Attractions in Kandy

The city's biggest attraction is the Botanical Garden, located 6 km from the center. The local bus 654 runs right from the Clock Tower to the entrance and only costs 15 rs per person. Many hotels arrange tours to the Botanical Garden combined with visits to a Spice Garden, an elephant orphanage, and temples. They charge around 2000 rs for that. Remember, it's almost just as easy to hop on the local bus. Instead, use that money to help the poor or donate it to an organization that can assist them. The Botanical Garden is a beautiful area where many couples go to have their wedding photos taken. Even on a regular Thursday, we spotted four wedding parties. Two of them had a large entourage—lots of bridesmaids and groomsmen dressed in stunning outfits. The guys wore hats and suits adorned with plenty of embellishments, looking like little "bullfighters." The groom was dressed in the same outfit. The bride and her bridesmaids were decked out in jewelry in their hair, on their arms, and hands. We didn’t visit the elephant orphanage or the temples, but many tourists do. There are also dance shows at various places in the city. Just ask your hotel; they can usually point you in the right direction. Instead, we took bus 654 in the opposite direction to Kundasala, where many artists reside. They’ve created a little "village" with their workshops. It can be a bit tricky to find since we didn’t have an exact address—the place isn’t even mentioned in Lonely Planet. We found a tuk-tuk driver in Kundasala who spoke English. He asked the locals, and suddenly, we stopped at a workshop. A man in a wheelchair came out. His son made wooden boxes with secret compartments. The man in the wheelchair was missing one lower leg and parts of the other foot. Until five years ago, he worked at the elephant orphanage, where an elephant had attacked him. Now, he took the opportunity to show off his injuries to a couple of tourists, hoping to evoke their sympathy and ask for money for an electric wheelchair. We gave him 200 rs. A bit further down the road lived another artist who spoke good English. We saw his workshop and his small shop. It turned out he was a well-known figure here in the country. In December 2010, he received an artist award from Sri Lanka. He even had pictures of himself with the Malaysian president. He had worked on sets for several feature films. Normally, he made bathroom furniture, but he also crafted wooden masks and figures from various types of wood. We bought a large mahogany Buddha head. The starting price was 15,000 rs, but we ended up paying 7,500 rs. That’s quite a lot of money in this country, but the head is absolutely stunning! It took him three weeks to make it. The wood itself cost 3,500 rs. We highly recommend visiting Daya Dolapihilla—a true artist! You can find him at these addresses: Residence (where we visited him) No 17/2, Wishwakala Mw Kalapuraya Nattharampotha Show Room No. 53, Kandy Road Tennekumbura Kandy From the little local "wine store" in Kundasala, we bought four bottles of local specialties. They are crazy about arrack in this country, and it tastes pretty good too. For 480 rs, we got a small bottle of regular arrack, old arrack, light arrack, and coconut rum. We have the most beautiful view from our balcony, so we bought dinner and wine to enjoy out there. Dinner was picked up from one of the many bakeries that sell cakes but also snacks like samosas and rolled rottis with fillings. We intentionally chose not to get too many meat dishes, leaning more towards the vegetable options. For instance, we bought a small piece of vegetable pizza. When we got home and opened the bag, it was filled with tiny crawling ants. Had they gotten into the pizza? Luckily, there weren’t any ants in the other bags!