Kandy Srilanka

During our travels in Sri Lanka, we had heard so much about Kandy; everybody said we HAD to go to the beautiful old king city Kandy. So we eventually decided to check out this famous city on our way from Ella. To get there we took the most beautiful train ride from Ella to Kandy, a highlight of our Sri Lankan trip.

Kandy is the next biggest city in Sri Lanka, after the capital Colombo. I must admit we were a little bit disappointed by Kandy. Everybody kept telling us (including the Lonely Planet book) that Kandy was sooooo beautiful, and used terms as “Here`s a city that looks good even when it`s raining” (quote Lonely Planet). Well, some parts of the city were nice, but as a whole, it was a fairly typical busy, and noisy city. It was also the only place in Sri Lanka where someone tried to scam us! The tuk-tuk drivers were also a bit more aggressive than elsewhere in Sri Lanka, some going as far as following us around when we were walking.

At the train station, when arriving in Kandy from Ella, we took a tuk-tuk with a young driver. He drove us from the train station to our guesthouse Sharon Inn and seemed like an OK driver, so we arranged for him to drive us around the next day.

Kandy Lake is a dominating part of Kandy city, and you can`t miss it! The lake is charming and peaceful and is our absolute favorite part of Kandy.The lake was created in 1807 by the last ruler of the kingdom of Kandy. The people initially objected to laboring on the lake project, but those who objected were ruthlessly put to death on stakes in the lake bed. So the lake has a bloody history.

In the middle of the lake is a small island used by the emperor`s personal harem. Later the British used it to store ammunition, and they were the ones who built the fortress style parapet around the area.

We had a pleasant stroll around the lake, although a busy road runs very close to the lake on its southern edge, which ruins the idyll somewhat. The nicest area is the part around the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic.It was by Kandy Lake that a man approached us and claimed to be a teacher at a nearby school. He said that we were incredibly lucky to be in Kandy on this particular day because the president of Sri Lanka was coming to Kandy to participate in a very rare showing of the tooth relic at the Temple.This was a special occasion, not open for everybody, but he could sell us special tickets to attend the event. We also had to hurry with buying the tickets, because they closed the ticket selling at 5 p.m.We have met our fair share of “school teachers” before, both in Thailand and Vietnam, so we knew the drill and said politely “No thank you!”. We later checked with the owners of the guesthouse we stayed at, and of course, the president was not coming to Kandy, and the tooth relic was not going to be displayed. Hehe, so yep, so much for that scam

North of the Kandy Lake is the famous temple that houses Sri Lanka`s most important Buddhist relic – a tooth of the Buddha himself! The legend says that the sacred tooth of the Buddha was snatched from the Buddha`s funeral pyre in India in 483 BC. In the 4th century AD, it was hidden in the hair of a princess and smuggled into Sri Lanka.The tooth has over the years been moved around Sri Lanka and was returned to India in 1283 by an invading army. It was then retrieved by the king of Sri Lanka and brought back to the country. It was believed that whoever had the custody of the tooth, had the right to rule the country.The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic was built by the Kandyan kings between 1687-1707 and 1747-1782 and was part of the royal palace.

At the north side of the temple, only accessible via the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic is the Audience Hall. This is from the 19th century and is a beautiful open-air pavilion with stone columns, Buddhas, and ivory.

The security at the entrance to the temple is high because a bomb detonated near the main entrance in 1998.Wear clothes that cover your legs and shoulders. Otherwise, you will not be allowed to enter the temple. We met many tourists that did not know this and had to go into one of the markets in Kandy to buy sarongs.

Just outside of Kandy is the lovely Peradeniya Botanic Garden, who once were reserved exclusively for Kandyan Royalty. Today is it open to the public, making it the largest botanic garden in Sri Lanka, covering 60 hectares.Here you will find a beautiful collection of orchids, cannonball trees, coconut palm trees, a spice garden, giant bamboo, rubber trees, as well as a stately avenue of royal palms that was planted in 1950.While the gardens are lovely, our guide, on dropping us off, had insisted we needed four hours inside the botanical garden. We finally agreed on three, and even that turned out to be more than enough.