Sri Lanka Trip Day 3 : Kandy

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Artist Performing Fire Dance

Kandy is one of the most beautiful places in Sri Lanka and should definitely not be missed in your itinerary. This is a must visit - it is also the most sacred place for SL people due to its famous tooth temple.

This was covered on my 2nd and 03rd Day in the Sri Lanka itinerary.

Kandy Lake at Sunset

How to Go :
First day we landed in Colombo and spent the day in Bentota. Second day we left after an early breakfast towards Kandy and hopped on the way to Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage.

Bentota -> Pinnawala = 150Kms
Spent couple of hours with Elephants in Pinnawala and then moved to Kandy.
Pinnawala -> Kandy = 40Kms (1.5 hours journey due to hilly roads).

Kandy is located on a hill, so as your car starts to reach Kandy, you will feel a cool breezy weather. You will notice beautiful mountains with Tea gardens and full of fog and clouds. The city is very clean and well maintained with its natural beauty.

We started from Bentota at 9AM, reached Pinnawala by noon, spend 2 hours with Elephants and then moved to Kandy.
We were in Kandy by around 4PM - Kandy is a busy city, and Sri Lankan business hours are from 8AM to 4PM, so traffic delayed us.
* Many people asked me how I booked a car with driver for 4 days itinerary.. I asked for quotations from Travel Triangle - they have a tie up with Leisure Tours in Sri Lanka. So you can directly contact Leisure tours on their Facebook page - good service. Else you can ping me on my Facebook page - i will send the number of the Sri Lanka driver/agency

Places to visit in Kandy :

Kandy Cultural Show :

Kandy Cultural Show

We quickly freshened up in our room and headed for the Kandy Cultural show. The cultural program showcases the Sri Lankan dances, music and walk on the fire. The artists are good and they will be dancing with masks and drums.
The ticket to the Kandy Cultural show was around 1000 Sri Lankan Rupees. Better to reach before time and grab a good seat. Many travel agents will block seats for foreign tourists and we unfortunately got a seat in the upper deck which was not very close to the dancers.
In the end the Fire walk is Awe-inspiring, the dancers believe that the Fire God will protect them and this faith lets them to walk on flames. In the end there is an opportunity to click photos with the dancers.
Timings: Check on internet , i think it is from 4.30 to 5.30
Location : Very near to the Tooth temple, besides the lake - Use google maps or ask someone
Ticket price: 1000/- SLR

Kandy Lake by the Temple of Tooth Relic

Kandy Lake : You cannot miss this, since the entire city is located around this huge lake. There is no special entrance, just walk by the pathways along the lake, sit on the benches and take pictures.

Temple of the Tooth Relic

Temple of the Tooth Relic :
This is the most sacred place of Sri Lankans, and I must say it is beautifully designed. This temple has the real Buddha tooth protected in a casket for followers to pray and get blessings from the God. It is believed that this tooth is very powerful and a mere darshan of this place will bring you good fortunes and happiness. The place is really peaceful and calm.
There is police checking on the gates and foreigners need to purchase tickets to enter this temple.
You will see some guides in white dress, and you can negotiate with them for price. We found a guide and paid him ~1000 SLR for taking us around this place.

This is where the Sacred Buddha tooth is kept under a casket

So the legend goes by the story - that when Gautam Buddha was cremated, nothing happened to his tooth, his entire body went to the higher skies, but his tooth was left behind. This tooth exuded so much light that it almost mesmerized the person holding it through its sheer power. There were lots wars and fights and people tried to break the tooth and steal it - but it was so powerful that nothing could happen. After travelling to lots of kingdoms across many years, this sacred tooth relic came to Kandy and has been protected here.
There are only 5 senior monks who can go inside the small place where this is kept. It is opened only for 15 mins for Dashan everyday morning and 15 mins in evening. Luckily we reached there at the right time and we were able to see it.
It is protected in a casket, and is seen from a distance (there is a railing beyond which general public cannot go). Huge queue for darshan and photography at this particular place is not allowed.
At all other places, you can take pictures.

Meditation Hall@ Sacred Tooth Relic temple

It will take around 1-2 hours for you to visit this place, there are several small temples inside it - the Library with original historical texts written on a gold or copper paper

The prayer hall with thousands of different variants of Buddha and depicting the story of Gautam Buddha through pictures
I was surprised to know that Gautam Buddha was born in India (Bodhgaya) and died in India (Kushinagar) and never visited to Sri Lanka. But you will feel that they are truely dedicated to the Buddhist way of list and it is not as prevalent in India as it is in SL.

Balaji Dosa eatery for tasty Indian style food

Where to Eat :
Well, I discovered a place where you get awesome Masala Dosa at a low cost. It is just walkable from the Temple of Tooth Relic. The city is overall safe and it shuts down very soon.

We thought we would do some shopping in Kandy, but apparently all the shops close by 7PM, The Dosa shop was open up until 9 so we found some good food to eat. The Balaji Dosa shop is also the most popular eatery in Kandy on Tripadvisor and you will see many foreigners relishing his dosas.

Where to Stay :

View from our Hotel Balcony

We stayed in ThiLanka - this is a 4 star hotel. The rooms and location is pretty good. It is located atop a hill so the view of the city and lake is amazing. However, I did not have a great experience, so suggest you find another one. The room was very spacious with Balcony etc, but we found 2 lizards on our bed - we asked the hotel manager to change our room, but he said he doesn't have any room available and showed us some Dorm like room and asked us to adjust. This was not acceptable - so we stayed in the same room but he changed the bedding and sheets.

All in all I had a great stay in Kandy. Other Sri Lanka posts which will be helpful in finalizing your itinerary are :

1. Sri Lanka Itinerary
2. Bentota - Beach town
3. Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage
4. Kandy
5. Sigiriya.. Ravan's fort
6. Dambulla.. Caves and Golden temple
7. Colombo Trip Part 1
8. Colombo Trip Part 2