Sri Lanka Vacation: Day 3

After our breakfast buffet at the lovely Cinnamon Lodge, (I highly recommend staying at any of the Cinnamon hotels while staying in Sri Lanka. They are by far, the best and a vacation in itself) we went on a little safari ride with our driver, the park Jeep driver, and a park ranger. We got to stand in the back of an open Jeep just like you see on TV. We saw all kinds of wildlife including monkeys, beautiful birds, buffalo, jackals, but the best was when we came upon two male elephants just grazing along the shoreline. We watched as they ate grass in the field. The park ranger said that it's mating season and soon they will head off to the jungle to find a mate, but first they fill up on lots of food. We watched them eat grass and took loads of photos for the longest time. It was definitely the most amazing experience that I'll never forget. All I kept thinking was how blessed we were to be there at that moment. It was unlike seeing some elephants held in captivity. These were wild elephants free to roam where they pleased without restrictions in their natural habitat. We made our way back on track, but happen to notice when we looked back that the elephants moved from the shoreline to the water and were cooling off. Our Jeep driver went back and we watched them use their trunks to spray themselves with water.

Next up on our list of things to do for the day was a visit to the Golden Temple. We soon found out that many of the attractions in Sri Lanka involve lots of stair climbing. Oye! We made it up to the Golden Buddha which was pretty cool. We took lots of photos and sneaked in a family photo in front of Buddha (you are not permitted to stand with your back against Buddha out of respect). Oops!
Then it was back to more stair climbing to see the cave temples. There were people selling souvenirs along the way. There was also a woman selling flowers that you can present to Buddha. Steve thought it would be a great part of our experience to do so. He gave the bouquet to me to hold until we got there. Well, I didn't get too far before a monkey decided to try and grab them from me. I guess he thought they looked tasty. It caught me by surprise. I screamed, dropped the flowers and ran. LOL Steve managed to save a few of the flowers so we could present them to Buddha. Up until this time, I thought the monkeys were so cute, this incident totally changed my opinion on them. Though they told us in the guide book to watch out for the monkeys with the page boy haircuts. LOL

Before entering the temple we had to remove our shoes. We soon found out this was the case for all the temples. Luckily for Tyler and I, we had socks to wear. Unfortunately for Steve, he had to walk barefoot on the hot pavement. :( We left our shoes with the shoe holder guy out front. We had to pay him a small amount when we collected our shoes again.
The cave temples were absolutely incredible!! We were just in awe of all the work put into making it. The paintings covering the walls and ceiling, and the stone carved statues were beautiful!!

After we were done with our visit to the Golden Temple, we were back on the road again. All throughout the countryside of Sri Lanka are roadside stands, selling everything from handmade rugs to produce and clothes. Our driver stopped at one and bought us each a coconut. The lady cut it open and put a straw in it for us to drink the juice. It was so very refreshing on such a hot day. The perfect drink! Then the driver asked for our coconuts back and the lady sliced them open and made a little scoop for them. We scraped the coconut out. It was so sweet and tasty. Yummy!!

Next up was a visit to the Spice Gardens where we saw several demonstrations. One such demonstration was how they make rope out of the coconut hair strands. It really was quite impression!! We also saw how cinnamon sticks are prepared. Did you know that Sri Lanka produces 95% of the world's cinnamon? Cool, eh? We also tried hot cocoa and banana tea. Oh it was deeelish!! They showed us different types of herbs grown on the island and showed us their special red pineapples! Afterwards they take you to their showroom to make purchases. Steve picked out some vanilla extract and cocoa and banana for making that delicious tea.
Tired yet? Our day didn't stop there. We got back on the road yet again and headed for the city of Kandy. By this time our tummies were rumbling and we were ready for lunch. Our driver took us to a roof top restaurant where we enjoyed a buffet lunch. It had a mix of Sri Lanka and Indian cuisine to pick from. The waiter treated Tyler to some yummy banana ice cream for dessert.
Then we did a tour of a gem factory. Our tour started off watching a film about how they mine the gems in Sri Lanka. The tour guide showed us some pretty gem antique artifacts and then where the actual factory where they cut and polish the gems to make jewelry. After the gem factory, we toured a woodcarving factory where they made everything from tables to elephants to masks. The guide showed us the different types of wood and how they color them using other types of wood. Then of course, they showed us their products for sale. They prices were really expensive, so we just looked. Finally, to end our busy day, we settled into our new hotel in Kandy overlooking a beautiful river.Here's more photos from our third day in Sri Lanka.