A Rainforest and a Cultural Dance

The view from our balcony across the lake to the Temple of the Tooth.

Getting my shoes fixed.

At the gate to the park.

The rainforest.

Views of the city from the rainforest.

 The tuk tuk back in the rain.

 The cultural performance.

Fire walking.

Thursday, February 8^th.

John and I got up and worked on our computers for a bit. This was a free day for us in Kandy. There are optional things to do, and some people have opted for the trip to the botanical gardens, a few others to a spa and still others are just going for a self-guided walking tour and shopping. I was in the lobby on the computer and saw our guide Sam, who was just about to go out walking by himself. I asked if he wanted some company and he was good with that, so John and I joined him. We walked down the hill from the hotel past all the congested traffic to the main part of the city. I had mentioned to Sam that I would like to find a guy who could fix my Keene shoes as they were beginning to fall apart. He found a local man sitting on the sidewalk who could do it. Sam bartered a price and they settled for 200 rupees. But I needed both sides of each shoe done, so the guy wanted 800. Sam said that was cheeky and broke our deal. He told me to give him 500 ($4.08), which the guy accepted.

Then as we walked along the streets of Kandy I saw a camera shop and suddenly remembered a lense brush that one of the women on the Ethiopia trip had, so we went in there and they had the same model for 1000 rupees. So I bought it. When we left and we were walking down the street, the young salesman from the shop chased me down and gave me the metal water bottle I had left there. I cannot tell you how many times either John or I or both of us have left our water bottles in shops, restaurants or wherever.

From there Sam asked if we wanted to go on a hike through the Royal Forest Park, which is a lush rainforest up the hill from the city. We agreed and we began to walk there. When we got to the park is was wonderfully quiet after the noisy, honking traffic of the city. It was hot and humid in the city but a bit cooler and shadier here. We walked along a trail through a lush rainforest listening to the birds high up in the canopy. It was a lovely place to be. We followed a sign up another steep trail to a ‘viewpoint’ but discovered there was no view. We did, however, see a stream of small ants bivouacking along a series of roots. There were thousands of them. Then we returned to the trail. At that point it started to rain. At first we could hear it in the canopy but it didn’t reach the ground, but soon it did. We walked along and got totally soaked. The only worry was our cameras which we managed to protect, but other than that it was quite a nice walk, in warm rain. When we got back to the park entrance we took a tuk tuk through the crazy traffic back to the hotel. When we got back John discovered that he had picked up a couple of little leaches on his ankle that made him bleed on his bed.

John and I worked in the lobby for a bit. John washed some shorts in the bathroom sink and managed to flood the bathroom when he didn’t fully turn off the tap.

We met the group again at 3:30 and we all went to a cultural dance and drumming performance put on for the tourists. It was entertaining, with lots of beautiful costumes, some good dancing, a juggler and at the end some fire walking.

Then back to the hotel where we walked across the street for dinner. The restaurant had a great view of the city and really good food. John and I both had grilled sizzling cuttlefish and a beer. Then back to the hotel for the night.