We set off from Wasgamuwa and headed south towards Kandy. Our first stop was Dambulla and the Cave Temple. I had already decided not to attempt the 364 steps, the bruising behind by knee had spread down my calf and that many steps were totally out of the question. So I stayed in the comfort of the air conditioned car whilst John and Suminda embarked on viewing what is a superb temple. The Cave Temple is often referred to as the Golden Temple, it has been the site off sacred pilgrimages for 22 centuries. It consists of five sanctuaries and is the largest best preserved cave temple in Sri Lanka. Each of the sanctuaries contains statues and paintings which relate to Buddha and his life. The murals cover the walls and ceilings and there are around 153 Buddha statues.

The arduous climb up to is rewarded by superb views of the surrounding area. During the climb up and back it rained lightly on and off making it a little less hot.

On returning to the car John was a little tired and very hot and sweaty, whilst Suminda looked as if he had had a walk in the park. We continued our journey heading down to Kandy, stopping off at a wood carvers. Here we learnt about all the different types of wood and what they are used for. We were given a demonstration as to how the natural paints are produced and we watched some carvers at work. Before leaving we bought a Christmas bubble to add to our international collection and John bought me a small ebony elephant for Valentine’s Day, the following day.

Our next stop was a spice garden. The guide took us around and explained about all the spices. It’s amazing how many we automatically use in everyday cooking and we knew about most of them. We didn’t wish to make a purchase but we did have some lunch in their restaurant.

We were then going to go to a gem stone cutting display but I took pity on John whose t-shirt had still not dried out from his earlier exertions. So I asked Suminda to take us straight to our hotel. This meant going through Kandy to the other side. We saw a variety of beautiful sights including an ornate Hindu temple.

We turned up a rather steep, badly maintained road and headed for the hotel….wow! We’re we pleasantly surprised when The Elegant Hotel lived up to its name. We were met by bow-tied gentlemen and after a welcome drink we were soon making ourselves very comfortable in our absolutely delightful room. We had supper in the restaurant – grilled seafood and vegetables whilst being serenaded by two guitarists and singers….what a wonderful way to round off the day.