We
took the 1230 pm train from Nanu Oya to Kandy. Kandy is just a
hundred odd kilometers away and its climate is somewhat similar to
Nuwara Eliya. Pleasant. The town and its countryside, is lush and
green and there are many nice trails and treks starting from the
region. The capital of the last Sinhalese kings, the town has grown
enough to be known as the only other real city of Lanka other than
Colombo. The city is also home to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth
Relic, that supposedly preserves and guards one of the teeth of the
Buddha.
We
booked ourselves at a home-stay through AirBNB, but it took us
sometime to locate the address as our house owner, Gerard's phone was
switched off. Finally because of our map, and a very helpful tuk tuk
driver, we could able to locate the place just in time. I almost lost
my patience. Remember people in Sri Lanka do not know proper
addresses and can be misleading many times.
After
settling into the room, we quickly changed and stepped out to spent a
few hours exploring the hectic streets of Kandy and got a better feel
for Sri Lanka’s second largest city before heading to bed for the
night. W e took a quick de tour to The Temple of Tooth. The place was
over crowded as they were gearing up for the evening puja. And may I
ask where is the tooth? After a brief walk around the temple, we left
to have dinner.
The
next morning Gerard dropped us at a small restaurant close to Queens
for Breakfast. After which he took us in his car and dropped us at a
point on Peradaniya Road to walk back and explore. Given our early
start, we had plenty of time and we started our day with a store
selling exclusive Batik prints. After which we found Waruna Antiques.
Interesting place to shop. And do catch up for a casual chat if the
owner Waruna is there at the shop. I am going to do a separate post
on him, his store and the mad place he suggested. We continued
walking until we found a small but good store selling ceramics. As we
already saw the temple of tooth we decided to give it a skip in the
day and rather sit by the lake and relax. Do that because you will be amaze to see the kind of birds that flock to this lake.
What
to do in KANDY
- Explore the Temple of the Tooth leisurely as its a huge never ending former palace compound consisting of the temple, a library, the palace, a museum and a huge lake to relax.
- The temple can become quite crowded so make sure that you get there early to beat the queues.
- Walk around the complex of the historical Queen Hotel.
- Eat at Kandy Muslim Hotel for Buryani. Old Empire hotel for Lunch and The pub for drinks and dinner.
- Do try the Bake House for desserts.
- Drink Elephant Ginger Beer. Its non alcohol.
- Do visit Bahiravokanda Vihara Buddha Statue. You can climb on top of the Buddha statue site to get a beautiful view of the Kandy city.
Main entrance of The Temple of Tooth
The Temple of Tooth
Interiors of the entrance to The Temple of Tooth
Stunning wall murals in the passage leading to The Temple of Tooth
The passage leading to The Temple of Tooth
A musician playing flute at the Temple door
Interiors of the main Temple of Tooth
Another entrance leading to the Buddha temple
A wall mural depicting life of Buddha
The main temple entrance
Gold ornate ceiling inside the temple complex
National Museum complex in The Temple of Tooth
The Batik workshop
A lady giving final touch ups to the batik print
A tuk tuk driver near Queen's Hotel
View of the main street from the Queen's hotel reception
Tourist
The main complex of the Queen Hotel
One side is The Temple of Tooth and on other is the lake
Another view of The Temple of Tooth
Very beautiful and stunning backside of the lake
A duck relaxing near the lake
Next
GALLE.
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