Jay, his younger sister, and I continued. Unlike, Sigriyia, the trail up the rock here was not well marked nor well worn. I found the climb fairly easy as there were plenty of trees to grab on to. In one place, handrails had been installed.
This place dates from the 13th century. It’s near the towns of Daladagama and Maho. The tooth relic of the Buddha that now resides in Kandy has had a long history on the island. Different kings were always fighting and it often had to be hidden. Yapahuwa was such a place. We saw the remains of a dagaba on the top.
The ruins were the only thing we saw at the top. We had the mountain to ourselves. Coming down took just as long as climbing up. But going both ways only took an hour. At the bottom there is a Buddhist temple that housed a wooden Buddha image. It was sort of a cave temple.
We stopped in a Holiday Inn Rest House on the way back. It wasn’t the famous Holiday Inn chain but it certainly did have lots of rooms. Being near a junction means it probably was busy with product sales representatives and officials on a trip. We had rice and fish and chicken curry. I left very full but we paid $15 to feed all eight people. Had we not had the three, vastly-overpriced bottles of water at a dollar each, we’d have had a better deal.
We got home at 5:00 pm. I was happy to get into the shower. It’s 7:00 now. Tomorrow we’ll be able to rest. The next trip / pilgrimage is not until next Tuesday.