Botanical garden in Kandy
Botanical Garden in Kandy was laid out in the beginning of 1800 century and expanded by an Englishman in the 1840s.
That was very rich in animal and plant life.
There were many fun plants and trees, for example this Cannonball tree:
There was also an area in the park where different well-known people have each planted a tree.
And there were also monkeys looking for something to eat.
The garden must also be watered regularly 🙂
We saw fruit bats “flying dogs”. They have a wingspan of 1 ½ metres.
Orchids in the Botanical Garden in Kandy
There was also a very nice collection of orchids at the Botanical Garden. Many beautiful colors and fun flowers:
Jewels Shop near Botanical Garden in Kandy.
There are also jewels-factories in Sri Lanka. Here we got information about precious stones from the country. There was also a small museum with different stones.
Finally there was – again by chance 🙂 – a shop, but the willingness to buy was not so great among the Danes, although there were many hard-working employees.
Unfortunately we could not see the whole workflow with the actual grinding of precious stones, since most employees were out. They must purchase gifts for the New Year.
Only a few showed us a little bit about how they work:
Wine Monopoly
In Sri Lanka, one cannot buy beer, wine and spirits in regular stores, but some spots that look like a Wine Monopoly (known as some green buildings).
Around the New Year and at full moon can not buy beer, wine and spirits so it have to be done before these days.
In Kandy – where we were around Sri Lankan New Year – we were in to buy some beer for “New Year’s Eve”. There were long, long, long queues before reaching the expedition desk!
Post Office
It was pure nostalgia to see these old mailboxes in Kandy:
And the Post Office was located in a small, pink, nice building – and it was staffed with 2 employees!
We sent postcards home: One card cost 25 Sri Lankan Rupees and a stamp 25 Sri Lankan Rupee = A total of approx. 2 Danish kroner (equivalent to 1/4 Euro and 1/4 $)
Here the PostNord (the Nordic mail delivery company) could learn something!
Temple of the Tooth
Temple of the Tooth is considered Sri Lanka’s holiest place, where one of Buddha’s canines (eyetooth) after a long and complicated story reportedly would have been stored.
It should be deep down in 7 boxes, which are enclosed in each other, of which the inner never opens. Once a year there are big processions through the city, where a very decorated elephant carries a copy of the tooth through the city.
It is a large procession with many elephants and performances.
In the Temple of the Tooth there was also a staircase with some fun characters that have supported the stairs for many years
Dance show with fire-dancing shows
We saw also a Sri Lankan dance show with traditional dances and music.
The music was performed by drums and trumpet, and here we are talking about music and sounds. As a Danes, one must get used to the music 🙂
Finally, there was the fire-dancing shows, where you would think that some of the dancers got warm feet by going through hot coals on the “dance floor”
