This morning we spent close to two hours in the botanical garden of Kandy. Originally only open to Kandy royals, these beautiful gardens are now open to everyone.
From the gardens we continued our trip towards tea country …
Category Archives: 2016:Sri Lanka
More of Kandy …
Today was a free day and a welcome opportunity to sleep a slight bit longer. Most of us made it to downtown after (a late) breakfast; for me it was more sightseeing around the temple of the tooth, a walk around the lake – and the first real espresso since my transfer in Amsterdam.
We got together again in the evening for a Kandyan Dance Performance. The performance turned out fairly touristic; I am not so sure, if all that dancing was indeed Kandy or even Sri Lanka style – – – at least the part with balancing those revolving plates … I am sure, I have seen that before (maybe the acrobats in Beijing?). Anyhow – the show was entertaining enough 😉
After the show we made it to a Tamil restaurant for dinner – followed by a visit to a dodgy bar (the bar turned out completely fine … so nothing dodgy here).
Kandy – Market & Temple of the Tooth
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From Dambulla we continued towards Kandy. En-route we had a stop at a spice garden – where we got a good introduction into spice production, before making it over to the showroom for the sales pitch; lunch came together with … Continue reading
Dambulla Cave Temples
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This morning we had an early start once more, again to beat the crowds – this time at the Dambulla Cave Temples. The place has a history of more than two thousand years; there are a total of five caves … Continue reading
Dambulla Vegetable Market
We made it to the hotel in Dambulla in the late afternoon. Most wanted a break after all that sightseeing and (even more so) after all the food.
We met up again in the evening for a visit to Dambulla’s wholesale vegetable market – to get a glimpse of Sri Lanka’s diversity, when it comes to fruit and vegetables.
As most of us were still pretty full from our late buffet lunch, many of the group joined in for a snackfood crawl in downtown Dambully. Priya here gave us an introduction to classic Sri Lankan snack foods – instead of dinner, we were essentially snacking through, trying bits here and pieces there … good flavors and just the right amount of food.
Polonnaruwa
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For a good portion of the period from the 11th into the 13th century Polonnaruwa had been the capital of Sri Lanka, as well as a major commercial and religious center – – today all, what remains, is essentially a … Continue reading
Game Drive in Kaudulla National Park
This was a busy day – and it was not over yet.
After we had climbed down Sigiriya again, we made our way for a restaurant for a late lunch; after lunch we swapped our bus with 4WDs and continued for a game drive in Kaudulla National Park.
We soon discovered, what the park is famous for: the elephants. We saw hundreds of those, including many tuskers (i.e. elephants with tusks; not so easy to spot in Sri Lanka, as only about 5% of the male population have tusks here) – so very lucky. We were also lucky with the weather (as already for the whole day) – blue skies mingling with some very photogenic clouds – a perfect day for elephant watching.
The real fun part of the game drive – however – was the way back. With many of the roads in the park flooded, the way back turned into a 4WD mud fight – with loads of ups and downs beside the road and many of those downs straight into another pool of mud; driving obviously included loads of drifting (any direction) – – the experience overall felt a bit like a hectic roller coaster or log flume ride in an amusement park – not to mention, that is was great fun 😉
Sigiriya – Lion Rock
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From Aukana we continued to Sigiriya and one of Sri Lanka’s main landmarks – the Sigiriya ancient rock fortress, aka as Lion Rock. The history of the rock fortress goes back to the late 5th century and the reign of … Continue reading
Aukana Buddha
Today we had a very busy schedule ahead of us. We kicked it off with a visit of the Aukana Buddha in the morning (actually another early one – helped with the tight schedule and also to – once more – beat the crowds).
So it was shoes off and temple clothing once again, before we made it to the Aukana Buddha. The statue itself dates back to the 5th century and the reign of king Dhatusena (though there are some sources, that put it to much later) – and is an amazing piece of craftsmanship with intricately carved details and features – the robe just looks real …
Anuradhapura
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From Mihintale we continued straight to the Anuradhapura heritage site (UNESCO recognized) – a mere half hour away. We started our journey around the site at the Sri Maha Bodhi, the sacred bodhi tree – and supposedly the oldest tree … Continue reading