Day 5: Kandy

We left the hotel at about 8am after breakfast and headed to Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, about an hour away.  The government-run orphanage was set up in 1975 to rescue four orphaned baby elephants when they could no longer be looked after at Dehiwala (Colombo south) Zoo.  Today with over 70 elephants, it has become the home to the largest captive group of elephants in the world.  Orphaned young elephants whose parents have been the victims of poachers or accidents are tamed, reared & trained herein to eventually become working beasts.  We arrived at about 9.30am, in time for the milk feeding session where elephants are fed in several sheds in bottles.  They guzzled down the milk in seconds!

Twice a day after the meals, the elephants are herded across the road to May Oya river for a leisurely bath.  We watched their antics from the terraces of the Pinnalanda Restaurant.

Yiu Yiu wanted to ride an elephant so we made a stop at one of the privately run establishment minutes away from the Elephant Orphanage.  We chose the 30-min ride around the village for LKR 2,500 (~RM 70).

On the way back to Kandy, we visited a spice garden where the guide explained to us the medicinal values of various herbs such as cardamom, aloe vera, nutmeg, sandalwood, etc.  He also demonstrated the efficacy of a hair removal cream, with hubby being the guinea pig.  Hair was miraculously removed from a section of his leg within five minutes of application.  Apparently for males, hair will regrow after several months but for females, the removal will be permanent – due to hormonal differences.  Amazing!  No need for waxing, IPL, etc.

Can you see the smooth hairless area where the cream was applied?

Various herbal medicinal products were on sale and we bought a bottle of medicinal oil, purportedly good for varicose veins for MIL.  It was certainly not cheap – almost LKR 7,000 per bottle (~RM 200) but our guide managed to negotiate the price down to LKR 4,500 (~RM 130).  Still expensive, but worth a try, since MIL has very bad varicose veins.

Our next stop was the Peradeniya Royal Botanical Gardens laid out in 1821 by British colonial rulers.  Prior to that, it was the Royal Pleasure Garden of the Kandyan Kings.  The longest river of Sri Lanka, the Mahaveli River, borders the gardens on one side.  There are around ten thousand plants & trees inclusive of 4000 labeled species in the 150 acres gardens.  Of interest is the The Great Circle, a grassy central area of nearly four acres.  Around the circle is a diverse array of trees planted by dignitaries, who had visited the Peradeniya Royal Botanical Gardens, including two plants by Tun Mahathir and the late Tunku Abdul Rahman.

(L) The tree planted by Tun Mahathir (Yellow Tabebuia) and (R) the late Tunku Abdul Rahman (Pericopsis Mooniana)

We returned to Kandy and eventually had lunch at close to 4pm - another expensive (and totally not worth the money paid) lunch!  Kandy had been the Medieval Royal City of Sri Lanka during the period of 1469-1815 AD after the fall of the ancient kingdoms of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa.  It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.  The city, also called Maha Nuwara (Great City), is officially designated as the "Cultural Capital of Sri Lanka"

Beautiful view of Kandy 

We then took a walk around Kandy town centre with its delightful jumble of old shops, antique & gemstone shops, a bustling market, hotels, guesthouses and restaurants, before watching a Kandyan dance performance at the Kandyan Cultural Centre Hall.

After the dance performance, we took a short walk to the holy Sri Dalada Maligawa (Sacred Temple of the Tooth) to witness the evening pooja (worship ceremony).

The temple is the most sacred shrine of Buddhism in the same vein that the Basilica of Saint Peter of Vatican is to the Roman Catholic Church.  It is here that the supreme edifice, not only of the Sinhalese Buddhist populace of Sri Lanka but also of the Buddhists all over the world, the Sacred Tooth Relic of Buddha (Danta Dhatu), is enshrined.  The tooth is said to have been extracted from remains of the Buddha just prior to His cremation.

