On the move again today we are heading for the city of Kandy, the second largest city in Sri Lanka and a UNESCO world heritage site.
Our first stop was the Golden Temple, not too far from where we were staying . This is a very modern building with lots of elaborate decorations and statues. The most striking was the procession of monks climbing up from the gardens towards the temple. There were some lovely gardens here too.
Next to the temple was a school and you could see the children at their lessons. Abey told us that they were learning about the Buddha today as all of the children and their teacher were wearing white.
Our journey continued for some time and our next stop was to a spice and herb garden.
Our guide here was trained herbalist and he was able to talk to us about some of the plants in the garden and their medical properties. Sri Lanka has a tradition of herbal cures going back over time. He talked about the medicines he made and with the help of a masseur in training gave Mikey a face and shoulder massage. Of course at the end there was the walk through their shop which was quite interesting as there were many different cures on sale as well as various spice combinations for various curries.
We travelled on passing an elaborately decorated Hindu temple and through some interesting small towns . We stopped at a W W 2 cemetery but Abey was unable to tell us anything about the soldiers and sailors buried here. I think perhaps he learned more than we did as we could explain how to read the grave stones and how the cemetery is arranged just as they are in France and Belgium.
After a very good lunch, Abey seems to know a number of good places to eat, we got our first glimpse of Kandy. The city is set on a lake and there are green hills all around.
Our destination was to be the Temple of the Tooth, the most sacred temple in the whole of Sri Lanka.
The road to the temple is lined with stalls all selling elaborate arrangements of lotus flowers as well as single blooms. These are presented as offerings at the temple.
Passed security and into the temple, on the out side white walls and high doorways. Inside there are elaborate carvings and beautiful Sri Lankan frescos in very striking colours and patterns.
Offerings are made on a long table in front of the Buddha statue and there are chanting people everywhere going through their devotions . Every few minutes the table is cleared of offerings only to be completely covered again and again. No one seemed to mind. It was an interesting experience.
Our last visit for the day was to the Kandyan Cultural Centre to experience examples of drumming and dance. Costumes were very colourful and most quite elaborate. Dances reflected the movement of birds, skills needed for hunting, farming skills like winnowing and reaping. All the dancers were very graceful and the drumming very powerful! One of the dances also included fire eating which was quite dramatic. The performance ended with an exhibition of fire walking which is traced back to the ancient story of Rama and Sita.. it was very dramatic.
Such a full day we were glad to our 'home' for tonight in the very elegant Earl's Regency Hotel.
Such a beautiful place with quite complex walk ways and lift systems, so easy to get lost!!