Sri Lanka tour day 4
St Barbara's Web Diary
Peter & Sue Goldsmith
Tue 5 Feb 2008 07:37
6:02N 80:13E
4th February - Independence Day
Today was to contain less walking but more driving. We were due to be back
this evening, although for a while we wondered if we would be staying away
another night.
First stop was the Temple of the Tooth by the lake in Kandy that houses Sri
Lanka's most important Buddhist relic - a sacred tooth of the Buddha. We
were there when the inner door was opened so the rich gold casket could be
seen. There were a good many pilgrims too.
Some 2 hours from Kandy is the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage and we were
there in time to see them down at the river for their daily bath. A good
opportunity to see a large number of mainly young elephant together as a
group. Apparently most become working elephants once full grown.
The afternoon was spent on the long drive back south to Galle. Today was a
public holiday but it had been a long weekend for many so there was plenty
of traffic. To make matters a little more interesting there had been a
series of bomb blasts over the weekend. Dambulla, where we passed through
the previous day and Colombo had been targeted as had one or two other
places. The result was tight security with many road blocks. Consequently we
took to some smaller side roads. At no time did we feel unsafe but we were
sure we had seen most of the roads of Sri Lanka by the time we got back to
Galle!
A spectacular country that has everything from highlands to fine beaches and
friendly smiling people. What else could you want?