We've bunkered down for the night and we should sleep soundly knowing that the combined force of mosquitio nets, industrial strength insect repellant, vegemite sandwiches and tonight's curry will keep the little bloodsuckers at bay. But my head is filled with tonight's campfire stories. The ghosts of dengue fever and malaria rattle their chains under my bed and my dreams are interrupted by unfamiliar jungle noises.

We finally left Kandy (picking up Jorg, a german backpacker headed the same way) and spent the afternoon at Sigriya, a fortress on top of a 200m high rock, built around 500AD by Kasyapa a patricidal, paranoid type of chap. He killed his father, King Dhatusena, no one is sure why as he was next in line for the throne anyway (he was obviously murderously impatient). His younger brother Mogallan ran away to India to try to raise an army to defeat him. Eighteen years later (they really held grudges in those days), when Mogallan returned with an army in tow, Kasyapa had himself pretty well set up. He came down from his fortress (probably a big mistake when he could have just taunted them "Quest for the Holy Grail" style), jumped on an elephant and went to engage the enemy. His elephant veered in the wrong direction, dodging a hidden swamp and confused his troops behind him (who thought he was retreating) and they headed for the hills. Finding himself alone on the battlefield and sensing defeat, Kasyapa pulled out his dagger, rammed it down his own throat and fell off his elephant, dead.
The Rock itself is as interesting as the story behind it. Surrounded on all side by a large moat and there is only one road to the rock, lined by old gardens and plenty of places for archers. Half way up the climb this is some very old porn, that still has historians debating as to whether they are depecting real women or nymphs, there is also some very old graffiti singing the praises of the topless ones. The final accent is marked by passing through the big paws, originally the steps passed through an open loins mouth, but the paws are all that remains. Once on top the view is fantastic, but there's not a whole lot left of the Fortress, only the foundations and some of the huge water tanks that would have keep the population of the rock alive during their 18 year wait. The mind boggles as to how they built anything up here as the rock is for to steep for the heavy machinery (elephants) the Sri Lankans usually employed to do all they're lugging for them. Fortunately the climb down took only 5 minutes and we were back in time for tea.