Kandy Part 1 (8-12)

Tuesday was travel day from Polonnaruwa to Kandy. For the first time, when the bus left the station, it was barely half full. After an hour more people had gotten on, but it still wasn’t full. Later, after stopping in a large town, all the seats were in use. There were half a dozen other foreigners on the bus, which was also a first during my travels. The Sri Lankan man beside me chatted a bit. When he learned that I am not married, he told me he likes me. He repeated this a few times, touching my arm as he said it. Nothing like being flirted with by a man who is at least 25 years younger. Fortunately, his home was before Kandy.

The bus trip was long—4 hours. Instead of a Buddha or Ganesh on the dashboard, this bus had a picture of Jesus on the panel behind the driver. 

After the first couple hours, we were in the mountains with trees and a few good views across the valley. The road wound up and down and around with many turns. The temperature was noticeably cooler. It was raining at the top of the mountains but we drove out of it. When we finally arrived in Kandy, I was more than ready to be off the bus.

Kandy’s elevation is 1600 feet; that of Polonnaruwa is 152 feet. After the last few days of high temperatures and humidity, I was glad to be at the higher, cooler elevation. Temperatures in Kandy have been in the 80s during the day and low 70s at night. Much more pleasant.

The guesthouse is up a mountain. The house itself has five levels that descend down the side of the mountain, which is typical on this mountain. Two levels are for guests; family members live in the other levels. 

Views from the balcony are green. Since my room had a door to the balcony, I ate breakfast there each morning, which was wonderful.

When I was talking to the owner about things to do, I mentioned the dance performances I remembered reading about. He said he could make a reservation for the 5:00 show at the venue near the guesthouse, which he said is the best show in Kandy.  That gave me twenty minutes to rest. He gave me a pot of tea, which was nice. Four French guests were also going to the show, and the owner walked us over. Our seats were in the front row, which surprised me since my reservation had just been made. When I asked, he said that they give him those seats when he makes reservations.

The show, Dances of Sri Lanka, consisted of twelve dances that went from one to the next seamlessly. Both men and women danced accompanied by drums and sometimes a horn. Some were variations of dances I’ve seen in other places—twirling multiple numbers of disc drums, fire dance with fire eating, harvest dance. 

Others were special for Sri Lanka—peacock dance, masked dance. As always, I enjoyed the costumes and dances. After the dances, two men did fire walking—walking on hot coals. It was a good way to start my time in Kandy.

Back at the guesthouse, I had dinner right away as I hadn’t eaten much all day and was hungry. My appetite returned. Dinner was five kinds of curry—okra, mushroom, chicken, lentils, and potatoes. The rice was delicious. The owner’s wife said it is the best Sri Lankan rice. I recognized the name from the menu of the fried rice restaurant I’d eaten at in Polonnaruwa, but I had selected a different kind of rice there.

I spent Wednesday seeing some of the sites in Kandy town. The guesthouse owner provided a map with the main sites highlighted, which was very helpful. I was able to walk everywhere. I didn’t get to all the places I might have enjoyed, but I saw enough at my leisurely pace.

Kandy is the most recent of the historical sites—Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, and Kandy, its peak being from the 14^th to 16^th centuries. I found that I was glad I had chosen the route I did, visiting them in order from oldest to most recent. It helped to keep the development in perspective.

First was the Temple of the Tooth Relic, the main temple in town where there is a tooth relic of the Buddha. 

The reliquary is on display three times a day: 5:30 AM, 10:30 AM, and 6:30 PM. At these times the temple is quite crowded, as many people go to offer flowers and pray. 

The crowded line was orderly, with no pushing and shoving—just crowded, which was nice. The doors to the room are open so people can see the reliquary, and people file past quickly, as the guards keep the line moving. There are two lines—one inside close to the room and one farther out. I was pointed to the outer line, which was OK since I was there as an observer, not to worship. By the time I realized that I could see the reliquary, I was moving past it. 

So I joined the line again. Since it was later, there wasn’t as much pressure to move very quickly and I was able to see the reliquary briefly.

After viewing the reliquary and two other rooms in the old image hall, I moved on to the new image hall, the Temple of the Tooth. It is a huge room 

with a Buddha statue at one end and a series of paintings on the walls depicting a brief story of the Buddha and telling the story of the tooth relic. The brief story of each picture was written in English as well as Sinhalese and Tamil. People sit on the floor to pray. 

This building and others on the grounds are former British government buildings and buildings that were part of the royal palace.

Of course I went to all of the museums. The national museum and archaeological museum are related to the site. At the national museum, an attendant opened the balcony door for a few of us so we could see the view from there. Of course he expected a tip for this special service, and I was happy to give one.

The third museum is the World Buddhist Museum, which has a section about Buddhism in each Asian country. It was interesting for me because I’ve been to many of the countries and many of the places mentioned.

Another special building is the 18^th century Audience Hall with its carved wooden pillars. It is now a good resting place for visitors.

On the way out, I decided to pass through the old image hall again to see it without the crowd. Since very few people were there, I could quietly enjoy the beauty of the building without the crowd. The two other rooms were closed, which surprised me. 

Two men were taking prayer coins off the fence around a stupa.     

On the way out of the temple complex, I stopped at the cultural center. The sign mentioned that you could see artists at work, which I always enjoy. Mostly it is a sales center, but outside a 68-year-old woman motioned for me to come over. In an obscure corner, she was carving wood. She said she is rare because most woodcarvers are men. What she wanted was for me to buy one of her carvings, and she didn’t want the people in the shop to know. I bought a small elephant. When I was leaving, a man on the other side spoke to me and took me to his work table. He had seen me with the woman, and I guess he thought I would buy something from him, too. I feel sad when these people are desperate to make a little money, but I didn’t want anything more. Actually, I didn’t want the elephant but bought it to support the woman.

Next I stopped briefly at St. Paul's, an Anglican church behind the temple.

Then I headed to a small Hindu temple.

Next on the agenda was the big Buddha at the top of the mountain which I’d seen from the balcony at the national museum. When I got to the intersection, I noticed a Hindu temple—Pillaiyar Kovil—and decided to check it out. 

A lot of women were walking around the central shrine area and stopping to briefly pray at the smaller altars. 

A priest was washing the bull statue. Then two men started to decorate it with a cloth and leaves. When I was walking around to look at the various shrines, I heard chanting and returned to central area. 

The priest was chanting and putting flowers on what looked like a painted, wooden bull. A silver headdress had been added to the other bull. The priest then walked around to bless each person. I was there for about an hour, and it looked like the ceremony wasn’t going to finish soon. So I moved on up the mountain. I wished I’d know the significance of the ceremony.

The big Buddha is big. You can walk partway up the outside. 

From the top platform there is a good view of Kandy and the lake.

The walk back to the guesthouse took longer than I realized it would. I had gone to the big Buddha in increments; so it didn’t seem like it was so far, but the trip back took almost an hour.