Sri Lankaaaaaaaaa

Spent one night in Trivandrum (busy polluted city) before flying to Colombo on 27th Dec. Headed straight to Kandy through rice paddies and up into the hills - Kandy is an ancient capital on a lake. Sri Lanka is a bit of a culture shock after India - the towns feel much more progressive - sooo much cleaner, no cows in the street and much better roads (although the drivers are worse - saw 4 accidents in our first two days...). The villages are a different story though as wealth distribution is massively uneven.

Had a few nights in Kandy. Couldn't resist a trip to the elephant orphanage.... 60 welefants, sooo cute!






Went to famous Buddhist temple in Kandy which is meant to hold a sacred tooth relic from Buddah (taken from his funeral 2500 yrs ago)... but you don't actually see it coz it is in 6 gold caskets. This temple is a hugely important pilgrimage site for Sri Lankan Buddhists - one chap was so overwhelmed that he fainted... somehow I think the significance of the tooth was lost on us.

Went to tea factory - the workers get paid 70p a day (and the cost of living here is much higher than India) - fair trade tea for me from now on.


After Kandy headed up higher into the hill country to the tea estates. So many tea plantations and colourful tea pickers. The british influence massively evident.