Kandy is a hilly city and the B&B we stayed in has such stunning views. We have our own studio apartment with a tiny kitchenette. Our hosts, Amigo and his wife, had just retired from well paying jobs but decided to do this B&B to keep them busy. Their three children are all established in US and Australia so they can rent out their big house for supplementary income. We had such a beautiful breakfast with an absolutely amazing view!
Sri Lanka is very blessed with their climate and they can grow almost anything. In the short time (2 days) we've been here, we've tasted the best avocado (so big and buttery that you can spread it like a jam!), the sweetest pineapple (low in acid and sweet to the core!), freshly squeezed passion fruit juice, jackfruit, papaya, star fruit, soursop, mangos... right from their backyard! For the first time, we have seen a star fruit tree, a passion fruit tree (more like a vine), soursop tree, jackfruit tree (loaded, ready to drop like cannon ball), and rambutan tree! They even have durian and mangosteen but unfortunately the season is August ☹️!
Our first visit in Kandy is to the important Buddhist shrine, Temple of the Tooth. It's said that after cremation, one of Buddha's teeth was brought to Sri Lanka for safekeeping. It's one of the holiest shrines for Buddhism. We also came at an opportune time as they were having their annual festival. They open the vault containing the box once a year and we were able to take a glimpse of it. Only every five years, they would take the tooth out of the box for pilgrims to worship.
We toured the Royal Botanical Garden after and decided this is where the population of Kandy started as there is a love smitten couple under every single tree inside the park! There is even a mini suspension bridge inside the park.
The Three-Temple loop is a disappointment and we're not used to walk barefooted right from the gate all through the temple yard on stones and sands.
We had dosa as dinner tonight and got to use only our fingers to eat for the first time. It is a challenge to learn how to eat with just one hand. Dosa is like a Indian giant crepe, some come with potato or other fillings. It's much tastier than the version we got in our India hotel breakfast. Outside the tourist traps, it's so inexpensive to eat in Sri Lanka. Our dosa meal costs only 500 LKR, equivalent to 4 CAD!
What a feast for breakfast !
ReplyDeleteWhat are the cultural differences between India and Sri Lanka ?
Hmm... Where do I start? The majority of Sri Lankan population is Sinhalese (75%). Although they originated from Northern India, they have their own language and they don't like India because they invaded numerous times in the past thousand years and most recently India supported the Tamil Tigers civil wars. 11% of population here is Tamils brought here by the British so there is great Indian influences in their foods. Their in 10% of their population is Moors Muslims and you get a great mixture of cultures. Now Chinese food is all the rage!
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