With the ongoing pandemic, 2020 has been one of the worst years we are going through. Given the unprecedented scale of economic and social impact on several sectors especially tourism, it is estimated to take many years before things can bounce back to normal and for most of us, a new paradigm of normalcy is likely to prevail. Amid this turmoil, I do not see myself venture into travel anytime soon. Whilst I wish I could have posted a real-time travel blog, I felt it is a rather good time to share about my recent travel at the end of 2019.
As 2019 was a hectic year and we hardly had a chance to travel, a relaxing holiday was the need of the moment to escape from the monotony. We planned to head out during the first week of December before several people flock to the touristy places to celebrate Christmas and New Year. Just as we were listing down places to go, our neighboring friends who had already planned to visit Sri Lanka around the same time invited us to join them. This tropical paradise seemed to be the perfect gateway to experience the history, culture, and beaches. As we had just 5 days to spare, plus the travel time of only an hour and also to tag along with friends, we couldn't have planned any better.
We chose a 4N and 5D package (1 night in Kandy, 2 nights in Bentota, and 1 night in Colombo) all arranged by a tour operator who also happens to be our neighbor's relatives.
Ours was an early morning flight and we landed in Colombo at 5 AM. After finishing the immigration checks we headed to Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage on the way to Kandy. We traveled in a Toyota Hiace for almost our entire trip and most of our journey to Kandy was alongside the hills and long stretches of serene green coconut plantations which reminded me of Kerala, India. Our chauffeur informed us that Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage has more than 70 elephants and is home to the herd of the largest captive elephants in the world!!! Orphan baby elephants wandering in the wild, injured elephants are brought into Pinnawala, tamed and nurtured here. We were thrilled watching a herd of elephants walk and play along freely. If it interests, you can indulge in activities such as bathing and feeding the elephants.
A visit to the art and craft showroom situated right next to the Pinnawala camp is highly recommended and as you move around, do not miss to taste the king coconut which is native to the country, and is much sweeter than the usual coconuts. You will find King coconut almost everywhere you go and wears the color orange.
Our next stop was at a spice garden and a staff at the garden walked us around green pepper, cinnamon, lemongrass, ginger, cardamon, neem, etc plantations citing their medicinal benefits. They also sell several Ayurveda products which they claim to cure many skin and joint ailments.
Kandy is roughly around 3 hours from Colombo and we reached there close to noon as we had stopped in between at major attractions en-route. Also, being a hilltop destination, the roads were not wide enough, and driving fast was not at all an option. Our cab driver insisted on completing the sightseeing tour of Kandy and then head to the hotel but we drained without a proper night's sleep and wanted to get freshened up first and then continue our sightseeing activity. After having a quick shower and lunch we were excited to see what Kandy had to offer.
Kandy is the second-largest city in the country and is also known as the cultural capital because of its historical significance and is listed by UNESCO as a world heritage site. Here is what we did in Kandy.
Temple Tooth of the Sacred Relic - Sri Lanka is a land with diverse religious communities and Buddhism is the most followed religion. About 70% of people in the country follow Buddhism. The temple tooth of the sacred relic is considered to be one of the most sacred places of worship for Buddhists, not only here but across the globe. The temple is located within the royal kingdom complex of the city. The area is quite vast and has several smaller shrines. There are multiple sections within the premises to light lamps and incense sticks. As part of offering their prayers to Lord Buddha, people worship the Bodhi tree and share a belief in a ritual of tying pieces of cloth around the branches of the tree and wish that their desires come true.
After the deadly Easter bombings of 2019, there are stringent security checks in place when you enter the main shrine. The entrance to the temple is 1500 LKR. We could neither find a guide nor find any brochures citing the importance of the place. Being a Lankan citizen, our cab driver was well versed with the history and culture of the country and was happy to take us around and share worthwhile information.
As the name suggests, Lord Buddha's tooth is preserved in a golden casket at the main shrine. It is believed that the tooth was taken from his funeral pyre in India and hidden in a princess's hair and brought to Anuradhapura. Over the years, the tooth was moved across cities as the kingdom's capital kept on changing and the relic was finally built in Kandy, which was the last capital of the king's era.
At the main shrine, prayers are held in the morning, noon, and in the evenings. The temple reflects the Kandyan architecture comprising of slant roofs, long white walls, carved and painted pillars. Buddhist flags are visible across several places in and around the shrines.
Located next to the main shrine, is a huge hall displaying several statues of Lord Buddha and paintings depicting the movement of the tooth before the relic was built. The ceiling is decorated with golden lotus petals.
The royal palace is situated in the northern part of the temple complex and is believed to be 400 years old. We could not visit the palace as it was closed due to security reasons. A dress code to keep in mind whilst visiting the relic is to keep the shoulders and knees covered and avoid complete black clothing.
On exiting the temple premises, we were able to clearly see the Big Buddha, a huge white statue of the Lord, located on a hilltop and which can be seen from most places in Kandy.
Kandy Lake - Situated close to the temple premises is the famous man-made Kandy lake. While boat ride experience is available on the lake, we chose to take a stroll around. Soon the sky went dark and we were exhausted, it was time to head back for a peaceful rest at our hotel, Earl's Regency - Kandy Lakehttps://www.aitkenspencehotels.com/earlsregency/.
The following day began with a visit to the Kandy war memorial, a cemetery to honor the soldiers who died during World War II fighting for the Britishers. Next to the cemetery, you will see the Mahaweli river, the longest river in Sri Lanka.
A trip to the country is incomplete without visiting the gem museum and tea factory and we didn't miss out on either of these.
At the gem museum, we saw a short documentary on how gems are extracted and on display were several variants of topaz such as blue and smoky topaz, amethysts, quartz, emerald, moonstone, garnet, ruby, blue sapphires, etc. If you wish to buy the precious gem, blue sapphire mostly found in Sri Lanka, it is suggested to consult with an astrologer before you invest in this gem, as for most people, it is believed to cause more harm than good.
Next, we visited Embilmeegama Tea Factory and saw the process of producing and packaging tea. At the end of this short tour, we got to taste their vast variety of flavored teas.
We missed covering the Peradeniya botanical garden and the cultural show in Kandy. Nevertheless, we visited what best we could in the time we had. Sri Lanka is relatively a pocket-friendly destination and with proper planning, you can cover many places in a tight budget. However, food is a costly affair in the country and for vegetarians, the options are minimal. Local sightseeing in Kandy can be managed well with a Tuk-Tuk (local auto), just make sure to bargain hard and hire it for an entire day to cover multiple places. Also, you can interact with the locals around and gather insights about their life and culture. With this, we bid goodbye to Kandy and headed to our next destination, Bentota, which is a drive of 4 hours from Kandy.
On our way to Bentota, it started raining and did not stop until the end of the day. These were unexpected showers as the place hardly receives rainfall during the year-end. Due to the rain, we could not venture into any outdoor activities and went to an art and handicraft showroom to finish our souvenir shopping and picked up a few fridge magnets and a demon/Raksha mask. Masks are mostly used in traditional Sri Lankan dances. They are also hanged in front of the houses to cast away the evil eye.
Having nothing much left to do, we headed to our place of stay in Bentota, Cinnamon Bey Resort. The resort had a huge inflow of tourists and we had to wait almost for an hour to get access to our rooms. Meanwhile, we managed to explore the huge property and click some pictures. That's it for now and my next post would cover the popular beach side destinations in the island nation.
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