Arriving at Sigirya

When, at last, we arrived at Sigirya, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the place. We had been travelling up what seemed like endless tracks through dense tropical forest. We had moved away from bustling, traffic polluted cities and straggling roadside towns to country villages with fewer people and many beautiful flora. I had been shown ebony trees, dark and tall, coconut plantations with teak trees growing at their edge, there were bougainvilleas, hibiscus and canna lilies in profusion, banana plants (although, most of the bananas seemed to be hanging from stalls along the way and not on the plants!) Then there were the paddy fields. Most of the rice harvest was over, but further up country there were still some places where it was being cut. We saw workers in the field cutting with scythes and the bright, veridian swathes of the uncut rice. I saw a huge, ethereal statue of the Buddha, high up on a hillside next to a mobile phone mast! I had also, much to my surprise, looked out of the window as the road crossed a muddy river and seen a largish crocodile lurking in the water.
 Finally, the bumpy track opened out into a village which was obviously designed to serve local tourists with craft shops and a chained elephant waiting to give rides. I was excited to see my first Asian elephant but sad to see him chained so. My hostess asked me if I would like a ride but I said I had come to see wild elephants not captive ones. There had been signs of elephants as we came through the forest, so I was hopeful that we would see some eventually. When the Sigirya Village complex came into sight, i knew we were in for another luxurious stay. the hotel was a series of "jungle" chalets set in beautiful gardens filled with all kinds of plants and trees surrounding an open central pavilion which housed the restaurant, reception and changing rooms for the swimming pool. We were welcomed with frangipani flowers, perfumed faace cloths to wipe away the dust of the road and a lovely, cooling, bright green drink which tasted of unfizzy cream soda! When we asked we were told that it was made from a Sri Lankan fruit with a name that i could not catch. To top all this the great fortress of Sigirya on top of its huge rock towered over the complex. The story of Sigirya rock is worth repeating but that will have to wait until tomorrow's post.