Year 3 -29 January 2026 -Exploring Kandy -Sri Lanka
We had a buffet breakfast at about 8.15am and had enjoyed the view from our balcony when we got up. The sun began to rise and you could hear the noise of the city getting going with the traffic and the car horns. We also noticed what appeared to be a wedding party by the swimming pool with photographs being taken. In fact we discovered there were 2 wedding parties and what Chinta later explained was in fact an engagement and wedding on the same day!! There were singers and dancers celebrating and we heard them at breakfast.
Kandy is an almost legendary place. The city remains a bastion of Sinhalese culture and religion. It is home to the most revered Buddhist temple (The Temple of the Tooth), its most sacred relic (a tooth from Buddha) and its most magnificent festival (Escala Perahera) which it holds every August. It is also the undisputed arts and craft capital of the island, filled with a myriad of temples and palaces built in a distinctive Kandyan style with elaborate murals and carved wooden pillars.
It is Sri Lanka’s second largest city but it retains a small town feel. The modest grid of low-rise streets in the centre is lined with colonial-era buildings and preserves an old fashioned charm.
We met Chinta at 10.00am and he initially took us up to a viewpoint where we could look down on Kandy and its lake. We could see certain temples on the top of the hills surrounding it. We then were taken to the Temple of the Tooth (Dalada Maligawa) which is on the edge of the lake at the Eastern end of the town centre. This is the islands most religious Buddhist Temple and attracts pilgrims from all over the island and from other parts of Asia. Traditionally it is believed that whoever had the relic was believed to have the right to rule the island, giving a political as well as a religious dimension.
The tooth is kept in seven caskets placed inside one another like Russian dolls. The outer casket is about 1.2m high and is made of silver gilt and the other of beaten gold. The story goes when Buddha attained nirvana (a state of profound peace, liberation and enlightenment) the Buddha was cremated but mourners managed to rescue parts of his body from the fire including a tooth. This was kept in India for 8 hundred years or more. It was later brought to Sri Lanka and finally arrived in Kandy in 1592 and it has remained here ever since.
We had not realised that we would be required to wear long trousers so we hired some sarong material and went in with a guide. The guide took us through the old temple and various buildings with the shrine where the tooth is kept which has a golden type roof. The carvings and painted ceilings were lovely and the temple is over a thousand years old. We could not actually see the tooth as it was locked away and only comes out a few times a year. We wondered round and there were pilgrims praying either quietly or silently and we felt a little bit that we were intruding. It was an interesting visit and a beautiful place. It also felt like a religious place and had that atmosphere.
Once we left the temple and excited the grounds we then took off our sarongs and went for a nice coffee. We then drove to the Peradeniya Botanical gardens which are the largest and finest in Sri Lanka. It is all enclosed in a loop of the Mahaweli Ganga River. It is about 60 hectares and contains a large display of Sri Lankan, Asian and International flora. There is a famous Javan Fig tree which covers 1600 sq metres and is claimed to be one of the largest trees in the world which we saw spread out in all directions.
The gardens were magnificent and we wondered round in awe of the huge trees and lovely flowering plants and it was so well kept. We came across a Double coconut tree whose fruit take 7-10 years to mature and can weigh between 25-45 kilos and the coconuts looked black. We enjoyed seeing these lovely gardens. Apparently Lord Mountbatten had his Headquarters in the gardens during WW2.
When we returned to the van Sintari, Chinta’s wife had arrived and she will spend a few days with us. It was very nice to meet her having heard so much about her from Chinta.
I must update you about Stormbird. I get pictures every morning and evening from the man who is looking after her in Galle and we have yachts moored either side of Stormbird. She seems fine and the electrics seen to be working.
I was in contact with a rigger in South Africa who was on the Selden list and who answered my email. I explained the problem and he said he will try and help. He has got in touch with Selden and they knew about Stormbird and confirmed they have supplied the right parts. He says he should be able to help and will put me in touch with a man who should be able to fly out. I spoke to him today and we chatted away and he will speak to Selden and work out how we change the halyard swivel without taking the mast off. I agreed to send him some pictures and other information. This was positive news and we will liaise in the next few days to hopefully work out a plan as to where we can get the parts changed etc.
We invited Chinta and Santari for supper with us and they came about 7.00pm and we had a lovely evening with them.
We move on tomorrow.
The picture of the day is all of us outside The Temple of the Tooth in our fantastic dress sense!!
Need/Opportunity Year Three
In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK.
I am looking for crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town (mid June to end of July) and from Cape Town to the Azores and then to the UK (mid August onwards). If of any interest do email me.
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com