Kandy

Kandy is a large city in the heartland of Sri Lanka. It is beautifully nestled amidst mountains and tea plantations. For things to visit in Kandy itself 1-2 days are quite enough, however, Kandy is very well located to start from here some excursions in the vicinity. Furthermore, there is also the possibility to start a train trip from Kandy, for example to Nuwara Eliya or Ella.

Temple of the Tooth in Kandy

The Sri Dalada Maligawa is a Buddhist temple in Kandy, which is also called the Temple of the Tooth. According to tradition, this temple houses the left canine tooth of the Buddha, hence its name.

When we arrived, we did not see the tooth temple directly. The area there is very large. Directly on the street you can see a church, and next to it a beautiful Hindu temple. Only when we had crossed the Hindu temple, we finally stood in front of our actual goal, the (Buddhist) Tooth Temple.

The Temple of the Tooth was built in several sections between 1687 and 1782. The main building has 3 floors. On the 3rd floor is the golden shrine, which houses the very tooth of Buddha. This shrine is opened 3 times a day for one hour each - in the morning, at noon and in the evening. At these times, hordes of people line up to visit this shrine with the tooth. It should be added that you can't see the tooth itself - you can only see the golden shrine in which this tooth is supposed to be. A very important info on the side - the tooth is even cleaned once a week. Whether it is actually the original tooth is doubtful, as there are numerous copies of the tooth for security reasons. Inside the temple is also the Sri Dalada Museum, where the history of the tooth is carried out.

I asked myself why this tooth is so important to people that they queue for it in incredibly long lines to be allowed to pass through even for 3 seconds then in this room. In the tooth of Buddha the spiritual power of Buddha is stored - for this reason people are drawn to this golden shrine with the (hopefully) real tooth.

We liked the visit to the Temple of the Tooth very much. When buying tickets for the temple, we were approached by a guide, with whom we then walked through the Temple of the Tooth and could ask everything that interested us.

A basic, which was explained to us, is for example the international Buddhist flag. This was in front of as well as in the temple numerous to find. The flag was designed in 1885 by Buddhist activists and stood as a symbol for the revival of Buddhism on the island. In 1950, the flag was officially recognized as a symbol of international Buddhism - representing faith and peace. The colors were chosen very deliberately - they correspond to the colors in which the Buddha's aura shines after he has attained enlightenment. Each color represents something very individual. Blue represents universal compassion, yellow the middle way, red the blessing of practice, white the purity of the teaching, and orange the wisdom of the Buddha's teaching.

One detail that is always found in temples is the lotus flower. At the Temple of the Tooth, 128 gilded lotus flowers adorn the underside of the roof. It serves as a symbol of purity and beauty. Buddha used the lotus as a symbol of enlightenment.

The temple visit I liked very much, there is much to see so you should plan enough time in any case. If you want to get a little more insight into Buddhism, this temple is certainly well suited due to its size and diversity to go through with a guide and get many interesting Insight.

Esala Perahera Festival

Once a year, the golden shrine is taken out of the temple and carried through the streets of Kandy in the course of a procession. It is a very splendid spectacle and we were lucky to be in Sri Lanka exactly at this time to witness this procession.

As we drove through Kandy in the early afternoon to get to our hotel, you could already tell that something big was about to happen. Roadblocks were set up, a large contingent of police were there to direct traffic and conduct security measures and checks, and an incredibly large number of people were already sitting on the sidewalks of the main street to secure the best possible spot for the parade in the evening.

Our driver, Dammika, was able to reserve seats for us on the 1st floor of a restaurant to get the best possible view of this spectacle. By the time we arrived at our reserved seats in the late afternoon, the street was already packed with people crowded along the sidewalk and anxiously waiting in their seats. When we did take our seats, it was a bit of a strange picture for me - most of the locals were down on the street (and had been for hours) in order to have a reasonably good spot to watch the parade. On the reserved and comfortable seats in pubs and residential buildings were to a large extent only tourists.

Then punctually at 19:30 the parade started and it was just great. Dancers, musicians and other artists have gradually come down the street to show their skills. They had magnificent costumes on and during their performances the spectators threw them coins. In between, splendidly dressed elephants kept coming. Some elephants moved very harmoniously from left to right, as if they were dancing along with the music.

After a short time, 3 elephants came down the street side by side. The elephant in the middle carried the golden shrine with the tooth in it on his back. The elephants were decorated in white and the image of these 3 magnificent elephants side by side and also to observe how humbly the locals reacted to this golden shrine was very exciting.

After these 3 elephants in white came many more elephants and in between dancers and other artists. Especially the elephants were always decorated in different colors and with different lights. In retrospect, it all made sense - they were all colors of the Buddhist flag. The parade lasted about 2 hours in total and I must say the time flew by. With such a variety of performers, the beautiful costumes, the exciting music and watching these magnificent elephants, the time flew by. To witness this spectacle here was definitely one of the highlights of the Sri Lanka trip.

Kandy Botanical Garden

In any case, the botanical garden in Kandy is worth a visit. It is about 80 hectares and houses over 4000 different plant species. My highlights there were the orchid house (I found an orchid that is as big as I am 😊), the palm avenue and the bamboo which is so high and had such thick trunks that we could only identify it as bamboo after looking several times.

For runners, the botanical garden would certainly also be a great option for a great, flat and varied run. During our visit, it was so hot that just a leisurely walk was incredibly sweaty.

As we were walking around there, we were approached by a group of locals who were taking an English class. They asked us if they could speak some English with us to practice. We learned that they are doing an English course to get the qualification for emigration. When asked, most of the participants told us that they want to go to Canada to work. It was a very nice conversation and made our visit here at the botanical garden even more special.