Day 12: Whoopsie

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We had breakfast at the hostel (coconut roti with honey or chilli pickle. I combined the 2 at one point and it tasted like what Winnie the Pooh would order at a takeaway.) At 10am we were greeted by the hotel hired taxi man, who would take us around the country for the next week.



Car wise this was the best thing we’d travelled in, a black 4x4 which was spacious and with seat holders. The gentleman’s driving was somewhat erratic at times, loved an overtake on a bend, but we didn’t mind because soon we would be in Kandy where we were to spend the next days.



Or so we thought.



There was a moment as we tried to find the hotel in the hills outside Kandy, where the gentleman in question, not listening to us at all as we pointed out where google maps was telling us to go, or the woman who came from her house to tell him the same thing. During this time Meg looked at her phone and realised we had gone to the wrong place, and had infact booked Habarana hotels for the next 2 nights. Disaster. As we were right next to our hotel for the evening, we decided to go there and see what they could do. The owner (a wealthy doctor who has seemingly retired, and his wife.) were happy to accommodate us for the night, and after speaking to the Airbnb hotel in Habarana, it was agreed we would spend one night in Kandy 2 nights in Habarana and then one further night in Kandy. Problem solved.



The reason we had picked this particular hotel was that it was on the side of a hill and looked out over the jungle. We were not disappointed. The view goes for miles, hills upon hills, the occasional building poking our amongst the trees. Our room was inhabited by a small Gecko (his name is Steve.) Once we had sorted the hotel situation we then set off into town to see what we could find.



By this point it was 4pm and our options were limited. We walked to the Big Buddha statue, which was on our side of town in the hills just outside Kandy. It took about 30 minutes from the hotel, a scenic walk through the edge of the jungle. It isn’t the hardest thing to find to be honest, being a giant white buddha staring out over the city, and after a sharp winding path up the hill we got there. Entry was 300 sri lankan rupees each (210 is one English pound.) and we were to leave our shoes at the door. You can ascend some stairs to e top of the statue, and view other (non kodak) artefacts inside through the windows. Meg seems to think the face of the statue is creepy, but I disagree. Feel free to google and make your own opinion (I’m right.)



We then headed back down the hill and into Kandy itself. We’ve already discovered that the taxi drivers are far less harassing here, and more often than not just a simple “No thank you” was enough. We walked down to Kandy Lake, a man made lake which is home to ducks and water monitor lizards (didn’t see any. Gutted). We did see some of the residential monkeys, who although not revered here in the same way as they were in India, are still just as acclimatised and not apprehensive towards humans in the slightest.



We stopped for some dinner (Chinese food so not the most exciting, but we were hungry and it was cheap.) We then set off back to the hotel, a 30 minute walk involving a short stop at the bakery (What if there’s no breakfast tomorrow,) by which point we were in darkness (leopard watch on full paranoid). In the distance we could vividly see a lightning storm, forked lightning, dark clouds and the very occasional rumble of thunder. Luckily this completely bypassed us and by 20.30 we were settled in bed. We even used a mosquito net, just to be safe.



Total Steps: 14,523



Bites: 22



Hotel whoopsies: 1

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