Sri Lanka. Part 2. Tours of Kandy
Sri Lanka. Part 1. Planning / Flight / Transfer
After a long flight, having rested, the first question arose: where to eat? Having obtained a minimum set in the nearest store: tea, milk, eggs, bread, something else there, we had a bite to eat and began to decide which sights to see. Lakshantha recommended: Royal Botanic Gardens; Temple of the Tooth, Big Buddha, and an evening of local cultural dances are excursions to get to know Kandy. We stopped at the Botanical Garden and found just two temples outside of Kandy. According to reviews - the Temple of the Tooth Relic - did not particularly attract visitors (later, having visited many different temples, we agreed that we had done the right thing, that we had not gone to this temple).
So, the next morning we hit the road! We stopped at an observation deck overlooking a large lake - the view is beautiful. Next, we went to the botanical garden. Entrance for a foreign tourist - 10 dollars for an adult (2000 rupees) and 5 dollars for a child. The tour took about 3 hours. The walk - I liked the tour. The garden is represented by a huge number of flowers, plants, shrubs and trees among which monkeys roam freely, which let people very close to them and do not run away anywhere. For us it was a delight! If you decide to visit the garden, be sure to take water with you. Video from the garden: https://youtu. be/wckkv0S5mbM
After walking and seeing the sights in the garden, the team requested catering. Another thanks to Lakshantha (that day he was our guide) - he took us to a decent restaurant. We loaded into the minibus, sat down as if we were going through half the city, which means not quickly, and we went to a restaurant - the restaurant turned out to be right across the street from the Garden! Hmm... - I thought - what kind of cunning plan? But no, the restaurant is really worthy, it works on the principle of Buffet or Buffet - take as much as you want. Everyone perked up and let's explore the assortment: chicken for you, and tuna, and some kind of fish, and rice, and noodles, and vegetables, and potatoes - in short, a lot of everything to choose from. Oh, what a delicious tuna it was - ahh, it still burns in my mouth, wow.
After lunch we go to see the temples of Lankatilak, Embekke and Gadaladeniya. Somewhere they read that they are not far away, in the vicinity of Kandy, they are quite old and not overrun by tourists. The entrance ticket is 300 rupees per person, and not like in the hyped ones for 1500. For me, the road to the temples turned out to be more interesting than the temples themselves. If we had rented a car, then most likely we would not have found the way to at least one of them. The road passes through villages in the jungle, along there are rice fields, banana palms grow, rich vegetation, buffaloes graze somewhere, and you are trying to look out for something else unusual among all this, for example, I looked out for a monitor lizard and a snake. You can watch the video here:
Divination – https://youtu. be/pkR3UcQH3_I
Embekke - https://youtu. be/tEuMb13Q6ls
After looking at the temples, we drive towards the house, on the way we stop at some large tea center - not finding anything interesting for ourselves, we go further. Lakshanza offers a couple more places to visit, but only the Big Buddha and the supermarket remained (our girls quickly spotted the main attraction - the keels market). Kandy has the second largest Buddha statue. Maybe because I was already tired, maybe because I had already seen enough of different versions of the statues, the statue itself did not make a strong impression on me. But if you climb to the very top of the article, you will have a beautiful view of Kandy.
The next day - and we have an excursion to Nuwara Eliya. Here we want to see tea plantations, waterfalls, visit a tea factory. Our guide is SD (@Dilushana Tennakoon).
You can't tell much here - you should watch it https://youtu. be/hZnZCeIpJ1M Beautiful panoramas, beautiful tea plantations, beautiful waterfalls. Made a video - watch it. Of the features, we left in sunny weather, while we climbed to the top - it was cloudy there and it started to rain. It was also raining in Nuwara Eliya itself, so we looked at the lake we wanted to see through the window of our car.
I will single out the tea factory separately. Usually, as I understand it, all tourists are taken to the Dambro factory - I don’t know anything about this factory. But I know the Glenloch factory, and I was planning to visit it straight away. And so we drive like this through tea plantations, everywhere there are marks to which factory the plantation belongs, and I ask SD: “Is Glenloch far from here? ” - No, not far, do you want to go to Glenloch? “Yes, of course, to Glenloch! ” And we went to Glenloch. 11 years ago I was in their showroom buying tea from them. This is the finest tea produced in Sri Lanka. It is surprising that I have never seen it for sale in Sri Lanka, neither in specialized stores, nor in markets, nor at the airport in shops - it is not clear where they sell it.