 Hewisi Mandapaya (Drummers Hall) inside the temple

The Sacred Tooth Relic of Buddha is kept in the Vedahitina Maligawa (Shrine of Abode).  Caged behind gilded iron bars is the bullet proof glass enclosure housing the stupa shaped large outer casket made of silver.  Inside it are seven similar caskets of decreasing sizes with each one.  The innermost casket, the 8th and the smallest one, contains the Holy Tooth Relic.  The shrine is open to the public only three times daily – at dawn, at noon and in the evening – when the daily pooja takes place.

Shrine of Abode is the picture on the left

We ended our long sightseeing day with a buffet dinner at hotel.

Day 4: Ella – Nuwara Eliya - Kandy

We wanted to take the scenic train ride from Ella to Nanu Oya @ Nuwara Eliya.  There was a train at 6.45am and another at 9.45am.  Since we’ve had few early start, we decided to take it easy and opted for the 9.45am train.  Anyhow, I woke up early enough to catch a spectacular sunrise right from the balcony of our room.  

After breakfast and checking out, we headed to the train station only to be informed that the train would be delayed by two hours.  We decided to forego the train ride and drove to Nuwara Eliya instead, as we didn’t want to waste all that time waiting, with no guarantee that the train would not be further delayed.  Yiu Yiu was hugely disappointed!

It was a torturous 2hr drive to Nuwara Eliya – parts of the road were unpaved road and with sharp bends and turns ever so often.  Mum and I started to feel unwell, but luckily we were already near Nuwara Eliya, a quaint hill resort with a remarkably English atmosphere – after all, Nuwara Eliya was originally constructed as the British up-country retreat, and famously known by its moniker “The Little England”.  The town, at 1890m above sea level, still boasts of fine colonial hotels, along with scattered atmospheric villas & guest houses.  There is also an 18-hole golf course, the first ever post-office in Sri Lanka housed in a Victorian style old building and a race course.  Most charming are numerous houses with mock Tudor half-timbering & hedges, with extensive private gardens scattered around the town.

We took a walk near the edge of Gregory’s Lake, before stopping at the turf club where Yiu Yiu rode on a horse, and took a walk around the town and its Central Market.  Lunch was at a local restaurant where we had fried rice and Singapore fried noodles (which turned out surprisingly delicious, if only a little salty, as with most food we’ve had so far) with chicken chop suey and sweet & sour chicken.

 After lunch, it was time to descent the mountain to Kandy.  This was a much pleasant drive with good roads and views of valleys, meadows, mountains and greenery. 

As the world's largest exporters of tea, the finest tea is cultivated & processed in Sri Lankam with Nuwara Eliya as the capital of the tea country of highlands of Sri Lanka.  There are vast tracts of tea plantations along the way, the majority of which belongs to Mackwoods Labookele Tea Estate.  We also visited the Labookelle tea center which offers free guided tours of the factory.  We were also served with tea and a slice of chocolate butter cake each at the restaurant at no charge.

At the Mackwoods factory

The lovely English garden where visitors can enjoy a complimentary pot of tea with chocolate cake

Further along, we stopped for a Kodak moment at the Ramboda Ella (Falls).

Stairways to heaven? 

Then, in an unexpected move, the driver stopped by the road for a car wash, with the operator running his car wash business using the natural mountain stream.  The water pressure was so high there was no need for any pump!  It was certainly a novel experience for us!

Just before reaching Kandy, we drove past the Peradeniya campus of Sri Lanka University, built in the old Kandyan style in an impressive setting of a large park with the River Mahaweli running through it & the surrounding hillocks.

We reached Kandy at about 6.30pm and checked into Serene Garden Hotel.  We were joined by our guide, Shakeer, who had an earlier tour with another family which ended the day before.  Dinner was typical hotel buffet, a departure from the earlier home cooked meals of the smaller resorts we stayed.

Day 3: Tissamaharama – Ella

An early start to the day again, leaving the resort at 5.30am to Yala National Park for an early morning animal safari.  Yala National Park has a spectrum of terrain: dense jungle, scrub jungle, open savannah, riverine woodland, rock pools, streams, freshwater lakes & a long coastline which curves around Sri Lanka's southeast coast.

