Sri Lanka - Kandy
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On arrival in Kandy, we immediately went to the Peradeniya botanical garden to have lunch. While waiting for lunch to arrive we crossed the lawn to view an impressive Java Willow Tree . At various times during our numerous trips across the lawn to see it, the sun came out, it rained, or sometimes both. After lunch we took a long tour around the gardens and saw thousands of fruit bats hanging from the trees. We crossed a small suspension bridge built for pedestrians and sat under the protection of a large banyan tree while it rained and then became sunny again soon after.
We stayed at a place in Kandy recommended by the driver called Serene Garden Hotel. The price quoted initially was too high for our budget, but Ethan inadvertently left his bear “Plucker” at the hotel and when I went back to get him, the receptionist offered a more reasonable rate. We agreed on using this as a tactic for negotiating better hotel rates going forward. The hotel turned out to be one of the better ones we stayed in. It also had a troop of about 40 or 50 black-faced monkeys go over the building on the way to and from the nearby forest every morning, which was very interesting to watch during breakfast time. The waiters and guests were advised to keep windows closed so that they didn’t get into the building. The hotel consisted of two buildings each about seven stories high and the monkeys had had to climb and descend each one to get to and from the forest. While eating our breakfast, monkeys would appear outside the window then climb the drain pipe to the roof. One of the monkeys had a disabled hand but was still able to climb the overhanging drain pipe by balancing and grasping a little bit faster than the others.
We decided not to see the Palace of the Tooth as it was expensive to enter, and probably not something the kids would particularly enjoy or remember. If anything we would have returned to see the botanical gardens to see the parts we missed, but we needed to get to Dalhousie to climb Adam’s Peak that night…