I Want Kandy

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By Christina

Our tour of Sri Lanka started off with an early departure from Colombo, as we wanted to be at the Pennewala Elephant Orphanage in time for the elephants’ morning feeding and bath in the river. We were out the door a little after 7 (stuffing rolls and croissants in our mouths from the breakfast buffet) and met up with Maxi, our driver and guide for the next week. Despite Maxi’s best efforts (I haven’t seen driving like this since Egypt) we did not make the elephant feeding. No one was all that put out, however, as we did have the opportunity to see elephants eat at the orphanage when we were in Kenya. The elephants’ walk to the river was something to behold, however, with the entire herd of close to ninety animals making their way down a narrow dirt path to a very picturesque river. The mahouts (elephant keepers) had their goads (L-shaped stick with a sharp metal tip at the end) at the ready, but the elephants behaved and we enjoyed close to an hour watching them splash and play in the water.

March of the Elephants
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On our way back to the car from the river, the kids’ saw something they had been hoping to see in Sri Lanka or India – a real live snake charmer, complete with both the requisite cobra and a six foot long python. Dan and Grayson were both good sports and wrapped the python around their necks. (They didn’t have much to fear, because, sadly, the snake’s mouth was taped shut). The cobra did its thing and the kids loved it (well, it was a bit of a love/hate thing).

We all then piled into the minivan and made our way to Kandy, one of Sri Lanka’s beautiful hill towns. Kandy was not all that far away, but we asked Maxi to take his time and drive slowly to get there. (Joey and I both felt the drive to the elephant orphanage had been a little too much like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride). Maxi dutifully complied with our request and slowed down, carefully making his way up the hill to Kandy. But, as (bad) luck would have it, a couple on a motorbike coming down the hill were not as careful as Maxi, and crossed over the center line right in front of our minivan. There was a crash, and the man and women disappeared under our front bumper. Fearing the worst, I made the kids hide their eyes in their hands and got out to see what had happened. Amazingly enough, the pair was not in bad shape and, other than a bit of minor damage, the motorbike was also okay. The woman was an emotional wreck, however, crying uncontrollably and shaking like a leaf. We managed to get her and the man (and their shoes and belongings, which were scattered all over the road) into the car and drove them to a nearby clinic to be checked out. As far as we could tell, she was in shock, but was otherwise not hurt.

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After the visit to the clinic, Maxi explained that we needed to go to the police station to file a report. While there, a relative of the couple (the woman’s brother-in-law) showed up, wanting to plead their case to the police. However, the police were not at all interested in the accident and told Maxi and the man to resolve things themselves. So, we all piled back into the minivan and drove to the scene of the accident to check things out. Maxi and the man inspected the motorbike, talked a bit, checked out the bike some more, talked some more, and then some money changed hands. Evidently, Maxi ended up paying the man something like $80 to cover the couple’s medical bills. No insurance claims were filed, no litigation ensued, and the whole matter was put to rest in less than two hours. While we all were very impressed with the swift resolution of the matter, we never quite understood why Maxi (seemingly not at fault) had to pay….

Busted at the Temple of the Tooth
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Back on the road, we continued on our way to Kandy. Kandy, the last capital of the Sinhalese kingdom prior to British occupation, is one beautiful town. As mentioned, it is in the hill country, and sits at about 1800 feet above sea level, so the constant sweating that had been with us since we landed in Sri Lanka, was tempered a bit from the cooler atmosphere. The town is surrounded by green fields and jungle, and in the center sits Kandy Lake which is about the size of Lake Cascade in Orinda. The history of this lake is a lot more colorful than our quaint lake back home, however, as laborers protesting the digging of the lake were put to death on stakes in the lake bed, and a king used the island in the center to house his personal harem.

Fire walker
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The focal point of any visit to Kandy is the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, which sits on the lake, dead in the center of downtown Kandy. Without question, this is the most important temple in all of Sri Lanka, as it houses the country’s most important Buddhist relic – the tooth of the Buddha. The story goes that the tooth was taken from the Buddha’s funeral pyre in 543 BC and was smuggled into Sri Lanka hidden in the hair of a princess. For hundreds of years, Sri Lankans have believed that whoever has custody of the tooth has the right to rule the island. Needless to say, both India and Portugal have tried to abscond with the relic, all to no avail. It has been safe in Kandy since the 17^th Century.

Kandy Lake
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The temple complex is absolutely beautiful. Abby and I especially enjoyed admiring the lotus flower offerings and messages left behind by pilgrims. There are strict rules for visiting the temple (no shoes, arms and legs covered, no loud noises, no turning your back on the shrine that houses the tooth relic, etc.), however, it was not always clear what was expected of us, as Maxi had abandoned us curbside, and the audio guide we rented was decidedly useless. We only got into trouble once, when I tried to take a picture of the kids in front of part of the temple (not the tooth part, mind you, just another area of the temple). The guard yelled at us and the picture shows the kids’ startled expressions.

Rickshaws in downtown Kandy
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It’s hard to believe, but the Tamil Tigers bombed the temple in early 1998, and scars of the blast can still be seen. Luckily, the relic was safe and secure in its enclosure of six golden dagoba (or stupas, if that term is familiar). That probably explains the heavy security presence and the fact that we had to go through an x-ray machine and pat down, twice. It really would be a shame if any harm came to the place, given its significance to Sri Lankans, and Buddhists in general.

We closed out the day with a visit to the Kandy Cultural Center to watch some Kandyan dancing, considered to be the national dance of Sri Lanka. The dancing reminded us a lot of dancing we have seen in Bali, but the fire walking at the end was like nothing we had ever seen. Wow. We were seated close by, so we could feel the waves of heat coming off the coals laid in the ten-foot long pile on the ground. The macho Kandy man didn’t seem bothered, however, and calmly strolled across twice! It was a nice way to end a busy and eventful day.