Kandy 10.02-12.02
Kandy was the first place we’ve been so far that had an
actual ‘city’ feel. Therefore, it was nice to stroll around Kandy and look at
all the shops and restaurants. In the centre of Kandy is a beautiful lake that
had a fountain which seemed to turn on when it fancied it. Our hotel was on a
small road off the lake so it was perfectly located for us to walk everywhere
which was actually quite refreshing having been driven around for the past 10
days. We said goodbye to our driver Chaminda who we hope we’ll see again one
day and now we’re on our own! On the first day we found a small restaurant to
have some lunch which sold samosa-esque snacks. We ordered a plate of
everything so we could taste them all. On the way to our seat a waiter came up
to me and asked “Where are you from?”. He was friendly enough and I replied,
“England!”, he then just smiley responded, “Oooooooo, white people!”. I wasn’t
really quite sure how answer I just nodded my head in agreement that we were,
yes, white people and joined Ed at our table.
Whilst in Kandy we visited its most famous site, The Temple
of the Tooth. This is a very sacred place for Buddhists as it holds one of
Buddha’s left teeth. You can’t actually see the tooth itself as it’s held in a
beautiful gold casket. You also only get a very brief glimpse of the casket as
you’re hurried through a queue of people infront and behind you so you don’t
particularly get a choice in how fast you walk or whether you stop. The temple
itself was gorgeous and even though we got a fleeting glimpse of the casket,
from the general feeling in the room you could tell this was a highly revered
place. Pink and purple lotus flowers filled the tables in front of the casket
and many Buddhists wanted to stay in the room to pray. I always feel quite
nervous coming to very religious places as I am so anxious not to cause offence
so I let Ed take all the pictures whilst I cowered in the corner trying to not
get in anyone’s way but still enjoying the atmosphere!
Following on from this we decided to take a walk around the
lake. En route we stopped at The British Garrison Cemetery. Truth be told we
only really had decided to visit this place because Lonely Planet said it was
free and we were trying to save a bit of money. However, it turned out to be a
fascinating place. If Ed’s Dad Nick is reading this- you would have found it
VERY interesting. It was an only British Cemetery which was used during the
Colonial period when the British arrived in Kandy to mainly set up coffee and
tea plantations. Kandy was obviously very different and dangerous back then,
pretty much all of the land was wild and untouched. What was most striking
about the cemetery was the age that these British people had died, on average
probably about 25 years old. On some of the gravestones it described how they
were killed; elephant attacks, cholera, sun stroke, malaria and fever to name a
few. It certainly made us realise what a risk it was choosing to leave
everything at home and come out here to try and make a living for yourself
(even though I’m in no way condoning colonialism :)
).
During our stay in Kandy, every time we walked past a certain
spot next to lake we were approached by a dodgy looking Sri Lankan man who Ed
is “70% sure” (a direct quote) was the man who conned him and his family on his
first trip to Sri Lanka when he was 13 years old. It got to be quite amusing to
watch his tactics of trying to draw us in for a chat, which would according to
Ed, then lead us eventually to having to go to this ‘brother’s’ shop where
you’re strongly urged to buy something! To confirm Ed’s theory on the last day
we did in fact see him leading a group of tourists up the road which Ed claims
was the road they went up with him 8 years ago! During our time in Kandy he
used a variety of lines on us including:
1) (seeing
us, and then bowing and praying to the temple opposite) “Here! (pointing
to Temple) Buddha Tooth Temple!! Tomorrow Special Day!! President coming!!”
[We did in fact visit the temple the following day and there
was no sign of the president.]
2) (looking
pensively into the water, then slowly looking up at us) “Here! Look!! (pointing into the lake) A water snake!”
[We couldn’t see anything in the rather murky lake water.]
Ella 13.02-14.02
We had tried to reserve 1st class observation
seats for the 6 hour train ride through the hill country to Ella, but these
were already sold out so we settled for 2nd class. Even though our
tickets were unreserved seating, we assumed that for a 6 hour trip we would be
able to find seats pretty easily. It was not to be! We didn’t get a seat the
entire journey but this sort of worked to our advantage as we had the doorway
of the train which was open and we could sit there dangling our feet out the
side. It also gave us an incredible, unobstructed view of the surroundings as
we snaked our way (very slowly) through the tea plantations and hills. We
passed various colonial sounding stations such as ‘Great Western’ before
reaching Ella around 3 30. The town had a very different feel to the rest of
Sri Lanka that we had seen so far. Firstly, the climate was significantly
cooler, so much so that we wore jumpers when walking around. The vibe was
different too, we seemed to be hassled a lot less and it had a pretty chilled
out atmosphere. The next day we set off to climb Little Adam’s Peak. It was a
stunning walk which remained mostly flat before a steep 20 minute climb at the
end. The walk overlooked tea plantations and the huge Rawana waterfall. It was
also parallel to ‘Ella’s Rock’ which kept hiding behind clouds before
reappearing again. On the way back to town, we decided to stop at a small
teahouse that is famed for its cakes. While walking we also saw a snake on the
side of the road and a lizard that jumped over Nina’s feet. For dinner we
treated ourselves to a pizza after two straight weeks of rice and curry!
E
Tangalle- Marakolliya Beach 15.02-17.02
We spent three great nights at the Mangrove Beach Cabanas
enjoying the sun and sea. Our small wooden cabana looked straight out onto the
beach. We had a few creepy crawly friends in our cabana each night but it
wasn’t too bad. The beach was perfectly untouched and we really enjoyed
chilling out there. Dinner also was a
little different from usual, every night we opted for ‘Fish of the Day’ which
was freshly caught on their small fishing boat off the beach. We ate tuna
steaks, butterfish and mullet. The sunset on the first night was particularly
spectacular! Ed also managed to enjoy the beach with his trusty factor 50 and
dappled palm tree sunlight.
N
These pictures make me want to go back to Sri Lanka. I particularly want to see my friend by the lake, because we never did get to see his brother's "school". Also the cemetery sounds fascinating - as you know I would have been a very fair minded colonial officer!
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