It was raining very hard when I arrived in Colombo so I just used the Train Station cafeteria for some food and coffee. There were no reserved seats available for the trip to Kandy leaving at 3:30 so I bought another reserved 2nd class seat leaving at 4:30 and was lucky to get a window seat. The unreserved 2nd and 3rd class trains were stuffed so I was glad I waited for a reserved seat along with no one standing in the aisles for hours.
Since the train became so crowded, my job was to open the window for air as soon as the rain stopped or lessened to cool off the carriage. I did this several times during the journey. The train arrived shortly after 8 pm in the rain and darkness.
I took a tuk-tuk to the Green Mango Guest House for 200 Rupees after rejecting initial offers of 400-300-250. On the map, it looked fairly close and fortunately they were open and even were serving dinner so I ordered the vegetable curry--beans, potatoes, okra, an unknown vegetable like asparagus but with a fibrous outer shell with rice and pineapple lassi---yum!
I paid 3,000 Rupees for two nights because the other rooms did not get the wifi signal. Since it was near the street, I was awakened by barking dogs around 2:30 AM. For the next two nights, I would stay near the back in the rooms that cost 2,500 Rupees.
It was just around 70 degrees here compared 85 degrees and high humidity in Galle and Tangalle. The humidity was still high and throughout the day we would have rain showers.
I walked around Kandy Lake and explored the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. After dropping off my shoes an “official” informed me that he would be giving me a tour throughout the temple—-for a donation to him of 2,000 Rupees after paying 2,500 for admission. I told him thanks, but that I would wander through the place on my own.
Highly secure entrance to Temple.
After that, I met a Sri Lankan teacher that introduced me to a shop keeper next to the Kandy Art and Cultural Center where Dancers perform traditional dances nightly. This shop keeper got me a reserved seat near the front of the stage for the evenings performance. They also served me some milk tea. After that I ended up buying a batik fabric designed mandala. I have no idea where I will put it in our place—-Maybe a Christmas gift for someone.
From my front row seat, I watched the show beginning with drumming and the blowing of the conch shell. It was then on to several beautiful dance numbers with the men and women in beautiful costumes. Some of the dances acted out fables and others were demonstrating harvest times. Throughout all of the performances, the drums played on.
After the finale where the dancers gathered and took their bows, they set up a long bed of glowing embers that were periodically flamed up with lighter fluid as two men walked on the burning coals. I could feel the heat of the fire from where I was seated. They say that these men get into a trance and seek the blessings of the Goddess Paththini shortly before they walk on the coals.
While having dinner back at the Green Mango Guesthouse, I met Nancy from Holland who was planning on a tour the following morning of a tea factory, herb garden, botanical gardens, elephant orphanage, and some temples in the area just outside Kandy, I joined her so the total cost for this all-day tour would be 3,000 Rupees plus admission fees.
It was raining as Athula—our driver/guide—-worked our way out of the heavy and chaotic traffic of Kandy. It was a steep and windy ride through the mountains to our first stop at the elephant orphanage. Fortunately, the rain had tapered off as we arrived while many of the elephants were bathing down at the river.
There were two groups of elephants: the larger group just stood around looking bored and the smaller group looked like they were having lots of fun rolling around in the water and pushing each other around. We walked through the other parts of the compound and saw some of the other elephants eating or tossing dirt on their backs.
The next to last stop was for a massage in the herb garden. They had me take my shirt off and proceeded to give me a great upper body and head massage. Meanwhile, Nancy was getting a massage behind me on a massage table. She too thought it was a great massage. Afterward, they trolled for tips.
It was then on to the “pharmacy” where we could buy some of the elixirs and creams. I asked about the ginger-based cough syrup since I had a cold, sore through, and runny nose and eyes. He started out at 70,000 Rupees for two 8 oz bottles. After some back and forth I settled on 3,000 Rupees—about $20. A high price for some natural Benedryl, but the herb garden was interesting. I figured I must have overpaid because he threw in a big bag of herbal tea which Nancy ended up buying for 1,000 Rupees.
