Day 84 - Welcome to the jungle, I want Kandy, Hotel Pool confusion

Sunday 25th March

We had a lie in. I had slept well to start with but then the helicopter chopper sound effect from the ceiling fan on full whack took its toll. Eventually I got up and opened all the windows let the cool night air in and turned the fan down.

When we surfaced for breakfast we were treated to a feast of fruit, pancakes, toast and eggs.

We decided to get out and see something. The botanical garden looked like it might be a bit hot so we headed out for the Udawatta Kele Sanctuary. This was once the royal pleasure gardens in Kandy, and a handy place for the King to hide from invaders.

giant bamboo

It was a beautiful cool walk through a very varied forest.

At the view point over looking the town and the lake we encountered a tour group taking a group photo we helped them out and it turned out that they were a school party from Scotland, here to play cricket. And they'd won their first match straight off the plane.

We saw palms, ficus trees, giant bamboo and a giant Liana that covers 2 hectares..
In the sanctuary there are wild deer and wild boar, both of which we saw but didn't manage to get pictures of, and a lot of monkeys.

Opinions are like arseholes, everyone has one, and they should be examined regularly.

Jack Fruit

cave used as meditation for monks

legs under picture below, perhaps the monks are making a new sacred place? The legs had bone in them.

giant creeper that covered over 2 hectares

As we left, the mum and baby were on the road, the other monkey came running across and sat protectively until we moved away

We walked back into Kandy stopping  for a beer at a cafe. Walking past the  temple of the tooth we opted to not go through the green zone security and instead walked around the lake.
The lake has a lot of fish and the occasional iguana in it.

flowers being sold for worshippers to take into the temple. Lots of people dressed in white and carrying the flowers were entering.

lots of fish in the lake

We grabbed a tuk tuk to go back up to the hotel only to meet with unpleasantness from the driver who was pressing for a higher fare. We knew we were paying him a fair wage, agreed with him before we got in the tuk tuk for the ride. It's the only time we had an issue and felt uncomfortable.
Back at the hotel we decided to go for a swim, this involved another ride this time in a much nicer tuk tuk operated by Villa Rosa. Our Hotel had permission for guests to use the hotel pool at Cinnamon Hotel. What wasn't explained anywhere is that we were supposed to pay to use the pool and then we would be refunded the money on our hotel. What followed was phone calls between the two hotels followed by our tuk tuk driver coming back to sort it out.

After a false start we were allowed into the hotel pool. Karen went for a swim and I sat and read.

Cinnamon Hotels poool

As it started to get dark we called for our tuk tuk to take us back.
On the narrow road back we were in a traffic jam, as we got through it was because a scooter had been involved in an accident, there was blood and the rider looked pale.
We got back to the hotel without further incident and sat down to another very enjoyable gut busting meal.

"cheesecake" based on a curd dessert, absolutely gorgeous.

Then off to bed to hopefully get a complete night's sleep!

Day 83 Drive by Hinduism with a touch of spice followed by archaic Catholicism.

Saturday 24th March

We needed a lie in after yesterdays early start and exertions.

After another hearty breakfast we checked out. Our host had made a number of errors in our favour on the bill, it would have meant we stayed with them for free since they'd bankrolled all the stuff we'd done in Habarana so far, so we pointed them out and settled up. Having a lot of cash in Sri Lanka is normal, not many places take cards and we'd done a lot of extra stuff that the hotel had fronted the money for, so we actually left owing money which our host said to give to the cab driver once we got to an ATM on our way to our next stop.

On the way we stopped at another spice garden. We got the full rundown of herbs and spices medicinal properties again. The guy showing us around managed to massage my head by just doing it, I was just too shocked to stop him. I must say the stuff he used was so nice I forgave him and bought some. Karen got a massage too, and since we were in need of moisturiser we picked up their hygienically prepared Aloe Vera cream.

Back in the car we carried on, going through Matale we passed a large Hindu temple, unfortunately closed, as Ritika had pointed out earlier 'even the gods need lunch'. Still pretty spectacular from the outside.

Finally we arrived at our destination.
Feeling peckish we ordered up a snack and a beer or 2.

Around 1630 we walked down to reception for a tuk tuk to take us down to the Catholic cathedral for Karen to go to mass.
I sat outside in the shade and played Qiktionary, not seeing anything I wanted to explore in the vicinity.

Karen looked angry coming out of church, which is unusual. She showed me the service sheet, proper pre Vatican II Catholicism, with all the anti Protestantism trimmings, including refusal to give communion in the hand. There was a lot more that was wrong with the service too.
We grabbed another tuk tuk to take us back us to the hotel, appreciating that being so high meant cooler breeze and less humidity.

Dinner was a feast, we worked hard but couldn't finish all that we were presented with.
In the dark the lights across the valley lit up, and the geckos climbed the walls of the hotel to get the heat from the light bulbs.