Kandy

The fruit markets.

Tour of the spice farm.

Selling products.

Working the fields behind the garden.

Rice fields.

Kandy traffic.

Lunch at Sthree

Sri Dalada Maligawa complex and....

The Temple of the Tooth.

Buddha's flag.

Devotees singing and chanting.

The Temple of the Tooth.

Wednesday, February 7^th.

After breakfast this morning I went back to the room to clean my teeth and found myself locked out of the room. The key would not turn the lock. A maintenance man had to come over and dissemble the lock for me to get in. That took over a half hour and I was the last one to the bus.

Then we set out to drive to Kandy. We stopped first at a fruit market where I learned there are forty varieties of bananas in Sri Lanka. The we stopped at Ranweli Spice Farm in Matale. We hired a local tour guide who walked us through the farm. It consisted of a large number of trees and bushes that grew things like: pepper, cardamom, vanilla, ginger, coffee, cocoa, cinnamon, etc. I learned that there are four types of pepper (green, white, black and red) and they all grow on the one plant. They are just harvested at different times. Our guide was more like a doctor than a spice expert, he had lots of advice for us, including eat ½ your food, exercise twice as much as you intended and love three times more.

After that we drove through the countryside and through a number of towns. The traffic was very busy. John and I were in the front seats and we watched in awe as our driver weaved in and out of the traffic which didn’t seem to the follow the rules of the lane but somehow it worked. I have to say though that I would not want to ride my bicycle or motorcycle over here as the biggest vehicle wins, all the time. 

Eventually we arrived in the city of Kandy and immediately headed for the GAdventures supported Sthree Craft Shop and Café. We had a delicious lunch of local delicacies. They we shopped in the store and most of us bought something to help support this social enterprise that offers opportunities for local women and youth living with disabilities, through handicraft and hospitality training. I bought a little braided bracelet. This is the type of local initiative that GAdventures likes to support and thereby give back to the community.

Then we drove to Sri Dalada Maligawa Sacred Tooth Temple. Here rumour has it, is one of the teeth of Lord Buddha that was taken from his dead body before his it was cremated. We spent a couple of hours touring the large site, listening to the history that Sam told us, watching the devote worship and pray and exploring. There is a large festival that happens here in August with elephants and monks, but it is busy pretty much all year. I learned about the flag of Buddha, the colours representing, from right to left, his eyes, his hear, his blood, his teeth and his skin.

After that we loaded up on the van again and drove to our hotel for the next two nights. Our balcony has an overlook of the Tooth Temple complex. We checked and had a couple of hours of down time before meeting up for dinner. We drove back into the city to an Indian restaurant. We had a couple of drinks and a good meal while have some laughs.