Kandy, located in  mountainous and thickly forested central Sri Lanka, has a population of over 125,000 and was a three hour train ride from Colombo.  It is a pretty city wrapped around a lake and our accommodation, Greenview Holiday Resort, was 9kms outside  and was excellent.  The first day we arrived we had a swim, relaxed around the pool, had a nap and enjoyed supper at the resort.  Following a good sleep and breakfast  we hired a car and driver who took us to a few viewpoints, then the tea museum for a tour and cup of tea.   It was really quite interesting and housed in an old tea factory that was truly a beautiful building.

Breakfast at Greenview resort,

That’s tea growing in the hills and if you look closely you can see the tea pickers – picture taken from tea museum

This was followed by a visit to the Temple of the Tooth, another Buddhist temple which is a world heritage site and located on the lake in Kandy(do google for more!)  Gotta admit I am getting a little tired of temples but what was amazing to me about this one was the crowds, especially the thousands of children lined up in their little white uniforms, very well behaved and so interested in who we were by asking questions such as “what’s your name?”, “where you from?”  Amongst ourselves we jokingly said “they must think they’re lined up to visit the tooth fairy” (forgive me Buddha!) as the excitement was pretty high.   A few pictures to show you.

 Following our temple visit we took a very well-deserved three mile walk along the lake before we returned to our ‘home of the day’ for a swim, short nap, happy hour and supper.  Headed out early in the morning for Dambulla and Sigiriya and whatever excitement awaits us there!

We depart at 9am and whatever plan we make the night before  it often gets changed in the morning and sometimes by our driver.  This morning our driver informs us that on the way to Dambulla we ‘must’ make two stops – first at a Hindu Temple and next at an Ayurvedic herbal garden…….and we’re off.  Sri Muthumariamman temple is in Matale and that is our first stop.  We cannot go in because of a celebration but we can pay a small amount to wander around the outside, which we do.  Our driver asks us our family names, buys three small candles and informs us he can go in and make a blessing for each family while we wander around.  He returns a short time later, smudges each of our foreheads and gives us a little packet of dirt which he says we must spread around our house after we’ve eaten a vegetarian meal and it will bring us good luck and happiness.  I put it safely away hoping I remember what to do when we return and also hoping that Air Canada doesn’t seize it.  All in all we think that was pretty thoughtful of him and below are a few pictures – one of him with his buddies Jim and Yves and a couple of this extremely colorful temple.

Next stop was the Old Village Spice and Herbal Garden where we were given the 1/2 hour tour by an Ayurvedic herbalist who did seem quite knowledgeable and overall it was very interesting.  At the end of the tour, however, you are brought to their shop where herbal medicines were available for sale and not surprisingly were quite expensive.  We were certainly interested in a couple but found them to be way overpriced especially when you had no idea really of whether or not they would be helpful……also aware that they had to be inflated because our driver had to have his cut for bringing us there.   That’s the way it works in India and Sri Lanka whether you’re buying gems, silk, cushions, medicines and as we later found out, beer!

Next stop Dambulla where we visited the Rock Temple which was another amazing site. We had to walk up 350 steps in the sweltering heat of the day to visit temples in separate caves and take the pictures below which do not do it justice……but google does!

Next stop, Sigiriya, to a little place we found on the internet called Sigiriya Regal Residence – what a gem!  A small family business where they have built two separate rooms, cottage style, and they offer bed and breakfast and if you wish a home-cooked supper and it’s so clean.   We had supper there both nights and it was delicious!

Happy hour!

We were very happy there for two nights and their son was our driver for two days as we toured around.  Our first day we spent in Polonnaruva, 1 1/2 hour drive away and you guessed it more temples and a major archaeological site, UNESCO($25US), which we toured around for a few hours, once again in the heat!  A few more pics!

One more stop in this part of Sri Lanka brought us to Sigiriya Rock, another UNESCO world heritage site($30US) and sometimes referred to as the 8th wonder of the world.  This was a climb of 1200 steps, quite challenging so we were off at 7am so as to avoid the heat of the day.  Sigiriya rock is described as a “unique landscape city, created in the 5th century A.D. by King Kashyapa embracing a 200 meter rock out crop and is surrounding with nature driven architecture composed of buildings, pathways, terraces, ponds, paintings and sculpture. ”  We all agreed it was a mini Machu Pichu!  All we can say is thank God we went early not only because of the heat but because on our way down the place was swarming with tourists, and it was only 9:30a.m.   As we looked up to where we started our climb,  they looked like ants and had to be five or six abreast and moving at a snail’s pace – sometimes we make really good decisions!   Here are a few pics which definitely do not do it justice but they’re all I got.

Next stop Anuradhapura and will fill you in on that later……gotta run!