Day 12 - Kandy —> Sigiriya

Back-to-back travel days for us and Winston … not much time in Kandy (with a K) but we definitely made the most of it before Winston was loaded up and off to Sigiriya.

Today’s low-down …

Woke up to a rainbow 🌈 and later double-rainbow 🌈🌈 (anyone else remember double rainbow guy from Tosh.O?)! With that, we knew today was going to be a day we didn’t have to use our AK (i.e., a good day ~ Ice Cube).

Off early with our new personal Tuk Tuk driver (the “off road master”) to the Temple of the Tooth.

Now we all know Mike is big into dental hygiene so this temple is BIG for him. There were some debates if Buddha also had good dental hygiene or if his tooth was going to be a bit yellow’d. Read on to find out if 🦷 was 🤍 or 💛.

The Temple of the Tooth was probably my favorite Temple visit yet. And not just here in Sri Lanka but compared to Thailand as well. It wasn’t due to the temple size, architecture or that it housed Buddha’s tooth but because we were “hand selected” for a private tour of the temple (aka we got pegged as fuzzy foreigners and an easy target for quick cash by a local). This older gentleman (let’s call him Mitch) guided us around and shared fun facts as we went along. The knowledge and time taken to really explain the details and history made it mean so much more. Much of what we saw and pics taken would have never happened without Mitch.

Fun facts from Mitch (that I remember or jotted down):

1. 1600 years ago, Buddha’s tooth traveled from India to Sri Lanka hidden in the hair of a Princess from India to save it from being destroyed.

2. Buddha’s tooth first arrived in Colombo before moving to Kandy.

3. The original Kandy temple for the tooth was built in 1852. Then the temple around the original tooth temple was built in 1987 to protect the original.

4. Buddha’s tooth is not displayed to the public but is encapsulated within many gold and gem covered “caskets” … 7 actually.

5. Every year, there is a Buddha tooth parade; July 30th - August 8th. Where an elephant has a replica of the tooth on its back and parades it around Kandy, along with 74 other elephants.

So … after all of that, no answer if Buddha was a twice a day tooth-brusher like Mike or not. 🫩

After the Temple of the Tooth, we headed to do a little more gem 💎 shopping but at a different place. Much better feel here and think we did well! The negotiations were like buying a car (which I’m the WORST at) so I actually excused myself to call the hotel so I didn’t blow Mike’s approach.

Once Mike closed the deal, we were headed back to hotel to pack up, eat lunch and head to Sigiriya.

Today we hit the first real rain in Winston. Had to drop and latch the sides to keep us dry but talk about a sweat box. Humid city! And a few spots in the drop top were compromised so a sporadic drops on my lap, and shoulder were pretty cool. So once the rain stopped and seemed clear, we rolled the sides back up and let Winston air out. Total drive time in Winston with minimal stops = 3 hours.

The real fun was right at the tail end of our drive when anticipation was high to get to Jetwing Hotel (a hotel brand here) when Google took us to the wrong hotel… I mean one would seem NBD but it kind of was. We were already deep off the main road and on a dirt road, so the re-routing shortcut was “smooth sailing”.

I held all questions as to “what next?” since I could feel the tension in the throttle as Mike had Winston wide open and took to the path like moto-cross. Good news is that we made it and the place is another level of peace and beauty.

The Jetwing Vil Uyana are individual villas or bungalows 🤷🏽‍♀️, on a lake. The main part of the hotel is surrounded by water as well, and the place screams tranquility (if that’s even possible to be bolth).

Long day equated for shower and dinner, then snooze. Up early for a big hike up to Lions Rock bright and early!

Hugs! M&ARead more