December 28th 1981

“Three French hens”  Much surprised, when we arrived at the camp restaurant to take our morning coffee, to learn that it was already nearly 11 o’clock – we had evidently slept better than we’d thought.  Still, it really didn’t matter very much, since we were in no hurry.  The chief result to our disadvantage was that the heat of the day was already upon us, + this made both our walk up the hill to the ruins, + our subsequent viewing of them, a very tiresome business, physically.  Our immediate action, once we’d struggled up there, was to find some shade, + then sit + recover.  Roland + Lisabeth passed by as we were sat there, tho’ they had been virtuous, had started early, + had finished their tour, while we had barely begun.  The ruins were certainly very impressive, in their completeness the best we have yet seen.  It was especially interesting to climb down some wet, slippery steps, to view the tomb of an Indian prince down there.  Fun too, to explore the labyrinthine palace, with its tall central tower (modern?) + underground corridors.  However, the ruins had to compete with the fact that they were the fifth we had seen.  And so, like with mountains, lakes + cities, ruins tend to be just another set of ruins after a time. 

We spent a couple of hours there, + then returned to see if we could fix some food.  We had much more time + light, but still weren’t very successful – it was just so difficult to find any quantity of dry wood.  We were never able to get our fire to flame without fanning it, but still we were able to cook our meal – potatoes + carrots in Oxo gravy, + then coffee – on the smoking embers.  Which made it very annoying when a Dutch guy turned up, cooked an elaborate meal in no time at all on a little portable petrol stove.  By this time, it was dark, + finding that the café was shut, we went to bed, + read for a while by the light of a torch.

Not too much to comment upon.  We had had a sufficiency of ruins by now, but our sense of duty, in completing our self-appointed task to the best of our ability, meant that we diligently walked around each one.