Sri Lanka - Day Four. Polonnaruwa and Kandy

Today was a long day!!! We got up early and drove to Polonnaruwa, an ancient city.  It was very interesting but we got hounded by people selling us crap - it got very annoying. They stand outside your van and pounce on you the moment you step out, and then follow you around .  One man told Jen that she'd wounded him when she refused to buy anything.  They are very sneaky and don't take no for an answer.


















After wandering around for a bit and taking loads of photos (I got bored with taking my shoes off so stopped going inside all the temples) we headed off on our next drive to Kandy.  On the way we stopped at a Spice Garden (one of hundreds) which was really interesting, we saw how nutmeg, cinnamon, turmeric, coffee, aloe vera and others were grown, and what their medicinal uses were.



We then went to see a cultural dance, this was quite fun and there were fire eaters. Didn't get any good photos though as my camera isn't great at capturing movement (or I am not great at making it capture movement!)  After that we went to the Temple of the Tooth Relic.  I felt quite uncomfortable in here - we were herded in to look at the tooth, amongst devout Buddhists who were praying. The tooth is hidden within a case so you cannot see it anyway, and I felt very weird as a tourist surrounded by people who actually had made a journey to come here to pray to their God. It was a nice temple, but I think I was tired and hungry by this point so got a bit grumpy.










The hotel we stayed in wasn't the best - Kandy Mountain.  It did have nice views but the room was quite dirty and basic, the bathroom mouldy and the dinner very basic. I wouldn't have wanted to stay for more than one night.

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