Sigiriya, a sheer rock rising 190 metres above the jungle. Absolutely no choice – you had to climb it. You and every other tourist in Sri Lanka.

So this is the story as I understood it. In the 5th century there was a king who had 2 sons who didn’t get on. One of them, Kasyapa, killed his father and became king himself. Then the brothers fell out big time. But because killing your dad is a not good karma, Kasyapa decided not to kill his brother as well so he built his palace on the rock at Sigiriya so he’d be safe from fraternal revenge. He also had a huge lion carved into the rock, stunning water gardens created that he could look down on from his high perch, and a fresco of many naked women painted onto the surface of part the rock for his own enjoyment. To cut a long story short, the brother came for his revenge and Kasypaya fell on his sword. A millennia and a half later we are obliged to climb the rock and see what it was all about.

We got there at about 9.30. We should have gone earlier to avoid the heat and crowds but that would have involved going earlier. So it was hot and busy. The idea of the climb (about 1200 steps) didn’t worry me, just that I knew the last staircases were metal cage-like structures that hang off the rock. Not good when you don’t like heights. As it was I should have been worried about the 1200 steps. It was a sweat fest with 30 degree heat and high humidity. You could have wrung us out. Of course the guides all just skipped up. Chandana looked like he was going for a morning stroll while passing tourists who appeared to be panting their last breaths. Needless to say we got up in no time and it was well worth the effort. The metal stairs were quite sturdy so it didn’t feel bad. If you were claustrophobic though you’d struggle as there were lots of pauses while people stopped to breathe or get selfies

Half way up you get to see the lions paws – the body has long gone but you can get the scale.

The top level is breathtaking. A 360 view of the world and we were kings for a short while.

We skipped down ( not quite as more selfie jams) and got ourselves a well earned juice at the bottom via the naked ladies who we aren’t allowed to photograph