Sri Lanka Sigiriya

“From the Lion’s Paw to the top of the Sigiriya rock is, in my opinion, the most difficult part of the climb. It is steep and without any shade. And there are no breaks in between. It was a sunny, hot day when I climbed. Thankfully, I had two bottles of water with me and a sort of mild breeze was blowing to keep me company. I took multiple breaks and focused on the stair in front of me while climbing. Looking down always makes me feel dizzy. So, I avoided doing that.”

“In reality, I was racing against the clock, feet clanging on steel, thunder ominous in the distance, lightning closer to hand. Instead of the sun’s first rays spilling amber rock into gold, I was wiping rain and sweat from my face and catching gulps of air to make it up and back in time.”

“Here I am, facing this huge rock I will have to climb in the afternoon, under the sun of Sri Lanka. Before starting to climb, we passed by different gardens (yeah, there used to be an entire city here!). Let’s go now! Many, many steps to climb! Around 1200 in all! Some stray dogs here and there, sometimes monkeys, and of course the sun…”