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Published: December 10th 2013
Kandy Central
The Queen's Hotel, with the arcade, alongside the lake and the very busy main road leading into Kandy from the North.
: if you double click on any of the pictures you will be transferred to the picture gallery where they will be enlarged to half page size.
Tuesday 3
rd December Kandy: the order of business for the day was to visit the Elephant Orphanage at Pinnewala about 45 minutes drive from Kandy. We went straight to the Orphanage and bought our tickets and were told that the elephants were down at the river having their morning bath, after which they would return for feeding. So we headed off across the road and down to the river bank where we sat in a nice restaurant overlooking the river, drinking delicious fresh fruit juice watching the elephants, large and small, wandering about in the shallow water. I was expecting to see them wallowing in the water and blowing water from their trunks but they seemed quite happy just to walk around. Some of them were taking bananas from tourists on the river bank. After about 15 minutes the elephants were rounded up and herded up the narrow road past our restaurant, along a quite narrow street lined with shops and across the road into the Orphanage. We followed and spent
Hotel Suisse Entrance
Very grand. No wonder Lord Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander S E Asia, had his headquarters in the Hotel during the War some time looking at the larger elephants grazing on branches and leaves that had been put out for them. Then the major event was feeding the baby elephants involving about 8 small elephants. Drinking a full bottle of milk took the babies around 10 seconds and each baby managed several bottles. All very cute.
Afterwards we returned to the riverside restaurant for lunch and to watch some other elephants being led to the water. After lunch more elephants from the Orphanage were scheduled to come down to the rive and just before the appointed time I went up the road to watch the elephants as they passed along the narrow lane between the shops. They certainly filled up the road. I had chosen the raised and recessed doorway of the Elephant Dung Paper shop (same idea and process as sheep dung paper back in Wales, but using somewhat larger and heavier raw material) to watch in safety and it was quite entertaining. The road was wall to wall elephants and the tourists and shopkeeper in the stalls opposite had to retreat inside. Even so a few of the handbags that were hanging outside the shops got dislodged off and were
Does my bum look big in this?
At the Elephant Orphanage with camera shy elephants trampled by the elephant herd. After watching the elephants in the river for a while longer we returned to the car and back to the splendour of the Hotel Suisse for a shower, change of clothes, drinks in the bar followed by dinner and bed. A good day: overcast as it had been since our arrival in Sri Lanka but probably easier to cope with than if it had been clear and very hot.
Wednesday 4
thDecember: the plan for the day was to have a quiet morning looking around the local area then go to the Temple of the Tooth in the afternoon. So after breakfast Jane and I took a tuk tuk into town: all of 5 minutes ride. We had a look at the Queen’s Hotel, grand and venerable like the Hotel Suisse but on a very busy and noisy road. A quick cup of coffee outside the grounds of the Tooth Temple which is across the street from the Queen’s Hotel then some shopping (groan!) and a 3 minute tuk tuk ride back to the hotel. Later Diya picked us up as I wanted to go to a view point above the town to get some photos;
and more shopping (louder groan!). Back down the hill, around the end of the lake, and into the Temple of the Tooth. Diya is a devout Buddhist and arranged for us to buy some lotus flowers as an offering at the reliquary of the Tooth. We had to remove our shoes before going into the Temple but there few other restrictions or requirements imposed on visitors. Inside there were lots of devotees many of whom were just sitting on the floor outside the reliquary building – an ornately carved wooden three storey building that was covered with a golden roof. After our visit we went to a nearby auditorium to watch some traditional Kandyian dancing. I thought that it was more gymnastic than graceful (for the men’s dances), but the ladies dances were quite graceful. It should be mentioned that both Jane and I fell asleep for short periods during the show - I blame it on exhaustion brought on by the shopping.
Then back to the car and back to the hotel for the final night in Kandy. A long drive to come: through the hills and the tea country and down to the south coast and the
Feeding time for the orphans
The baby elephants would suck down an 2 litre bottle of milk in about 10 seconds Yala National Park.
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