The Cube

A friendly Sri Lankan family who coincidentally also was getting off Nanu Oya helped me get my suitcase off the storage rack. When I caught up with S, she already engaged a driver who assisted her in getting her luggage off the train. It was a van and we paid LKR 800 / ~USD 5.40 / ~AUD 7.40 for the two of us. The van took us from Nanu Oya station to our accommodation, Heidi's Home.

After checking in, the first thing to do was food! We asked for some recommendation on local food and was told to go to De Silva Food Center. We did go there but they had sold out all the rice and curry, and we were told cook-to-order dishes took about an hour to prepare. We didn't want to wait and went next door instead. I don't quite remember the name of the shop but it should be Grashia Restaurant (please don't imagine high end restaurant, it is just a small eatery).


I don't usually order fried rice but that was pretty much the best option and it was pretty good, this was named nasi goreng on the menu. My guess is fried rice are usually Chinese fried rice style, whiter in colour and nasi goreng mostly Indonesian influenced and of course, darker in colour. I don't remember how much it was but total cost for this plus fish fried rice that S ordered cost LKR 630 / ~USD 4.30 / ~AUD 5.80.

After feeding our tummies, we decided to go to a tea plantation. We flagged down a tuk-tuk from Heidi's Home and he took us to town area, waited till we finished lunch and sent us to the tea plantation that we wanted to go, thereafter dropped us back to the town. We paid total cost of LKR 1,200 / ~USD 8 / ~AUD 11. 



We decided to to go Mackwoods Labookellie Tea Centre, entrance is free. Not only there is no fee to enter the Mackwoods Labookellie Estate, they also provides a free guided tour and finished it off with free tea tasting at their cafe. Need to pay for cakes. Grin.

I didn't think I am so bad at recognising people's face but after Sri Lanka, I have doubts on my ability in facial recognition. Not only I have trouble remember our tuk-tuk driver's face, I also realised I don't really recall their names. I remember the colour of the clothes their are wearing or shoes, etc but not the face. Must be old age setting in.

Along the way to the tea estate, we were treated with beautiful greeneries, we were amongst tea plantations anyway.



Our tuk-tuk driver (sorry, can't remember his name either!) decided to join us for the tour. He said that he often bring tourist to the tea estate but had never once walked around the area so he decided to join us. I suspected he probably taken a liking to my friend. Grin.

Tea leaves

Processing floor

Packaged tea to be sent out

It wasn't a long tour and after that, we went to the cafe and try the tea. One could tell them which type of tea you would like to try at the counter.

Our tuk-tuk driver is the one in green jacket, (so obviously I recognised him by the jacket.. umm) waiting for tea collection

After finishing the tea, I wanted to go out for a little walk.

The cafe from outside

I walked over to the viewing deck and told S I want to go down (where I took this photo)

It started drizzling by then and at the end of these steps, there was a sign saying no permission to go further (something like that), so I came back up.

After that the driver dropped us back at the town. Nuwara Eliya town area is like a big bus station and there were so many people because it was a long weekend. So I didn't think Nuwara Eliya is charming, like how other people might have experienced. We went for a quick look at the post office.



After we short walk, we decided to have dosa dinner with recommendation from our tuk-tuk driver and headed to Ambaal's Vegetarian Hotel. I had my first string hoppers and only scooped a little of the curry on my plate. The waitstaff saw me and obviously thought I needed assistance and piled on the variety of curries on my plate. Haha.


My friend then sent me down to grab a dessert, I tried to ask the workers what were the flavours and they were basically telling me all were chocolates = ="

Given the colours of the sweets were a little too vibrant, I decided to err on the cautious side and took the chocolate one. It obviously is chocolate, more like Milo taste actually.


I had 10 string hoppers (they come in set of 10s), S had a plain dosa, we each had a milk tea and shared a piece of sweet. Our dinner came up to a grand total of LKR 200 / ~USD 1.35 / ~AUD 2. Cheapest dinner ever and tasty too!


Side note: Are you in the group that likes chai or are you in the group that doesn't like chai?

I guess it is the same everywhere. Long weekend equates to getaway from the city. So we have coincidentally hopped on a the famous awesome train ride from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya on a long weekend. The consequences of it? I ended up on a different carriage as S, with my train ticket with her and stood for 4 hours all the way from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya.

Our action plan was going on the same carriage via different doors. S to go up the front door, and me the other but there were so many people that it ended up we were totally in different carriages. S kept the ticket, so I was pretty much ticket-less. The ticket inspector did come to check the tickets but once I explained that it was with my friend, they just let it be and did not even ask me to pay for another ticket. We were in the non reserved second class carriage and paid LKR 165 / ~USD 1.20 / ~AUD 1.60.

All the stories you read about sitting by the door? I'm sure everybody wants to hog that elusive seat because I never had a chance to sit by the door. There were forever someone there, not budging from the door.

Nuwara Eliya, pronounced something as "Nyur-rel-iya" is also known as Sri Lanka's "Little England". Nuwara Eliya was established in the 19th century by the British was a cold change from every other towns in Sri Lanka we have been. Well, after all, it is Sri Lanka's highest town. It was also said to be one of the foggiest town.

