AndSheXplores

From more laid back stay in Kandy we decided to do some exploring in the Cultural triangle of Sri Lanka! Sigiriya felt like the best fit for us as it’s all about the nature and climbing big rocks. But first I will tell you about the place we stayed in. It was my first tree house. Who hasn’t dreamt about having one as a kid?

We got the instructions not to arrive at Back of Beyond – Pidurangala in the dark as it’s in the area where elephants roam around freely. How cool is that? Of course I wanted to arrive in the dark! When we got there – it was all my childhood dreams were about, but bigger! Once we settled in, we got the first show! Like 100 of monkeys started passing the tree house, playing, laughing and some of them stopped on our fence and greeted us. Dream. Come. True. I mean I have seen thousands of wild monkeys, but this was so intimate and I will never forget it. When we got all cozy in the bed and decided to get some sleep, we heard elephants noises, best lullaby I ever listened to. And when in Sri Lanka, you will not get a morning call from rooster, but from mr. Peacock 😉

Climb Pidurangala Rock instead of his big brother – Lion Rock, which offers better views of the second one and costs 2,5 EUR, compared to 25 EUR for Lion Rock. Lion Rock was declared a World Heritage Site in 1982 and is the country’s most memorable single attraction, so you might see it anyway. Most of all in Sigiriya, walk around, visit the lakes, enjoy the wildlife and stay in a tree house 😉

We also visited Polonnaruwa, an ancient city where kings rules Sri Lanka from. Archeological park, that was a delight to explore with numerous stupas, also a parliament, palace and a swimming pool many luxury hotels could envy. The trip from Sigiriya will take you through National parks so, drive slowly.

If you are staying three days in the area as we did, also see Dambulla caves representing a Royal Rock Temple complex with five separate caves and contain about 150 absolutely stunning Buddha statues and paintings, some of Sri Lanka’s most important and evocative religious art. Buddha images were first created here over 2000 years ago, and over the centuries subsequent kings added to and embellished the cave art. We were lucky enough to chat with the little monks.