Sweet kandy

The big deal here is the Temple of the Tooth which houses one of Buddha's teeth. The relic also confers a divine right to rule Sri Lanka and has changed hands many times. We headed down to town to discover more.
Our first stop was the flower stalls where you can buy an offering for Lord Buddha, these are mainly jasmine or lotus (much like a water lily) so you can imagine the scents and colours! The flowers were covered with bees so I kept my distance until the flower seller explained that they can't sting ..hmm?

We negotiated the queues, handed in our shoes and entered the shrine. Fantastic atmosphere was created by some impressive drummers. Upstairs I added my lotuses to many others and was in line of sight of the inner shrine when the doors were opened - gold, gold, gold!

After we went to get more vests for Zoran (!) and look for souvenirs but they were hard to find. We visited the central market where I got strong armed into ordering a silk tunic - much to Zoran's disgust. We bought some spices and bakery items and had a picnic next to the lake. It wasn't quite as we had intended as a skinny beggar got half my lunch - how could I refuse?! And we were mobbed by a huge pack.(murder) of crows, wanting the other half.

After returning to the villa my tailor turned up with a predictably badly made tunic. 😂. We walked along to river to Cinammon Citadel and had a glass of WINE!! The first in more than a week!Read more