Today went a bit wrong, thanks to Stanley's questionable skills...
The morning was good. We went to the Temple of the Tooth, which was great. A whole temple devoted to one of Buddha's actual teeth. How awesome is that?! With today being a Saturday, the temple was packed with people coming to see the tooth relic, carrying offerings of lotus flowers. Needless to say, we were forced to do a lot of pushing and shoving to have a chance of seeing anything! I really enjoyed the temple: the people, the smell of incense, the frescoes, the architecture. Loved it. Even got to see one of the temple 'tuskers' (the name given to the few Indian elephants that grow large tusks) going for its morning stroll.
Then things started to go downhill. We got in the car and Stanley started driving. We thought we were going to a nearby tea factory, but as he carried on driving...and driving...and driving...we realised he was taking us tens of miles from Kandy. By the time we had worked this out it was too late and we were stuck with Stanley's (bizarre) decision to drive us halfway to Nuwara Eliya (tomorrows destination!) to visit the Glenloch tea factory. We weren't overly impressed with him, but seeing as we were there we went along with the tour of the factory, which to be fair was pretty informative, if a little brief. At least we now know that the correct term for English breakfast tea is broken orange pekoe! The female guide explained all the processes that go into making white, green and black tea, all from the same plant. White tea uses unopened leaf buds only, making it the most expensive, green tea is dried to 50% and not allowed to oxidise, black tea is allowed to oxidise (which turns it black). Tea strength is dictated by colour (black being strongest) and how finely the tea is chopped, with smaller particles giving stronger tea. After the tour we were given a complimentary cuppa. We bought a few boxes of loose tea to take home.
Our next exciting destination was the dramatic Ramboda waterfall, accessed via the Ramboda Falls hotel. Nice place, but it was a shame that there was no access route down to the river, as I would have liked to check it out for more birds and lizards. I made do with a few shots from beneath the falls. The Snake falls were also visible from this location. Walking around the garden we saw a Small day gecko on the wall of the hotel. Another nice and relatively rare addition to the list.
On the way back to Kandy we stopped twice. Once to take a photo of the big hydroelectric reservoir and once to buy some red bananas, which Stanley reckons are the best in the world. He may be right, they are very sweet.
We made Kandy around 3 pm and ditched Stanley for an hour and a half, while we got some food at Devon restaurant (huge portions) and then went to check out one of the markets. Most of the goods on offer weren't all that appealing, but we did get sucked by one man who had some beautiful pashminas. He wanted 3,800 Rs each for them, but after some fun haggling we got three for 7,000 Rs.
We had a few minutes to sit and look out over the lake before meeting Stanley, where we were lucky enough to see a kingfisher (same species we have in the UK) who was busy fishing from a lamp attached to the roof of a jetty projecting into the lake.
Reunited with our driver, we instructed him to take us to Uddawattekelle sanctuary. Technically the sanctuary ticket office closes at 4.30 pm, but they were kind enough to let us in at 3.45 pm. It's a lovely piece of forest and we made the most of the available time before they shut thefts at 6 pm. Two fantastic animals to add to the list: a male Indian paradise flycatcher and an Indian muntjac (another species we have in the UK).
Stanley was whinging away about how we should have allowed more time to walk around, but I reckon seeing the flycatcher and the awe-inspiring climber-covered trees was easily worth the 650 Rs entrance fee.
Back at the hotel, we went night swimming in the hotel's lovely pool, with fruit bats wheeling overhead. Swimming and bat watching is a hard combination to beat.
Unable to face the awful Christmas music in the restaurant, ordered room service for dinner and watched 'The Eagle' and 'The Hangover 2' back to back.
Wildlife for today:
- small day gecko (Cnemaspis podihuna)
- kingfisher
- Indian paradise flycatcher
- Indian muntjac
- house sparrow
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