Kandy & Sigiriya, Sri Lanka

While it’s only two hours away from Malaysia, it feels like its worlds away. The climate, the animals, the people, the food, its all so different, but all so nice.

We met a nice Singaporean tourist at the airport who offered to share a taxi with us to the city of Kandy where we would be starting our time in Sri Lanka. The 70km four and a half drive was long but fun (yeah that’s right, about 20km per hour). Driving was a little erratic to say the least. We watched as a car passed us while we were passing another car (i.e. car passing a car that is passing a car), and all this with only one lane going each way. We stopped on the side of the road to buy freshly picked cashews, had a quick break for some amazing rice and curry and got an impromptu herbal and spice garden tour.

The herb and spice garden is where spices and herbs are grown for Sri Lanka’s primary source of traditional medicine, Ayurveda. Our guide showed us the garden where the herbs are grown and explained how they can be used for medicinal purposes. After the tour of the garden he showed us how the final products work. He had us drink different teas, asked his assistants to massage us with special lotions and covered us with an assortment of perfumes. After the demonstration was over he tried to sell us all the different types of products. We chose to leave a tip but and not buy anything as we couldn’t really carry it around for the next nine months.

Kandy is the second biggest city in Sri Lanka, but that isn’t saying much, you can walk around the entire town in a couple of hours. It is home to the Temple of the Sacred Relic Tooth. This is where they house a tooth from Buddha that was taken from his cremation before it was burnt. Wars have been fought over this tooth for centuries and worshipers come to this temple all year long to make offerings to the Buddha. Everyone is dressed in white to see the tooth, and the number of people and pushing to get a glimpse at the stupa where the tooth is held is a little overwhelming. We quickly learnt that there would be no personal space in Sri Lanka!

Kandy is a beautiful city with lots going on. We saw four elephants in the city on our first day; unfortunately they are often chained and kept in front of temples. We also saw a snake charmer work his magic with two cobras. He also kept a python around his neck for good measure. As soon as the sun sets, the sky is covered with bats coming out of the surrounding forests and caves as they look for food.

With only two days in Kandy, we took in a traditional dance performance. The dancing and costumes were great, but the best part was the fire performances at the end. They perform different acts with fire as a means to demonstrate concentration and devotion to their god. One performer rubbed himself with a flaming stick, while two others walked back and forth over a bed of burning coals. It was pretty crazy to see something like this live.

The next morning we made our way to the most hectic bus terminal ever and hopped a local bus to Sigiriya where we would be off to explore another ancient ruin and temple. The bus terminals have no schedules or order, buses are parked everywhere, constantly blocking the next bus from being able to leave and they only really leave when they are full. Which by western standards means 175% capacity. People are everywhere, hanging out the doors, standing in the isles, sitting on each other’s laps, it is unreal. Definitely no personal space! We had to transfer busses at one point; from this point until our final destination our bags would be tied to the roof of the bus. 

Luckily everything worked out and we arrived after a hectic two hours and found a nice guesthouse. Our guesthouse, Lakmini, was great. They had built a treehouse so we could sit outside and have breakfast with a great view of the Sigiriya rock. In the morning you could watch as monkeys and peacocks ran wild in the field behind the guesthouse.  

Sigiriya was also great, but hot, hot and dry. The kind of dryness you get when it hasn’t rained for a single day in nine months. There are two things to do here, visit the Sigiriya rock temple and visit the Minneriya National park. We did both.

The rock temple is a former fortress which was then converted into a Buddhist monastery; the history dates back to the fourth and fifth centuries. From the bottom it just looks like a giant rock. But as you get closer you see the water and boulder gardens, the caved out caves, the giant wall covered in plaster so they could paint, the ancient frescoes and the giant lion paws that greet you as you arrive on the summit. It is incredibly impressive, especially when you expect so little!

The next day we headed to the Minneriya National Park to go elephant spotting. Each August and September, when the lakes have dried out, the elephants come to eat the grass that grows from the last drops of water from the lake. The event is called "The Gathering". Herds of 50+ elephants can be seen at any given time. We were fortunate enough to see up to 80 elephants at the same time. An amazing site to be seen!

We were even lucky enough to see some more wild elephants on the ride back into town. We had been warned we cant walk the streets at night as elephants sometimes cross through the village; a couple of years ago some villagers were killed when they ran into some elephants around a blind curve in the road. After seeing the elephants only a couple of kilometres from town, we make sure to take those warnings seriously!