SRI LANKAN DIARIES - NUWARA ELIYA

We started our drive from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya.

 It was our special day - our wedding anniversary. Our tour Manager, on behalf of Veena World, felicitated us in the coach, with sash, gift and chocolate.

En-route, we visited Hanuman Temple, built and maintained by Chinmaya Mission.

From the bus park, we had to take autorikshaws up the hilly road to the Hanuman temple.

It is a small temple, neat and clean, 

beautifully built in serene surroundings. 

The views from there are fantastic.

From one point, the mountains in the distance looked like Hanuman lying with his face up towards the sky, praying to Rama - when we were informed about this, we felt the curves really did create such an image.

This was followed by a visit to a tea garden. Having visited tea gardens in Moonnar, Kerala, as well as Darjeeling, it was not a great fascination for us. We did taste the different varieties of tea there.

We had lunch at their restaurant. 

As we drove on, we could see tea estates everywhere ...

About 16 km short of Nuwara Eliya, we visited the Hakgala Botanical Garden, which has around 500,000 visitors annually during the Spring season.

 The garden has a cool temperate climate because the altitude is 5,400 feet above the sea level. As per the folklore, Sri Lankan demon King Ravana after abducting Sita, kept her hidden in this area which finds mention in the Ramayana as Ashok Vatika. The area was named as 'Sita Eliya' and 'Sita Amman Temple' was built on the site. 

There are over 10,000 species of flora planted here. 

The garden is famous for the number of species of orchids and roses. It wasn't Spring yet.

So we could see only the saplings, and of course 

the perennials and variety of trees, some very very old. 

Blossoms were very few.

The glass house had some exotic varieties of ferns.

The cacti section was an eyeful.

It was a sprawling garden,

complete with waterfalls, 

and bridges, ... and we could get lost easily! 

Seetha Amman Temple is located approximately one kilometre from Hakgala Botanical Garden.

The temple, located in the village of Seetha Eliya,where Sita was believed to be held captive by King Ravana, and where she prayed daily for Rama to come and rescue her in the Hindu epic, Ramayana.

The temple is very beautiful structure in rust and cream color, with golden statues of Sita, Rama, Lakshmana and Hanuman. 

This is the only temple dedicated to Sita.

The highlight of the place is the waterfall, with a rock nearby,

on which are imprints of two giant paws - rather holes made by them. As per the popular lore, it was here that Hanuman jumped in front of Sita, with the message from Rama.

Visitors pay their respects at the feet. 

We checked in at Queensburry Hotel, Nuwara Eliya around 5 pm, after the day's itinerary. We were informed that there was a spa in the hotel, we could enlist their services. Actually I had promised myself the luxury of full body massage after having tortured my body with the double climbs on the hills on the second day of our tour. I was not sure whether I should have it in the posh spa of our Maldives resort (I had seen captivating videos of different resorts in Madives) for a hefty packet or go for a modest one in Sri Lanka. I decided on the latter. There was time, convenience and opportunity. It was a truly rejuvenating experience for a reasonable rate of some 4000 SLR (equivalent to 2000 INR).

We had a surprise before we retired to bed. We received a special fruit platter. 

We had already noticed that our room had been decorated in a romantic manner. But we never imagined that it was a special gesture for us - on our wedding anniversary. One call to reception confirmed that it was a complimentary gift from the hotel, with their best wishes. Such a cute gesture! 

The next day, we were to leave Nuwara Eliya for Colombo.

SRI LANKAN DIARIES - KANDY

After a hectic day of sightseeing in Dambulla, we expected a quieter day in Kandy. 

We were well rested through the night in our rooms in our hotel located at an elevation. 

After breakfast, we were ready for the day's sightseeing.

Our first halt was at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, which attracts 2 million visitors annually.

The sprawling garden had an enviable variety of trees, mostly tropical.

Some palms looked special. 

There was this 'double coconut' tree too.

We strolled around, admiring the riot of colors around.

Oops ... such dense foliage ....

The Orchid House was the highlight of the garden. 

Such a feast to our eyes!

Next we went to Gems Gallery. We enjoyed window shopping - the gems were rather expensive. We enjoyed looking at the dazzling colorful gems and the intricate patterns of jewelry.

Our lunch was at a restaurant bang opposite to the Gems gallery.

Next we visited the Temple of the Tooth Relic, and spent two hours going around there.

Sri Dalada Maligawa or the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic is a Buddhist temple, which houses the relic of the tooth of the Buddha. Since ancient times, the relic has played an important role in local politics because it is believed that whoever holds the relic holds the governance of the country. Kandy was the last capital of the Sri Lankan kings and is a World Heritage Site mainly due to the temple.

The temple sustained damage from bombings by Janata Vimukthi Peramuna in 1989 and by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 1998 but was fully restored each time.

The interiors of the temple were very impressive.

A beautiful wall painting of Princess Hemamali and her husband, Prince Dantha, portrays her carrying Gautama Buddha's tooth relic hidden in her hair to Sri Lanka. 

The golden canopy over main shrine looks very impressive.The tooth relic is encased in seven golden caskets which are engraved with precious gemstones. The caskets have a shape of a stupa.

The royal palace is situated to the north of the temple,

surrounded by a moat.

After this, we went to the nearby theater for the Cultural Show. We had been warned not to expect anything similar to the shows in Bangkok or Paris.

The show was a modest presentation of the various forms of art - dance, music, drama - of Sri Lanka. We truly enjoyed the one-hour presentation.

Towards the end of the show, a weirdly attired dancer approached the spectators and shook his head wildly to their delight.

At the end of the show, we were asked to assemble outside the theater for the 'Fire Show'.

Everyone held their breath and went 'ooh' and 'aah' as the performers swathed their limbs with the flames, 

even put the flame inside their mouth. After the mesmerizing show, we retired to our hotel.

The next day, we started from Kandy for Nuwara Eliya.