Wasswold's Sri Lanka Adventure Day 4

We woke up to a vey nice breakfast buffet but I decided to switch to tea instead of my usual coffee. Sri Lanka has terrific home grown tea and it is brewed before before they serve it to you - no tea bags. The coffee however is usually instant Nescafé. 

A hopper is a traditional breakfast which is made in a rounded pan with a thin pancake type 

batter so when it is done you have a bowl which they then cook an egg in the bottom. Yum! The bananas here are smaller than ours but are very good because they are fresher and don't have to be picked so green since they were probably picked next door! 

We wanted to get an early start today because we were going to climb up the Sigiriya Rock. Sigiriya Rock is the ancient rock fortress that King Kasyapa built in the 5th century and some say is the eighth wonder of the world. Along the way to the rock we stopped along side the road to buy kings coconut which are a bright orange color and are good to eat. Sri Lankans cook with the green coconuts. In addition to eating the meat of the coconut, drinking the “milk” is very healthy for you and contains natural electrolytes. The girl at the fruit stand chopped off the top of the coconut and then poked a hole in the top and presented it to each of us with a straw. We pay good money for this coconut water in the states! When you are finished, the girl chopped it in half and cut a sliver out of the side to use as a spoon to scoop the meat out. The texture and flavor is not the same as our sweetened, flaky coconut in a bag so I would need to acquire a taste for it.

  

 

 

By the time we arrived at Sigiriya, it was 89 degrees- perfect climbing weather! This kingdom would have been something to see in its heyday. It had moats, gardens and fountains surrounding the base of the rock. They are still excavating the site but have restored most of it. Climbing the rock entails walking up many steps. You start with stone steps and then transition to metal stairs that have been installed for tourists. There are winding staircases at one point which were enclosed in a cage to keep us from falling and was probably the only reason that I would have attempted it! I was a little worried that our two octogenarians should attempt this but they had climbed it 11 years ago when the steps were not as sturdy and were determined to climb it again. There are local men who hang out at the beginning of the climb trying to help you out for a tip at the end and who I shooed off first thing! At some points it is slow going because there are many people making the climb. Also there are wasp nests in several places so they ask that you do not make loud noises which may stir them up. Being a primarily Buddhist country, they will not remove them or the dogs and monkeys that inhabit the area as well. 

 A big rock to climb!

  

Almost at the top!

It was sure a sight to see when we got to the top! Since Sigiriya Rock stands alone, you can see everywhere. During the rainy season, the ancient  pools are all full on the top but there is one pool that is always full and they don't know why. Archeologists do not want to risk destroying the pool to figure out what fills it. When we finally made it down, it was no surprise that there were booths of souvenirs waiting for us. My adage, "all rides end at the gift shop" holds true even at the eight wonder of the world! It is common that foreigners are charged more for things in Sri Lanka so when I had my eye on a book about the history of Sigiriya that was 1500 rupees,  Salani had me wait in the bus and bought it for 1,000! Nice!

 View from the top!

 

Jo's second time to the top and this time in her 80's!

 Where is the water coming from?

Yep... that's us...there are separate bathrooms too...what year is it?

Enjoying the air conditioning of our bus, we headed down the rode to a batik factory. I was excited to go here because as a beginner quilter I find myself always heading towards the batik fabrics in the fabric store. Batik fabric is usually very colorful and the design is on the front and the back of the fabric and on our tour we found out how this is done. After a design is drawn, it is traced using carbon paper onto white fabric. The women working there showed us how they then use hot wax to trace a portion of the design on the fabric. The fabric is then put into a chemical bath and then into the color of that day. The next day they trace another portion of the design onto the fabric which is now pink and then dye them into another color. 

  

After about a week, the entire fabric is finished and then rinsed in boiling water which removes all of the wax and results in a multicolored design. 

 The batiks done at this factory are all pictures instead of just designs and they have a large store which we were ushered into at the end of our tour. It was overwhelming and pretty pricey. I don't like to haggle but I do it by accident because I'm so indecisive and flitter from one display to the next, the sales people try to keep up and start making deals! I finally decided on a beautiful batik of an elephant. If the store had been air conditioned, I probably could have spent a lot more time and money in there!

 

We were all pretty hungry by this time so we made our way to a spice garden for lunch and afterwards we had a tour of the garden which was interesting, especially to see what the different plants look like where our spices come from. The hokey part of the tour was when our guide sat us down and showed us all of the products we could buy. I felt like I was at an Amway party! However, Don and I volunteered for a cinnamon shoulder rub which was awesome! Of course we ended up in the gift shop.....

Nephew Gray has many talents!

  

Alex being a good sport and having a cinnamon face massage!

To end the day on a truly cinnamon note, we arrived at our hotel which was another in the cinnamon chain, was handed my much needed cinnamon wash cloth and then promptly drank some cinnamon tea. I was truly a spice girl!