Hung out at the Deer Park Hotel, would not reccomend going there during rainy season, tonnes of mosquitos everywhere.

Day 3 was all about the relaxing, we spent some time hanging out at the pool, playing chess and table tennis and in the evening we all sat around the balcony area and had some wine and a chat. I tried horse riding while Andy did who knows what. Unfortunately the guy me Amila, Khris and Malisha went canooeing with last trip wasn’t around this year.

Day 4 was our last day at our favourite hotel. Heritance Kandalama was by far the best hotel we’d been to, it was beautifully designed, the service was exceptional and the food was exquisite. We drove to the nearby Dambulla cave temple ruins and hung out with the monkeys while we looked at ancient carvings of Bhuddas commisioned by various kings of the past. When we got back to the hotel we relaxed and then went on an elephant ride through the nearby lake. The pictures say it all. That night was another awesome buffet dinner, highlights include Andy wearing his stylish sarong.

Day 2 was a lovely day, we hung out at Kandalama during the morning and in the afternoon we set out to Sigiriya Rock also known as Lion Rock which we climbed . It’s supposedly 1000 steps to the top so me and Andy must’ve done 999. It was pretty tiring but well worth the views, on top and all around the rock are the ruins of an ancient palace complex, built during the reign of King Kasyapa (477 – 495 AD) and it is one of the 7 World Heritage Sites. 

The history of Sigiriya Rock Fortress: King Kasyapa murdered his father King Dhatusena by walling him alive and then usurping the throne which rightfully belonged to his brother Mogallana. Mogallana fled to India to escape being assassinated by Kasyapa but vowed revenge. In India he raised an army with the intention of returning and retaking the throne of Sri Lanka which was rightfully his. Knowing the inevitable return of Mogallana, Kasyapa is said to have built his palace on the summit of Sigiriya as a fortress and pleasure palace.  Mogallana finally arrived and declared war. During the battle Kasyapa’s armies abandoned him and he committed suicide by falling on his sword.

as promised,heres the first lotta pics! Edit: ok here is the latest set of pics, we’ve only managed to upload upto day 6, there’s about 12 more days to go up! We’ll send out an email once its all done.

The above pics are from day 1 where we hung out at the airport and drove a long way to Kandalama Hotel. We passed a lot of rural areas, we spent most of our time in the country hence the overly rural pics. Highlights along the way included watching the driver narrowly miss the crazy tut tuts (3 wheeled mini taxis) that seem hell bent on destruction, Andy noticed freshly made asbestos being transported on trucks and Sue (one of the sisters who joined us on the trip) pointed out the scarecrow like figures people put up to scare evil spirits away from newly built homes. For lunch we stopped by a nice little touristy rest house. Once we got to the hotel we relaxed and enjoyed ourselves.

2 Comments:

• Wow how cool, hope you are having fun. Andy, did you go horse riding? You havent done that in years!

  Comment by Jojo — February 5, 2008 @ 6:17 am

• great pics what is your password to see more?

  Comment by dana — February 9, 2008 @ 7:25 pm