Turbo tuk with Raju

Don't we just love these mornings where we have to get up at 5 to get ready for early departure. NOT. Raju picked us up at 6 and then we headed north towards temples and rocks. Really fast. Stopped after 20 minutes at small road side temple. Raju put a little money through a lid in the wall, mumbled something before we instantly drove off again - he told us it was insurance with the gods. We like that kind of insurance. Hope it works all day.

Passed Dambulla at 7:51. Fastest tuk-tuk ride even according to Raju. I believe him. Not long after we reached the first destination - Sigiriya. A big beautiful place where the centrepiece is the remains of an extinct volcano. Only the hardended lava remains the rest of the mountain is gone. So what somebody did many, many years ago was to build a big castle around and on top of the volcanic piece of rock. We walked the ruins, climbed the rock and enjoyed every minute out there. So much to see. Got back to Raju after 3 hours and set course for the next place.

Polonaruwa was only 1½ hours away. It is equally impressive - a massive place filled with ruins, temples, statues and just stunning atmosphere. Almost no people there. So while we switched between walking the place (the site is 3x2 kms) and having Raju taking us from one site to the other it was almost too much to take in.

At 2 in the afternoon we figured that we had seen most of what we wanted to see. Asked Raju to head back towards Dambulla only with a short food stop on the way. Hunger was beginning to kick in. So we found a place close to Dambulla, had a short lunch stop and then headed for Dambulla to find a place for the night. Raju insisted on taking the "scenic" shortcut through the jungle road. After 3 kms we met a big elephant that was standing next to the road eating a tree. He seemed to like it there, Raju slammed the brakes and waited for 10 minutes before turning around. Elephant-Tuk: 1-0

Found a guesthouse in Dambulla - 1200 RS (DKK 60). New record for a night. Standard - or lack of it - matched the price but it had a bed, mosquito net, washroom and a door with a lock. What more can we ask for? And it was close to the temple we want to see tomorrow. And we were too tired to bother anyway. 10 hours in a tuk is something you can feel and taste.

Had just enough energy left to go to the other side of the road to the fruit stall to buy some bananas. Asked for two bananas - they looked at me in a really odd way and gave me a bunch of bananas for 20 rupies.