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| Lovely Kandy Lake |
We left dry plains of Sri Lanka's cultural triangle with our private driver & slowly entered a completely different territory. Up into the tangled green hills of the central highlands we chugged passing ever-surrounding green forests, tropical plantations & bustling hillside towns. Our destination was the undisputed cultural capital of Sri Lanka - Kandy. Sri Lanka's second largest city, Kandy became the capital of the Sri Lankan kingdom in 1592 - the last capital of the ancient kings era & the last independent bastion of the Sinhalese. What makes this city so special is the fact that it's unique customs & culture remain remarkably preserved due to the long lasting freedom the Kandyan kingdom clung onto long after the rest of the island had fallen to the Portuguese and Dutch. We were greeted to graceful, old colonial buildings & a pleasantly temperate climate in a beautiful, aristocratic scenic highland setting! A refreshing change from the heat, humidity & exhaustion we dealt with the previous few days exploring the ruins.
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| Amazing Home Cooked Sri Lankan Feast (Sujatha in the Back) |
I booked a highly-rated bed & breakfast before our arrival and it turned out to be fantastic place for us. We spent 2 nights in a beautiful, hillside Sri Lankan home just outside of the bustling city with a woman named Sujatha and her husband Ronnie. It was so nice to arrive to some delicious tea & breathe in the refreshing mountain air while relaxing & getting to know our wonderful new hosts. We learned a lot about Sri Lankan culture & had some in-depth discussions with the couple about religion & politics over a few Lion beers. Also, Sujatha prepared an incredible Sri Lankan feast for us one night. Particularly delicious was the dessert of buffalo curd yogurt & Sri Lankan honey.
Kandy is home to the Temple of the Tooth Relic - one of the most sacred places of worship in the Buddhist world. Believed to be home to Lord Buddha's left upper canine tooth, the relic has played an important role in Sri Lankan politics because it is believed whoever holds the relic, holds the governance of the country. Originally taken from Buddha as he lay on his funeral pyre & smuggled into Sri Lanka in 313 AD, the tooth has been an object of great reverence for the reigning Sri Lankan kingdoms over the centuries. The Kandyan temple that houses the relic was built in 1687 & still stands tall despite ongoing 18th century wars & bombing raids by Hindu Tamil separatists in 1998. At first glance, the outside doesn't look like anything special. The large complex isn't elaborately decorated on the outside like a Thai temple would be. The interior however is richly carved & decorated with inlaid woods, ivory & lacquer. The tooth itself resides in a two-story inner shrine guarded by two large elephant tusks & elaborately dressed drumming guards. The relic is encased in spectacular jeweled caskets that sit on a throne only available for viewing during daily rituals 3 times per day.
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| Hundreds of Devotees |
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| Ornate Halls in the Temple of the Tooth |
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| Constant Drumming Protecting the Shrine Room |
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| As Close As We Came to Buddha's Tooth |
We arrived around 6PM for the evening ritual and proceeded to slowly inch forward with hundreds of other tourists & devotees eager to catch a glimpse of the holy relic. We inched forward feeling herded like pigs in a stable. Finally, we entered the room where the tooth resided. Hundreds of Sri Lankans dressed in white were praying & offering lotus flowers. The air was thick with reverence. Finally, I arrived at the front of the line, caught a quick glimpse of the golden casket & then got rushed away. Apparently, you cannot even see the tooth itself! Feeling a bit let down, we checked out one of the royal library's and the murals depicting the improbable history of the tooth. We learned from Sujatha later that the tooth is only removed from it's shrine once per year for a 10 day torchlight festival parade. However, due to tensions with the Tamils, the relic has not been brought out during the festival since 1990! It makes the devoutness & dedication these pilgrims show in their daily rituals even more impressive. To me the whole experience seemed like a big tourist trap. I know the relic is of supreme importance to Sri Lankan Buddhists & I respect the value it has to the people, but we were constantly ushered along so quickly through the 'temple' that we didn't really get a chance to study the pieces & reflect upon them in relatively quiet surrounding. Add to that the fact that we didn't even see the tooth & had to pay quite a bit just to enter, then an additional 'donation' to store our shoes, and you can see why I feel this way! Being fairly familiar with the religion & its principles after our time in Thailand & seeing Buddhist culture in action in countries all over the world, I'm not so sure Lord Buddha would have wanted this holy relic experienced in such a way.
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| Strange Trees at the Botanical Gardens |
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| Monster Bats! |
One day we checked out the Royal Botanical Gardens. Considered the best in Sri Lanka, these gardens date back to the ancient kings of the country. There was a great assortment of different trees & flowers on offer from all over the region & it was a great place to kill a few hours. We strolled through an orchid house, a suspension bridge & rows of strangely curved trees (I'm assuming from the wind?) At one point, I kept hearing these squeaks from above & peered up to see of hundreds of massive bats sleeping in the trees! These terrifying winged creatures were so big, I felt like they could have swooped down & carried us away. The public bus ride back to town was quite an experience as well!
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| Lovin the Sri Lankan Tri-Shaws |
To even further our understanding about Buddhism, we went to the Buddhism museum which was very interesting. Each of the rooms was themed for Buddhism in a certain country so that was neat to see & learn about the differences in the religion all over the world. We spent hours strolling around Kandy with it's modest grid of narrow, low-rise streets situated around a big man-made lake at it's center. Despite the dense crowds of people & traffic, Kandy somehow retains a small-town atmosphere & it was a very interesting city to explore. We motored around on little Sri Lankan tri-shaws which was exhilarating. Buzzing about the busy Kandy streets was always a thrill.
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| One Talented Dancer |
One of the nights we went to a traditional Kandyan dancing and drumming show. Although it was kind of a tourist trap as well, it was a good way for us to see traditional Sinhalese culture at it's most exuberant. Brilliantly costumed dancers performed many different stylized dances to an accompaniment of explosively energetic drumming. I found it intriguing that some of the better dancers weren't in the greatest physical form. In America, some 'junk in the trunk' would get you thrown off the stage but in Sri Lanka it's considered beautiful & the bellies of thicker women were on display everywhere we went in the country. After the dancing, we were witness to a few of the dancers walking over hot coals with their bare feet. Something I've never seen in person before.
We only ended up staying 3 days in Kandy and I feel like that was the right amount of time. It's a fantastically beautiful city set in a gorgeous natural surrounding & a nice break from the other tourist hotspots in Sri Lanka. The ancient Sinhalese culture can still be seen in everyday life here & Kandyans definitely have a visible pride in their heritage. Our experience was made even better by the gracious hospitality that Sujatha and Ronnie showed us in their beautiful home! A fantastic lasting impression of the scenic Sri Lankan central highlands!
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| Family Lovin the Temperate Weather & Beauty of Kandy |
