Kandy

On the way to Kandy lies Dambulla, where there is a rock that rises 160 metres above the surrounding countryside. Near the top of that rock there are some caves where, a bit over two thousand years ago, some dedicated monks decided to build the Dambulla Cave Temples.

So we sweated our way up another hill, donned our knee-covering saris, removed our shoes and spent an hour or so in awe of the hundreds of statues of Buddha, Lord Vishnu and various other deities. It wasn’t only the statues, too. The walls and ceiling are entirely covered with murals - remarkably well preserved and quite artistic. It was a very worthwhile few hours.

The variety of edible fruits, vegetables and spices in Sri Lanka is simply amazing, and we are slowly being educated about them. One stop on our way here was a spice centre, where we were shown around the various plants from which the spices originate.

The spices have various medicinal and health-restoring properties; our guide may well have been a well-preserved ninety-year-old if he used them all regularly.

We continued our plant education in Kandy, with a visit to the huge Royal Botanic Garden, 59 hectares of every plant imaginable. In particular, we are now experts on bamboo, perfumed orchids and the stunning flowers of the cannonball tree.

Our inevitable cultural performance took place in Kandy, too, and it was very good. Once the main show was over we were herded into the car park, where some spectacular fire dancing took place.

Our final stop in Kandy was the Temple of the Sacred Tooth, a temple built near the royal palace to house the relic of one of the Buddha’s teeth. Apparently, whoever has the tooth relic gets to run the country, so it was quite important to the kings.

Since the tooth relic is only on display once in a blue moon, we didn’t get to see it - and didn’t really care, actually. The atmosphere in the temple, though, was something else. It was Sunday morning and the place was packed, mostly with locals out to do their devotions. There were lots of Sunday school kids as well, resplendent in their white outfits and with notebooks in hand.

We shuffled through the various chambers, enjoying the decorations, but it was really more about the hundreds of devotees, all with not a knee or shoulder in sight. By way of extra information, there are apparently 32 different sacred tooth relics scattered around the world.

From here we head to the high country to taste some tea.Read more