Sri Lanka day 5: climbing Sigiriya, Polonnarawu, wild elephants, monkeys and monitor lizards

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Yes we're trying to cram as much as possible into one day again and the only let down was the first thing that happened, or didn't happen actually.
Claire let me lie in until 5:15 and then we tried to catch sunrise and Sigirya in the same shot. Sadly the sunrise let us down and was devoid of any colour whatsoever so we went back to our room for half an hour to get ready.
There are lots of dogs here, most of them strays and most of the time they don't bother you, well apart from lying in the road. But this morning us walking down the road seemed to set every dog off barking which made us feel a tad guilty as it was still dark. Just a tad mind.
Sigiriya opens at 7am and that's the best time to climb Lion's Rock because it's cooler and there are less people. When we got back down there were hoards of tourists heading up, you know, the coach party type, so it would take ages trying to squeeze past them.
Anyway, Lion's Rock looks a formidable climb and we had read that the stairs were quite tight and even precarious at some points. We managed fine and I wouldn't say the stairs were even slightly precarious, it's not like we were hanging off the side holding on by our teeth or anything. And the climb was a lot easier than we'd been expecting...and than it looked.
So you're halfway up and there's a spiral staircase, hooray you say, this will get me up there quicker. And then you notice people who were just ahead of you coming down another staircase... The side trip is to see some ancient paintings which are fabulous, especially when you consider where they are and the artists didn't have the luxury of spiral staircases fixed to the side of a mountain.
Back down, well to half way anyway, there's what they call a mirror wall as it apparently used to be like one. Now, it isn't. At all. I didn't really want to see my refelection but I'd have more chance in a garden fence than in that.
Anyway, onwards and upwards. And upwards.
We were greatful for the metal stairs that someone had put in as we saw some of the original steps hewn into the rock and climbing up those would give precarious a whole new meaning.
To think a huge palace (maybe, they're not sure what to call it) at the top without any real stairs is absolutely amazing. It really is worth the climb and the views are amazing too so it's a win win win situation. There are lots of gardens and caves with inscriptions etc once you get to the bottom as well so you can spend quite a while seeing everything. And if you're like us you can spend quite a while trying to find the driver's car park and walk a few extra thousand feet before ending up behind it and having to phone him to come and get you. Or maybe that's not your bag.
We passed a pool that advised us not to bathe as crocodiles are about so we didn't.
We saw people riding elephants and it didn't look pleasant for the elephant-up to six fat people sat in a harness on their backs with chains around their legs...not pleasant....
Our actual wildlife encounter was when we stopped the car as a wild elephant was looking like it wanted to cross the road. Not your everyday occurrence and we managed to get photos as well yet another story to bore people for many years to come.
By the end of the day we were monitor lizarded out which is something I never thought I'd say. There are loads of them and at one point there were three crossing a path. Fabulous creatures.
Next stop Polonnowaru which is just huge. I'm glad we had a driver as the sights are very spread out. You can hire bikes which would help but having a driver is much better. Tuk tuks are available of course!
We stopped at many sites and each was fantastic and interesting in its own way. Hoards of monkeys entertained us along the way too.
It took a good few hours to go round but it's well worth it. The entrance fees are high here but it looks lke the money is reinvested in the sites and the country. At the last but one site Thuminda got talking to the guard and all of a sudden we were allowed into secret passages around the Buddha and looking at stairways that were shut off from the public. Claire presumed Thuminda knew the guard but no, he just must have the gift of the gab and we got to see things no-one else can. Brilliant.
As we drive out of the park we saw a chipmunk and then quite a few deer crossed the road in front of us.
On the way back we spotted another wild elephant and got out to take photos. It was behind a fence so we were reasonably safe....
We stopped off to book a safari for tomorrow morning and then said goodbye to Thuminda for the day. We went back to Chooti where I had egg curry and rice, Claire had her usual avacado roti and I followed up with coconut and honey roti: my first and probably not last, sweet roti.
And then an early night as we have yet another early start tomorrow. It's been one of my favourite days ever today with great things to see with excellent animal action to add to it. Now if I could see just one more monitor lizard.....

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