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Published: December 18th 2013
Camilas and I have agreed that he will stay with me for another two days, taking me to Nurawa Eliya, and then I will take the train to my next destination. This meant that he came with me to buy the train ticket, which worked out very well. Queuing as a concept doesn’t seem to have made it Sri Lanka. In fact even in the middle of the train ticket transaction people were pushing in and elbowing me aside from the ticket window. Camilas’ elbows work pretty well too.
Imagine that concept on the roads. That is what driving is like here. I feel surprisingly calm about what would normally be multiple near-death scenarios. Camilas has avoided all head on crashes with oncoming busses and cars with split second precision timing. He has been driving for a long time, he told me he was in the army for 12 years during the civil war up north, where he drove an ambulance, so he’s been in much more treacherous conditions. Only once did I raise my eyebrows and made a comment, and then we both laughed. Surprisingly we have only seen one accident so far, and only one dead dog.
Sri Lanka is filled with dogs. It is very sad to see so many poor malnourished mangy looking animals. Most of them are in a very bad way. However all the dogs like to sleep on the road as it is warm, and they bask in the heat. Obviously with all the crazy driving this doesn’t lend itself to a long life, but I guess that they were never blessed with that in the beginning.
After an early start and a big climb to the top of the Sigiriya Rock, which was spectacular, Camilas and I set off on the road to Kandy. Again, Camilas had a number of stops in mind, including Sri Lanka's largest Hindu temple, a Batik factory, a wood carving factory and a herb garden. Luckily buying at each of these places was not obligatory. It was all very interesting, especially the herb garden and hearing about the natural remedies used in Ayurvedic medicine.
We stopped at a place that supposedly has been a family business for hundreds of years and they had been personal physicians to the Royal family. They talked about each of the plants and what it can help to cure.
There is one plant that even cures cellulite, which I hadn’t realised had been a problem in the ancient Royal court. At the end of the tour I had a consultation with a doctor who told me what my problems were and gave me some prescriptions. For $120 per month, for six months, I would be cured forever of my ailments. Additionally he suggested a tonic to improve my memory and what he called my “lazy” mind, which would be $50. He also suggested I lose some weight, which I did think was a bit rich coming from such a rotund little man. Not surprisingly, the charlatan doctor’s advice went unheeded. Then he offered to find me a Sri Lankan husband. I said I’d get back to him.
Kandy is Sri Lanka’s second biggest city, although not very large with around 115,000 people. Because it was Poya, the full moon ceremony which happens every month, most everything was closed for the celebrations. Every month at Poya it is a public holiday, so Sri Lanka has an awful lot of public holidays! It also meant that on my third night, as well as the happy frogs, I went to sleep
with the sound of Buddhist chanting and singing.
There's a lot to fill in your time in Kandy. It's known for Kandy cultural dancing, is the home to a very colourful and eccentric hotel, Helga's Folly, and also the massive sprawling Royal Botanic Gardens, which cover 147 acres. It's a beautiful space, and evidently the place to go for courting Kandy couples. Massive park-like gardens and a plant house, spice garden, orchid house, cactus house, herb garden plus a variety of gracious planted avenues. There was plenty to see, even if I did have to make a detour to avoid a troop of monkeys playing in the road.
However the thing that Kandy is most famous for is its Temple of the Tooth, and what a crush of people there were. It’s obviously a very sacred place, the home of Sri Lanka’s most important Buddhist relic – a tooth of the Buddha and we all know how big a tooth is. Imagine crowds of people - the tourists, fervent pilgrims, the curious - all trying to get a glimpse of the tooth. The tooth is kept inside a huge golden casket, which is inside a special temple, which
mere mortals such as myself can only view from the doorway, and then only during evening prayers. And then it turns into a mosh pit, not very Zen at all.
First of all there’s a massive queue of people waiting to walk past the door when it is opened, for a glimpse and a brief prayer. Behind that there’s a little private area, surrounded by small gates, filled with people dressed in white and sitting quietly, praying and waiting. Just when I thought they couldn’t fit any more people in, the white-clad guards opened the gate and more people filed in. It reminded me of a sheep pen. Behind the sheep pen is a long table where people put their offerings, richly scented flowers, and people stand waiting to glimpse the tooth casket when the door is opened. This was where I was waiting.
The door finally opened and it seemed like all hell broke loose. Sri Lankan queuing techniques were in full force. People surged towards me from the left and the right, and there I was in the middle of it all, a holy mosh pit. I was the meat (or tofu) in a Buddhist sandwich.
I had a mental image of the pictures from the Black Friday sales, it was like a religious stampede. I wiggled my way out, desperate for some space.
Camilas then took me downstairs to another kind of holy room, a tiny little space with Buddhas and books, yet more people crushing me all around. Then we went to the library, another tiny little room filled to capacity with fervent worshippers. I was well over it. However Camilas suggested we go back upstairs to glimpse the tooth.
At first it seemed like a good idea, things were much quieter up there, and I was very hopeful of getting an opportunity to see the tooth. But just as I was about to get my chance as I reached the vital spot, the guard shut the gate and he told me to wait. From then on it was very confusing. I waited, and waited and waited. Then they opened the gate for the sheep pen people and they got to go into the actual room. It seemed to take forever. Actually it did take forever. Then more people came into the sheep pen and their gates shut but they had to
wait too. The door to the tooth room stayed shut and there was more waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Then finally FINALLY, the door to the tooth was re-opened and my gate opened too. It was my turn at last. After a nano-second at the opening to the room, I was moved on. But I got as close to the tooth as I could.
Madam’s luck is definitely holding. I got a ticket on the train for the 20
th although it is fully booked from the 21
st – 29
th December. I got to see the tooth (kind of). And most importantly of all, it was sunny all day, so I was able to get laundry done and dried. Given I travelled to Sri Lanka with only hand luggage, this was very fortunate indeed. Yes, hand luggage for three weeks – my greatest achievement of 2013!
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littlewing
Cindy
You made me laugh again!
Why didnt you ask to see these potential husbands??? :D great blog Rachael enjoy your trip.