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’ and ‘how are you’s’ to be said which was all good fun.

The gardens are certainly lovely: calm, green and shady. We saw the Palm Avenue, the beautiful orchids, the fern garden, the plant house, the giant bamboo and the Japanese garden amongst many exhibits but were completely unable to find the spice garden, and the giant Java Fig tree (for which the garden is famous) was obviously much too big for us to see as we couldn’t find that either! One big plus for the gardens is that the toilets there are clean, modern, airy and dry. No paddling through three inches of water to use the facilities. They definitely score a 9/10 in my book and definitely better than almost any we have encountered so far on this trip. The sky came over quite grey and we experienced our first rain shower since arriving in Sri Lanka. Very light though and it soon passed over.

Back in Kandy we went to visit the old British Garrison Cemetery which is up the hill behind the Temple of the Tooth and the National Museum, near the lake. This is a small cemetery which was in a great state of disrepair but has been beautifully restored and is now a peaceful and fitting last resting place for many of the city’s earliest British settlers who never met it back home. Many died in their infancy and few made it past their 20’s and 30’s, or so it seemed from looking at the gravestones which made touching reading. The guardian of the cemetery, an elderly but stately gentleman, showed us into the small chapel where we were able to read about the restoration and some newspaper cuttings from the time. There was also a lovely letter from Prince Charles who had been due to attend the re-opening but was prevented at the last moment for safety reasons as it was a period of unrest.

As we left the cemetery the guardian bade us a very gracious farewell. We walked back down to the lake just as a large troupe of monkeys passed by the temple gates, some with tiny babies clinging to their fronts. We paused to ooh and aah before walking along the lake’s edge and into Kandy main street. We had a bit of a walk about and soaked up the bustling atmosphere before stopping off at The Bake House for a vegetable pastry and a coffee. Reminder to self: coffee in Sri Lanka always arrives ready sweetened, so much so as to almost be a syrup. It is very sweet even without stirring and you will find an inch of sugar still sitting in the bottom of the cup! They still offer you extra sugar, though!! I guess that Sri Lankan people must have a really sweet tooth!!

Back at the hotel we had a late lunch of our favourite Sri Lankan style curry and rice. Vegetarian, as the meat is not particularly good. As well as a huge portion of steamed rice you get three different vegetable curries, dhal, coconut sambol and chutney all for just over £2!!

Today was another Super Eight Day and, because of the nightmare which is Pallekele Stadium, we decided to watch some of the first match on TV and go along later in time for the England match. This worked well and it was not quite such a crush entering the ground although the crowds were building up very quickly in anticipation of the home team’s match against England. As usual we were amazed by the complete lack of facilities for spectators as thousands of people were crammed in onto the grass embankment. We consider ourselves to be people who will have a go at just about anything but it is no fun trying to watch cricket when you are constantly being pushed and jostled in that sort of crush. Safety does not even seem to be a consideration as there are no walkways, no first aid facilities and no supervision of any kind. The majority of the Sri Lankan crowd seemed to be young, teenaged boys dancing around and hugging each other and screaming in a complete frenzy. Alcohol was definitely fuelling the frenzy and several young lads near us were staggering around and falling over completely legless. There were plenty of police around but they made no effort to supervise in any way and just stood at the back watching the cricket!

Of course, the pitch itself looks good and no doubt the cricketers have a much better time of it than the spectators. Unless they are England, that is!! Yet again we had to watch a match which our team should have won easily, but instead just gave it away. They bowl and field so well, and they can bat well too but somehow or other our top order batsmen just keel over and die! Such a pity, and very sad not to make the semi-finals. Still, being a spectator at Pallekele is definitely an experience we shall never forget, but for all the wrong reasons!!