Our initial plan was to take the train to Hatton, then bus to Dalhousie and eventually climb up Adam's Peak. We changed our plans last minute, so our train ride was all the way to Nanu Oya instead. Nanu Oya railway station is just outside Nuwara Eliya, so of course the nearest to this town.





Just a shame that it was quite a feat to grab the camera out, balance oneself and not to be in anyone's way so the photos taken from the train was on my ancient iPhone4.

To be honest, most of my view was this due to lack of standing space in the train.



Side note: ~yawn

Actually we really didn't do much of any other thing in Kandy, except eating and the previous post was getting long, plus it feels strange to me to put in some food pics when I was obviously talking about the Tooth Relic Temple.

Rough Guide redeemed itself in the food recommendation side of things as we absolutely enjoyed our meal at Sri Ram. It is a South Indian restaurant so we ordered a thali. We ordered fish curry and being glutton, I finished everything that was served, including the rice - LKR 690 / ~AUD 6 / ~USD 4.70 pp. We ordered the same thali.


We also wanted to finish the meal with tea but we were told they ran out of milk, so no tea? Not sure about that but we just went across the road and had a cake with coffee. Lol.

I thought this look pretty and I'm nuts about nuts.


We ended up sharing this instead, as it was a probably smarter choice in terms of sweetness. It was a ginger cake. We asked the waitstaff to recommend the less sweet cakes and this was one of the option, the other being a banana cake.


Then we walked off the cake and big lunch with around the lake.




Side note: [-o<

We did not intentionally arrange for this, i.e. to visit the Temple of the Tooth on a Poya Day. In fact, it didn't even occur to us that Poya Day is a public holiday in Sri Lanka and as it is a day to commemorate key events in Buddhism, locals will go to the temple to pray. In Kandy, it would mean going to the Temple of the Tooth Relic. We only found out when we saw mass of worshipers trying to enter the temple grounds. We even asked the man at the ticket counter if we could hold on to the ticket and come back later when the crowd thinned out. He told us it would be pretty much the same any time of the day. -_-  So we soldiered on. One of the locals told us we need to be more aggressive or else we will not be able to get in to the temple.


Ok, back to Poya Day. Poya Day is essentially a full moon day and every full moon day (usually once a month) is a public holiday in Sri Lanka. The one we encountered was Binara Full Moon Poya which commemorates the establishment of the Buddhist Bikkhuni Order. On a Poya Day, the supermarket will not sell alcohol and meat produce.

This temple is the temple in Kandy, the most important religious temple in Sri Lanka and Esala Perahera, its most exuberant festival. So what's the story with this tooth?

Legend has it that when the Buddha was cremated in 643 BC in Kushinagar in North India, various parts of this remains were rescued from the fire. This includes one of his teeth. In the 4th century AD, the Tooth was smuggled into Sri Lanka, hidden in the hair of an Orissan princess. The Tooth travelled from Anuradhapura, then to Polonnaruwa, Dambadeniya and Yapahuwa. Years later, in the early 16th century, the Portuguese captured what they claimed was the Tooth and brought it back to Goa where it was pounded to dust, then burnt and cast into the sea. It was then claimed that either this destroyed Tooth was a replica or the ashes of the destroyed Tooth magically returned to it's original form and flew back to Sri Lanka. There were also discussions of the appearance of the Tooth which was rumoured to be 3 inches long, hence very unlikely to be of any human tooth. Regardless of what it is, the Tooth is now said to be in this Temple of the Tooth (Dalada Maligawa) and became the focus of the festival Esala Perahera.


We braved the crowd, and the truly positive side to this was, we actually got a glimpse of the Tooth Relic chamber which is said to be usually closed. To be very clear, the Tooth is not visible but the gold casket that contains the relic is open visible from the entrance. More of that later.
Entrance fee: LKR 1,500 / ~AUD 14 / ~USD 11. Shoes deposit by donation and we also bought a small basket of flower, sold along the way to inside of the temple. Yes, shoes off pretty much starting from ticketing office.

We entered the temple grounds with the human flow.


The picture below would be the main shrine as this was where it leads to the Tooth Relic Chamber.


As you can see the line on the left was barred off with a rope. We just went with the line, and happened to be on the left side. The left side of the line actually get to walk pass the entrance of the Tooth Relic Chamber itself, whereas the more spacious right side of the room leads to what was shown below.


A long table was set up outside the Tooth Relic Chamber for worshipers to lay down the flowers they brought. As we approached the entrance of the chamber, I was told that no photos allowed to be taken on the chamber.


After that we left the main shrine and wander around the temple.

Ceiling detail

The ticket paid for the temple also includes entrance to the Museum of World Buddhism, which I find just so so. There will be another revision of entrance fee effective 1st of Jan 2017.



Side note: Why didn't I bring back that bag of broccoli... 

