Hungry Like The (Swimming) Wolf

Our quest to hit Duran Duran's film sites within a limited time frame meant a few long and costly car journeys. During our last evening in Galle, I fretted about snagging an Intercity Uber ride for the 4.5 hour drive to Sigiriya. On the app, I noticed that there was an available driver around the corner, and, interestingly, he was still around the next morning. When I requested our ride, he responded immediately and he came by within five minutes.

When our driver arrived, he immediately requested that we cancel the ride and pay him in cash for the amount Uber quoted us. Per his explanation, Uber takes some time to pay him, and he needed cash immediately for fuel. I reluctantly agreed as the 32,000 rupee cash fare would make a dent on our precarious cash situation. I also learned from this experience that Uber Intercity drivers may take a fare to one town, and they stay overnight in that town if they don't book a same day ride back in the general direction of their home.

Our drive first took up northward up the expressway to the outskirts of Colombo, and then we headed east to the outskirts of Kandy. From there, it was surface roads all the way to Roy's Villa. I was concerned that our driver would get tried and sleepy, but he remained alert throughout. We declined his suggestion to stop at a elephant rescue, but we did finally stop about 25 minutes away from our destination for a smoothie and bathroom break.

We chose to stay in the Sigiriya area because it was a good location to hit three film sites: Sigiriya Rock, Polonnaruwa, and a national park with elephants. Researching places to stay, I settled on Roy's Villa because of the positive reviews and also because they organize trips to these sites.

We arrived at Roy's around 2pm. The Lonely Planet mentioned that Roy was quite a character, and I am happy to report that it was not an exaggeration. Roy took us under his wing and before long we had a rough itinerary, subject, of course, to Sri Lankan time.

Our first activity after checking in was to go on a free excursion to a local lake. There, we took the opportunity to reenact the scene from 2:16 to 2:19 in Hungry Like the Wolf (video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJL-lCzEXgI) where one of the band members (presumably Simon Le Bon) emerges from a body of water.Read more