Sunday 23rd February 2025

It was another eventful day for me today, as I went to Kandy for a proper visit. I have passed through Kandy on numerous occasions, but never visited any of the key sites, with the Temple of the Tooth being the most famous one. Rohan picked me up at 09:00 this morning in the school van, with Madonna joining us, to take us both to Kandy, where we dropped Madonna's stuff off where she is staying for the next few days before meeting Achini in the centre of Kandy.

Achini was joined by her lovely husband, Kosala, and we had a coffee together before Achini accompanied me to the Temple of the Tooth, which is one of her favourite places in Kandy. It was an extremely interesting experience for me, although we had to take our footwear off again today, and in today's soaring temperatures, it was so hot underfoot, that I couldn't bear it in the end, so Achini had to retrieve me sandals for me before my feet got burned!

Part of the temple complex by the lake that dominates Kandy is an elephant shelter, as elephants are used in the key ceremonies that take place at the temple here throughout the year, and I went to see where they are looked after. Two of the group of elephants that are here were bathing, and I sat and watched them for a while, as they looked to be enjoying it very much. I do adore elephants, as I think they are such majestic creatures, and I so love seeing them.

We couldn't fit that much into our day, so our final destination was the Mahaweli Reach Hotel by the Mahaweli river, which is the longest river in Sri Lanka, apparently. Kosala and Achini's son, Ayuk, was there with us, and he is a very bright, entertaining lad of 8, so it was fun having him around. We enjoyed a delicious lunch, and, best of all, we had an extremely relaxing afternoon with delightful company, which was exactly what I needed today.

I took a lot of photographs today in Kandy, so I have just chosen a few to represent the day. I think Buddha's tooth is stored in the shrine in the centre of the sixth picture, if I remember correctly.











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