The town of Sigiriya is unremarkable, save a giant rock outcropping in the jungle, aptly named... wait for it.. Sigiriya Rock.
The top o the Rock, offers stunning views of the surrounding jungle canopy, but to actually get there, one must deal with a long winding staircase, filled with tourists, slogging their way up... not a picture of serenity.
And this is where a little planning comes in... Heather learned about ANOTHER lesser known, Pidurangala rock, literally across the way... same stunning view, sans throngs of tourists due to a barely discernible trail, and a fair chance of plummeting to one's death, scrambling up unsteady rock faces... sounded perfect.
We were greeted at the start of the "trail" by a little furry four legged guide.
Both Heather and I are pretty severely directionally challenged... we get into fights with Google Maps all the time (score currently stands at 1561-0, Google vs. us).
There is no chance we would have found our way to the top without his help.
The view did not disappoint... looking across at the real Sigiriya rock, with our new buddy.
The last stop on the ancient city tour, Dambulla cave temple is a stunner... built in the 1st century, the temple is embedded in a series of caves, containing over a 150 Buddhas.
Heather finding her own enlightenment...
So travelling in Sri Lanka can be interesting... the public transportation is designed for practical day to day Sri Lankans to work, live, etc... not really for Western backpackers hitting the highlights.
The train was great from Colombo to the first ancient city... but inter-ancient city travel, not so much.
The buses are decent, but stop every 10 feet for a drop off or pick up, stretching a 20 mile trip to 6 hours.
The solution is hire a car, and we hit the jackpot with Upali and Sarath.
We met them at the train station and seemed pretty cool and charming... we ended up spending the next 3 days together.
If anyone plans a little "walk in the footsteps of H&R", cannot recommend these boys enough.
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