I was first interested to come to Sri Lanka when I saw a picture of a massive column of rock with ruins of an ancient palace on top of it – towering out in a vast area of flatland. The best thing about it is the availability of steps for visitors to climb up on right to the top and view the breath-taking scenery from there. I was so fascinated by it that I instantly searched it on the internet. One name immediately popped up – Sigiriya. Apparently, it was located in Sri Lanka. I knew then that I would someday be heading there. Yippie!
True enough, when I finally came to Sri Lanka, it was high on our list of must-go places, together with the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, from where we then drove off to Sigiriya. After burning another USD30 each over ticket, we walked over towards the rock with growing excitement.
I had come to find out that Sigiriya is not all about the giant pillar of rock. The rock was just a part of a massive complex of palace built by a King Kasyapa – complete with gardens, ponds and a very systematic irrigation system. Story told it that the palace was abandoned after his death before being turned into a monastery until the 14th century.
I did know that climbing up to the peak of Sigiriya requires visitors to enter a gateway with lion claws flanking on both sides. In fact the claws are just as iconic as the rock column itself so I couldn’t wait to see them too. What I didn’t know was that they had to first walk right under a giant ass before even getting there. LOL!
With all the ladders and railing that they have now put up along the trail (it’s not even a trail but more like steps), climbing up the rock column of Sigiriya is probably much easier now compared to how it was back then.
My travel partner Audrey had a valid point when he questioned how the King would go up to the peak of the rock pillar. Well a king being king – he sure knew how to go up there with all the power he had. I mean, I’m very sure he didn’t walk to his grave when he died, did he? Hehe.
Standing at some 200 feet high, I wouldn’t say climbing up to the peak of Sigiriya is really that difficult. All you need is some determination and lil bit of stamina. I think Ian Wright of TLC exaggerated it when he pretended to be so fucked up by the steps when he came to Sigiriya as part of his globe trekking adventure to Sri Lanka a few years ago. But then, he always exaggerates things. LOL.
But then again, you might encounter a lil bit of problem if you are afraid of height. Somehow, I enjoyed the height very much because the higher I went the more I could see of the spread of plains that stretched out for as far as my eyes could see.
There was a little bit of commotion when we arrived at the gateway with those iconic claws. We saw people coming down from the stairs with some weird protective clothing on them. Their faces were fully covered in what looked like those that they wear when playing kendo.
Getting a bit confused, we asked the people around but they couldn’t give us any explanation on what actually was going on. May be it was the language barrier. When we finally found out, we had to face the horror.
Bee swarms!! To tell the truth, I was jabbed with disappointment when I found out about a cluster of bee swarms being so close to the stairs that led up to the peak of Sigiriya and that the bees do attack visitors either while ascending or descending. I mean, their presence could mean that we would not be able to continue our climb to the top and my dream of standing on top of Sigiriya would go down the drain. Uhuk!
Many people wouldn’t take the risk because even with the protective clothing and all, there was no guarantee that they would be 100% safe from being attacked by the bees. But then, the idea of being stung by bees didn’t seem to deter me from doing what I was there to do.
Brushing all the scary thoughts aside, I found myself slipping into a beekeeping suit and waggling my way towards the entrance gate. I was like, it’s now or never.
The iconic claws were smaller than I thought they were. Climbing up the ladders in the protective clothing had proved to be not an easy task. The sun was burning hot and we were roasting inside that plastic piece of shit. We had to walk slowly up the ladder so that we wouldn’t wake up the bees.
There was one time when I heard a buzz around my head but thanks God it probably didn’t find its way through to me. When I finally arrived at the peak of Sigiriya, I was ecstatic. I kicked myself out of the damn suit and embraced the beauty of the surrounding. I was on top of Sigiriya!
The view was so omaigawding. Suddenly towering amidst an expansive area of flatland, Sigiriya was like a giant boulder that was somehow misplaced but soon discovered as beauty by a king who then turned it into a palace.
The ruins were still there and I could only imagine how it was like during its glorious time. It was so windy up there that I had to stand firmly on the ground so that I would not be blown away. I mean, seriously, I’d never been to a place where I really believed I could be blown away by wind.
I really thought that we’d go back down on a different route. When I was told that we had to go back to where we came up from, I almost passed out in horror. Going down the same ladder means that we had to again walk past the beehives and risk being attacked.
The thing is, we had so stupidly handed our beekeeping suits to other climbers, thinking that it was the most noble thing to do only to find out that we now had none in our hands. Erkkkk!
After saying a little prayer, I started down the ladder, slowly, and silently. I could see smokes billowing out of what appeared to be burn barrels down there. The smokes were intended to make the bees go away although they seemed to be so adamant.
We were barely halfway down the ladder when we heard people shouting, as if gesturing to us to back off. I paused for a moment, totally unable to decide whether to retreat of push ahead. Audrey was a few meters behind me. We looked at each other and decided to push ahead. I couldn’t be more relieved when we finally touched the ground, safe and unharmed. I could only imagine the damage that the bees could do to us if they suddenly decided to attack. Phew!
After saying goodbye to the beautiful Sigiriya, we walked back to the bus to head back to Kandy and stopped by at Dambulla on the way.
DAMBULLA that I found out was more like a village than a town. It earned its reputation in the tourism spotlight when one of its temples – The Golden Temple of Dambulla – was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site to join the other 7 sites that were already inscribed in the list earlier. The Golden Temple of Dambulla is said to be the largest Buddha statue in the world. Somehow, I wasn’t really wowed by it. I mean, I am quite sure I’d seen bigger statues before but then it was still worth stopping by for.
I did actually go up to the Dambulla Cave Temple only to find out that they wouldn’t sell me the ticket at the very entrance to the temple. Meaning, I had to run back all the way down to the Golden Temple to buy a ticket and return to the Cave Temple.
With all the steps that I had to re-climb up on, I knew it would not be easy especially when we were fresh from climbing Sigiriya. Thinking that I would not just leave without doing a little bit of drama, I shrugged and said “no thanks. It is just a temple anyway” and walked away. I could feel their eyes followed me, probably with their heads shaking as well. Oppsyy. :-0
We headed back to Kandy right from Dambulla, with a little bit of stop for dinner at some road-side restaurant. Somehow, eating was not really a problem to me in Sri Lanka. IN fact, I had some of my best dishes in Sri Lanka at road-side food stalls.
WE arrived in Kandy a little bit after eight – just as how we had planned it. Three UNESO World Heritage Sites within a day. In fact four sites, because Kandy itself is a UNESCO Site.
Not so bad. Not so bad at all. I went to bed with a wide smile on my face. 🙂
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