We arrived, we were met by a woman guide and gave a tour of the factory. If 11 years ago, we were shown non-working equipment, this time we were witnesses of the live tea production process. We were told about 10 varieties of tea, about the differences between one variety and another, about marking designations, at the end they brought us tea for tasting. I draw your attention to the entire tour is absolutely free. No one even hinted at the money. Naturally, I and not only I bought teas of different varieties (BOP, BOPF, Gold, Green) and that was the end of our visit to the factory, and we drove on. The tour lasted the whole day, we returned home around 19.00 tired, but satisfied. Before saying goodbye to SD, a question arose regarding tomorrow's plans:
– Sir, what are your plans for tomorrow?
- SD, let's discuss today, and I'll write to you, but let's be clear that we will leave at 9.30.
The next morning, we didn't decide where to go. Of the options: the elephant sanctuary in Pinnawalla and... really nothing else. When we planned the trip, we thought to go somewhere towards Kurunegala, Matale. I asked SD about these options and got the answer:
- Yes, but what's interesting there?
– I don't know, maybe you know?
- No, there is nothing interesting there, it is better to go to Pinnawala, the child will like it there.
Well, there is nothing left and we are going to the elephant sanctuary. The ride is not very long - an hour and a half. Tickets for foreigners cost 3.000 rupees for adults and 1.500 for children under 12 years old. We arrived, bought tickets, and took the elephants to bathe. We go to the river where elephants are bathed. On the way we see a dude with snakes, he is spinning a python in his hands, and there is a basket nearby (I know who is there).
- Dad, look-look?
- Yes, yes, I see, and there is a cobra in the basket.
In general, we pass to watch the elephants bathe. Some of the elephants cluster together, some stand alone, but nothing special happens. Anya and I managed to treat one elephant with bananas and corn - the local dude sort of distributes it, but then asks for money. In general, we waited until the elephants were taken back to the park and we followed them. And here an interesting story happened.
Anna says to me:
– Dad, I want to see a cobra.
- You have to pay money for this, and I only have large bills!
- I can give, I have 50 rupees - says Ira.
SD tells this snake dude what we want to watch. The snake tamer took over the show. The performance lasted 5-7 minutes. He provoked the cobras to bite him, and he deftly healed them - that's the whole show.
And then he solemnly announces to me:
- Sir, give me 2000 rupees, because my cobras eat beef, lamb and something else.
2000 rupees in 5 minutes!! ! Kamon, dude, that's not even $60 an hour. I say:
- No, I can give 150 rupees.
- Ok, give me 500 rupees.
In the end, he went on principle, and I went on principle - he was left without money, and I was left with a sediment from an unpleasant situation. So we parted ways. Then we walked around the reserve, looked at the elephants. Honestly, I did not see anything interesting for myself. 11 years ago there were more opportunities to get closer to the elephants, now access is closed almost everywhere - we look at the elephants from afar. And I also knew that we would be in Yala and there would be elephants and it is much more interesting to look at them there, because there they are in real nature (I will write about Yala later). Already when I returned to Kyiv, I somehow thought about this excursion and came to the conclusion that I made a mistake by agreeing to Pinnawala, I should have gone to Ella.
I know, I know, now I will write about supermarkets.
In Kandy, we were in Keells supermarkets. Of course, this is not on the same scale as our supermarkets, but it is no longer a local shop. There is a selection of products, but not all.
For example, I didn’t see buckwheat there, and it’s not easy with meat either. There was chicken, there was lamb, there was also pork, but in my opinion it is risky to buy it.
Bananas - 220 rupees / kg
Mango - 540 rupees / kg
Rambutan - 560 rupees / kg
Bread 450 g - 160 rupees
Tomato - 310 rupees / kg
Canned mackerel 425 g - 360 rupees
Carrot - 610 rupees / kg
Water 5 l - 150 rupees
Cucumber - 430 rupees / kg
Beer Lion 0.5 – 220 rupees
