Holiday in Sri Lanka (6): Kandy
This morning (Monday) we had an amazing train journey which was a pleasant change from all the time in our minibus and provided scenes of wonderful landscapes. Our train was a light blue affair and, thanks to the type of track and the open windows, the trip was very rattling and very noisy (an Australian who had previously done the journey in a red train had told me that they called their transport “the red rattler”).
We departed from a place called Nanu-Oya (a short road journey from Nuwara Eliya) at 9.20 am, originally headed west, then at Hotten turned north, and eventually reached Kandy at 1 pm. The first two thirds of the trip was very slow as we laboured upwards but the last third was fast as we hurtled downwards. The whole of the time was incredibly noisy because of the elderly engine and the open windows.
The first half of the expedition was wonderfully scenic as we looked over deep valleys and across to steep hills all covered in verdant green with endless tea plantations. The second half was much flatter with towns and villages and hamlets pressed hard against the railway track.
I am a pretty chatty guy and I talked with a young Australian couple from Sydney called Damien and Britney. They were married a few months ago and are spending around six months travelling through Asia and Europe with the intention of finishing up in London where they plan to live and work. So far, they have visited Japan, The Philippines, and Singapore as well as Sri Lanka and plan to take the train from Beijing to Moscow. By the end of the day, we were Facebook friends and exchanging messages and checking out each ofher’s travel blogs. Don’t you just love the Internet?
Kandy, is famous for being the seat of the last kingdom to be defeated by the British (that was in 1815). Today, with a population of 125,000 and narrow streets clogged with traffic, it is the second most populous city in Sri Lanka and the most polluted. Geographically it is located in the very centre of the island and artistically it is regarded as the cultural capital of the country. Having started the day in Nuwara Eliya at 6,000 ft (2,000 meters), we had descended to 1,600 feet (500 feet), so it was warmer but still cooler than the coastal regions.
After such an inspiring morning, the afternoon was a bit anti-climatic, at least for me as a man. Following a light lunch at Hotel Kandyan Arts, we visited a jewellery works cum showroom called Premadasa & Co, a woodcarving works cum showroom called Oak Ray, and the extensive Royal Botanic Gardens.
It was just after 6 pm when we rolled up to our next hotel: The Tourmaline in the hills overlooking the city centre. Dinner was at the hotel and I went for a Sri Lankan dish than was spicy enough for me. I went to bed in the seventh location in as many consecutive days: home, aircraft, Colombo, Galle, Yala, Nuwara Eliya, Kandy (this is probably a personal record).