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Day 4 and we left the Elephant Park Hotel (sadly) to make our way to Kandy (second largest city in Sri Lanka). We took a taxi for the journey, which took 2 hours and cost 6000rs ($60 NZ) and provided door to door service. Kandy City Hotel proved to be a perfect location in the city centre and a very nice Hotel. After settling in, we went for a wander in the city and looking for some lunch. We saw a young man cooking a 'dosa' in the front of a cafe (again..a 'loose' description) and decided to partake. Unfortunately, when we went in to the 'cafe' there were no spare tables. Much to my dismay, the person serving went up to a table where people were eating, took their food off of them, put it into a bag, gave it to them and told them to leave...and then gave us their table! I was mortified!!! Having said that, the food was delicious. Utensils were not used...we had to eat with our fingers as the locals were...and only with the right hand, as the left is used for other 'tasks'. When in Sri Lanka….. .
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the streets with a 'billion' other people. This place is crowded...it feels far more crowded than China did. The footpaths are rough and nowhere near wide enough to accommodate the foot traffic so we are forever bustling past people and being 'bustled'. We decided to have dinner in the Hotel Restaurant where we quickly became the 'entertainment'. We were eating dinner whilst the 3 young men working in the restaurant stood at our table talking to us about New Zealand...cricket (again) and Sri Lanka. When they weren't talking to us, they were just standing watching us eat! Charming to start with but it ended up feeling awkward.
The next morning we headed off to do some perusing at the local markets and shops. Every outing continues to be hazardous...whether on foot or in a tuk tuk or taxi. We walked and tuk tuk'd our way around the city in 32 degrees. A hot but fascinating and fun day. At night we enjoyed a delicious Sri Lankan buffet sitting under the stars at a restaurant (recommended in our travel book) on that is situated on the hill that overlooks Kandy city.
Today we went to the Botanical Gardens (although we nearly didn't get there as our tuk tuk driver was extremely reckless!). We spent a couple of hours (again in intense heat) wandering around incredible and expansive gardens. Highlights were seeing a 'man-eating' spider (well it looked like it could!), a chameleon and hundreds of fruitbats. It was well worth the 2200rs ($22 NZ) entry fee. This evening we went to a 'Sri Lankan Dance Show' which was spectacular. The costumes were amazing, drumming was fabulous. Great entertainment.There was one particular male dancer who appeared quite 'mad' throughout the show (something we had commented on). Somehow he became our tuk tuk driver back to the Hotel after the show (not through choice I must add). Partway into the journey he turned a 'fluro green light' on in the back of his tuk tuk. Not long after that he pulled over to get his 'sounds' up and running. The rest of the trip was full of Taylor Swift, Sri Lankan music with a bit of 'Rap' thrown in. The driver 'boogied' as he drove, intermittently turning and laughing 'maniacally', as we sat in our 'green' cab wondering how we came to be in such a situation and just how crazy was this guy?? At one stage we even found ourselves 'boogying' along with him, as we thought, if we can't escape him, we may as well join him.
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Rach Haha I love this blog! Sounds like you are having so much fun and days are just full of adventure and excitement!! So cool!! Xx