After breakfast this morning, Gabriel, our driver/guide, picked us up a little after 8 AM. Our first stop was Polonnaruwa. This was a Unesco world heritage site and was the capital of Sri Lanka from the 11th to the 13the centuries. The South Indian group that established the capital were the Cholas. The site included lots of ruins, Hindu temples, Buddhist temples, a lovely swimming pool for the ladies, and many more. Ruins shouldn't be all that fascinating, but they were. The palace bragged that it had 1000 rooms. Possibly, but the rooms were barely larger than cells. We spent all morning at the site.
It was extremely hot and muggy. Gabriel, an experienced guide suggested that we wait until after 3 PM to climb the 1000 + steps to the top of Sigiriya. I had been a bit worried about the climb. The warnings are that the steps are narrow and steep. 1000 of them sounds really tough. Gabriel told us it should take about 1.5 hours to do the round trip. I assume that meant, 1.25 hours to climb up and about .25 hours to come tumbling down.
We had lunch in a cafe called Kelly's Eat In. Our noodle lunch was pretty good. After lunch we drove to a gem place. They showed how gems are mined in Sri Lanka. Good grief. First they dig a 20 meter deep hole. Once they get deeper than 3 meters, it fills with water. Even though they pump it out, their depiction of the mining showed guys sloshing around in about 2 feet of water. The walls of the tunnel are supported by rubber tree branches, and deeper, by bamboo. Ferns are stuffed in between to help sop up some of the excess water. They look for river gravel which, when washed out, eventually, possibly, gives precious and semi-precious stones. They man at the gem place seemed amazed that Charlie and I were attempting to climb up the 1200 steps to the top of Sigiriya (it keeps getting higher).
We finally arrived at Sigiriya. It's a huge butte, 656 feet above the jungle. The palace was built around the 5th century, and was called Lion Rock Citadel. We went to a museum first. When I mentioned to Gabriel, we might not make it all the way to the top, he suggested we definitely try to get to the frescos in a cave.
Charlie and I began our trek. People from all around the world were marching up those steps, Europeans, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, us from USA, and loads of others, all sweating profusely, it was cooler than earlier, but still warm and very humid. The stone steps at the bottom were a bit more difficult to climb than some later steel steps. Up we trudged. We made it to the frescos, and they were really worth it. We decided to go up higher. We went passed the mirror wall, and finally to the Lion Entrance. There was a fairly steep set of steel stairs leading to the tippy top. Charlie and I decided that discretion was the better part of valour. We drank our water, sat in the cool breeze, and went down again.
On the way back to the hotel, it really began to rain heavily. Light dinner. Back to the room - blog- rest - tomorrow off to Kandy.
Below are a couple of local visitors to our Chalet. We heard the frog for days. Tonight he was happy to sit on our front porch
When we got to this corner round-a-bout Gabriel told us it was the intersection of 4 roads north, east, south and west that met at this point. During the 30 year conflict of the Tamil Tigers and the Singhalese, the northern road was closed at this point. This warfare was only over in 2010. Good grief
Charlie is standing in front of the ruins of the 1000 room palace
A main hall way in the palace
The ruins of the counsel chambers.
The princesses baths
Originally a Hindu temple, then a Buddhist
The Hindu gods leading to the center and Buddha in the middle. There were 4 of these for each of the directions
A detail from the steps of the temple
One of the entrances had a fairly complete looking moonstone at the base.
An attempt to show how many buildings are in the area of the palace
This little guy was sitting on top of a list of the kings good deeds.
We got in the car and drove to a different section of the site. This side had a Buddhist temple and some lovely Buddha carvings.
It was extremely hot and muggy. Gabriel, an experienced guide suggested that we wait until after 3 PM to climb the 1000 + steps to the top of Sigiriya. I had been a bit worried about the climb. The warnings are that the steps are narrow and steep. 1000 of them sounds really tough. Gabriel told us it should take about 1.5 hours to do the round trip. I assume that meant, 1.25 hours to climb up and about .25 hours to come tumbling down.
We had lunch in a cafe called Kelly's Eat In. Our noodle lunch was pretty good. After lunch we drove to a gem place. They showed how gems are mined in Sri Lanka. Good grief. First they dig a 20 meter deep hole. Once they get deeper than 3 meters, it fills with water. Even though they pump it out, their depiction of the mining showed guys sloshing around in about 2 feet of water. The walls of the tunnel are supported by rubber tree branches, and deeper, by bamboo. Ferns are stuffed in between to help sop up some of the excess water. They look for river gravel which, when washed out, eventually, possibly, gives precious and semi-precious stones. They man at the gem place seemed amazed that Charlie and I were attempting to climb up the 1200 steps to the top of Sigiriya (it keeps getting higher).
We finally arrived at Sigiriya. It's a huge butte, 656 feet above the jungle. The palace was built around the 5th century, and was called Lion Rock Citadel. We went to a museum first. When I mentioned to Gabriel, we might not make it all the way to the top, he suggested we definitely try to get to the frescos in a cave.
He looks so miserable. Did he not make it to the top?
The rock from the path leading to it
A view from part way up
A photo of the frescos
A peek over the edge at a lower level
The final set of stairs. We found out at the bottom we were only 120 steps to the top. Oh well.
There were two lion's paws on either side of the final staircase
A view of the steps down
Charlie and I began our trek. People from all around the world were marching up those steps, Europeans, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, us from USA, and loads of others, all sweating profusely, it was cooler than earlier, but still warm and very humid. The stone steps at the bottom were a bit more difficult to climb than some later steel steps. Up we trudged. We made it to the frescos, and they were really worth it. We decided to go up higher. We went passed the mirror wall, and finally to the Lion Entrance. There was a fairly steep set of steel stairs leading to the tippy top. Charlie and I decided that discretion was the better part of valour. We drank our water, sat in the cool breeze, and went down again.
On the way back to the hotel, it really began to rain heavily. Light dinner. Back to the room - blog- rest - tomorrow off to Kandy.
Below are a couple of local visitors to our Chalet. We heard the frog for days. Tonight he was happy to sit on our front porch
These pink geckos are all over the place in south India and here in North central Sri Lanka. They eat bugs - good - they chirp - odd
No comments:
Post a Comment