Blogs from Sigiriya, Central Province, Sri Lanka, Asia

We got onto another bus, fighting our way through obnoxious droves of tuk-tuk-driver/tour guides/guest house operators, and arrived in Sigiriya, where there is a fortress/monastery built on a giant magma plug. (Magma plus happen when a volcano has eroded away, leaving only the hardened column of magma that filled its core.) We found the Flower Hotel, which was decent and had a very pretty yard (with lots of flowers), though we kept finding frogs in out bathroom. We turned out 5 frogs in our first evening, then eventually gave up. Maybe they would help keep the mosquitoes in check. One annoying thing about mosquitoes (aside from the fact that they exist) is that they really like me, but they don't seem to even notice Ashley. I have been bitten even while sleeping under a mosquito net, ... read more

Kandy to Dambulla Our driver showed up to our picturesque mountainside Swiss hotel in Kandy bright and early to pick us up. We were just finishing our breakfast of toast with marmalade and an amazing pot of fresh, smooth and sweet Ceylon tea when he came, engine roaring up the steep hill to the hotel. Our driver was a middle aged man from Colombo, driving a very comfortable 1990's era Nissan with electric roll down windows and A/C that 'might have a problem with the turning on'. The day was already heating up so we decide to leave ASAP. We took off down the side of the mountain and started the long descent into the central grasslands north of Kandy. You can see in Trung's expression he's not impressed, so hopefully the A/C will kick in! ... read more

Simply loved Sigiriya and decidied to do it on my own this time wghithout a guide. Some palces just need peace to enjoy them and this was one of them. I wish you could feel the presence of the place. Wow!... read more

We decided to do the approximately 200km round trip to Sigiriya and Dambulla as a day trip from Kandy…in a tuk-tuk. The three hour drive to Dambulla was actually quite enjoyable, there is a certain charm about driving through the countryside in a tuk tuk, somehow you seem closer to the people in the town and the scenery than you do in a car. As with the drive to Kandy the scenery was absolutely gorgeous, a combination of rice paddies, rolling hills, tea plantations and jungle broken up by busy towns. Dambulla is about 10km’s closer to Kandy than Sigiriya, and is home to the Royal Rock Temples - basically a bunch of Buddhas in caves. The caves are about 150m above the town, which means you have to climb up stairs to reach them (what ... read more

We had breakfast and watched peacocks flying around in the trees while we did. This is a huge novelty for me as I've only ever seen peacocks in parks in the UK before. Seelan picked us up at 8.30am and we drove to Polonnaruwa - an ancient city. First stop there was the bank, to withdraw cash and pay off our debts! Next, we had a quick look at the Polonnaruwa Rest house which is situated on the huge Tank at Polonnaruwa. Seelan showed us the room that Queen Elizabeth (allegedly) stayed in during her visit to Sri Lanka in 1954. We took photographs, because he seemed keen that we did. On the way back to the car we were hounded by the first of many hawkers selling maps and postcards of Sri Lanka, hats and ... read more

The reason we've skipped two days from 13th to 15th March is that we flew in overnight on the 13th and so most of yesterday's events happened on the 14th! Confused yet? We woke at 7-ish... I opened the balcony doors and walked out - the heat hit me, and the sounds were incredible. Birds calling everywhere! I was greeted by another water monitor across the paddy, lounging on the wooden walkway. Roy moaned for about 2 hours about having jet lag. On our way to breakfast we met our next door neighbours - a British couple - who said they'd seen the crocodile on the footpath on their way back from dinner last night. Well, they called in an Alligator - but after further debate and investigation, we all agreed that it was a crocodile. ... read more