Sigiriya - Kandy

On Thursday morning, as planned, we climbed the Sigiriya Rock.

Sigiriya has extensive gardens and an impressive museum. The rock is climbed by stairs. During the ascent, you pass by the red mirror wall and historic wall paintings of bare-chested beauties, known as the Cloud Maidens. Fun fact: during restoration, the Cloud Maidens' breasts were "lifted" to make them look fuller and not sag, but rather stand up straight.

At the top of the rock are expansive, partly restored ruins of a fortress from the 5th century. At that time, the then king was murdered by his illegitimate son Kassapa, who then built Sigiriya as a new royal residence and center of defense (ultimately unsuccessfully, as the fortress was abandoned after his defeat).

We were running a bit late and expected traffic on the mountain. However, it wasn't a problem at all. Contrary to my fears, the climb was not very strenuous either. We found it amusing to see several older ladies being pulled/pushed up the mountain by their guides.

Once we reached the top, we were grateful for the refreshing wind. And we were lucky with the weather: it started to rain heavily shortly after we returned.

After the tropical rain had passed, we continued on to Kandy. Tommy drove the whole way (about four hours). At one intersection, the engine simply stalled because we didn't have enough fuel. Fortunately, we were able to make it to the next gas station using the reserve, which can be activated separately. However, I (D) was very tense until then...

By the way, we can travel 200 km with a full tank (10 liters). Cost: 5 EUR.

Kandy is also a former royal city. It is located higher than Sigiriya, surrounded by hills around a lake. Here we will spend two nights at Jack Tree House (the name comes from the jackfruit, unfortunately it is not a treehouse). The house is at the very top of a hill ridge and offers a great view on both sides.

After unloading our backpacks, we took a tuk-tuk taxi to the city to have dinner and explore a bit. During dinner, we met a Dutch woman, Belinda, with whom we later had a beer in a pub. It turned out that she had already been on a horse riding vacation exactly where I (D) will go in July with a friend - it's a small world. The pub closed at 23:00 and we said goodbye. However, since we have about the same route ahead of us, it wouldn't surprise me if we meet again.