Nuwara Eliya

March 30th

Good Friday but I have not spotted any Hot Cross buns although bakers are common and they make good pastries and cakes.

Yesterday we left Kandy to drive to Nuwara Eliya which is at 2000m and is known as little England. On the way we visited a tea plantation and saw the whole process. There is only one species of tea bush and so different flavours are obtained by using only certain leaves. It was a surprise to me that tea plucked early in the morning was on its way to Colombo that same afternoon.

More beautiful gardens.

This town had plenty of greenery as decoration.

We did not know why until we got to the Hindu temple where there was plenty of activity.

Still don't know which god is being honored.

Numerous waterfalls. 

Roadside stall selling various tasty treats including curry puffs and sesame balls.

 In tea country. The bushes are pruned as otherwise they would grow up to 9m.

Around the tea factory there were beds of dahlias.

 

 The tea is withered using large fans to remove most of the water.

The end of the day and 50 kg bags of tea ready to go to Colombo for export mostly to England.

There is a local market, too.

After the tour and complementary cup of tea and not free chocolate cake we arrived in Nuwara Eliya and stocked up on local beer.

 The Grand Hotel built in 1891 and Queen Victoria would feel at home here.

Gardens of the Grand hotel.

The Hopper bar at breakfast in the Grand

The pink Post Office

The Ideal hospital where I got good service for my infected leg.

Shopping for fabric

 

 School children energetically washing cars to raise money for schooling.

Horse rides at Lake Gregory.

 

Kandy Part 2

March 28th

Our day in Kandy started in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya originally founded in 1371. They are magnificent with lots of mature trees and long avenues of palms.

 Royal Botanic Gardens

Sri Lanka is aiming to be clean and green and it is working.

We have acquired a wheelchair for which I am very grateful. Tissa, our driver and Tharuka his daughter pushed me around.

I think this is Cannonball Couroupita Guianensis

Lotus in flower on one of the lakes

The monkeys were not too much of a nuisance

The orchids were stunning.

 

Next stop the Central Market and spices were much in evidence.

New Zealand apples strung up individually

Soursop

Lots of fish

 Lots of vegetables

Here is an expert to help improve your selfies

Looking over the ornamental lake built by the last Sinhala king in 1798.

Girls making traditional batik.

I had plenty of helpers to choose a length of batik, but in the end I came away empty handed.

Sunset at the end of another good day.

Kandy. Sri Lanka

March 29th
Finally in Kandy where we are staying in the Amaya Hills hotel which is on a ridge above the city. We have been on the go all the time starting on Sunday which was my birthday and tissa had decorated the van with stickers and balloons.

Happy Birthday to me.

 

 Roadside stall selling curd and honey. It comes in a clay dish.

Hindu temple of Koneswaram Kovil built on the site of an earlier temple which the Porteguese had pushed into the sea in 1624.

Prayers and requests to the gods.

Fishing boats on the beach below the temple. I should have said this is at Trincomalee, a fine deep water harbour.

Sri Lankan style mosque in Trincomalee.

Lorry on the road to Kandy. There are no large lorries to break up the road surface and cause holdups to the traffic.

Next excursion was to Polonnaruwa which was the second capital of Sri Lanka and built in the 11thC A.D.

Buddha among the extensive Polonnaruwa ruins.

I like the Sri Lankan post symbol of a carrier pigeon.

 Enormous Golden Buddha outside the Golden Temple.

Drawings on a school wall. I don't know what the poster is about.

 

 Wood carving studio using banyan wood.

 Apparently some years ago the government tried to cull stray dogs but it does not appear at all successful! However I saw few cats.

 Another Hindu temple

 The famous temple of the tooth in Kandy. The tooth is behind the small door in the centre.

 Audience hall at the temple of the tooth.

 Lions decorate the exterior of the temple.

 Relic of the colonial past in Kandy

Education is free in Sri Lanka and includes the school uniform.

The sign on our balcony door.

Kandian sunset.