Sri Lanka

Day 4: Ulagalla to Kandy

Dambulla Caves (Golden Temple)

The Golden Temple was donated by King Walagambahu in the 1st century BC to Buddhist monks. Dambulla is a World Heritage site and is the most impressive of Sri Lanka’s cave temples. The complex of five caves with over 2000 sq. metres of painted walls and the ceiling is the largest area of paintings found in the world. These caves contain over 150 images of the Buddha of which the largest is the colossal figure of the Buddha carved out of rock spanning 14 metres.

Dambulla also has the largest fruit and vegetable market in Sri Lanka, and is open 24 hours a day.

: Hindu Temple

: Hindu Temple

: Sleeping Buddha

: A sculpture of the God Ganesh. God’s wear acorn hats, Buddha’s don’t…

Kandy House

The ancestral home of one of Kandy’s most influential aristocratic families, Ratwatte Walauwa, Kandy House was built by Chief Minister Ratwatte Adigar in 1804. Filled with antique furniture, there are seven luxury suites set around a central courtyard.

: View from bedroom

: Dining area

: View from dining area

: Bedroom

: Bath

: Bathroom

: Bathroom

: Bedroom

: Sitting room

: Bed

Day 5: Kandy

Temple of the Tooth (Sri Dalada Maligawa)

According to legend, this tooth was taken from the Buddha as he lay on his funeral pyre. It was smuggled to Sri Lanka in 313 AD, hidden in the hair of Princess Hemamali who fled the Hindu armies besieging her father’s kingdom in India.

It immediately became an object of great reverence and was enshrined in a series of nested jewelled reliquaries. The tooth was brought out for special occasions and paraded on the backs of elephants, where it survived numerous attempts to capture and destroy it.

When the capital of Sri Lanka was moved to Kandy, the tooth was brought here and placed in temples built to honour it. The temple was originally built under Kandyan kings between 1687 and 1707, but later severely damaged during the 18th-century colonial wars against the Portuguese and Dutch. After the wars, the original wooden structures were restored in stone.

Three times a day a ritual is performed where Buddhist monks bring offerings of food to the tooth…..

: Tuk Tuk

: Lotus flower offering at the Temple of the Tooth

: Lotus flower offering at the Temple of the Tooth

: An elephant transporter

: The pages of the earliest books written by the Buddhist monks were made from dried bamboo leaves

: The tooth is housed in this nondescript inner sanctum

: Painted ceiling

Peradeniya Botanical Gardens

The botanical gardens in Kandy include more than 4000 species of plants, including of orchids, spices, medicinal plants and palm trees. They date as far back as 1371 when King Wickramabahu III ascended the throne and kept court at Peradeniya near Mahaweli river. This was followed by King Kirti Sri and King Rajadhi Rajasinghe. A temple was built on this location by King Wimala Dharma, but it was destroyed by the British when they were given control over the Kingdom of Kandy. During the Second World War, the Botanical Garden was used by Lord Louis Mountbatten, the supreme commander of the allied forces in the South Asia, as the headquarters of the South East Asia Command.

: A Jackfruit tree – it’s fruits can weigh up to 36 kgs (the largest tree-borne fruit in the world)

: The orchid house

: The orchid house

: The orchid house

: The orchid house

: The Avenue of Palms

: The Avenue of Palms

: Suspension bridge – only six people at a time can cross

: Bamboo

: Bamboo – the fastest growing plant in the world

: A colony of fruit bats

: A colony of fruit bats

: A colony of fruit bats

On the road in Kandy

: Hindu temples

A cultural show

Day 6: Kandy – Hatton

On the road….

: The Mahaweli river – the longest in Sri Lanka

: The cemetery in Kandy, home of the graves of the unknown soldiers

: Oak Ray Woodcarving factory – the biggest in Sri Lanka

: Oak Ray Woodcarving factory

: Already sold to the UK for $5,000 inc. shipping!

: First sight of a tea plantation

: Shops decorated to signify a Tamil festival

: A Tamil procession

: A Tamil procession

: My hotel

Ceylon Tea Trails – Tientsin Bungalow

Nestled in a small valley and surrounded by the rolling hills of the Bogawantalawa region, the Ceylon Tea Trails is made up of four classic, colonial style bungalows each housing 4-6 rooms. A private chef and butler service was provided….pampered, moi?