Nuwara Eliya to Kandy & Exploring Kandy

The journey from Nuwara Eliya to Kandy was rainy but scenic when the fog cleared up a little. Unfortunately, the roads were in even worse conditions than the previous day but at least I got to enjoy another three hours long geology lesson.

When we arrived in Kandy, the extent of damage the recent cyclone caused became very apparent. Since a rather large river runs through the mountainous city, we not only saw landslides but also houses that were halfway washed away or completely collapsed into the river. 😥

Our full day in Kandy was all about exploring the city. We decided to be full on tourists for once and left Jiggle Bells parked up at the hotel.
First stop: Royal Botanical Gardens. Not entirely sure it was worth the excessive entrance fee but we certainly had a very good time strolling through the park admiring giant bamboo plants and walking through coconut alleys.
Second stop: a gorgeous view point temple. We overheard a staff member recommend it to someone at breakfast so of course we had to try it. Only a short but steep walk up a hill lays Sri Maha Bodhi Viharaya (a giant white Buddha statue). The view is beautiful from up there and it's definitely the best place for a panoramic view of the city.
Third and final stop of the day: Sacred City of Temple of the Tooth Relic (Sri Dalada Maligawa). Eager to see Buddhas tooth, we wanted to join the evening ceremony. Unsurprisingly, loads of other people had the same plan so together with a large crowd of people we waited around for ages listening to the drummers drum and play music and waited for them to open the doors to the shrine so that we could see the famous tooth. After a while we realised that we were on the wrong floor and followed the less confused crowd upstairs. When it was our turn to have a glimpse at Buddhas tooth we saw a large pile of valuable relics but no Tooth 🦷.
As we learned later, they only show the actual tooth every 5 years. That was a little bit of a let down but still the temple is 100% worth a visit!
We ended the night in a little side street restaurant where we enjoyed some ramen noodles that took a staggering 1,5 hours to be prepared. Although we have gotten used to drinks and food taking forever this experience really tested out patience.Read more