Rocking up to Sigiriya

One place in Sri Lanka that Edward didn't get to,but that I had always wanted to visit is the Sigiriya Rock Fortress. My father visited there on his way through Ceylon in the late 1950's and a black and white photo on his office wall throughout my childhood, always looked to me to be a mysterious and impressive place. As such it had gone on my subconscious bucket list.

Being only 90kms on from Kandy I figured a day visit was a must. After making enquiries about getting there it seemed that our hosts at the Amanda Hills Hotel offered the best price for a day trip (6000 rupees) so we set off at about 7.30am with Dularg, the 25 year old son of the hotel manager, at the helm of his father's air conditioned car. It was a good choice because Dularg must be the safest and most courteous driver in all Sri Lanka. Unlike every other driver (tuk tuks, buses and taxis) we experienced, Dularg kept to sensible speeds, never attempted a blind overtake and frequently let others into the traffic stream. Those other driver's might unkindly suggest that this was why it took over 3 hours on often relatively quiet country roads for us to travel the 90kms but I doubt if their frenetic haste makes much difference.

Sigiriya was built about 1500 years ago when Sri Lanka was a very technologically advanced culture. While the post Roman Europeans were scratching out a living in sod huts, the Sri Lankans were building impressive stone cities, mastering the arts of hydrology and irrigation and generally performing engineering miracles. Sigiriya is an unusual rock formation on which a massive fortress was built, surrounded by an impressive, moated city on the flat. What remains is still impressive in its engineering and use of natural features to become part of their built environment.

Sigiriya Rock Fortress. 

It's only drawback is that it is in a hot, inland part of Sri Lanka and that full enjoyment of it requires a significant climb up hundreds of steps, past some impressive painted frescoes, to view the ruins at the summit. Unfortunately too it is inhabited by wasp colonies that when they swarm, require evacuation of the summit, apparently not so much because they sting but because they can create panic in the crowds. We got half way up, past the frescoes, when the crowds ahead of us on the steps started to retreat with cries of "wasps, wasps, go back".  Given the heat and the climb, Trish claimed that this was the serendipitous event that one always expects of Sri Lanka, in that it allowed to terminate our ascent with honour and I had to agree. The site has a comprehensive air conditioned museum that shows you what you might have seen on the summit and in the circumstances it was a much easier way to view it. Additionally, the site is so extensive that to really appreciate all of it would probably take several days, if not more.

Part of the climb to Sigiriya summit. No place for a wasp inspired panic.

We spent several hours there before returning to Dularg waiting in the car. On the return trip we also visited the Dambulla Rock Temple, an impressive set of reclining Buddhas built into a series of temples formed from rock overhangs on a big granite outcrop. This again included a healthy climb up countless steps. Sri Lankans are very keen on steps!

In his journal Edward discusses in some depth the unhappy disturbances of 1848...for which Lord Torrington and his government will not be soon forgotten, or forgiven. Better known as the Matale Rebellion, this was an uprising by the Singalese against the British. Edward describes the Singalese as being a proud people adverse to working for others or any laborious occupation, or in any way distressing himself with toil. Unsurprisingly, the locals showed little inclination to labour on the British coffee plantations, preferring instead to just work their own agricultural plots. The British therefore decided to import large numbers of Tamil indentured labourers from India, who Edward describes as Malabars. This led to discontent amongst the locals and in 1848 an uprising took place with the rebels initially congregating at the Dambulla Temple before marching on Kandy. The rebels were swiftly and brutally defeated but in all this lay the roots of the vicious, 30 year, civil war that tore Sri Lanka apart in recent times.

Edward acknowledges that the rebellion included much unnecessary bloodshed and that Malabar and Malay troops under British command when once loosed, they could not be restrained. Interestingly given the name Tamil Tigers, adopted by the recent rebels,  he describes them as tigers in human shape, committing atrocities on unresisting and generally unarmed victims. Edward also comments on the fact that local troops didn't include within its ranks a single native of the Cingalese race. Again it is unsurprising that the locals were not keen to serve the British in occupying their own country.

On our return drive from Dambulla, we hit Kandy just in time for evening rush hour gridlock so it took over 4 hours, arriving back at the hotel just after 7pm.