Kandy & Digana

Hi all,

After a good night’s sleep we were feeling refreshed this morning. We woke briefly to some fireworks and a brief power outage overnight but otherwise slept well. This morning, Hazel and Rob from the UK, Carmel and the two of us caught tuk tuks into Kandy for a morning stroll. It was our only free time in the town itself so we wanted to take the opportunity to explore.

Despite it being Puthandu (Tamil and Hindu new year - today is New Year’s Day), we had a wonderful time enjoying the sunny morning in Kandy. We first headed to a viewpoint that offered a wonderful view of the lake, former palace and the temple we went to yesterday. The lake is a manmade one which was created in 1807. Apparently it was formerly rice fields, and the owners of these fields were publicly killed and displayed in the centre of the lake for protesting its creation. Very harsh!! But despite this morbid beginning, today the lake is very picturesque and peaceful. That was apart from the occasional bangs of fireworks as we walked around due to New Year’s Day!! The trees and the white railing surrounding the lake were particularly beautiful. I was reminded of the lake in Hanoi, but the surrounding roads and paths here were less manic (probably only due to new year!).

Around the lake we saw lots of stray dogs (and one very cute puppy!), several sunbathing water monitors, beautiful blue kingfishers, fruit bats and some turtles as well. The island in the middle of the lake was originally created as a royal palace, then used by the British to store ammunitions, but today it was pretty for us to look at as well.

We did a full circuit of the lake. Carmel got shat on by a bird and we later commented that the unexpected sunny weather beyond 11am was thanks to the good luck she had received from the bird responsible. Once we had circled back to the Temple of the Tooth, we went to check out the British Garrison Cemetery with some old graves, however, it like a garden we also tried to enter were closed due to New Year’s Day. But we had a quick peek from outside. Finally, we had a quick bite and a cool drink at a restaurant. I had a dasa, kind of like an Indian crepe, and a lassi to drink. Both were delicious.

Then the tour group picked us up, as the other nine passengers had opted for a sleep in. Darsh explained some more background about New Years here, including the fact that lots of people travel to be with their family at this time. When we asked him if he missed his family, he said he’s with his new family on the bus. He’s so lovely! He also explained that the reason our assistant driver gives us a different flower every morning as we bowed the bus is to start our day right - beautiful and fragrant.

The drive to our next destination was only approximately 20 minutes. On the way, we passed the Kandy cricket stadium that Australia will play Sri Lanka at in July. Before long at all, we had reached the chalet/resort we would stay at in Digana. The property was very picturesque with a beautiful pool, swing and epic treehouse. It put the Tarzan/Swiss Family Robinson one at Disneyland to shame! Of course we had to climb it and check it out.

We had some morning tea, and soon after some lunch, any concerns of not being able to access food over here have not come to fruition at all. Then at 2pm we went for a walk in the local village. There were still quite a few fireworks going off. We saw kids playing new year games together too. We also checked out a couple of local houses and gave the families gifts for welcoming us into their home. At one point, it started raining really heavily so a family welcomed all 16 of us into their home to take shelter and enjoy some tea. It’s so nice to finally feel like we are past Covid. I know it’s still out there obviously, but not having to think about the rules and worry about whether it’s OK to do things has been wonderful. Let’s hope it’s the way forward. By this stage, we had also picked up a hitchhiker – a man that Darsh said was very drunk due to new year and seemed to want to accompany us everywhere.

Our walk ended by descending into the Victoria Dam area, on the way we saw some curious goats peeking out at us from a building. The dam was beautiful, we could see some children swimming in the distance. Whilst here, Darsh explained the makeup of family homes in villages such as the one we had toured. We noticed there was only bedroom in the house we had been to. He said the mother and children typically sleep in the same bed, and the men on the floor elsewhere in the house. It is fairly common for a few generations to live together.

Mum and I went for a swim after a quick rest. We then listened to the second half of the Collingwood game on the radio. Then we freshened up and headed to dinner, where some of our tour mates took part in a cooking demonstration before we ate dinner. Then out of nowhere a DJ appeared with coloured lights and a smoke machine. Some of the music he played was pretty horrid, but then he would chuck in a ‘Queen’ or ‘BeeGees’ song and we would be up dancing. Apart from two weddings last year, this was the first time I had danced since 2019. For Mum it was the first time since then full stop!!

Love to all,
Claire
Xoxox