I had a week to roam around Sri Lanka, and a few remarkable things happened to me on that short trip. I got a strong delayed allergic reaction to Sri-Lankan “traditional medicine” I tried at the beginning of the trip, the trip was interrupted by an army curfew given riots between the Muslims and the Buddhists, and… there was the Sigiriya Lion Rock ancient city hill meeting.
Before taking that unexpected and poorly planned last minute trip to Sri Lankan I was trying to think who I knew in Sri Lanka. Thing is, the only person I ever really knew from Sri Lanka was a fellow grad student at a university I attended long ago, and we weren’t in touch, so I gave up on the idea of contacting him beforehand.
My driver suggested that I go explore Sigiriya Lion Rock, an ancient rock fortress located in the northern part of the central province. It is a major attraction, next to an elephant Safari region I visited the day before, so I woke up early and did the hike. It was wonderful, and I lingered for long, taking my time with the hike up and taking in the views. When I came down, what do you know, there he was – the grad school friend from long ago. Seriously, what are the odds? He was there with his Hong Kong wife and a professor from our joint university, showing them around Sri Lanka. We caught up, and he helped with shifting my drivers’ attitude from being very commercial and commission oriented to being the nicest guy treating me like family and showing me some of the local delights.
As far as Sigiriya Lion Rock goes, here is my photo summary of the hike up…
Location:
It’s a small world, after all.