After breakfast we drove four miles east of Kandy to the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens which are said to be the largest and finest in Sri Lanka. There were hundreds of mostly very small school children visiting the gardens with their teachers and we found out later that it is World Children's Day today so that is probably the reason. In any case a good many of them enjoyed trying out their English on us so there were many 'hellos’, ‘goodbyes’ a...

After our usual buffet breakfast in the Eidelweiss restaurant we set off in the car around 10 am heading north towards the Matale district which is part of the cultural triangle formed between Kandy and the other ancient capital cities of Sri Lanka. We were on a road we had not taken before, but it was just like all the others we have seen so far, that is narrow, winding, hot, dusty and very busy with many crazy drivers! As always the road was lined with many s...

After breakfast we headed down into Kandy town. We needed to find an ATM so had a bit of a wander round the central street soaking up the atmosphere before making our way down to this morning's target, The temple of the Tooth. It was even busier than we had come to expect and we found out that today is a public holiday. There is one month to celebrate the full moon and we might have guessed this after viewing the full moon last night! The temple of the Tooth re...

We set off with Hashan at about 10.30 am on the road to Nuwara Eliya, up in the hills. The road was narrow and very busy with lots of crazy drivers and we soon realised that, in Sri Lanka, the distance in miles may be short but the distance in time will be much, much longer than that! The road twisted and turned through many small villages. Small shops and stalls lined the road, and everywhere was lively and full of people shopping and going about their daily...

Again we woke early. Breakfast was a buffet, served in the lobby where tables had been set up. Sri Lankan in style it was all very good. Lots of lovely fruit! Hashan drove us the short trip down the steep hill into Kandy. It is a busy, bustling town, small shops of every kind and masses of people everywhere! We went in search of a pharmacy as I had a painful gum infection which had flared up and needed antibiotics. My memories of more than 30 years ago were th...