After I had said goodbye to the Van der Poorten’s at their beautiful Plantation Home, it was a full hour before Nuwshad reached the northern town of Dambulla in the dry area of Sri Lanka. Dambulla is famous for its Royal Rock Temple caves carved into the side of a huge rock some 200m high.


The climb was relatively straight forward, but the full heat of the dry area was fierce . Pilgrims of all ages were managing easily enough around me, so I ploughed on. When I reached the caves, they were not busy, which was a relief. Dating from the first century, there are five caves containing about 150 Buddha images and many paintings, although most of these were considerably younger.


It was an interesting place with great views of the Sri Lankan Highlands to the south and the plains to the north. The very flat plans northwards stretched as far as I could see and were only interrupted by the curious, almost alien form of Sigiriya Rock breaking the skyline. That would be my target for a later climb.


Back in the car we continued the journey to Giritale, via a fruit juice seller and a long distance spotting of my first wild elephant near a water hole. By this time, Nuwshad was getting more and more pushy for extra business and when I arrived at my destination, I was just pleased to pay him off and get rid of him . I had booked the Rice View, which had a bungalow on the rice paddies, in this small village. Nice and quiet, clean with friendly staff it was somewhat overpriced and the facilities were hardly as described in the “Lying Planet”, but it was fine.


In the evening I discussed my proposed itinerary with a Norwegian guest and in the morning hired a tuk tuk for the trip to Polonnaruwa. Polonnaruwa was the royal capital of Sri Lanka some 800 years ago and the ruins of that society stretch the length of the city of Polonnaruwa in various stages of decay.


I started at the great museum, which was informative and excellent, before embarking on all the major ruins. I saw impressive Royal Palace with it’s Quadrangle remains. Touts were very persistent everywhere and were more annoying than the monkeys. Having said that several of the Western tourists were equally annoying in their intolerant behaviour of others . Some of the ruins were a full eight kilometers from the Royal Palace so the scale of the complex was vast. The kings also practiced religious tolerance, so whilst the reclining carved Buddahs were a highlight, so too were the ancient Hindu temples. All very impressive, yet I should have started earlier to avoid the midday heat.


In the afternoon I returned to the Rice View and enjoyed the Ashes with the staff. The Sri Lankan people love seeing the Australian’s beaten, must have something to do with their treatment by the Aussies in the 1990s when I was there.


The following day, I decided it was time for a rest and spent the day at the Rice View. The owner offered to take me with him to a Spa for the day, but I was happiest in the bungalow on the verandah saving money. Again I was a little unsure of Dimuthu, the owner. He obviously had built a good business, and at that point I was unaware at how successful it actually was, but he was always searching for compliments and constantly explaining to everyone how popular he was in the local community . Anyway I took his advice for a somewhat expensive tour the next day and let it be. In the afternoon I took on the guest house staff, Thomas, Scooby Do and the Umpire (not my names) at cricket. However, I slowly got the impression they were letting me win.


The next morning I was up early for Dimuthu’s tour. We left at five o’clock toward Sigiriya, the giant rock. I had recently learnt my lesson and decided that I was going to climb this rock as early as possible to avoid both the heat and the crowds. Dimuthu had organized for me to stop for breakfast at another guesthouse in Sigiryia, which I duly did, to fuel up. I recognized this place as another “top choice” from LP, like the Rice Villa was also christened a “top choice” place.


Once breakfast was consumed, it was off to the rock and left the driver in the car park, paid my exorbitant $35 entrance fee and began the climb. All manner of touts were lined up for my initial gauntlet, which I passed relatively unscathed before viewing the outer lying archeological remains. All this was under the gaze of a troupe of Purple Faced Langur monkeys plus a beautiful brightly coloured Kingfisher. Off to the summit I marched and was briefly joined by a pair of Austrian tourists and a solitary Japanese businessman. The climb was hard, 400 meters of almost vertical steps with sheer drops beneath the steps the higher you ascended. All this reminded me of some tricky climbs in Peru.


The rock at Sigiriya is not a holy site, but believed by archeologists to be a hill fortress dating from the fifth century probably with a garden and a palace built on the summit. On the way to that summit there are many caves, and one particular outcrop (with mind boggling drops) houses beautifully preserved and ornate frescos of the king’s concubines dating from the 5th Century. Visitors from the sixth to the fourteen century were encouraged to write their appreciation of these frescos in graffiti ,which now details the emergence of the Sinhala language.


The remaining climb past the impressive giant Lion’s paws was surprising quick although the strength of the wind was disarming. At the summit the views were impressive and all the better for the lack of tourists at 7.30am. The palace ruins were still visible and I spent thirty minutes up there taking it all in.


