A Morning & Evening in Kandy

Disaster. I was careless and deleted photos from the Royal Botanical Garden in Kandy from our memory card. That said pictures do not fully cover the serenity and majesty of the gardens. To share a little of our experience here is a two minute youtube video.

The garden were founded in 1843 although its roots go back much further. The grounds are immaculate - a major task in the tropics - the trees majestic and well spaced, and flowers mark the pathways. Memorial Trees section was particularly impressive.  Its trees were planted by visiting dignitaries and planting continues up to now. A favorite choice of both Burmese and non-Burmese planters was the lovely Pride of Burma.Trees have been planted by leaders of countries that no longer exist and governments that were deposed. The Prince of Wales, India, Ceylon, Malaya" (apparently King Edward VIII), King George V and Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth II all planted trees.

Tuesday crowds were light, but young couples apparently found a way out of their daily obligations to visit the gardens. Those totally enthralled with each other sought out solitude behind the trees. They were chased away by a bicycling guard with an ear piercing whistle.

Along the pathway and on the grounds monkeys groomed each other, wrestled, ran, and swung through the trees. When we turned our eyes upward away from the monkeys we saw fruit bats all over the place. They weren't just hanging there, many were active. They seemed to jockeying with each other for position. This half minute youtube clip of fruit bats at the Botanical Gardens shows what we saw and heard..

Pictures at last. At the orchard house we saw a stunning display of well exhibited orchids. This sign helped us pay attention to what all orchids have in common, Increase your botanical appreciation and notice the labellum, sepals, and petals the next time you see an orchid

:Here is a start toward sharpening your orchid viewing skills.

The visit to the botanical garden took up our morning. We returned to Kandy in the evening for a cultural performance. We had debated whether to go or not. We have seen some pretty dreadful performances where the dancers go through the motions of museum pieces. We saw the performance of the Kandy Lake Dance Ensemble. We didn't see museum pieces.The dancers were energetic and moved through the program efficiently. Probably efficiency is not the right word to use in conjunction with a performance, but we have heard long explanations and experienced long pauses in other performances.

The dances seemed more similar to African dances we have seen than to anything we have seen in South and SE Asia, with the possible exception of Balinese dances. The dancer pictured below was featured in several dances. In each dance he exhibited impressive athleticism.

The performance ended up with fire walking. It was beyond the capacity of our camera, but there is a 1 minute clip showing it on youtube. I actually saw fire walking in Bali 40 years ago. There the dancers worked themselves into a trance. They not only walked on coals, but also started throwing them. As I recall it was both fascinating and frightening.

Dancing on coals

The dancers are an important part of the Esala Perahrra festival that takes place in July or August. From our guides' description and Wikipedia it seems to have the pageantry, including parading elephants, of Dasara in Mysore, India..