After lunch, we drove to Polonnaruwa, the capitol of Sri Lanka’s Ancient Kingdom, up until the 14th century. The first of the UNESCO World Heritage sites we would vist. We explored the ruins of this ancient city, known for its well preserved rock carvings and ancient irrigation system. We explored the royal place complex once the residence of the 12th-century king, and the cluster of religious shrines, ornate temples and carefully carved Buddhas known as the Quadrangle. At least, that was the description in the guide book.
This visit was fascinating, because of the spectacle of the ruins, but also more complicated than we had thought. First, the bus ride there, from our hotel, was 1hour 45min. It was hot. Really hot. Like 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity. So when we got there we were already a bit burned out. Nevertheless, we happily explored the ruins of the city.
Yes, really hot. Not Carol’s comfort zone!
And we met our first monkeys (Macaques). It turns out they were all over the place, including our hotel and all the other sites we visited. Mischievous, and not too friendly.
Of course, when we had finished exploring, we faced the long bus ride back to our hotel. By now drinking gallons of water. No sooner had we departed than there was a deluge of rain, thunder, lightning of positively biblical proportions that lasted all the way back to the hotel, slowing us down to a crawl. Only in monsoon tropical areas like Sri Lanka can you get rain of this intensity. The poor people by the side of the road were getting drenched. Water was streaming down the dirt roads. It was fascinating to see the huge bolts of lightening every few seconds, lighting up the now dark sky.
Quite a dramatic way to end our tour for the day!