Day 7 Kandy to Digana – T & G Travels

Day 7 - Colombo

Thursday 6th August, 2026 - Kandy to Digana

First activity of the day is a visit to the Gem Factory and Museum (read shop), which is within walking distance from our hotel. Only as small group wanted to go, which wasn't a problem, but a few of them ended up taking a long time to select items to buy. We were meant to be back at the hotel to take the rest of the group to the Kandy Botanic Gardens at 9:15, some were getting angry at the time delay and others decided not to go because of rain.

A different small group of us left for the Botanic gardens at 10:00am, armed with umbrellas. Very picturesque gardens, and lots of bats. During our walk, Graeme received a phone call from Jay to let us know that Dorothy (Tania's aunty) has passed away that morning. This was totally unexpected even though Dorothy had been in poor health for quite a while. Naturally we were both shocked, but the small group we were with did a great job of consoling us.

The walk was enjoyable and then challenging when the rain began to pelt down on us...do we run for shelter or just keep walking as the umbrellas were not offering much protection? Fortunately the weather was not cold so our clothes are likely to dry off relatively fast.

Back on the bus, picked up the jewellery buyers and others still at the hotel and headed for Digana Village (just out of Kandy) for the night at Oruthota Chalets. After checking in, we had an afternoon walk through the Digana Village, where a group of Tamil people reside and live below the poverty line. This village is in the catchment area of the Queen Victoria reservoir, they had been living there prior to the establishment of the reservoir and were brought in from Southern India to work in the tea plantations by the British. When the reservoir was established, they were asked to relocate, most did, but there is a small group that didn't want to leave and still live in the area. They served us with afternoon tea while our CEO described how they lived - at least we did a bit to help them along financially

Back at the resort, we spent some time at the pool before we were given a cooking demonstration by the hotel chefs. 3 of our group volunteered to help prepare and cook 3 different types of curries, a chicken, eggplant and dahl version. We all then got a chance to taste test and select our favourite.

The buffet dinner came next and then the after party - consisting of live music for a while and then we could select songs to play.

There was another G Adventures group in residence this night, they were on the 18-35 year old tour, much younger, much bigger drinkers and having a lot of fun. We all joined in on the dance floor at times. A fun night kicking up our heels ! It rained most of today.