Kandy
In Kandy we visited the Temple of the Tooth which was beautiful. It supposedly houses one of the Buddha's teeth was there but has been much dispute over it during Sri Lanka's history and whatever is only displayed for 2 weeks every decade or something I think (clearly did a lot of research...). We also saw a traditional cultural/dance show that evening. We had already seen the Kandyan dancers and drummers at Thanuri's wedding which was particularly special, but it was nice to see the female dancers and hear more music anyway. There was a huge thunderstorm that began that evening, sending tons of water rushing down the hills of Kandy! But at least the next morning it had all cleared up and the weather looked to be vastly improved.
Nuwara Eliya
Of course this wasn't our hotel, we were actually staying in a hotel with the same name about a mile away from town. It wasn't as nice, and half a construction site but still with a pretty amazing view. There isn't much to do in Ella apart from chill out with drinks and enjoy the food, my particular favourite being a rotti cafe serving a huge variety of sweet and savoury rotti - my favourite was the coconut and honey :). The main attraction is Ella Falls:
Next we're off down south!
In Kandy we visited the Temple of the Tooth which was beautiful. It supposedly houses one of the Buddha's teeth was there but has been much dispute over it during Sri Lanka's history and whatever is only displayed for 2 weeks every decade or something I think (clearly did a lot of research...). We also saw a traditional cultural/dance show that evening. We had already seen the Kandyan dancers and drummers at Thanuri's wedding which was particularly special, but it was nice to see the female dancers and hear more music anyway. There was a huge thunderstorm that began that evening, sending tons of water rushing down the hills of Kandy! But at least the next morning it had all cleared up and the weather looked to be vastly improved.
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| Offering to the Buddha |
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| Temple of the Tooth |
We were pretty happy to be checking out of the manky old hotel, and headed up the hills to Nuwara Eliya AKA "Little England" so we dressed accordingly in the warm stuff we had travelled in from the UK...
Nuwara Eliya
On the way up we passed the most stunning scenery with rolling hills, tea plantations and botanical gardens.
We stopped at a tea factory (Mum wanted to avoid because it sounded a bit dull, but actually I decided I wanted to go because I have no idea how they make tea and thought it might actually be interesting!) en route and they showed us which leaves are made into each different tea. The whole process to make black tea is very long and complicated, whereas green tea they simply dry the leaves out and leave them as they are, which I guess explains why it' better for you. Anyway, Mum was happy to be proved right that leaf tea is far superior to teabags because in the bags you get a lot of the leftover dregs put in there.
Nuwara Eliya is full of old colonial buildings, some particularly beautiful like the Golf Club which is cripplingly expensive to be a member of! Our hotel was a great little place, with dark wood original flooring and great furniture, a roaring fire (necessary, temperature was lovely during the day and sunshine but got pretty cold after the sun went down) and snug sofa areas to chill out.
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| Hotel Glendower |
We had dinner at their King Prawn Chinese restaurant which was great. Went to bed and froze to death (like England).
Ella
Despite the Rough Guide singing its praises, one travel agent tried to put us off going to Ella - not really sure why and I'm so glad we ignored them and went anyway. It's a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere, lower down than N'Eliya but still in the hills. It's such a cool place, a bit hippy-ish with lots of cool cafes and a very chilled out atmosphere. We turned up at what we thought was our hotel, and this was the view:
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| Ella Gap |
Of course this wasn't our hotel, we were actually staying in a hotel with the same name about a mile away from town. It wasn't as nice, and half a construction site but still with a pretty amazing view. There isn't much to do in Ella apart from chill out with drinks and enjoy the food, my particular favourite being a rotti cafe serving a huge variety of sweet and savoury rotti - my favourite was the coconut and honey :). The main attraction is Ella Falls:
Next we're off down south!
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