By far, the favorite part of the trip for me was a stop at the Royal Gardens in Kandy. If you know me well enough, you'll know that I love to garden and I'm a bit plant crazy. More than a bit. Crazy. They fascinate me.
Anyways, I could've stayed at the gardens all day long, but alas, with two young children, a couple hours is all we could do. So sad for me. But, while we were there, I was amazed. Blown away. It was like being in a National Geographic article where they feature plants you think you'll never get to see in your life and then there you are. If the plant will grow in Sri Lanka weather, they have it there. The diversity from around the world was truly astonishing. I kept thinking, I need to cherish this because I probably won't get to see all these plants again in my life. Here's a few photos from our visit there.
This is a rare variety of palm tree from the Seychelles You can read about it on the sign below.
Hello humongous tree. It reminded me of being in the Redwoods, but more tropical.
Another variety of HUGE leafed palm. Also very old.
There were lots of monkeys around. The girls loved it!
This was a super pokey something from one of the trees. I have no idea what it is, but they were all over the ground.
Corkscrew trees.
There was an area of the park with trees FULL of flying foxes, aka large bats.
The bamboo growing along the river was no joke.
Here is a panorama of the center of the park, just to give you an idea of the huge variety of trees growing in the park. And I swear, there weren't not many repeats.
Lollipop plant (one of the few names I remember)
Stunning.
An example from the orchid room.
Wow. Yeah, it was pretty amazing. I wish I could share so much more from there.
But onwards to Colin and I's excursion one day, while the girls stayed at the cabin to play with GeeGee. Our first stop was at a local, and very traditional, textile house. It was like walking back in time, but it a great way. The looms were all wooden looms and the women worked them with their hands and feet.
The threads are lined up and wrapped around the large spool.
Threads in waiting.
The ladies were all so sweet and talented.
Our next stop was the largest tea plantation in the region where we were. The assistant manager gave us a personal tour and was very open to show us how everything was done and who their buyers were. Lipton was about #4. What we especially liked seeing is that they are a certified Rainforest Alliance factory and were focused on the well being of the factory and how their plantation was managed to promote sustainability and minimal impact on the environment.
The factory. Rain threatens.
These are the huge drying racks for when the tea leaves first come in.
Another example of the old-world feel that still exists here in many places.
Tea coming off the belt and into the next round of dryers and processing.
One of the lovely workers. She had a gorgeous smile but got embarrassed right as I took the photo.
When I snapped this shot I was told I wasn't supposed to take photos in the factory. Good thing they didn't ask to check my camera!
The hills of tea.
A quick stop at the bottom of the hill at a local river.
On our way back, we stopped at a local Buddhist temple on the hill.
The murals depicting scenes from Buddhist history were really beautiful.
A local public school on the hill.
When we got back is when the rain hit. The girls LOVED it.
Our final adventure was going to Sigriya, which is a huge rock formation that was once used by a king. Check here for more history if you'd like. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigiriya It was a long drive, and we (very disappointed) didn't get a chance to hike it, but it was still lovely to see from afar and we stopped at a few other tourist spots on the way back.
One of our stops was at one of the many Herb Gardens. They give you a tour of all the local herb plants they grow and tell you the traditional way they are used, especially for health. The only picture I took was of the vanilla plant because they are a vine and that fascinated me.
Sigiriya from afar.
A monitor lizard we passed on the path.
Aberly's shorts were weighted down by crystals in her pockets. A child after my own heart. "Mom, my shorts are falling off!"
We stopped at a local wood carving shot and learned that a special kind of wood from the Rainbow Tree, has been used from centuries, and the original way, before paint, to color wood. Here is a link for a video you can see how it works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG7hm60iLRM
Shop full of treasures. And this was about 1/20th of it.
Final stop at Dambulla (Golden Buddha) temple.
A happy visitor to Sri Lanka!
Where to next, Mom and Dad???
