Everyone who travels around this coconut runs into hawkers. They try to sell you everything from bongs to plastic models of the Taj Mahal. Many just will not leave a person alone. They follow you down the street putting tubes of tiger balm or fake Rolex watches in your hand. They all know two words in English “good price”. Some [...]

The real name for this is the Sacred Temple of the Tooth Relic. However our itinerary simply said Temple of Tooth, so I’m going with that. This a beautiful temple. The temple was attacked by the Tamil Tigers  during the civil war, but the damage was  minimal and has been repaired. The tooth is a tooth of Buddha.  I was expecting [...]

The Royal Botanic garden, located in Paradeniya, just outside of Kandy is a magnificent garden and  must see if you find yourself in this part of Sri Lanka. The history of this garden goes back to 1371 when a king with a name too long to type kept court here in Peradeniya. In 1780 it was officially made the royal garden. The kings [...]

Admit it. It is tough to visualize an elephant orphanage.  Visions of elephants in shorts like Oliver Twist asking “please sir may I have another” were short lived in my great expectations, however they were not replaced with anything very clear. Originally set up by the government to care for abandoned or orphaned elephants it has now turned into a [...]

We always enjoy a good walk through a nice botanical garden. The one in Kandy was stunningly beautiful. I thought this picture would be a nice way to start this post even though, as usual, I am ahead of myself. Our trip  to Kandy, pronounced KhanDEE started at dawn at the Colombo Fort Station. Among the many things the British left behind as their [...]