Day 09 - Sunday 27th January

Today we would be leaving Kandy to travel to Sigiriya. As usual, we had breakfast at the hotel. This time we sat at a table inside the restaurant next to the window so we can still see out onto the terrace without having to protect our food from the crows.

Back in our room, we noticed two monkeys sitting on the handrail of the balcony next door. They seemed to be a male and a female. The male was showing some frightening teeth. We were glad they didn't decide to come onto our balcony.

The arrangement for departure was to have our bags outside our room at 8:30 for a departure on our bus at 9am.

After a couple of hours, we stopped at a spice plantation where we spent the next two hours. First, we received a very informative tour of the demonstration area of the plantation. The man explained each of their spices and the benefits of each.

One of them was a hair remover cream. He applied it to the forearms of two of the men in our group to prove how effective it is. Another cream was supposed to make us look 20 years younger.

The final part of the presentation had us sitting down. At the end of the presentation, they offered us a massage with some of their products. They got the men to take of their shirts and then gave each of us a massage of the neck, shoulders, back, face, hair, arms and legs. It was probably the best massage I've ever had.

This was followed by lunch at a nearby restaurant. Although they offered a buffet as usual, they also had an a la carte menu. Suzy and I went for this option - I had fish and chips while she had a delicious chicken soup that had real pieces of chicken in it. As an extra bonus, our meals were half the price of the buffet.

After lunch, we stopped at Lakruka wood carvery. There we saw demonstrations f their wood carving skills and we then left to wander through their showroom to admire their products.

As you would expect, there were elephants of all sizes, fishermen on poles, statues and furniture. One of the features mas a series of coloured timber masks.

It was after 3pm by the time we got to the hotel meant we were late for our safari. The jeeps were already waiting for us. It was a rush to get to our allocated room and back. Our bags hadn't even been delivered to our rooms.

It was only about 10 minutes to entry to the wildlife reserve. As usual, the vehicles parked so the drivers could buy entry tickets. We left in a group of about ten vehicles.

The vehicles here we very different from those in Yala National Park. They had no sides and n canopy on top. Instead there we steel bars on the roof. So the idea was to stand up and hang onto the bars to see the wildlife.

I think our driver was probably young and inexperienced. He seemed to be happy to follow along near the end of the pack. This meant that when vehicles at the front found elephants, all we could see was brushes, trees and scrub. We watched the people in front taking photos of animals.

We'd heard that this game park was dusty and they weren't wrong. There were few animals other than elephants and there weren't too many of them. Yala had been much better.

There is a very large rock in the centre of the park. The vehicle stopped so we could climb to the top where there was a timber viewing platform.

Nearby there was an exit onto the sealed road and we were back at our hotel before 6pm.

Sigiriya Jungles Hotel has a series of two-storey buildings for the guest rooms set in extensive grounds. There is a large pool near the main building that houses reception and the restaurant.

The floors in the rooms and in the restaurant are bare concrete and so when you move your chair it makes a dreadful noise that disturbs the people downstairs. Like some other hotels, there is not enough lighting in the room and so it is hard to see. The light switches are in strange places and hard to find.

Once again, there were twin beds rather than a double bed.

The hotel WiFi was very slow - less than 1MB/s in both directions. For a change this was better than my Mobitel SIM because I couldn't get any signal at all.

 In the bathroom, there is a large bath and a large shower (separate from the bath). There are timber shutters on the windows. We learnt later that it is best to keep these shut to help keep out the insects and perhaps more importantly to keep out the monkeys.

Gravel paths lead from the guest rooms to the main building. At night, these paths are lit by small lights which make it very attractive but perhaps inadequate for older guests.

Pre-dinner drinks for provided by hotel staff next to the pool. The barman had prepared a delicious (and potent) drink based on Rockland Old Arrack. Dinner was another buffet them to sing Australian songs but without success.

I ordered a couple of bottles of wine to share with Brett and Mandy - Bordeaux and Merlot wines.