Bo, Karen and Rita posing in front of Bo's new home. Another dream being realised. Proud of you Bo!

A herd of wild elephant seen on the way to Polonnaruwa. How great can life get? I've had a day of ticking things off my list and conquering my fear and I get to see this. Amazing.

The surrounding landscape

The view of the path on which we had made our approach.

Triumphant at the top

At the top of the rock. It was so exhilerating to have made it to the top and to have pushed beyond my fear. The view was truly incredible and all I had hoped for.

The Lion's Paws

Taking a break at the Lion's Paws. Me, Fiona, Lucey and the unfortunate Casper! To reach this point we had just crossed an iron platform clinging to the side of the rock with a hurricane blowing us round.

I was absolutely terrified by that point and it's only Lucey's and Fiona's wonderful patience that got me across it. I have never wanted to run so fast in the opposite direction in all my life.

After that there were just a couple of flights of stone steps and me and Fiona decided to go up on all fours. The Sri Lankan guy at the top thought it was quite funny until he saw my face. He then kept trying to reassure me that it wasn't far to the top. Only a 150 iron steps clinging to the rock face! They start just above the Lion's Paws. I was at a point of no return and so close to the top that I was determined to continue. I sang 'Save a prayer' to myself as I climbed those stairs.

Ancient Sri Lankan Porn

One of the ancient frescoes at the top of the spiral staircase. Thankyou to Lucey and Fiona for taking my camera up. I'm afraid to say that my fear of heights got the better of me and I couldn't face the spiral staircase.


They were still obsessed with it back then.

Taking a rest on the way up. We are approaching the spiral staircase that leads to the fresco chamber. It already looks quite a long way down.

Hysteria is setting in. This is the long approach to the rock through the palace grounds, which really are quite beautiful. My mind was on other things however.

My first glimpse of Sigirya. I have wanted to see the top of this for 10 years. Part of the video for Duran Duran's 'Save a Prayer' is filmed on the top of here and the view is spectacular. There are no gentle slopes to climb to the top and I was well aware that it would be arduous and terrifying. Somehow I was going to do it though

Working elephants taking a bath. It was so hot I would have loved to have joined them.

Fiona, Lucey and me still waiting for dinner. We were the intrepid explorers!

Is dinner ready yet? Lucey, me and the unfortunate Casper with THAT umbrella.

The curry bowl

The rice bowl

The monk's refectory. When the city of Anuradhapura was inhabited 1000's of monks used to live here. They would spend all day meditating in the forest and then come here for dinner. The long rectangular object to the left is actually where the villagers served the rice. Slightly further back is the curry pot. It's hard to imagine how many people it took to prepare that much rice.

Lucey and Fiona. They are bracing themselves against a fairly strong wind

Ruvanvelisaya Dagoba.

These lifesize elephants flank the Ruvanvelisaya Dagoba. There are over 300 of them standing shoulder to shoulder on the four walls surrounding the dagoba which stands 55m tall.

After visiting the big tree we lit a candle and said a prayer. I'm pointing to my candle, but getting my arms singed.

My wonderful outfit. My lovely pink shorts weren't quite long enough for wandering around the sacred sites so I had to put my skirt on over the top. The locals were quite perplexed when I pulled it off to reveal my shorts.

Monkeys. There are lots of these to be found around the ancient cities and sacred sites. I wonder if they are reincarnated monks.

Reclining Buddha in the rock temple at Anuradhapura

Bathing elephants

Rock temple at Anuradhapura

Indiana Jo at Anuradhapura

Doing it Sri Lankan style

From the train to Colombo

Creating our own beach party

Who lit the fire!

The 500 club

Both me and Lucey are in possession of 500 rupee notes.

A plan had been formed that they should somehow be significant, but neither of us could remember why, the day after.

We had been drinking beer and playing a game that involved drinking Arrack too. Everything makes sense under those circumstances.

Baza and her boys

I gained a new name after meeting Richie and Matt, which threw those who already knew me, but it stuck.

When Matt was a rum young child, terrorising his local village centre on his BMX bicycle, the local bobby - Barry Dukes - would take it on himself to let Matt's tyres down so that he had to go home. After that, all bobbies were known as Baza.

