour journey to Sigiryia where culture awaited. Many internet forums strongly recommended against a self-drive tour in Sri Lanka and we understand why now. Best just to close your eyes and liquor up before you go. It was, of course, worth it in the end and we’re batting two for two in the accommodation stakes so far with eco resort Jet Wing Vil Uyana proving another winner – although passing field upon field of onions leading up to the resort had me wondering if it were a bad omen of sorts. Nasty vegetable, the onion. You know you’ve got first world problems when you’re disappointed you don’t have your own private pool – but an upgrade soon got us an amazing villa, complete with pool and monkey*.

The next day involved a decision that I was to pay for, and am still paying for, for days after: Lion Rock. Now don’t get me wrong – Lion Rock is an absolute must if you’re in this area. Now a UNESCO world heritage site, formerly a king’s palace, then a Buddhist monastery… today it was the climb that never ended. Yep, the name probably gave it away, but whatever this thing was in its former lives, it was on top of a bloody big rock. Not that it was at all difficult to climb… many months of boot camp had me racing to the top with ease… but the next day… Oh the next day. Suffice it to say that next time boot camp is on there will be a lot of stair work 🙂

Eco-tourism gone mad

The afternoon was devoted to nature, although the elephant safari didn’t turn out quite as expected. Minneriya certainly did have elephants – but the jeeps far outnumbered the elephants! The elephants were marvelously unconcerned, but with so many vehicles circling, it was impossible to get too close. I know they’re trying to earn an income, but without more controls untold damage could be done.

Fashion plate

OK, time to get off my soapbox, although at this point any steps up or down result in intense pain in my calves. As luck would have it, the following day’s adventure also involved stairs. Not quite as many, but stairs they were just the same. I get that putting a Buddhist temple on top of a rock would seemingly get you closer to god – and certainly I applaud the notion that a little effort should be required to worship whatever deity you so desire, but so soon after Lion Rock – well, let’s just say it was very slow progress. I also made a fairly rookie mistake by wearing shorts. I normally carry a scarf around with me for just such occasions but I really dropped the ball on the research here as I thought we were seeing caves not a temple in a cave. Salvation was at hand through a vendor at the top of the hill selling sarongs… for a price. I soon got over my reluctance to bargain however, and haggled him down to 1500 rupee on principle alone. I thought holidays were supposed to be relaxing?

* Monkey not actually included.