An Offbeat Look at Beautiful Kandy

Our driver gave us some pitying looks after our famous climb and as he drove us into Kandy he recommended we sign up for an oil massage. In the hope that our pains would vanish we did and lo behold! The pain was actually gone!! We checked into Villa 49 - a quaint bungalow B&B near the Kandy Lake and a 5 min walk from the popular Tooth Relic Temple. However after a refreshing sleep we were disheartened to note the legs again cramped up and we were back to walking like penguins!! Almost everyone on the Kandy streets had that smug knowing look on their face when they saw us walking...some even asked with a grin 'Sripada?' or 'Adams Peak?' Nodding our heads we went around this quaint city.

Our first stop was a couple of ancient temples in and around Kandy- Gadaladeniya first. This temple was centuries old but made for an excellent getaway from the mad din of Kandy. There was hardly anyone in the complex, we sat around for more than an hour amply entertained by a small pup and finally left when our driver promised us the next temple complex was even better! :)

So we headed to the next temple- Lankatilaka- just 2 kms away from the first one. The stupa in this temple complex was huge, immediately making one feel humble and pensive. A lady here was screaming about seeing a snake that got AJ all excited even as I tried to veer him away from the idea of now setting after the snake!!

The views around this temple was a-m-a-z-i-n-g!!

Another look at this beautiful complex

All in all this was a morning to remember! Spent in as leisurely a manner as possible! As the afternoon set in we headed to the botanical garden in the hope of spending some more time peacefully relaxing in the shade of trees! The restaurant within was nice- offered decent lunch menu. We spent a lot of time by the small pond within as AJ discovered an entire animal kingdom in there! I find AJ's hobby very relaxing...more often than not he plonks himself on a nice perch and keeps looking for 'frames' to shoot. I just sit and watch him and his (sometimes hilarious) antics as he tries to get that perfect shot! :-)) Later when I 'chimp' on his camera, I see a whole new world through his eyes... a micro world that I didn't even know existed. So this time around I saw monitor lizards, Paradise fly catchers, Stork billed Kingfishers, turtles and much more through his lens at the botanical garden. It was disheartening to see a couple of foreigners chasing the monitor lizards around. AJ stepped up and asked them to stop. I wonder when we humans will ever stop believing the world around us is for us to mess with, we should be taught early on to respect our surroundings and let other animals live peacefully....sometimes wonder if that's how our folklore started creating 'animal-gods', so we can be taught to revere them...!

As the sunset, we got out of the garden and headed back to our B&B Inn. Our driver wasn't too happy with the place of stay since his car didn't get a good parking place, nor did he have a good room to stay in. However he was very good and never once let it affect us in any way. Next day we had an early morning agenda since our hostess tipped us off to visit the Tooth Relic Temple at 5:30 AM. It turned out to be a good tip as we had a very leisurely darshan. The temple itself is beautiful and very well maintained.

I find Sri Lanka a very tourist friendly nation, some of the folks in the temple saw us staring around unsure as to what to do. They not only guideed us, but one of the women gave me a lamp, oil and thiri to even light a lamp and offer my prayers. It was so very kind of her to do so and we really appreciated her gesture! :)

By the time we were done at this temple it was already 7:30, we headed out to the Kandy streets for a nice breakfast. Found an amazing veg south indian restaurant where we ate to our fill. Our next and only stop for the day was the elephant orphanage at Pinnawala- a small village 40 KMs from Kandy. I had been to Pinnawala on both my previous trips. It is a very touristy place... many folks who are not from India find elephants a very exotic sighting. And this orphanage houses 150 of them- some injured and others rescued. So it is but natural you visit this orphanage while at Lanka. Why I particularly like spending time here despite the crowds of people is, this place allows you to watch elephants in their natural behavior. The elephants are not chained and every activity that they partake in, the mahouts ensure they have their space and time. First up we took a tour of the orphanage itself. just as we got in one set of elephants were returning from their bath. As groups of elephants come in, you can't help but pause and appreciate how majestic these animals are- there is a strength and calm about them that evokes respect and inspires awe.

Once in, they were herded to a an area that is then cordoned off. The elephants busied themselves with a mud bath and some feeding. AJ got busy shooting their behavior while I sat in the shade (protecting myself from a bad tan) - yep am proud of myself! :P Many other things happening in the orphanage- feeding, baby orphan elephants that we can observe- 2 calves that were recently rescued when we visited. How cute were they really..!!

Then came my favorite part- watching the elephants bathe in the Maha Oya river. We walked across the road towards the river and found ourselves a nice spot in the restaurant overlooking the river. The idea was to spend a couple of hours watching the elephants bathe at leisure. The restaurant offered a buffet spread for about SLR 1000 pp. I had done this before and was eager to repeat the experience. AJ totally enjoyed it!! For nearly 2-3 hours we witnessed some amazing scenes as elephants and baby elephants frolicked in the river. At leisure we captured their arrival in the river:

Then we saw them split up into smaller groups and enter the deeper end of the river, families seemed to be together- typically a matriarch or two with a couple of kids. And boy did they enjoy being in the water. Sometimes I wonder if their ancestors were fish!!?? How can such unwieldy, bulky and awkward creatures be so at ease in water?? :D It's almost like watching a ballet or something, watching them in the river is that pleasing to the eye! :)

A couple of kids were literally stomping their mother in the water... strange though it may seem they were acting like monkeys :-)))

Ohh I can say this with reasonable confidence, if ever I go back to Lanka I would want to visit this place again! :)After this very peaceful visit we headed back in the evening and had a very relaxed dinner at a nearby restaurant.
All in all our stay at Kandy had proved to be very relaxing and fun. Tomorrow we were to move to Nuwara Eliya- and that's where we'd meet Pranava and Manoj! Yay! Couldn't wait to see them!!