Travels with Kathryn

Today we were leaving the jungle and heading into the hill country (I do love a hill).

Kandy was the last capital of the kings and final holdout against colonial rule and even when the British attacked in 1803 they were able to defend their borders. However, in 1815 the Kandayans dissatisfied with their king, sought British assitance and sovereignty of the area was ceeded to the British Crown – although some rights of Kandyan chiefs were retained. This did not last long as when the chiefs tried to rebel in 1818 this was quashed by the British ending 2,300 years of independent rule in Sri Lanka. Today Kandy is home to another of the key tourists stop as it is also tge most sacred Buddhist temple sight in Sri Lanka – the UNESCO World Heritage listed Temple of the Tooth (more on this tomorrow).

However, I am (as usual) getting ahead of myself. I awoke just before 8am as the pool opened at 8am intending to have a swim before our 9am departure. However, I was thwarted by a rather laid back pool man so instead just had a leisurely getting myself up and ready (far nicer than a 5am rush up a mountain). This was probably a good thing as it took two thorough shampoos to get all of yesterday’s massage oil out of my hair! Feels very soft though.

We were barely an hour outside of Dambulla before our guide (Janith) decided we were probably starving to death so we stopped at a small mango farm for a light snack of around a kilo of mango. Utterly delicious.

Having reached Matale we stopped for a tour of a spice farm. This is known as the region where the best spices in Sri Lanka come from and obviously the tour came with an exit through gift shop. However, it was actually an excellent tour where the man kept needing someone to rub things onto and I was a willing volunteer – a massage of the temples, a neck and arm shoulder massage with sandlewood and then a face application of “beauty cream” and a leg massage with something minty. I also brought for the princely sum of about £10 a bag of cinnamon sticks (which taste a little bit sweet in Sri Lanka), a bag of nutmegs, a bag of peppercorns and two pre-mixed spices for curry i.e. I am very focused on meeting my new year’s resolution of cooking more for people.

Traffic was building as we got closer to Kandy, more tourist buses, but also trying to drive a bus at school kicking out time. In Sri Lanka the school day starts at 8am and finishes at 2pm, with one 20 minute break in the middle. Therefore an immediate snack is often required so we stopped off for another round of kade and samosas. We were even allowed to eat them on the bus which felt like a big treat.

Kandy is a lovely city as it has, at its centre, a lake and 38 buildings which are UNESCO World Heritage sites. After a quick check in we were dropped off in the centre of town (it is not big) for a walking tour and general overview. We will have more time to explore and therefore expect more detail, snippets pf history and photos tomorrow. We started at the western end at the central market. I shall absolutely be returning here as well tomorrow as I feel the need to do a little light shopping, and there seemed to be lots of fabric and tourist tat options. Therefore, I mainly focussed today on the food available:

There was even time for a short walk around the lake, and again, more photos tomorrow, but I was rather pleased with this one which is looking back at the Queen’s bath house:

Tonight we were headed to what is probably mandatory for all tourists in Kandy, a dance show at the Kandy Lake Club. I feel that they are certainly a common feature of Intrepid tours and I generally attend them with an air of trepidation. Whilst it is certainly interesting to see traditional forms of local dance, and I am sure the dancers appreciate the employment, it feels very touristy and very forced. This was a classic example in my opinion, I could appreciate the skill of the dancers, and some of the costumes were lovely, but I would say that an hour long performance was enough…

Dinner tonight was dosas (where I felt much the expert in explaining to some members of my group actually what they are and recommending a masala dosa) which were very nice, although, obviously South Indian rather than Sri Lankan (I did feel I was cheating slightly). After which it was back to the hotel for a rather cold swim (the weather has been a bit cooler and wetter than I would like) and then bed.

As a final note, I am generally very good at remembering, yet I failed to remember Joss’ birthday today. I am hoping this mention here keeps her going until she receives her actual card and gift. Hopefully? Maybe?