Even innocent retired lobsters got stuck with it. :-)

Turtle at Koggala

Posing in the sunset at Unawatuna

This was the first time in weeks that there had been a decent sunset at Unawatuna. We climbed up to the temple at the end of the beach and it was really quite spectacular.

There were rugged cliffs, pounded with spray and just after the sun had gone down the bats started to leave their roosts in the rocks and go out to forage. We are not talking the tiny things at home, but clouds of pigeon size bats.

Both me and Lucey decided it was a 'Lost Boys' moment. For those of you who don't know it's a classic 80's film with a very young and gorgeous Kiefer Sutherland starring.

Surfer boys: Richie and Matt

I met these two on the beach one day as Matt, the guy on the right was telling a very bad joke about two cats to a French woman.

It all went kind of crazy from that moment on, with lots of drinking and sitting on the beach until 4am. It was excellent fun and it was nice to have a couple of guys around to look out for me.

They are on a surfing tour and are heading out to Bali and Indonesia in search of good waves after a few weeks in Sri Lanka.

Richie, the younger of the two, is only 23 and is so sweet. He doesn't really like the food and for most of the time has been living on ketchup and rice. We did find him some good pizza though in the end. He's still not sure what country he's in or where he's going.

I was amused when he said I was the best big sister he'd never had. Bless

The first classic Jo pose

This became the start of what was known as the classic Jo pose. It usually involved me in comedy mode.

I leave it open for guesses as to what was actually going on here!

Fiona and friend

Teaching turtles to fly

Sunset from the temple at Unawatuna

My new job

I can actually see myself whizzing around Derbyshire in one of these. They are great and can go up to 50mph.

They come in various models and some are highly decorated with flowers and all sorts of things. Some are even equipped with speakers that take up the entire parcel shelf.

Farewell meal

This was the last time the group of us got together. We had a fantastic meal at the Gallery Cafe in Colombo.

On the left, from the front, there is Lucy, me (scowling at the waiter who was struggling to push the button on the camera) and Hannah. It was Lucy's last night.

On the right we have Jo, Louise (who was fresh out of hospital after the wild night of disco), Fiona and Lexi at the back.

Me and Lexi are the only ones left of that group and it does feel rather strange without everyone.

Hope they are enjoying the cold!

Stilt fishermen at Koggala

The stilts that these fishermen use are handed down through the generations and are highly prized.

Sadly, the day we went the sea was heavily polluted with the oil from a cargo ship that sank Titanic style a few days before. It has ruined much of the coast to the east of Unawatuna.

Taking a photo of these guys comes at a price and we did feel a bit guilty about getting them to pose in such disgusting water, but as their livelyhood has been ruined by the oil it was possibly the only money they were going to make that day.

Saturday night fever in Sri Lanka!!!!

It really could only happen in Sri Lanka. Friday night turned out to be probably one the most bizarre and surreal experiences I have had so far in Sri Lanka.

A group of us went to a swanky night club in the more affluent suburbs of Colombo. It wasn't a big place and it was on a par with some of the wine bars in Friar Gate in Derby or parts of Nottingham. Being unfamiliar with London I can't draw any comparisons there.

The craziest thing was the music. I have realised that Sri Lanka really is 20 years behind the rest of the world when it comes to dance music. I was astonished to find everyone bouncing away to Saturday Night fever, the BeeGees, Abba and an amazing assortment of 70's and 80's music. The type that would clear a club in England.

Bouncing is an understatement too. At one stage, fuelled by Vodka, Arrack and strong beer everyone on the dancefloor was pogoing to Abba and Madonna. It was hysterically funny and it will be one of my lasting memories of Sri Lanka.

The other surprise is that there seems to be an underground community of Sri Lankans who want a more western life. Especially the women. I've become used to Sri Lankan women dressing and behaving very conservatively. So to see them in short skirts and strappy tops and even smoking was a considerable surprise.

Unfortunately the down side is that the Sri Lankan men seem to think it is perfectly acceptable to be a bit free with their hands on the dancefloor. A well aimed elbow works well as does a poised fist. They got the idea!!