Dec 23rd
We headed off to the Sigiriya Rock Fortress a UNESCO world heritage site.
Our guide told us that this was the rock fortress - I am not so sure!

Headed off - not exactly travel to- as our guide did not either know exactly where is was so we ended spending a lot of time taking false leads to the site in question. When asked how long it was going to take or other pertinent questions the answer was " Let me think about that" invariable with no firm answer after his time of contemplation. Funny but annoying. After finally getting the correct road to the site we were stunned to find it was going to cost $150 US for us to see a bunch of old rocks! I have to say I have done a lot of traveling and I was shocked to hear of these prices. Even Norman who has traveled the world was stunned and amazed. This is when we finally cornered our tour guide and had him tell us the prices of all the sites on the itinerary. Well it turns out that most things in Sri Lanka cost about $100 to $200 for a group of 5 people! Again not to bore you but, I have traveled a lot in the Philippines etc. and never have I been asked to stump us so much for a tourist site. Heck most things in the UAE and Oman are free to visit or at very low prices. Well we had to do a major re-think on the trip based on this new information. I have to say that tour guide did show us some of the Sigiriya Rock Fortress for free and I have to say I would have been quite upset if I had paid $150 to see it.

The tour guide did take us on a free visit to a herb and spice garden and factory. It was an OK tour but the best part was we were given "free" messages with the herbal remedies that the spice garden makes. After which we were take to the sales room. I guess the fumes of the massage oils had done their magic because our free tour ended up costing us $80 in products!

Spice Garde work space

OK sorry about all the bitching but once we had established some ground rules the trip took a dramatic turn for the good and has been very nice since then and mostly free or inexpensive.
The hotel we stayed at in Sigiriya was nice and had a fantastic view of the rice field adjacent from it. The kids and I hit the pool after our day of travel and I have to say it was a very nice pool. Again the view from the pool was very stunning beyond the rice fields you see the forest and the mountains raising out of them. At night the kids were visited by the two bunnies that live on the hotel grounds.


The next morning the restaurant was visited by the giant squirrel of Sri Lanka which turned out to be quite tame. I had the chance to give it some bread and then the animal climbed up my arm and on to my shoulder. Not happy with just the bread the squirrel decided to give me a look over licking my face to get any left over crumbs. At one point the squirrel was trying to clean my teeth of leftovers!

Our favorite sign in the enitre ciountry! Thanks to the Hotel Sanda Diya - Sigiriya!