Sri Lanka Land tour, first two days
Wildfox
Anthony Swanston
Mon 13 Feb 2017 09:59
Wild Fox is
tied up in a cat’s cradle and my driver picks me up bang on time. He is a hopeless driver which puts him top
notch here in Sri Lanka. He ‘guides’ me
by stopping frequently to ask for directions.
First stop
is an elephant orphanage which, frankly is a bit of a bore but bath time a
little more interesting. After two U
turns and three ‘phone calls we find the hotel.
A lovely collection of little bungalow type places all brand new but
already things falling off walls because screws are too small. Welcome to Sri
Lanka!
The next
stop is Lion Rock a 200 metre high flat topped rock with vertical sides where a
crazy king decided to build a palace after inheriting his father’s money. To accelerate his inheritance he murdered his
father. Welcome to Sri Lanka. It is a lovely place to see but much, much
too crowded.
Then to an
ancient site of more palaces and stupas.
The money these guys blew between 400 AD and 1100 AD is mind boggling.
All the entry tickets have little tear of tags which are carefully removed as
you pass from one section to another. At
one place the tag number was written in a large exercise book. This particular
site sees 3,250 tourists a day at this time of year. At another the numbers were not written down
but the tag was glued to a card using an old fashioned glue pot and a
brush. Welcome to Sri Lanka.
But the
people are all lovely…
