Kandy1


\HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN	\NEGOMBO	\TISSAMAHARAMA	\ELLA	\KANDY	\COLOMBO	\\LINKS	\CONTACTS
And do you know what happens when you take all the spices and chilies out of Sri Lankan food? Well, let's just say it's not Sri Lankan food anymore! We were taken to the above-mentioned tourist restaurant by our driver, who thought he was doing us a favour. The next day, we made sure he took us to a restaurant WITH spices and chilies.A fiesta in my mouth! Kandy, the second-largest city in Sri Lanka, was magical. Not only was it a very fascinating old city, it was our base for visiting some other fantastic places. Kandy is known for, among other things, the Temple of the Tooth, a Buddhist temple where one of the Buddha's teeth resides in splendour. In 1998, the front of the temple was unfortunately blown up Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bombers who detonated a massive truck bomb, killing and injuring many innocent civilians. They have done a wonderful job restoring the temple, which is a very sacred place for Buddhists. We stayed at the Comfort Lodge on Rajapihilla Mawatha. We loved it. It was up the hill and far enough away from the city centre that it was quiet and peaceful, yet we could walk into the town centre, or take a tuktuk. At $18 US/night, our room was a steal, and the service was great. (More info in the Contacts section.) We would come home from a hard day of sightseeing and relax on our private balcony with tea and beer and fruit juice! If you want to read more about Kandy, have a look at http://www.kandycity.org/index-1.html or do some Googling of your own.
MORE KANDY PHOTOS ON [PAGE 2] [PAGE 3] [PAGE 4] [PAGE 5] [PAGE 6] [PAGE 7] [THE TRAIN RIDE FROM ELLA]

\HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN

\NEGOMBO

\TISSAMAHARAMA

\ELLA

\KANDY

\COLOMBO

\\LINKS

\CONTACTS

And do you know what happens when you take all the spices and chilies out of Sri Lankan food? Well, let's just say it's not Sri Lankan food anymore! We were taken to the above-mentioned tourist restaurant by our driver, who thought he was doing us a favour. The next day, we made sure he took us to a restaurant WITH spices and chilies.A fiesta in my mouth!

Kandy, the second-largest city in Sri Lanka, was magical. Not only was it a very fascinating old city, it was our base for visiting some other fantastic places. Kandy is known for, among other things, the Temple of the Tooth, a Buddhist temple where one of the Buddha's teeth resides in splendour. In 1998, the front of the temple was unfortunately blown up Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bombers who detonated a massive truck bomb, killing and injuring many innocent civilians. They have done a wonderful job restoring the temple, which is a very sacred place for Buddhists.

We stayed at the Comfort Lodge on Rajapihilla Mawatha. We loved it. It was up the hill and far enough away from the city centre that it was quiet and peaceful, yet we could walk into the town centre, or take a tuktuk. At $18 US/night, our room was a steal, and the service was great. (More info in the Contacts section.) We would come home from a hard day of sightseeing and relax on our private balcony with tea and beer and fruit juice!

If you want to read more about Kandy, have a look at http://www.kandycity.org/index-1.html or do some Googling of your own.

MORE KANDY PHOTOS ON [PAGE 2] [PAGE 3] [PAGE 4] [PAGE 5] [PAGE 6] [PAGE 7] [THE TRAIN RIDE FROM ELLA]


Women sweeping the streets on a morning in Kandy.	A view of Kandy and the artificial lake, which (king) Sri Wickrama Rajasinha constructed in 1807 on the site of rice paddy fields.

This island was the site of Rajasinha's "pleasure house", home to his personal harem. Now it is home to the various birds who frequent the lake. I think King Gordon might like his own island, complete with "pleasure house". Just so long as I get one too!	Another view of the lake and island, with a giant Buddha on the hill.

The British Garrison Cemetery, opened in 1822, with a Buddhist dagoba in the background. We were shown around this place by the caretaker, Charles Carmichael, who told us fascinating stories about the various colonial Brits buried there. One was stomped to death by an elephant, many succumbed to malaria, and one woman died of a broken heart after her husband lost the famly fortune in the great coffee crop failure Sri Lanka experienced in the 1870s. After her death, the husband switched to tea plantations and got rich again. Mrs. Whatever-her-name-was should have waited around! Mr. Carmichael speaks impeccable English and is a wealth of information. Well worth a visit, and do make a donation.	The Queen's Hotel in Kandy. It was damaged in the Temple of the Tooth bombing in 1998, but has been completely restored. I had some reeeally good devilled chicken there! We had dinner here with a very nice American couple we met at a Kandyan dance show. They and Gordon had sandwiches, but I had "real" Sri Lankan food, something I tried to do for almost all the meals of my trip. But then, I do have a great love for curry. And pineapple. And papaya. And mango. And why am I back in Canada eating apples and bananas and oranges again? Waaaaah!

Just a part of the Temple of the Tooth.	Kandy signage. It's good not to honk!

I did this several times a day, every day. Sri Lankan tea is very very very very very very good! Caffeine sustains me. It's all the fault of my English parents, who allegedly bottle-fed me milky tea.	The view from the Comfort Lodge balcony, after a rare (for our visit) rainshower. We had a lovely balcony, but you had to be extremely careful to remember to keep all the doors and windows to the room closed when you left, even if you were just nipping into the bathroom. Otherwise, it could be monkey free-for-all. They love to invade hotel rooms and help themselves to anything.
MORE KANDY PHOTOS ON [PAGE 2] [PAGE 3] [PAGE 4] [PAGE 5] [PAGE 6] [PAGE 7] [THE TRAIN RIDE FROM ELLA]
All photos and text copyright Natalie Rowe 2008 - Stealing brings bad karma. Don't make me set my lawyer-husband upon you!