Day 10 - Monday 28th January

We had an early breakfast in the hotel restaurant in preparation for our morning outing to Sigiriya Rock. I left a bag full of clothes in the room for pick up by the hotel's laundry service.

The bus departed at 7:30am for the 30 minute trip to the World Heritage Site. Most of our group would be climbing the rock and so Neil had to buy tickets on the ground floor of the museum building.

Betsy and I would not be doing the climb because we both have heart problems. Before our holiday, I had visited my GP because I'd been having chest pains and dizziness. In the end, he gave me permission to go to Sri Lanka but his last words were "no mountain climbing".

Neil suggested that Betsy and I should spend the morning at the museum and looking at the grounds. He said there was no fee for the museum but when we tried to enter the museum, we found otherwise and had to go downstairs to pay 920 rupees each.

Initially the museum seemed boring but it improved as we worked our way through it. The best part was at the end as we walked down the ramp towards the exit. There a man enticed us into looking at an exhibition about how people here lived many years ago.

First, he showed us devices they'd used to catch animals. Then he somehow convinced us to dress up as natives. He put a sarong on Betsy and then got her to pose holding jugs and with a basket on her head.

Then it was my turn. He put a grass skirt and top on me before handing me a bow and arrow. I'd been taking photos of Betsy and now the man was taking photos of me. Finally, he got both of us to pose together. All the while, tour groups were walking past us down the ramp pointing and laughing at us.

Neil had suggested that we look at the gardens surrounding the rock and admire the rock from ground level. So Betsy and I walked towards the rock but only got as far as the ticket collection gate. From this distance, we could only see part of the rock and very little of the gardens.

Later we found out from the group that had climbed the rock that the area near the rock was worth visiting. They said Neil should have got tickets for us to see this area. After all, our holiday package concluded entry to the rock. Neil had also been wrong about having to pay for entry to the museum.

As we stood there wondering what to do next, we were approached by a tuktuk driver offering to drive us to vantage points where we could see the rock. He started by quoting very high prices and lowered his quotation as we declined and walked away. He continued to hassle us for almost 10 minutes.

We found a shady spot under an umbrella near the museum to sit down and read while we waited. The arrangement was to meet the rest of the group at the entrance at 10:30am. The bus would bring them from the exit back to the entrance to pick us up.

Sigiriya Rock is 180m tall and there are 1200 steps to reach the top. Suzy had only expected to get part of the way but had in fact reached the top. She took photos on her iPhone and shared them with me.

At the top of the rock, there are the ruins of an ancient city including paths, walls, paintings and sculptures. One of the most popular attractions is a giant lion's paw carved into the rock. She told me about monkeys playing on the rock and sliding down the handrail of the stairs.

When the bus arrived, Neil and the others were worried because four of our group hadn't turned up at the agreed meeting place at the exit. After waiting a little longer, Neil decided to take us back to the hotel assuming that the others would be able to get back there by tuktuk or taxi.

The missing four arrived at the hotel at noon. It was lucky that they made it back because they were having trouble remembering the name of the hotel. Luckily one of them had a taken a room key.

Before lunch we were given a cooking demonstration on the grounds of the hotel. Then we climbed onto the top level of a timber structure to eat the food that the chef had prepared.

The bus for our afternoon outing left at 2pm. The destination was Polonnaruva which is the ruins of an ancient city. On the way, we stopped at an ATM to withdraw cash. The process was not intuitive. Then I noticed that the bank next door was open and we got one of the staff to show us how their system worked.

The trip took about an hour and the first stop at the site was at the museum where Neil bought entry tickets. The bus then took us to three or four different sites.

Some of these sites turned out to be sacred sites and so we could only enter if our shoulders and knees were covered. Naturally we also had to take off our shoes and hats. Neil hadn't told us that we'd be visiting sacred sites and so many of us hadn't known to dress appropriately. Lucky my shorts were deemed to be just long enough because they covered part of my knees.

Neil had promised that we'd be back at the hotel by 5:30pm because several people had wanted to have a swim in the hotel pool before dinner. As it turned out, it was 6:30pm by the time we got back. Back in our room, we found that by laundry had been delivered.

Neil had organised pre-dinner drinks by the pool again at 7:15pm. This time the cocktail was based on white rum.

Our group had dinner on the lawn outside the restaurant. This time there was a musical quartet to entertain the diners. Initially I ordered an Australian Shiraz but when this wasn't available we got a Merlot from Chile. Once again it was a buffet meal.

We were back in our room at 10pm.