Kandy and area

KANDY
Upon late arrival on a Saturday night, we instantly loved our little multi-level hotel, Amanda Hills, with a jungly view of the hillsides around lake Kandy and a direct view of the Tooth Temple.  The restaurant is really a large balcony.  The staff is VERY friendly. The cool hill country breezes are constant and delightful. And yes, some monkeys, rilewas, are at play for us in the mornings.  Better than TV!

So we toured around via 3-wheeler Sunday, first to a tea plantation, then to Pinnawella elephant orphanage http://www.bornfree.org.uk/campaigns/zoo-check/captive-wildlife-issues/pinnewala-elephant-orphanage/ and then to an Ayurvedic spice garden.

The tour of  Geragama Tea Plantation was really interesting. Before going to the factory, the driver had us get out in the tea field and the woman above, and her little boy, put on a little show for us, how she plucks tea, what hard work it is, all to get some money from us.  She told me her husband is really sick and they are very poor, etc.  I felt compelled to give her money; we were suckers.  For all I know the driver and her had a game plan.  Oh well.

At the plantation, a cute young lady, neatly dressed in a Kandy sari gave us a tour.  We learned the stages (coming soon on YouTube) and I was surprised how they emphasized that the process is 100% natural, no chemicals. After the tour, she served us "gold and silver tips tea", this is made from the best tea leaves (named that because of their color).  It was very tasty.  Lots of Chinese tourists were there as well.  We all stocked up on company tea at the gift shop. (The plantation itself is about 80 years old.)  I love the smell of the tea factory, sweet green leaves smell with "old bark smell".  Their website is http://www.kadugannawatea.com

We tuk-tuked along about another hour to the Pinnewela Elephant orphanage.  We were really  surprised at how many elephants there were.  We went to the river and there were many there doing their elephant-thing, playing a little and enjoying the cool water.  Several mahouts stood around to herd them or keep a few that strayed.  A few kept coming up to the lines of people watching, sticking their snouts out for food, thrilling us and scaring a few kids.

http://explorelanka.com/places/hill/pinnawala.htm

Our guide was really good.  He directed us to all the right places at all the right times.  (He came recommended by our hotel.  He is a tall handsome fellow, athletic looking, whose wife is in Jordan working at a garment factory until the end of the year.  This is so common, for young couples to separate so one can go work in the Middle East for a year to earn a high salary.  This helps their family get a good start financially.  He told me he talks to her every day by phone.)

Yvonne and I sat in a nice little restaurant with a balcony to watch elephants and had an icecream and papaya lassie.

Okay, so the big highlight was giving milk to the baby elephants.  We stood around and watched them frolic, and then at feeding time, both Yvonne and I got to give a bottle of milk to one of the babies.  I guided a little girl to help me even though she was very squeamish about it all.

The next day we visited Peredeniya Botanical Gardens, also called the Royal Botanical Gardens.  These gardens date back "as far back as 1371 when King Wickramabahu III ascended the throne... This was followed by King Kirti Sri and King Rajadhi Rajasinghe. A temple was built on this location by King Wimala Dharma, but it was destroyed by the British when they were given control over the Kingdom of Kandy"  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Botanical_Gardens,_Peradeniya