10 January

It's not bugs I should have been worried about. It was very cold at night and we couldn't sleep for this reason. I put all my warm clothes on me plus Fausto's fleece, and I felt cold on my hips and legs, despite wearing trousers. It was a big drop of temperature, from the unbearable heat during the day to cold at night. Fausto said he would be fine sleeping in a t-shirt but then I heard him during the night putting on more clothes.
In the morning we had a nice traditional Sri Lankan breakfast (I asked the owner for it last night: typical pancakes with freshly shredded coconut mixed with honey) and then we took a tuk-tuk to the Pidurangala rock. The climb took an hour and the view on the top was fantastic. You can see the Sigiriya rock that is more touristy and more expensive (in the background in the first picture), and the view is exactly the same. The entrance fee to Pidurangala rock is 500 rupees and to the Sigiriya rock 1,500. We hired a guide but it was unnecessary, he didn't talk much, he was mainly helping us to climb some tricky bits, difficult to climb for older people, and showing us some old writings that we would have seen anyway. It was a waste of £5 (1,000 rupees) but Fausto insisted that he wanted to check out if a guide was worth it.