Rock Forts and Suicidal Bus Drivers

Once again apologies for not having posted in a while - have been in places where there is no internet access or when it has been available it's too slow. Am now in Kandy though and should be posting more often over the next week.

I heard from friends of Judith this morning (who have very kindly organised somewhere to stay for me) that last night the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister was assasinated. I don't know what that means in terms of being a traveller, but here in Kandy there doesn't seem to be any noticable tension. Of course the Tamil Tigers are the prime suspects, but no-one knows for sure yet who is responsible. Hopefully this isn't going to de-rail the already fragile peace process.

Kandy reminds me a lot of Kathamandu for some reason and even though I've only been here since this morning I already like it. The town is situated around a lake surrounded by hills and where I'm staying has wonderful views across the lake to the Temple of the Tooth. I've actually got a room in a children's home. Sounds a little strange, I know, but Judith's friends, Derek and Ayra, said that all the hotels and guesthouses they called were fully booked or very expensive, so they organised with the lovely woman who runs the children's home to rent me a room for the week. I'm actually much happier that my money is going to the children's home than to some guesthouse and as I said it's in an amazing location with views across the lake - couldn't ask for anything better.

The perahera started a few days ago, but the main festivities start from the 15th. There seems to be lots of people about, but Kandy is a big place, so maybe this is normal.

For the past few days I was staying in a small village called Sigiriya, which is famous for it's rock fort, which was built in the 5th century. It's an amazing place and it's hard to believe that someone thought of building a fort on top of a 200m-high rock outcrop. It's definitely the best place I've been too is Sri Lanka so far. To get to the fort there all these stairs and very precarious iron ladders attached to the rock face - definitely not for someone who suffers from vertigo or is afraid of heights. The actual fort is in ruins, but even so it was still amazing to see. I went early in the morning before it got too hot then went back in the afternoon for sunset.

Before Sigiriya I was in Polonnaruwa, which like Anaradhapura was once the capital of Sri Lanka. Again like in Anaradhapura I rented a bicycle to explore the ruins and ended up spending two days exploring everything. The last evening I was there I got talking to a woman from San Francisco who has been doing some volunteer work here and we ended up arranging to meet in Sigiriya later the next day. It was good to have someone to talk to as I was beginning to feel like I hadn't really spoken to someone. Of course I've spoken to lots of Sri Lankans, but often it's just the usual what's your name, where are you from routine. People are lovely here though and I've had no problems at all during my travels. The only danger here is the crazy bus drivers. The roads are in pretty good condition, but some of the bus drivers are verging on suicidal - the bus I was on today coming to Kandy was flying along. Still I made it here in one piece.

I'm in Kandy until the 19th, so I'll try and post something before I leave.