Our next stop was to get some King Coconut from a roadside vendor for 25 Rupees. It was refreshing and the vendor cracked open our coconuts and scooped out the young rubbery meat for us to eat.
It was then on to the Nadugannawana Tea Factory where we saw how they dried, rolled, heated, and sorted out the various tea qualities. Our guide indicated that 97% of what they grow, they sell at the tea auctions, and the remaining 3% they sell in their onsite store. After our herbal garden purchases, neither of us was interested in buying more stuff.
Our last stop was at the Botanical Gardens and fortunately, the rains held off while we wandered through this beautiful spot including a walk across a suspension bridge where despite the warning of no more than 6 people at a time, I counted 12 plus two monkeys. The orchid greenhouse visit reminded me of the orchids found in abundance at Trader Joe's or IKEA.
We were supposed to visit some temples, but the rain and time got away from us and we returned to our Guesthouse at 5pm.
The following day, it was again raining with a temperature around 70 degrees so I waited until the rain dropped off and visited Helga’s Folly Hotel which the Lonely Planet described as a cross between Gaudi and Dali. It certainly lived up to its reputation. In the grotto, there is a picture that Helga commissioned of herself by an artist she admired who incorporated a lot of Buddhist themes along with a memorial to a student of the artist who had been murdered.
After that, I went to the Train station to get tickets to Badulla, but they had no reserved seats left and I was told to return the following morning to purchase unreserved 2 or 3rd class tickets. As I was leaving a station official came up to me and said for 1,000 Rupees, he could arrange to get me a seat on one of the unreserved carriages.
While in the area, I visited the local market.
The following morning I got there early and made contact with the station official who introduced me to the fixer. The official purchased a 3rd class ticket for me. The crowds gathered as the time drew near.
As the train pulled into a stop, my fixer took my bag and shoved it through the open window with instructions to me to hustle in to retrieve my bag and get my seat. Total bedlam, but I did get a seat. After that, I paid the fixer and he asked for another 500 Rupees for the guy inside the train. I told him the deal was 1,000 Rupees and that his arrangement with the guy inside the train was his concern and not mine. He left as the train began to leave the Kandy station. It was a standing room only with no apparent remaining standing room available. The next stop where even more people shoved aboard. I felt pretty good about getting a seat for this 6 1/2 hour ride.
As the train pulled into a stop, my fixer took my bag and shoved it through the open window with instructions to me to hustle in to retrieve my bag and get my seat. Total bedlam, but I did get a seat. After that, I paid the fixer and he asked for another 500 Rupees for the guy inside the train. I told him the deal was 1,000 Rupees and that his arrangement with the guy inside the train was his concern and not mine. He left as the train began to leave the Kandy station. It was a standing room only with no apparent remaining standing room available. The next stop where even more people shoved aboard. I felt pretty good about getting a seat for this 6 1/2 hour ride.
This 3rd class carriage had two seats face to face with a table between and I had the window seat. Across the aisle were three seats face to face. It was so crowded that you could not see the people seated on the other side of the aisle.
It turned out that it was near the end of a school holiday. A group of about 6-8 young men were in our aisle with a drum and after doing a prayer, they sang for the next 4 hours the enjoyment of most.
My seatmates included a couple from France—Adele and Leo—who had spent a few months in New Zealand picking Kiwi fruit, and Muhamid—-Deputy Mayor of Puttalam—who lived about 2 hours train from Colombo. We shared stories of travel and work as the train traveled through some beautiful hillsides filled with tea plantations and at higher elevations, vegetable truck farms.
Almost everyone got off at Ella, but I continued on the Badulla—-the end of the train line. Once I got to Badulla, I got a tuk-tuk driver to take me to a hotel that cost between 2000 and 3000 Rupees that had wifi. Surprise—I checked into the “Holiday Inn”. Not really the same, but a welcome stop for the night.
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