We had a couples spa :) - the type where we were in the same room next to each other where they gave us a massage. That was sooo romantic :). Afterwards, we were taken to a steam room where there were these leaves that made it pretty calming, and to sweat it all out and open up them pores.
The spa made us very oily. But they told us that we should not shower for a few hours since it was not good for the body and we were supposed to let the oil soak in a little bit. We were given tea at the end as well which I thought was pretty nice. Overall, pretty relaxing, but I sort of like the kind of spa where there were many different stations of hot/cold/nap.
For lunch, we had some daal and chicken biryani. Pretty good I thought. After that, we went back to the hotel to hang out for a bit (and shower) before going to the Sigiriya Fortress.
The Sigiriya Fortress is by far the coolest of the sites we have seen thus far. The fortress is basically a palace set on the top of a rock. The history goes something like a king's son forcefully took over the throne, then fearing revenge from the rightful heir, moved the capital from Anuradhapura to here. Then over the years, he built up the defenses, meanwhile the rightful heir builds up his army in South India, and eventually comes back to takes back the throne, moves the capital back to Anuradhapura, and converts Sigiriya fortress to be used by Budhist monastery.
To get to the top of the fortress, it was a pretty steep hike. Both the tour guide and I was sweating profusely getting up there. I was literally drenched in sweat probably about half way up - not to mention my legs were burning from that incline. Right before the very top, we see the lion's paws. From a pure attacking/defending point of view, it is easy to see why Sigiriya would be very easily defendable.
The top of the rock was really cool. There was a big swimming pool/pond at the top, tons of places and the 360 view is pretty amazing. Makes you feel bad for the poor souls who had to bring all the rock and what not to build all of this.
On the way back, we were able to convince our driver to take us to eat some hoppers at a local place for dinner. We drove around and finally found a place that would make it. This was our cheapest, yet most filling and yummy meal yet. For basically ~$6.50 USD, we got a bunch of hoppers (egg hoppers, plain hoppers, desert (chocolate) hoppers) - enough to fill even me up!
Tally for the Day:
Lunch - Daal and Chicken Biryani @ New Sigiri Restaurant (1980 Rm)
Dinner - Hoppers Galore! (900 Rm)
Tips for spa (300 Rm)
Tips for spa (300 Rm)
Total Spent for the Day: 3180 Rm = ~$ 23 USD
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