We left Habarana after breakfast to Kandy by bus. We requested the B&B to organise a tuk-tuk to pick us up from the B&B and dropped us to the bus stop to Kandy. Of course, we could've walk. It is within walking distance, even with our luggage maybe within max 30 minutes? We decided to be a little luxury and got ourselves a tuk-tuk. The bus stop to Kandy is across the road from a mini market (uggh, I can't seem to recall the name of the shop, I'm sorry!).

Nobody really goes with the bus number but there will be a sign on the bus that indicate that it is going to Kandy. Else, one could do the reliable old fashion way of asking the bus conductor! Bus from Habarana to Kandy cost LKR 125 / ~AUD 1.10 / ~USD 0.85 and take about 3.5 to 4 hours.


Before going to Sri Lanka, I have had plans to bring a medium size suitcase because I would go back to Malaysia thereafter. Going back to Malaysia means carrying gifts home, etc but one fine night a pin dropped and the little brain of mine suddenly realised that lugging a medium size suitcase might not be the most brilliant idea. I even went to the length of emailing Diana (who seems to have stop blogging :(, as she had just visited Sri Lanka) if it was doable.

Anyway, long story short, it could be a hassle but if you are capable of carrying the suitcase up and down the train, it is possible to do so. As for buses, I've found out that one could ask the bus conductor if we could deposit our bag in the luggage area (access from the back of bus). Of course this would mean that you would need to be "friends" with the bus conductor as you would need his kind assistance to retrieve your luggage later. The good bus conductor would also help to look out for a seat for you. He asked a man to move seat so that my friend and I could sit next to each other. Very kind of him.

As we arrived in Kandy, I went up to the front of the bus to ask the conductor where do we get off. He spoke to the driver and told me to follow him. As the bus slowed down (not stopped, just slowed down), he got off the bus and because he told to follow him, I jumped off a moving bus too. He opened the door to where our luggage was and took out mine. Then the bus started moving faster, so the three of us (the conductor, my friend and I) started running after the bus. = ="" Anyway, the bus stopped and we got our luggage and welcome to Kandy!

Kandy was our getaway to the Hill Country, most probably the same with many people. The weather was noticeably cooler than the Cultural Triangle. It is also the last independent capital of the Sinhalese. There is a lake right in the middle of the city.

We stayed 2 nights in Kandy, the hostel is by the main road and could be a little noisy, though that also mean it is quite a strategic location. Day 1 was as per the title - lazy day. It was spent wandering about, eating and shopping. The hostel owner recommended a happy, cheap place for lunch. It was located at a car park near KCC (Kandy City Centre) a shopping centre.

Hoppers and vade (donut looking ones)

Some kind of roti made from rice flour

We shared the above food and all of that cost LKR 109 / ~AUD 1 / ~USD 0.75. A very affordable lunch. Then we went on to have ice coffee at KCC at LKR 250 pp / ~AUD 2.50 / ~USD 1.70. Haha... yes, more expensive than the food.

Then we walked around KCC and bought some stuff, and we ate again. We decided to try one of the recommended restaurant from Rough Guide, it was a disappointment. It could possibly the worst meal we had in Sri Lanka. It is the first restaurant on the list on Rough Guide, version November 2012, restaurant name starts with 'D'. We decided to try the more local food, hence the below. Cost for 3 dishes and milk tea each: LKR 1,314 / ~ AUD 12 / ~USD 9. 

Devilled squid

Stir fry kankung (water spinach) - In Malaysia, we spell it as kangkung

Kottu - I think we ordered egg kottu

Initially I wanted to do Yala National Park as it is famous for leopards spotting but it closes at certain month in the year which coincide with the time we were in Sri Lanka. Then I found out that Minneriya National Park is close to Habarana and we could see elephants there. So Minneriya National Park it is.

We booked our safari with the B&B we stayed. Entrance fee to Minneriya National Park was LKR 3,000 / ~AUD 27 / ~USD 20 pp; jeep ~LKR 1,000 / ~AUD 9 / ~USD 7 pp. There were four of us splitting the cost of the jeep. Coincidentally a couple from Netherlands wanted to go at the same time, so it reduces the price of the jeep. The jeep came to pick us up at about 2:30 PM from the B&B.

There were many other jeeps doing the same thing but as the national park was big, it doesn't feel crowded though you will definitely see many other jeeps during elephant sightings. There were definitely other animals aside of elephants at the national park.

We saw a peacock while trying to spot elephants

Yes, it was as hot as it looked. The ride was bumpy and I couldn't really get a good shot and trying not to fall over the jeep. Though as all the jeeps got nearer to the elephants, they will slow down and eventually come to a stop so everybody get to observe the elephants in a relative quiet environment and not disturb them.



At one point I was worried that we would not spot any elephants... and that would be such a disappointment. Well, luckily my worry was needless as we saw many of them.






We were allowed to get off the jeep at one of the viewing point but compare that with seeing wild elephants up close, that's nothing to shout about.

Dinner was rice and curry at the B&B (included in the price we paid). We left Habarana the next morning.


Side note: Wonder where can I find Sri Lankan rice and curry that taste like the ones I had in Sri Lanka... mmm..