The Temple is approached up an avenue of formal gardens which are kept free of leaves by the latest technology in leaf blowers
The Outer building has been extensively repaired after a bomb was set off at the entrance by the Tamil Tigers in the civil unrest,
But the actual Temple containing the tooth is a very old wooden structures 
It is very ornately decorated with carved wood and the ceiling are gorgeously painted
Devotion is obvious. Here the altars are decorated with the tusks of Royal elephants removed after their death
Every year the Royal elephant which is a tusker, is brought to the Temple with a golden statue on its back for the special tooth ceremony. Vendors outside the Temple sell flowers to lay on the altars, purple water lilies, fragrant frangipani, white jasmine. They are arranged on paper plates and I admired one a lady was carrying. She took a water lilly and gave it to me to lay on the altar
A monk guards the entrance to the golden statue of Buddha
There is also a museum attached where the walls are devoted with paintings of the story of how the tooth came to be in Kandy
This painting shows the death of Buddha. See how the right foot is slightly in front of the lefl
On the way out we saw the statue of a young boy killed by a wicked king because the boy’s father had been disloyal. And another on of a monk who tore down the Union Jack flag because it had been raised by the Brisish one minute early after the Sri Lanka became a British colony. However I have to say there is little resentment of colonial rule here. In fact the Sri Lankans seem quite fond of us.
The flag is in his left hand and he is pointing one finger with his right
Well we had to do a bit of posing
Back on the coach for a fairly long climb up to the Central Highlands where the tea plantations are. Many of the plantations were founded by Scottish owners and the tea estate we went to visit was called Glenloch. Tea bushes can live for 100 years and because of the favourable climate, lots of rain and sun, the leaves can be picked every 3 to 4 weeks. The very top tips go to make white tea, the most expensive, the next couple of leaves make green tea and the next leaves make black tea, the cheapest. Only pale new leaves are picked. The leaves are dried for 9 hours, rolled to break into particles, fermented for 90 minutes to make black tea only and finally dried.
Pria at the drying table
Su showing us the tea tips
In the case of Lidl’s economy teabags, they sweep up bits from the floor 😆
We had a tea tasting of 4 teas. Black ( Broken Orange Pekoe. This means the leaves are broken up roughly for a stronger flavour, orange stands for the national colour of Holland and Pekoe is the name of the bush variety). it is also called BOP and is what makes English breakfast tea. Then we had white tea so delicate you couldn’t taste it, then green tea and finally Golden tea which is eye watering lay expensive. No sorry, I did not find my perfect cup of tea here either. Interestingly, the Sri Lankan trade unions are lobbying for better pay for tea pickers. Young people don’t want to do this sort of work any more as it is back breaking and very badly paid. So they foresee a labour shortage in the coming years so stock up on your teabags now
The wa ages are so low, you just can’t get the staff these days
Lunch at Rambulla Falls. Well guarde by trafficpolice
Seem like nice boys.
Beautiful view over green hills which are bare because the Tsunami washed away all the tea bushes. We continued on to our hotel. The St Andrews Hoetel. Ronnie was very emotional as he was born there, St Andrews not the hotel! Originally it had been the Scottish plantation owners’ club
It was like stepping back in time to the colonial era, dark wood panelling, verandas where you could have your tiffin, a snooker room. All very pukka. We were served with a cup of hot soup, vchicken vegetable with the inevitable chilli flavour.
We had a game of snooker after dinner but I got fed up with keep missing so I left Ronnie to play with a young hotel worker, Kamal. All the hotel staff had thick jumpers on while we sweltered although it was a bit cooler in the Highlands than down in Kandy. However when we left that day and passed through the town of Neuwalia I saw a man in an anorak, bobble hat and gloves, no lie.
