We had a less busy day planned today, so we got to have a welcome sleep in for an extra hour. The breakfast buffet seemed to have a few more options that appealed to me that some of the other hotels so far, so the day was off to a good start. This hotel is very opulent and does seem to be the hotel of choice for functions, it is a little rough around the edges. Parts of the exterior are being renewed and it has caused me concern to see the the workers climbing the scaffolds without any of the safety gear we would see in Australia such as boots, work platforms and safety harnesses.
Our first stop for today was a gemstone production facility. The whole operation was very well organised, with an introductory video taking us through the mining process and the different kinds of gems that are found in Sri Lanka. There is still much local pride in having supplied the blue sapphire for Princess Diana’s ring in 1980. The mining process is very manual, with gravel being extracted and manual sorting processes to identify precious and semi-precious stones. There is an on-site workshop where jewellery pieces are made to be offered for sale in the on-site shop. Deb looked at a set of earrings that were quite nice, but not within the price range.
Once everyone else on the tour had made their purchases, it was time to get on the bus to go to the Botanic Gardens. On the way we were driving past a school and noticed a cricket game that was being played. I had brought some good Kookaburra cricket balls over especially for this occasion. Most people who know me will know how much I love the game and to have our tour leader Upal, help make it happen was amazing. The umpire of the game explained that they’d had to raise money just to buy the ball for today’s game, so having a few spare ones was invaluable. I hope it means these kids will keep playing and supporting the game.
We then continued our journey to the Royal Botanical Gardens. The garden are visited by approximately 1.2 million locals and 400,000 foreign visitors. It is renowned for its collection of orchids and includes more than 4000 species of plants, including orchids, spices, medicinal plants and palm trees. The origins of the Botanic Gardens date as far back as 1371 but it was the work of Alexander Moon in 1821 that progressed the site into the botanical garden it is today. The Botanical Garden at Peradeniya was formally established in 1843 with plants brought from Kew Garden, Slave Island, Colombo, and the Kalutara Garden in Kalutara.
Lunch today was at a community social enterprise. There was a great variety of Sri Lankan street foods like string hoppers, vegetable rolls and a selection of rice flour and palm sugar desserts. The consensus around the group was that this was one of the better lunches so far.
Following lunch we made a stop at a supermarket to pick up some snacks for our train trip to Nuwara Eliya tomorrow. The supermarket was well-organised, was well lit and had pharmacy, bakery and alcohol supplies in separate areas. I thought it was very much like the Woolworths Metro stores we have in Australia.
Next door was a Batik factory, so we went for a look in there. As per the usual model, we were shown the process before going to the shop. Batik is a dyeing technique using wax resist and is made by drawing or stamping wax on a cloth to prevent colour absorption during the dyeing process. This creates a patterned negative when the wax is removed from the dyed cloth.
Our plan was to head back to the hotel which took quite a long time because the rain set in and the traffic was horrendous. There was still time for a quick snooze before we headed out to see a Kandian Dance Performance. This was a private show with a family of dancers that have been passing on the art through many generations over the last 400 years. The costumes were stunning and the performances were breathtaking although my Apple Watch did keep telling me that the drumming was a little loud.
The last order of business was getting some dinner before getting some sleep. This proved more difficult than it should have been. I ordered some pork and Deb some prawns. Some 20 minutes later I was advised that the pork was not available due to the the swine flu epidemic, which is true by the way, so it seemed we were both having prawns. This was accompanied by some terrorising children at a nearby table as well as a solo musician who managed to make every song sound like it was being sung at a Karaoke bar. Our dessert order followed a similar path with Deb reveiving an Ice Cream sundae rather that the Brownie Sundae she ordered. It would have been nice to eat our meals at the same time or even receive what we’d ordered. You can’t have everything I guess.
Until tomorrow.
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