You’d have to be living under a rock to miss the fact that Sri Lanka is the third largest producer of tea in the world. Not surprisingly, we learned that Sri Lankan tea is the best in the world from the nice lady at the tea factory we visited. I guess there was no chance she would say that Indian tea was better.
The aroma was enticing in this 100+ year old building that has been processing tea leaves for, well, over a century obviously. We followed the whole process from the initial drying….

Right through to the final product…..

They use the wood from rubber trees that are no longer productive to fire the oven. The women working here earn $5 a day.
I feel rather more educated about the various strengths of black tea, and also learnt about golden tips, silver tips and green tea. We finished with a complimentary cuppa, and the ubiquitous gift shop, which was one where I actually made a purchase and didn’t feel fleeced!

Sri Lanka is well-known for its fantastic cuisine, and we’ve been enjoying numerous delicious curries since we arrived. In the up-country region there are dozens of Spice and Herb gardens to visit. We stopped into one just as the heavens opened – which is still occurring on the west side of the island, but less so in the middle. We regularly head out with umbrellas in hand “to be safe” – or so says our guide Praki. We sure did need them at the Spice Garden.

We saw lemon grass, curry leaves, ginger, turmeric, galangal, vanilla, nutmeg, cloves, chillies, cocoa beans and countless other plants growing in the lush tropical environment. Then came the demo from a lovely man called Pali, who attempted to convince me that the remedies he showed us would dissolve fat, fix heart disease, prevent cancer, restore eyesight (no kidding) and send migraines packing. Here are some of the miracle potions on display for us……..

A table of taste, plus some smoke and mirrors.

Seems to me there should be no need for doctors and hospitals in Sri Lanka.

Unlike India with its Hindu temples bursting with an endless number of gods, Sri Lanka is mainly (75%) Buddhist. So just the one god to worship. But they make up for it with a statue of Buddha on (almost) every corner, atop hills and mountains, on the street, in temples and caves and parks, in small size and mega enormous. There’s ancient stone carved ones and glitzy modern gold ones. Like this whopper below.

But some have a calming mystique to them, even for a lapsed religious person like me. We went to the Royal Rock Temple in Dambulla, just north of Kandy in the centre of Sri Lanka. Here we entered five separate caves in the side of the mountain where we saw no less than 150 statues of Buddha as well as some of Sri Lanka’s most important religious art on the walls and ceilings of the caves dating back 2000 years.

Below are the feet of a 15m long reclining Buddha still with the ancient art on the soles of his feet intact from Cave 1.

One of the caves is 52m by 23m in area with a 7m high ceiling. There’s a truckload of statues in that one.

Visiting Buddhist temples is a ritual that is essential to the training of monks from all over Sri Lanka. Below are some young boys in their early years on the road to being a monk. The different coloured robes represent which temple (or monk school) they go to.

The ticket vendors at the entrance to most important temples also act as the Appropriate Clothes Police. Both men and women must have their shoulders covered and their legs covered to at least below the knees. Given that none of the males in our family even brought long pants with them, they found themselves in these becoming sarongs. Nice.

Today we were lucky to see the reception of a Sri Lankan wedding. The ladies looked stunning in exquisite sarees made of silk and all so colourful. The sarees are a little different here in Kandy with an additional frill around the waist. They are called “up-country” in these parts, and I get the impression it’s a little bit posh round here. The bride and groom allowed me to take their photo….

The music was a mix of local and western. We recognised songs like Cecelia and, believe it or not, The Macarena.

The very next morning we were staying way up in the hills above Kandy. John and Ferg went for an early run on the steep hillside (knock your selves out) and found another wedding party having pre photos taken at 7am!!

Bride number 2 for the trip

We watched them from the balcony above during our breakfast. I reckon the team of photographers snapped off at least a Gig of photos – all before 9am. Apparently the fuss and bother will go on all day with more photos, ceremony, reception – all winding up way after midnight. I’m just wondering what time they got up to look like this by 7am.

Their smile muscles will be aching already.

Then we spotted them in the car park doing more pics in the VW. However, the engine wouldn’t start, and the doors got stuck shut so the bride was stuck in there. Ahh, Sri Lanka.

Unreliable props.

Seeing as we were having a World Heritage kind of day, we went to Polonnaruwa. I can type that but I sure can’t say it.

It’s an enormous area of ancient ruins from the 11th century which was destroyed by invading Indians. Most of it is damaged or was burnt to the ground. But there is one area that was buried before the Indians arrived which has four perfectly preserved carvings of Buddha.

Reclining Buddha

That’s John on the right, sporting his nice respectful sarong, just to give some perspective.

Buddha has big feet.

And you never get just one statue or carving of Buddha.

The meditation pose, with bonus monk in the frame.