I’d heard mixed reviews about Kandy but because the festival was on we decided to head here on our way to the east coast. It was 160km trip by taxi which took 6 hours because of the bad traffic and shit roads. Even so it only cost just over £30 which we split 3 ways. The drive here was definitely an experience; no one bothers to use lanes and just cuts each other up constantly! Stray dogs and people run out in front of cars and 3 people crammed on a moped is a regular thing.. everyone constantly beeps but no one seems to get angry at all!
Kandy was a step up from Colombo in the sense that it only stank like shit in some places instead of every street Haha. It wasnt quite as hot which was a bit of a relief for a sweaty pig like me! We stayed in “the heart of the city hostel” in a 14 room shared dorm, it had basic facilities but was clean and every one was really nice and helped us with planning our trip around srilanka. I personally sleep like shit in shared dorms so was glad to leave even though the place had a friendly fun vibe. Maggie who we travelled with also stayed here.
The festival was pretty mad, people were sat waiting all afternoon on the pavements for the festival to start at 8.30pm. Summed up its basically they carry “the tooth” (an old religious thing but didn’t get close enough to see it) on the back of an elephant around the temple of kandy, there is fire juggling and dancers and you can tell how important it is to the people here.
The route is fenced off and somehow we managed to get fucking stuck in the centre of it so we were unable to leave until it finished! It goes on for a few hours and all the locals are praying etc so us and other european visitors we met trying to get out got a bit bored before the end.. they don’t even serve alcohol in Kandy during the festival but it was a good laugh none the less. Eventually we got back to our dorm around 12.30am. This festival repeats for 8 days straight but once was enough for us!
The next day we woke up, visited the gym and went out to explore Kandy lake.
The lake was nice and it was good to get away from the crowds. Apart from this there wasn’t a great deal to do in Kandy. I was impressed with the size of the fish in the lake and we saw some fucking huge lizards that looked like they could eat a small dog!
The food here is nice, personally I’d recommend going for a fish option as the chicken is chicken pieces so is more bone and gristle the than meat and the beef is pretty tough and chewy! I couldn’t tell you what the fish was and nor can anyone I’ve asked lol, my farts smell like I’ve been eating Catfood though if that’s any clue?? Paige has been eating mainly vegey foods as she’s not keen on the meat. The average price for a decent sized meal in a resteraunt is £3 or less so we can’t really complain!
After a 2 hour bus journey (which was heaven compared to our last day travelling) we’ve just arrived in Dambulla to visit Sigiriya rock. We’ve got some strong anit histamines as Paiges bites look really bad but we think we’ve got that covered now! Now we’re going to see what Dambulla has to offer 😎 x
kyesadventure 