Back down we headed off towards my next temple, the ruins at Ritigala. This was to turn out to be somewhat of a disappointment, as the ruins were there, but hardly what the LP called “Indiana style”. Just a few odd blocks and a dilapidated pathway. No hanging trees growing over large Ankor style remains. Nevertheless it was a nice walk. Back at the car, I said to Dimuthu’s driver that I wanted to stop at the Elephant’s Orphanage at Ritigala, which he agreed too.


This Orphanage is the second one in Sri Lanka, and it had just been opened. The first one is in Kandy, but several travelers had said was a tourist trap, so I had not gone. This however, was really in a construction stage, and when we arrived it appear locked and deserted. But the driver got us in through the huge electric fence, and we met four workers. They showed us to an enclosure with four baby elephants, three around nine months old but one just three months. Their mothers were killed by poachers they said.
The four had just been fed one of their daily eight liters of milk. I talked further with the workers and mentioned what I had done in Ecuador. Immediately, the head man then said, “well one of our staff has not arrived today, so would you like to bathe these elephants for us?”


I was straight over the fence and into the mud pit with the hose. It was quite an experience. They pushed and prodded each other and me for the water hose like rowdy schoolboys. A little mud wrestling was also enjoyed. One was quite hairy - surprisingly. My favourite was the youngster who was repeatedly on the receiving end. Another got rather attached to my sandals and one even started licking my feet, although lord knows why. After twenty minutes, wet and muddy I finally gave up. It was a unique experience. Afterwards, I talked with the workers and they offered me a voluntary position, which I politely declined (perhaps one day). We also discussed their intention to release these babies after five years although was unsure how that was going to happen as these elephants would grow up without the wild animal view of humans. They also showed me two deer they had rescued, one of which was blind and kept bumping into things - yet these were kept in a very small enclosure. I made a donation and we left.


Next up the driver (on my instruction) took me to a local non-tourist restaurant for an eye watering lunch, before we relaxed and waited for the Safari. Dimuthu had been strongly recommending that I ignore the LP’s recommendation and go to the Kandulla National Park as opposed to the Minneriya National Park. The Minneriya Park is famous for the gathering of the elephants, a curious natural phenomena that happens at the end of the dry season. But he said because of climatic changes, the rains had continued through the dry season this year and the gathering had not happened. He said that Kandulla had a superior wetland area with more wild elephants, so in that case that was where I went, and he was right.


We collected a national park guide at the start of the park and crammed into the jeep. This man turned out to be great and whilst every other 4x4 sped past us to find elephants, this man just calmly pointed out one animal or bird after the next and we got lucky. Sea Eagles, sea kites, Indian Rollers, Chameleons, Peacocks, Mongoose, Storks, water birds, Kingfishers, Bee eaters, Pelicans etc etc. Amazingly we saw a young Jackal hunting for eggs, the first the guide had seen in two months. And then a herd of thirty to forty elephants. Males, females and calves drinking and eating. By this stage we were one of eight 4x4, and the male of the group became increasingly agitated, especially with a red car. He eventually charged and the car had to career off at speed. Hopefully the driver will not approach these animals so closely next time. Overall this was magical and I was especially pleased with my photos. All in all it was a great trip. and I was exhausted.


The next day Dimuthu drove me to the train (for which he charged a high fee) and I complimented him on his business, which he liked. I thanked him for organizing everything including the breakfasts in Sigiryia and he then mentioned that he owned that place too. I said that it was his good fortune that LP listed both as “top choice” places to stay and he said “well it should, I wrote it!”  When I looked bemused, he took the copy of the LP off my lap and showed me his name in the special thanks column in the back. “Balanced and independent,” I said “as always.”


The train surprisingly arrived on time for our five hour trip back to Colombo. I met two Austrians and two Texans - straight out of ZZ Top (I jest - not). We had a good laugh and on the journey and I sat next to a trainee Pharmacist who was going to his final exam in Colombo. The train, rattled, shook violently in parts, but managed to get us to Colombo just one hour late. As we came into Colombo I was approached by another passenger, an old man of 77 years old, who asked me where I was from. When he found out I was british, he immediately struck up a long conversation. He told me he had joined the railways back in 1956, became a locomotive driver in 1970 and retired in 2001. All the railway staff, on most of the stations we stopped at, knew him. Then he told me he had the only model Hornby toy railway in Sri Lanka (working) and invited me to view in in Galle. It was given to him many years ago by a German.


I soon met his son, grandson and daughter in law as they had all been on a a family trip away to the north. They were very kind and preceded to fed me and ensure that I made my connection in Colombo, having missed the first connection. I arranged to me Mr Batu and family after I had returned from the South East and I got off in Ambalangoda, just before Galle. The whole family were all train mad, and I thought it was funny that they immediately assumed I was a trainspotter too (must be the clothes). I finally got to my next guest house in Akurala at 8.00pm. A long day.