Our day started off with a wonderful breakfast…at 6:30 am! After checking out we loaded in the car to head for…what I call…a workout Starry Horizons style.
DAY 2 – SIGIRIYA, WOOD CARVING, AND POLONNARUVA
Sigiriya is an ancient city on top of a rock! It is said you need to climb 1,200 stairs to get to the top…then you have to get back down! That’s right…2,400 stairs…Trevor was the designated stair counter…but that was an epic fail (LOL)!
When we arrived and Raj was dropping us off….we were approached by a guy who wanted to be our guide (Raj told us that we didn’t have too)…it cost us 3,000 rupees = $15 usd. We were glad we did as he was able to explain some of the infrastructure to us,otherwise I am not sure we would of been able to figure it all out…but first…he had to feed the wildlife.
We walked through the water gardens….
The gardens are multi-level tiers as we approached the “rock”…. 
The water gardens were the most impressive with their engineering….
Water would flow from the top of the rock via funnels and would find it self here to fill a basin…. 
The same basin would have an “exit” funnel at a lower point so it can fill the next pool below…. 
Water from underneath would be “plugged” to create a fountain through these holes…. 
Da pool! 
The King’s chair to watch his 500 “wives” bathe….yes that is right…500…Can you hear Trevor’s big sigh?!
More pools……Talk about a 5 star accommodations….
And then we commenced the ascent –
On our way UP…we had some fun “stops” along the way…
Cobra Entrance- because it looks like a cobra…. 
This “defense” rock is being held up by slanted, thinner rock underneath. If the city was under attack, men would crush the small rock to allow for the “defense” rock to roll down the mountain and destroy anything in it’s path. A 1 time use…pretty cool this one is still standing..Ingenious!
The Mirror Wall…. 
Explanation of the “graffiti” on Mirror Wall 
Hard to see but this is ancient Tamil script….I can’t fathom how old this is!
A view point in the way to the top…we could see for miles. I have no idea where this standing Buddha statue is but it was beautiful against the green hill side trees.
At the top…not only the view, but also the experience to be standing where Kings use to live….thousands and thousands of years ago…it was pretty intense!
It wasn’t all fun and games…there were some danger involved…but we are tough though…
I had too….we were told thatthe school kids make lots of niose when thye are doing the tour and “wake” the wasps up…. Go early in the morning, both to avoid the heat and the school kids. 
“Yeah…I am looking at you!” 
Seriously..it’s no joke….I witnessed a tourist that day feeding the monkeys up top…out of no where another one came and jumped right on her back and slid down her side trying to get food.
“Yo..what’s up?!” 
Just a little mischief…. 
And some “monkey business”…. 
“That tickles”
We headed down and it was a relief…it was getting crowded with school kids (they do it as part of their history) and the sun was getting hot.
Thanks Amy for letting me use this photo…..The gang! Our guide said it was his birthday that day….turning 28 (I think that is right). There was to be a big party at his house that night and we were his last tour of the day!
Down the rock we go…we say good bye and happy birthday to our tour guide and off to Oak Ray Woodcarvings, a wood carving shop…what we didn’t expect was a demonstration of how paints are made (possibly not in these modern times…but maybe)…and an Ebony wood elephant (ask Trevor)?
10 different woods are made for carvings here in Sri Lanka….
Hand drawn….
It was lunch time…. but on the way we saw…another elephant!
Elephant crossing….. 
At lunch we all found it interesting the bottled water had an expiration date of 1 year from its manufacture date…..
I think we all took a nap while Raj drove us to another …..Ancient City of Polonnaruva.
We decided to hire tuk-tuks for about $25 usd each tuk-tuk, that included a tip. However, doing it this way, we were limited to only the sites that had “roads” to certain ruins (you could of rented bicycles…but I wasn’t keen riding in the heat of the day). There are so many (as shown above) that we didn’t see…..but honestly it was ok…we were tired…and I think Trevor was all “templed” out! We had a blast though and our Tuk-Tuk drivers were hilarious…they took us all over the place and at one point in time I was thinking: “are they just driving us around to no-where?”…. as they drove by rivers, little villages, main streets, markets, railroads, and rice fields….
Seriously a fun ride!!!
I think the best part was the tuk-tuk ride itself….not to say that I didn’t enjoy the ancient ruins!
A king…. 
baths…. 
a library…but all the books were brunt while the city was under siege at some point….. 
The Lotus bath…where Buddhas would come to wash…. 
the council chamber…it was funny, we were trying to imagine who and how the “court” would conduct business…we had a Game of Thrones reference….(I can’t wait to see Season 8)….
The last ruins we went to is called Thivanka Pilimage…and by far the most impressive ruins we saw that day. There are no photos allowed inside but the below website does show what we saw: A huge headless Buddha and wall paintings (probably made from the Rainbow Tree).
I must of lost my head…as I am taking off my shoes, I immediately start taking photos..right after I walk by the sign that says “no photos”….the nice guy kindly told me to stop. The reason being is that there are ancient paintings along the walls. Additionally, it is disrespectful to take a photo of any Buddha with a person in the photo, especially with their back turned towards the Buddha….NOTE…no selfies with the Buddha…they are serious about it here!
On the outside…this is what was saw…
One side of the temple…. 
Back of the temple…. 
Other side….
But it was in details that were just as impressive…
Our tuk-tuk driver actually spent many years in Korea for Samsung…he knew more Korean than I did (surprise). He told us that after University, most Sri Lanka’s go abroad to work…however when they return home, there are no to little jobs for them. He said it is because there are not a lot of large companies here. So the supply of educated workforce is high but demand is low….hence why he is a tuk-tuk driver.
Are you tired yet?! We were…a quick goodbye to our tuk-tuk driers and loaded up into our van…off to find a place to lie our weary heads….quick dinner and off to sleep we go….
Up Next: Tomorrow…Sapphires, culture, and more Buddhas…but these were in a cave!