July 2,

I awoke at 0438, Jeff had unfortunately been up seen 0100ish (due to me getting up to the bathroom. I went back to sleep, but not for him.☹️)  So we readied and were out by 0500ish. Our goal:  get to Sigiriya rock, and climb up to see sunrise up on top!!  We arrived in the dark, parked CB, and walked to the entry– to discover we had to backtrack, a bit, to pay for entry. Anyway, we paid our $36 each (ouch!!) then back to the entry. We entered and followed the few crazy souls being up at this hour of, well, almost day.  We followed the people, passing some and being passed by youth, unknown what we were passing. I had a head light on! 

At 0541, we arrived at the main ascent and were able to get a picture of Sigiriya – Lion Rock. We are at the main ascent where lion paws were made on each side of a stairway entrance through to a “Z'd” stairway to the top–dramatic, like the entrance to Petra, in this first light rays of day.

Now we ascend, thankfully yesterday we had watched a You tube video– I could do this! We step up and… we arrived just in time for one of the most glorious sunrises I have seen. Fantastic! God is so, so amazing! We sat with those few other souls willing to be here and just took it all in. We had a couple of lemon cookies each (mindful of the dogs and monkeys about) as we witnessed the most brilliant display of the day! Thank you for that, God!!

Then refreshed we explored. I kept thinking of parallels to Maccha Pichu. It was glorious! The layout of this place… maybe living up here as a palace or a monastery (still divided which is true). We meandered here on top, taking in the terrain and the awesome views below. We are 180m (591 feet) above the surrounding plain, but 349m (1,149 feet) above sea level. On this level are serious steps up and down, even though it seemed flat on top. There are distinct rocked areas of various living quarters or rooms… I'm sure if we have opted for a guide we would know, but it is sometimes better to imagine! We saw a huge pool of water, probably their source of water up here. We also saw a cable wire lift for getting supplies more recently. who knows how the supplies were attained earlier — like 12th-13th Century AD, when they think this monastery collapsed. It was just surreal walking around the ruins up here, with the great long shadows and light of the early morning sun rays. 

We saw a “throne”- seating area that had been carved out of the rock. Then also vistas to where we were staying- we could see the green roof awning! Now we descend back to the Lions Paws and on to another construction feat – the Mirror Wall. This was supposedly so bright you could see yourself.. a mirror, but I can not find anything definitively on it, t like the whole history of Sigiriya.. it is a puzzlement! On the built wall was graffiti, while on the rock face here used to be frescos/paintings/drawings. Nothing is visible now, graffiti or paintings, unfortunately, until… we ascend a tall, encaged spiral stairway and enter into a protected, built, enclosed walkway. Here we can see, under surveillance of a guard, the last few remaining frescos (no photos allowed) on the Sigiriya Rock! Magnificent! Once finished we descend another spiral stairway.

Now we go down through an Audience Hall and past the structure of cave, Asana (meaning 'seat inside') Cave, that has a seat carved out of “living rock”. The cave has a marvel of a drip ledge that causes water to not enter the cave. Next is the Cobra Hood Cave. This cave and Asana was said to have paintings inside but both are roped off, so not visible. But this cobra hood looks precariously hanging, barely attached. Now we exit into the summer palace, gardens, and water ponds. There was major construction, irrigation, and just, water controlled movement here. Many of these ponds are now ladened with water lilies and egrets. We also saw some brilliant colored Bee Eater birds here, which are a favorite of ours. Then we saw our first Grizzled Giant Squirrel. It is so big… like a house cat size! Some people were feeding it and causing problems with a monkey trying to snag the food instead. Anyway, it was way cool to see it!

Next we enter the Museum, we were able to see some old black and white photos from late 1800's of the frescos, but not much different than we had already seen. There was a replica of the existing frescos, but no photos were allowed! POOH! We exited and passed another lily pond – it was of brilliant, deep, pink lilies. Beautiful! From here we pretty much end our great venture for the day and it was only 0800!!   

We went out to CB… and she was dead. We had left the lights on! Since we never drive at night now and the last few vehicles we owned had automatic lights… we had not even thought of it we arrived 2.5 hrs ago!! We found a kind Sri Lankan Driver who had jumper cables and fixed us up. We left and returned to our place. Wow! What a morning!! 

We talked to Jeff's sister and then had breakfast of fruit, an omelet, toast, coconut milk rice and fish curry. Then relaxed. I blogged for yesterday. We took a swim and went to lunch around 1400 at Gamiya Chill Cafe. We shared a Tomato-Onion Soup, an Egg Plant Salad, and a Cheese Chicken Sandwich (think chicken salad with American cheese slices). I had a Passionfruit Mojito, and Jeff had two Lion Beers (appropriate, hey). It was good food. Finished, we went to a stall and bought some water, returning to our place. 

I started this blog, taking a break for sunset up on our roof. We ate a light supper and I finished writing the blog – will do final editing tomorrow. Bed by 2100. What a fantastic, full, brilliant day!