We spotted plenty of birds, peacocks and peahens, jungle fowls (the national animal of Sri Lanka), a male jumbo all by himself, and later two female elephants with a baby.  There were also several huge monitor lizards, crocodiles, monkeys, several herds of spotted deer and a herd of sambar deer, wild boars, wild buffaloes, mongooses, and a rabbit.

Rabbit, crocodile & monitor lizard

Green birds, peacocks, mongooses 

The very shy wild boar 

The handsome Hanuman monkeys

We hunted the elusive leopard and finally spotted one sleeping atop a tree – unfortunately it was really too far for us to get a decent shot of him.

 

Fellow animal hunters 

Our jeep driver with our tour driver 

We went back to the resort for a quick freshening up and checked out, followed by lunch at a nearby restaurant – rice with devil chicken, curry fish and chicken.  It was a rather expensive lunch!  After filling our tummies, we hit the road again to Ella (water fall in Sinhalese), about 2.5hr away.  The small village sitting tight at the southern ridge of the Central highlands is aptly named in the backdrop of numerous waterfalls, small & large, which crash, gush or trickle down the mountainous terrain.  On the way, we stopped by the Rawana Ella (Falls) for a quick photo stop.

After checking into Sky Green Resort, we headed out to hike up the Little Adam’s Peak, for a view of the surrounding mountains and the Ella Gap, a treacherous downhill highway formed by the opening in the chain of mountains all the way down to the southern coast.  Only mum and I made it to the top, me with Yan Yan on piggy back.  Hubby, MIL and Yiu Yiu decided to just wait for us halfway up.

Girls posing at the resort

Please pardon the 'Ah Soh' look 

The Ella Gap, too bad it was a cloudy day 

Yan Yan trying to make the V sign

Back at the hotel, it was time for a good shower and a 3-course dinner comprising a soup, main of rice with devil chicken, chicken chop suey (which is basically Chinese style mixed vegetable) or roast chicken, and desserts.

Day 2: Unawatuna – Mirissa – Galle – Tissamaharama

 We had an early start again, leaving the resort at 5.30am to Mirissa for a whale and dolphin watching tour.  After some formalities of registering ourselves and waiting for another Ukrainian couple, the boat finally headed to the sea at about 7.30am.

The boat had to report to the Customs/marine police before heading out to the open sea

We were out in the open sea for some time and still no dolphins or whales in sight.  I was beginning to feel my heart sink - thinking that this would be a futile trip.

A short while later, the boatmen spotted a whale in the distance and raced to where the whale was.  Then we saw another, and another, and another…  In the end, we saw easily 10-15 whales, but unfortunately no dolphins were in sight.  Guess we should count our lucky stars having spotted so many whales in a single trip.

Only this whale showed us its elusive tail! 

A pair of whales dating in the open sea 

On the way back to the resort, we stopped for a delicious local Sri Lanka breakfast consisting of string hoppers (which tastes and looks like meehoon) with fish and dhal curries.  We also caught a glimpse of stilt fishermen.  The stilts consist of single pole firmly embedded in the bottom of the sea, close to the shore & a crossbar planted onto the pole on which fishermen sit tight whilst casting their lines into the sea when the tides are flowing right.  The stilt positions are highly lucrative, highly coveted & passed down from generation to generation.

 The rugged coastline of Sri Lanka's southern coast

After freshening up and checking out from the resort, we headed to Galle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Galle city was washed away badly with thousands of lives lost in the tsunami of 2004, but the city has since been completely rebuilt, mainly from Japanese funds.  The highlight of the city is the Galle Fort, built by the Dutch in 1663.  It is the best preserved colonial sea fortress in the whole of Asia.

The lighthouse in the distance

We then backtracked along the Southern coast belt to Tissamaharama, 3.5hour away.  We stopped along the way for a simple lunch of fried rice and noodles.  After checking in at Hibiscus Garden Resort at about 5pm, we headed to the pool, and had the pool all by ourselves till it was time to get ready for dinner.

Dinner was a set menu with starters, salad, soup and a main of either grilled chicken, fried fish fillet or Sri Lankan curry rice, desserts and coffee/tea.