Ritigala and Sigiriya

We were up quite early as we had a full day ahead. Before leaving however I did what I had been considering doing for some time, emailing Selective Asia about our concerns about Champi's lack of guiding experience or knowledge of the sights.

We had breakfast in the lodge's restaurant, pre-ordered the night before. The lightest option, the continental breakfast, still had more than enough: fruit platter, toast, pancakes and excellent yoghurt with treacle. The coffee however, was as always fairly weak.

Ritigala

Champi collected us for the drive to Ritigala, the partly excavated ruins of a Buddhist monastery. The monastery was founded by King Pandukhabaya, the first monarch of the Anuradhapura Kingdom who reigned from 437 BC to 367 BC. Today it lies in ruins but was a focus for Buddhist meditation for centuries. It was abandoned in the 10th century and gradually overtaken by the forest.

Part way there we transferred to a jeep. We had to wait a while for our driver but found things to photograph in the meantime.

At first we were on a road, then a track through paddy fields and into the forest. We stopped briefly at a very functional-looking building. Champi explained that this was a meditation centre where eighteen monks now live. People had brought food for them, as is customary for Buddhists. We laughed at the antics of a macaque trying to drink from a water pipe.

Further into the forest we parked and started what proved to be a long, hot and occasionally difficult climb. This led us first to a huge water tank or reservoir. This is an impressive feat of engineering, credited to King Pandukabhaya. It is thought to have been used for ritual bathing by pilgrims, and its size suggests that very many visited the monastery.

We walked around the rim of the reservoir and on the far side started to climb up through the forest, following a stone path with frequent flights of steps.

The various ruins revealed themselves at intervals, with steep climbs between each. Without proper guiding I was at first at a loss to understand what I was seeing.

Fortunately we ran into a Spanish couple with their guide, who was much more knowledgeable than Champi, and they kindly allowed us to listen in. I learned that the first area after the water tank was a library, and the later flat circular platforms were for meditation walking. The function of some of the other buildings seems to be unknown but they could have been accommodation for the monks or for pilgrims, as well as meditation centres.

Another platform carries the remains of the hospital. You can still see the large stone for grinding the medicinal herbs found in the forest. One of these herbs, Sansevi, was believed to have the power of conferring long life and curing all human pain. That could explain the large number of pilgrims?

The monks who inhabited Ritigala were extreme ascetics known as Pansakulikas, meaning Rag-Robe Wearers. The name reflects their commitment to one of the Buddha’s thirteen ascetic practices (dhutanga): wearing robes made from discarded rags, mostly shrouds picked up from cemeteries

There are no stupas, very few decorations on the ruins and only a handful of Buddha statues have been found. But there is one interesting exception to the general lack of decoration. To our surprise, on one of the platforms we came to an ornate urinal! It is thought that the decorated stones were intended to represent the architectural and ritualistic excesses of the orthodox monastic chapters to which the Pansakulikas were opposed. By urinating on them the monks asserted their rejection of these excesses.

At the top we had the option to take a different path down but the guide with the Spanish couple advised us it was harder so we returned the way we had come. On our way back down through the forest the jeep driver, who had accompanied us on the climb, pointed out a short detour. This led us to a small but pretty waterfall. But neither he nor Champi could tell me the reason for the row of clearly human-made holes in the rock beside it. My guess is that it was once intended to be used in a building here, with the holes created with the aim of splitting the rock, a common stone-cutting technique.

Once back at the parking area we took the jeep back along the track to where we had left Champi's car. As we arrived there he received a call from the local tour company and told me they wanted to talk to me. He passed over the phone and left the car while I talked to Tracey from the company. Having checked he was out of earshot she apologised for the issues we’d been having with his lack of guiding skills and told me she wanted to offer possible solutions. One was to provide us with a replacement guide, but I said we were reluctant to ‘dismiss’ Champi as in other respects he was great (a careful driver, considerate and friendly). So as an alternative she proposed that they would provide an additional local guide at the remaining sights on our itinerary. We already had one arranged for a couple of these but were glad to accept the offer of covering all the sights that way.

We did wonder if our ‘complaint’ to Selective Asia and this solution might affect the good relationship we’d been building with Champi but on the contrary, we were to find that he became friendlier and more relaxed with us, perhaps because he felt under less pressure. So I was glad we’d contacted SA and in fact wished I’d done so sooner.

On the way back to the lodge I was excited to see an elephant on the road, though it was hard to take photos through the tinted car windows.

Back at the lodge we cooled off and lunched on the red bananas Champi had bought yesterday. In case you're curious, inside the red skin they are just like regular bananas. I can't help feeling there's a message there somewhere!

Sigirya

Champi picked us up again at 2.30 for our visit to the most famous sight in this area and possibly in the whole of Sri Lanka, the Lion Rock of Sigirya. We had a specialist guide there already booked by Selective Asia as part of our itinerary, and we immediately felt the difference. Wicky spoke excellent English and was very informative.

I had already decided, rather reluctantly, that climbing 1,200 steps with bad knees would be a mistake, especially as I would have to come back down! Wicky did try to persuade me otherwise but I stayed firm. However I did join him and Chris in exploring the lower terraces where the summer palace was located along with water gardens, all surrounded by a moat and fortifications.

And I climbed a little further to see the caves where monks once lived.

Then Chris set off on the main climb with Wicky while I retraced my steps through the terraces, taking more photos as I went.

I watched a stand-off between a dog and a Land Monitor Lizard. The dog prevailed and the lizard slunk away.

I also enjoyed watching some grey langur monkeys.

Thanks to Wicky prearranging it, I was able to exit the paid area to buy a cold drink which I enjoyed sitting at an outside table until a macaque showed too much interest in it. I hurriedly finished the drink and left to return back through the entrance gates.

Taking a few more photos as I went, I made my way towards the side path which Wicky had pointed out as leading to the exit. I encountered Champi there and walked back to the car with him. On the way we saw another land monitor lizard and Champi pointed out a White-throated Kingfisher.

Chris and Wicky arrived soon after, we tipped the latter well, then Champi drove us back to the lodge. We had a couple of hours downtime for showers, photo sorting etc., then went to dinner. Tonight this included a fresh-tasting spicy papaya salad and a delicious soup, though my main course tuna was over-cooked to my taste.