Today started off with a wedding party, in very full regalia, arriving at the hotel at 7am. Keen!
After our breakfast, with the party still posing for the photographer, we went to the Kandy Botanic Gardens. By bus. That was fun. Everyone warned about having to stand, but initially we were the only ones on board & 20 minutes later, when we got off, there were still only about 10 other passengers. The trip cost approx. 10p each.
The gardens are mighty fine, with great trees from all over the world & special displays of ferns, cacti, flowers, all OK, a suspension bridge (a bit hairy), a fantastic display of over 300 orchids & serenity from the bustling, over-trafficed city. I think orchids are always fantasy. And a colony of 1,000 Flying Foxes, aka fruit bats, hanging upside-down, of course, in the trees. The return journey was also in a bus, this one with shrine cockpit, complete with Buddhas, pictures, ribbons & a tv screen. Most of the buses are ancient & made by Lanka Leyland – that tells a story in itself.
And as walked into the hotel, the sounds of the wedding DJ emanated throughout, ie party! But all quiet by 6pm: pretty typical of Sri Lanka, not a lively night place. Maybe that’s why sleep eludes me; after the 12 hour Colombo session, last night was the first uninterrupted proper sleep for me, perhaps aided by two glasses of excellent, ridiculously underpriced Burgundy I discovered on the wine list. Three more glasses in the bottle for tonight ….. except my snorer companion will probably claim one.
Tomorrow we travel up-mountain, again, this time to Ella. Our train is due to leave at 11.10 & take about six hours, in one of the most famous train journeys in the world – check out the Michael Portillo episode. You could almost walk it quicker.
Chris & Kath's Travel Time 