Today was spent seeing the sights of Kandy. Started off early to get to the Temple of the Tooth in time to witness the food offering ceremony….unfortunately so did every tourist in Kandy so it was packed and difficult to see. The ceremony is held daily as locals bring offerings of food to the monks. It has to be held early in the day as Buddhist monks cannot eat after midday. Within the temple complex there are a number of other important sights including the elephant museum, shrine room and of course the casket in which the tooth relic is enshrined.

The temple complex was very busy and we probably saw more people this morning than the whole time we have been in Sri Lanka!! There were huge groups of tiny school children there and we were amazed that they were all so well behaved. I was allowed to speak with one group who quizzed me on where I was from, why I had blond hair etc. One little boy then proudly told me in English that they were all 5 year old and were from Sri Lanka!!!! It was so hard not to laugh….

The Hill Capital of Kandy was the last bastion of the Sinhala kings and is a charming city offering a living record of a magnificent past and is set around an attractive man-made lake in scenic hill country. In the heart of the town is the Temple of the Tooth (Dalada Maligawa), the most important shrine in the country, which houses a relic of a tooth of Buddha taken from his funeral pyre in 543 BC. It is renowned for its daily 'Thewawa' ceremony. Each evening, the day's worship culminates when the casket containing the tooth relic is put on display to devotees who have travelled from all over the Buddhist world.

We also visited the Gem museum to learn about the history of gemstones in Sri Lanka. This country is famous for its cornflower blue and star sapphires …….. Needless to say a few of us are now the proud owners of said gemstones…….including yours truly who purchased a lovely grey star sapphire ring !!

In the afternoon we headed to the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens which were delightful. I particularly liked the orchid house where I saw some orchids that are unique to Sri Lanka – see my photos as I could not possibly find the words to describe them.

In the evening we attended a cultural dance show along with every tourist who was in town that night. It was OK but I find that these shows put on for the benefit of tourists tend to be a bit ho hum. After the show we headed into town to try some of the local street food.

Kandy is surrounded by the Knuckles Mountain Range and the town itself is full of steep narrow streets where driving is treacherous to say the least. The road up to our hotel is a challenge for our bus driver and heaven help us when another bus comes down!!! I even did the trip in a tuk-tuk at night and that was definitely a hair raising experience!!