Give me gems, flowers and Kandy!

Day 4 of our tour itinerary was “a full day of enchanting sightseeing in Kandy”, which began at a gem showroom. We learnt a little about gem mining and got to see some of the sparkling beauties in the showroom. Until my visit, I had no idea so many gems came from Sri Lanka and many are sold in London’s jewellery quarter, Hatton Garden.

After our pit stop at the showroom, it was straight on to the Botanical Gardens, where our guide took us for a walk around. Although not much of a green-fingered goddess myself, I do appreciate a good garden. Unfortunately, I know zilch about plants so can’t tell you much about it but it was pretty.

After a fairly short day of looking at pretty things, we retired to the hotel for a bit of relaxation and to freshen up. Our base in Kandy was the Cinnamon Citadel hotel, which is nestled in the serene hillside with the pool area overlooking the peaceful Mahaweli River.

Our guide was taking us out in the evening for some more Kandyan beauties – this time in the form of a cultural dance show and the famous Temple of the Tooth Relic.

The dance show was entertaining and we got to see the performers in different brightly coloured costumes and play an assortment of instruments. But the most impressive part was seeing the dancers walk on hot coals and play with FIRE.

Although from the looks of this photo below you would think I was the only person watching who was vaguely impressed – half the people in the background are looking at something else, the woman in white at the back looks devastated and tearful, and the woman in orange looks like she’s thinking “big deal, I eat fire for breakfast!”.

After the show we took a short walk to the Temple of the Tooth Relic – a Buddhist temple which houses the tooth of the Buddha. I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to be looking out for so just happy-snapped pictures of the ornate interior.

It wasn’t until we joined the crowds upstairs that we realised that the tooth relic was behind a closed door and the crowds were just waiting for a glimpse of it… except you can’t actually see the tooth itself, only the gold casket that it is contained in. The locals became very excited when the door swang open but it was all a bit too much for me – being too hot and crowded in the temple, so I was glad to call it a day.

Do you follow me on Bloglovin? No? Well you should! Find me here x