So my driver rocks up bright and early to start showing me around the island over the next seven days. I was told he spoke English and drove a good car. Well, he was quite old, his car was too, and his English was very poor. By lunch time I also realized that he appeared to be blind in one eye – but by then it was a bit late to do anything about it. The air-conditioning in the car seems practically nonexistent at times, but seems to kick in when he takes his foot off the gas.
That all being said, he seems to be a good driver and a nice guy who seems eager to make sure I’m happy with his tour. His English seems okay when he has something to tell me tour related, but if I ask him any questions he seems to have a very hard time understanding what I’m saying. After six hours of driving through mostly traffic jams, we finally arrived at a nice hotel spread out under a nice cool forest of rain trees that is close to one of the sites I wanted to see. My tour fees include bed and breakfast, the driver and the car/fuel, but not the entrance fees to some of the sites.
Like many 3rd world countries, Sri Lanka charges one inflated price for visitors and a much cheaper price for locals. I was initially a bit put off by the entrance price of Sigiriya Rock (about $25), but after visiting the place felt it was well worth it. It is this amazing old fort from an empire in the 5th century that made use of this enormous rock for protection from enemies. The ruins at the bottom are very cool to wander around, but the climb to the top, where the king kept his thrown, was absolutely amazing. The stairs they put in were scary enough for us to climb, but the actual ladders used by the original inhabitants were baffling. There were beautiful frescos of Indian gods painted in some caves on the way up and amazing views of the very green countryside below and mountains and lakes in the distance.
