Day 6 - Kandy

We had a busy day exploring Kandy. We started with a visit to a gem producer where we watched a video about how gems are mined and processed. The method is not too different to gold mining and is very manual to avoid damaging the stones. The soil is very wet and loose though so supporting the tunnel walls is fairly challenging. Pradeep told us that recently a truckload of gravel that was spread onto a new road was found to be full of gems. You can imagine what happened once the word got out. The local government ended up auctioning off small plots on the road with a portion going to the local village.

The gems were we're shown were stunning with all colours of the rainbow. Sapphires are very high quality here and come in many shades and colours. They don't have diamonds or emeralds which we found surprising.

Afterwards we went for a walk through the botanical gardens, the largest in Sri Lanka. These were originally the pleasure gardens for the royal family and then the British added their own plants and trees along with some buildings which are still there. The Brits also built a narrow suspension bridge across the river which we walked across and watched locals washing in the river below. The gardens are stunning and we saw some trees we had never come across before, such as the cannon ball tree which has lovely smelling flowers and enormous fruit that really would make great cannon balls as they were rock hard and very heavy.

We then visited a batik workshop where we watched the process of wax resist being drawn onto cloth and learned how the many layers of colour are built up. The wax is drawn on both sides and is removed between each colour in boiling water. The Sri Lankan style has many tiny dots and is very fine compared to other batik I've seen. The showroom was somewhat overwhelming but we managed to find some pieces we liked of course!

Next stop was the last temple on our itinerary and the most important and sacred - the Temple of the Tooth - where one of Buddha's teeth is kept. The location of the tooth determines where the capital must be is, and so Kandy is the latest capital in a long line of historical places. It was a quite busy yet peaceful place. Many people sitting on the floor around the room where the tooth is kept, quietly meditating. The paintings and artefacts on display were fascinating, and the kids were able to read the story behind the tooth. Also on display were photos of the result of a car bomb attack by Tamil Tigers which damaged the front of the temple badly. This was a terrible act given the importance of the temple, and yet there was no retribution as it is not the way of the Buddhist people. Security was tightened though and signs of this are still at the front.

The last stop in a very full day was to see a 'cultural show'. We watched traditional dance and drumming which was colourful and loud. The costumes were spectacular and we felt dizzy just watching the men spinning very fast. It made street dancing look slow! The kids laughed at the 'demons' that are the cause of ailments. The grand finale was fire walking which had the kids entranced. They were worried about the men catching fire and were sure that they must have had something protecting their feet.

We were all ready for bed once we made the winding trip back up the mountain!

Sarah

• The cultural dance because it had ten different funny dances.
• The gem mines because they told us all the different gems for all the different months. Such as January:garnet March:aquamarine August:star Sapphire.
• The cultural dance because they walked on fire and had nothing on their feet.
• The gardens because there were exquisite plants and lots of space to run around.
• We went to a batiks place and they showed us how to make wax paintings

Thank you for all comments especially Lexi, Diya, Millie and the year fours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dan

• The cultural show because the demons were really Funny
• The fire walk because they walked through fire
• The gem place because there were really big gems
• The botanical gardens because there were bats sleeping
• The suspension bridge because it was wobbly
• The temple of the tooth because the Buddhas tooth was in a golden stupa and when you were allowed to see it you could only see it for 1 second!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rich

Cultural show was the best thing today.

I loved the tranquility and beauty of the botanical gardens especially given the mayhem that is Kandy just outside the gates! I was also amazed by the complexity, planning and workmanship involved in the batik here. Still I surprised myself by enjoying the cultural dancing most. Just a really fun if not totally professional show. Fantastic costumes with some crazy head gear and an interesting mix of dances. The spinning and acrobatics of the men was particularly enjoyable. The show culminated with fire dancing and walking which just about made Dan and Sarah's eyes pop out of their heads. Brilliant!