Day 6 - Habarana - Kandy
Wednesday 5th August, 2026 - Kandy
We had a reasonably long drive today, stopping at a Buddhist temple, a Hindu temple and then a Spice Garden.
Here we were able to grab another coffee, and then toured to Spice Garden to be shown how the various herbs and spices are grown and how they can be applied as medicinal remedies under Ayurveda treatments. We were treated to a head and upper body massage - what a bonus !
We have now entered the middle mountain country, passing Knuckle Ranges and slowly gaining in altitude. After another longish drive we arrived in Kandy to visit the Temple of the Tooth. This refers to an actual tooth that was salvaged from a Buddha's funeral pyre and us now stored here. Nobody ever gets to see the tooth these days. Once again this is a UNESCO world heritage site. more information here : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_the_Tooth
Next stop was at Sthree Craft Shop and Cafe, where we were served a traditional Sri Lankan vegetable lunch. It is a not for profit organisation run by the women's development centre supporting abused women and youth living with disabilities. It offers training to gain skills and employment in handicrafts and hospitality with an adjourning shop full of arts and crafts made by women. This is a G Adventures supported venture and one of the reasons we chose to do a G Adventures tour.
Following lunch we checked into our hotel for the night which is immediately alongside the biggest river in Sri Lanka, the Mahaweli River, which is even bigger than normal following recent heavy rains in the highlands. The river is at the base of our hotel and is swollen and very fast flowing!
We opted to go to a Kandyan Cultural Dance performance just near our hotel, where the performance included fire eating and fire walking. A very energenic and enjoyable performance with drummers keeping up the energy level. No dinner again tonight after a substantial breakfast and lunch. Looking forward to the shower before be as the water is hot !!
The Temple of the Tooth – you gotta love that, despite not being allowed to view the tooth.
The women’s support arrangements are an excellent initiative, not just in Sri Lanka but elsewhere around the world.
The image attached is a street view in Colombo in October 1957 (a brief stop on our migration to Australia)