22/04
We leave in the morning for Kandy. En route we stop to visit a spice garden in Matale then drive through geometric fields of rice paddies, forests, wild flowers and amazing vegetation, very lush. We arrive at the end of the afternoon at our next palace, the Amaya Hills in the mountains around Kandy, a charming hill capital, 465 metres above sea level. The city is nice, with valleys, hills, temples, shrines. After a good rest, we set off to visit some gem stone shops, in which we finally decide not to go. A little later we visit the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy. The tooth relic was brought to SL and became the most sacred object of worship in the country. It's a public worship, with the ceremony starting with trumpets and heavy drum beats, an unforgettable spectacle. It's a very beautiful temple, comprising wood and stone carving, wood painted walls, stone friezes, frescoes depicting the story of the Tooth, and its miracles. The temple is quite impressive. We attend a ceremony where devotees pay their respect to the Tooth, some sort of beautifully carved stone box containing the remains of the Buddha. But the process is quite ruled and we do not have too much time to look at any of the main relics, but we do get a gist of the importance of the pilgrimage. The place is very holy and any room it contains is very well maintained and decorated. The people present here in large number are patiently waiting for their turn and everybody is impressively well dressed up. Then we visit the grounds of the temple and slowly make our way back to the hotel, nice dinner, chat and bed time already.
23/04
After a good night we set off to visit the botanic gardens of Peradeniya, spread over 50 hectares, and containing many species of trees and plants. Along the walk we discover trees onto which thousands of giant bats hang head down in an eery and screekie scream. Some of them fly in order to cool down. It is rather special... Beautiful plants and flowers, some with an incredible flashy turquoise-blue tint, giant fig trees. It is a very relaxing start of the day. We spend the afternoon at an elephant orphanage, see the massive baby elephant milk bottle feeding (each is around 5 litres and each elephant needs a good half dozen of them). We then cross the road and head for lunch over the river. Just as the food is arriving, so is a herd of hundreds of elephants, going to the river for their daily bath. The moment is magical and each one of us really gets hysterical... The experience is absolutely magical, some elephants dip in the water completely with only their trunk (or their bum!) sticking out of the water. The little baby elephants are also present, the young ones playing or even wrestling in (giant) splashes of water. The rain starts to fall and the colour of the sky and the river change to a golden colour. What a background, what an experience...we're delighted, we take our fruit plates and go feed the big animal. They come and pick the fruit with the end of their long trunk, funnily terminated by some sort of finger that allow them to literally grab the smallest edible things. The enormous and imposing animals are however very delicate and gently pick the pieces of delicacy we hand them out...we love it...Such a nice moment! Us, adults feel like children again in this magicval setting!
At the end of this lovely afternoon we return to Kandy to attend a traditional dance performance. The show is split in different parts and scenes, alternatively showing aspara dances, warriors, musicians etc. The entire show is accompanied by drums and the dances slowly become acrobates, jugglers and stuntmen. The dresses and costums are colourful and the show is quite spectacular. Back at the hotel we meet up with Marie and Xavier for drinks after a massage for Fab and Bertrand and a reflexology session for Val. It feels nice to relax, visit and not worry about anything!!
24/04
Today will be another beautiful day. We leave Kandy for Nuwara Eliya, not in the tour bus, but by train. This journey is one of the most beautiful route and way to explore Sri Lanka. The track climbs up the hill to the mountain town in the middle of tea plantations and overlooking the valleys, rivers and waterfalls. Lanscapes are breathtaking and superb. Men and women working in the plantations hand picking tea leaves, in a sublime combination of tendre green leaves and colourful saris... On the train, locals play music, sing, watch the rolling lanscape, take pictures and films, interact with us. All eyes keep looking outside, and all of us spend time switching between our sits and the train steps, sticking our head or our entire bodies out of the open door and windows. Kids smile to us, play with us, the train officer literally falling in love with Timeo and plays with him the entire length of the trip. Station after stations we progress, stopping here and there, watching the ancient tradition of the toll ring catching. After this very scenic and spectacular train ride, we reach the Nuwara Eliya Grand Hotel. The hotel is one of the relics of the British empire, a very beautiful colonial building, very exclusive, but quite old. All the rooms and corridor and made of dark wood, in a Victorian style. We feel like going back in time, a suspended time. We team up with Sandra, Bertrand and Timeo for a walk to the town centre and visit bazaars and old market. We leave them for further explorations but the town is quite small and does not offer much to see. We all have dinner together and some of us go to the old bar for a snooker lesson we've arranged with the bar tender, stuck in his mid 1800's all white costume!! The snooker tables (3 of them) are enormous and sometimes receive Sri Lankan and international tournaments. It is a real honour and experience to play on a 120 year old snooker table, brought here by the first colons on the back of elephants from Colombo!
25/04
Today we take our bus to Colombo, through the beautiful tea plantations again. Pretty much same route as the train but closer to everything. We also make a couple of stops for lunch and tea. The road is quite challenging and bends are numerous. Late afternoon we arrive at our next palace, another British empire heritage splendour, the Galle Face Hotel, on the sea front in the middle of Colombo. Once again, a stunning colonial influence building with a great swimming pool, in which we all have a swim after a straining day on the bus. We watch a beautiful sunset under the American embassy mirradors and machine guns and coastguard boats patrols...weird!We feel the city is under alert and that the war is not so far, many police patrols, military men in the streets but the hotel feels like a secluded palace...while outside there is a certain tension.
26/04
Today is shopping day and we trek aboard tuk-tuk to the fashion malls and shops of Colombo. We have lunch in a local eatery with Bertrand and Olivier. More military presence and few stops at police checkpoints but not much more than that...again so strange for a country in conflict! We spend some more time in the swimming pool and do absolutely nothing else at all...Little note on this; we both start feeling something is missing a bit and slowly realise that we did not have to organise anything for our stay. This is a holiday, pure and simple. The buzz of looking for an accommodation for the night has disappeared. How did we get to and from any place? Where is the dodgy hotel, the grubby room, the badly wired electricity, the shabby backpackers, the disfunctional air-con (forget this last one, we found it!), where is the bloody heavy bag (21.5kg!!) that has been killing Fab's back for too long?????? Where are we?? What's happening??? Which planet is this??? Is this normal?????? Well, yes, in the world of luxury travel and four or five stars hotel, all of this is normal...We are being pampered. It feels REALLY good. Nothing to worry about, we're being taken care of! For a while...but we also long to get back to our backpacking experience. For the moment we are enjoying the friends, the lovely palaces, the safety and luxury feeling.
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