Category: Colombo, Anuradhapura & the Cultural Triangle

The World Heritage Site of Polonnaruwa is the second most ancient of Sri Lanka’s kingdoms and remains one of the best-planned archaeological relic cities in the country. It was first declared the capital city in 1070.

We got up fairly early, had a light breakfast and headed our separate ways. Joyce has a bum knee, so she isn’t able to climb Lions Rock. I was dropped off by our driver, and Joyce proceeded to do a tuk-tuk tour around Pidurangala, which is an ancient site located near Lions Rock, while I proceeded to climb about 1,252 steps to the top of the rock.

Pidurangala

It was hot and humid, and I was already sweating like a whatever sweats a lot, and a perpetual light mist of rain speckled my glasses enough that, combined with my very irritating eye floaters, rendered me clinically blind.

The first 100 or so stairs were original stone stairs, polished smooth over a millennium, lightly dusted with sand and fine gravel and made for a size 6 foot. I did ask myself, why am I doing this?  

I was pooped after the first 100 or so steps, but my second wind kicked in and there were 10 billion people climbing the same steps, so it was a slow and easy ascent and not so hard after all and worth every second.

Lions Rock Palace

We had a removable cover on our truck, and after an initial light rain we were able to remove the cover and stand up before entering the grasslands where several herds were grazing. The elephants were beautiful; the location was so much different from Africa, but…there were at least 35 and probably closer to 60 safari trucks pursuing the same herds.

In one area by the lake, at least 15–20 trucks were vying for space, and many of the elephants were clearly agitated by our presence, so Joyce and I said, “Get outta here now!” It was out of control and something needs to be done.

We were able to get away from the crowds to some extent and were able to watch the elephants in a slightly more natural setting.

And then the rain came. Big time. We were essentially driving paths in wide open grasslands with lots of mud underneath and the mud and water didn’t take long to bog us down.

We had seen enough and wanted to beat the crowds back to the gravel road and lo and behold, we got stuck!

Naturally, we were concerned about this. Nearby were a couple of other trucks, but they were also stuck, so our options were no options.

Long story short, after much forward-backward-forward spinning wheels we got unstuck, the rain stopped, we got back to town and had a wonderful evening.

Kaudulla National Park

Before heading to Sigiriya, we made our way to Anuradhapura. Founded in 377 BC, the Anuradhapura Kingdom was the first established kingdom of Sinhalese people in Sri Lanka. Based largely on agriculture, the people constructed reservoirs and canals that to this day stand as an example of the advanced technical and engineering skills used to create them during that time.

The Sacred City of Anuradhapura

We spent a leisurely 4-hour drive heading out of Colombo, travelling north near the coast through many busy towns and villages, which finally thinned out to scenic forest and waterway views. We turned east and made our way to our final destination for the evening, Anuradhapura, where we’ll spend the night and then head out early tomorrow to visit the World Heritage Site designated “Sacred City”.

The afternoon rain was torrential, but fortunately, by early evening the rain subsided and we took a tuk-tuk (ha ha) to a great little Indian, Sri Lankan, Mongolian and Chinese restaurant. Food was delicious and we crashed early.