Day 4. Ritigala, Kaudulla, Sigiriya
Back on the bus after breakfast, and out for the day. Our destination for the morning was the ruined Buddhist monastery at Ritigala. This involved a 45 minute bus ride and then transferring to jeeps for the last 15 minutes as it was a very potholed track up to the base of the hill. The monastery complex is about 2000 years old. At the base was the remains of a reservoir, currently being manually cleared by labourers. Stepped reservoir walls From there a series of stone paths wound up the hill. Every hundred metres or so was a cleared area with the remains of a stone structure. Some were baths or areas for houses, some were circles of stone for walking in meditation. It was all clearly chiselled by hand quite precisely. It took a couple of hours to walk around and make our way back to the jeeps. These took us back to the bus and then followed us to Kaudulla National Park for the second part of the day. Back into the jeeps, which had soft sides and roof that could be rolled back. Ka...