Highway Robbery, I Tell Ya

Our hotel has an overpriced breakfast buffet to the tune of $15 per person, and we didn't think it was worth it, so we tried to get by with whatever snacks we had packed. Here, Nicole spreads peanut butter and some jelly she took from our Delta flight on an old piece of bread. Our meals have reached an all-time low.

After our unfulfilling breakfast of floppy bread, nuts, and nutrigrain bars, we ventured off to Sigiriya Rock. It is a very famous site from an archaeological and historic standpoint, and the popular thing to do is to hike up to the top of the rock to see the ruins of an ancient settlement. It is, however, as we discovered really really expensive...and they didn't take credit card. It was the equivalent of $30 per person, which for perspective, is $20 more than entrance to the Louvre. I was in disbelief at the price, and to be honest kind of frustrated. Because part of the payment processing involved showing a passport.

You see, if you have a certain passport, maybe you can get a better deal if you catch my drift. The sky was very grey and looked like it could rain any minute, so the prospect of climbing up lots of stairs sandwiched between a rock face and a Chinese tour group wasn't hugely appealing. And in the end, it wasn't even an option because we literally could not afford it. We talked to the driver regarding our options, and he negotiated with a tuk tuk driver to take us to a neighboring rock called Pidurangala, roughly 2km away. This one was only $3, so that seemed more reasonable.

We set out for the top, traversing many narrow and uneven steps and we got a taste of what Sigiriya would have been like...minus the crowds of suckers foreign tourists. After climbing for just a few minutes, we reached one plateau where we could see a miniature buddha and also a glimpse of Sigiriya rock.



As we continued our climb, it began to rain. Lightly at first, then developed into a downpour that never really let up. While under the canopy of trees, we were mostly protected, but eventually the path opened up as we neared the top, and the it seemed that everyone who was on the path going up or down seemed to have taken shelter underneath a rock overhang next to a statue of Buddha lying down.

We waited there for perhaps twenty minutes waiting to see if conditions would improve. No one budged. We all stood there - bonded by our fear of slippery steps and getting wet. Eventually someone had to make a move, and it was me. I was hungry. I feared if we waited too long, I would end up missing lunch. But rather than continue to the summit (what was the point, visibility was less than 1/2 mile through fog), we reversed carefully down the path until reaching the safety of the trees and finally the bottom.

For the afternoon, we had scheduled a jeep safari trek through a nearby national park with the hope of seeing some elephants, but the rain was relentless. I checked the forecast and it said 100% chance of rain throughout the entire duration of the safari. Today has been one letdown after another. Now we face the chance of going on a safari and not seeing any animals, which kind of defeats the purpose. Sigh. When we got back to our hotel for a short break before the safari, room service had been in our room and created this display.

We're going to need it.