3 Weeks in Sri Lanka - Day 8: Kandy

After a day and a half in and around the city, it was time to explore the historic city of Kandy. The area near the main market, bus terminal and train station had given us a bad first impression, an impression that we wanted very badly to change since we have heard so many great things about this World Heritage city. The best way to fall in love with a place, from our experience, is to begin in its historic core. In Kandy, this means beginning at the Temple of the Tooth, the nation's most important Buddhist Shrine, believed to protect the Buddha's actual tooth relic. I began at the temple at 5:30 a.m. for the morning puja. Despite the early hour, the temple was crowded with pilgrims and devotees filing slowly through the incredible entry corridor, past the drummers at the lower level of the shrine, up the stairs to the second level where the golden stupa housing the tooth is safely stored behind three sets of doors. I had just a moment to glimpse the stupa, then was ushered onwards as the queue moved on. Later, on our way to the Temple as a family, we visited the four devales (shrines) nearby first, each an important pilgrimage site in its own right, before visiting the Temple of the Tooth. At mid-afternoon, it was even more crowded. Still, the power of such deliberate and focused devotion filled the place with a palpable energy that gave spiritual credence to our visit. After the Temple, we visited the Museum of World Buddhism and then the old British Garrison Cemetery on the hill above the complex. Our mission had been accomplished: Kandy was no longer the busy and noisy town we had grown to resent. It's historic core had won us over. The peace and serenity of the sacred sites had shown us a completely different side of this city, one that was much easier to love. When we finally left the temple and old palace grounds, the rain began to fall lightly, then heavily. With a mountain downpour beginning, it wasn't difficult to refuse the tout who tried to persuade us to come watch a performance of traditional Kandyan dance in the cultural hall nearby. Although a lot of the dance performance had and ad hoc feel to it, the grand finale with fire eating and fire walking was something all of us couldn't help but get excited about!