One of the places we knew we wanted to visit in Sri Lanka was Kandy, a beautiful town in the hills in the centre of the island. Not least because the train ride from Colombo to there is supposed to be one of the most beautiful in the country. So we snuck away to Kandy for a few days. Here are the top four things we did!
Train Ride to Kandy
We were not misled: the train ride was stunning! There are lots of small stations along the way; further out from the city, mountainous views, cool breezes, and even monkeys sitting in trees right along the tracks. Fabulous, even if you don’t love trains (and we do). The ride to Kandy is only about three hours, though the same train goes further up into the hills for another several hours, and becomes even more scenic. Interestingly, our train to Kandy was full of tourists, but our train back to Colombo was all locals. We have no idea why.
Kandy itself is also a lovely town, situated around a human-made lake, with an island in the middle which used to house the prince’s harem. The hills surround you, and a massive Buddha looks down upon the whole thing (below; the Buddha is in the upper left-hand corner).
Kandy Temple of the Tooth
The Buddha’s tooth, allegedly, is in the temple of Sri Dalada Maligawa. And this makes that temple the most sacred place in the country for Buddhists. (So much so that the Tamil Tigers attacked it in 1998, damaging part of the palace.) It’s a huge, peaceful place, with lots of shady spots to sit. Plus you can see the World Buddhism Museum, a dead elephant, and all sorts of other wonders. The real draw, of course, is the tooth, which sits in a shrine (below). Yes, we have been making jokes about the Buddha’s sugar intake (Kandy – get it?) for months. No, we aren’t going to share them.
Royal Botanical Gardens
These botanical gardens, located in the nearby town of Peradeniya, are among the best in Asia. They instantly became one of our favourites. We loved their spaciousness (147 acres), and the many separate areas to wander around in. There were monkeys here too, as well as a spice garden, a medicinal garden, a Japanese garden, and lots of local specimens.
Tea
Kandy is the gateway to the famous Ceylon tea plantations, and so we naturally went on a tour. We’d thought we knew a lot about tea, but we were wrong. For instance, did you know that tea – like whiskey – is amalgamated by the big names and combined? There are also ‘single estate’ teas, akin to single malt scotches (but much less expensive!). Our guide was eloquent on the inferiority of the tea bag, and during our tea-tasting we had to agree with her. Although we travel light, somehow we wound up with over a kilogram of loose tea to carry with us. That’s probably at least a three-year supply, though, which is something of a relief.
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