The Martin's Blog

BUSY DAY  Helen – We went to the university to drop off some things and then continued to the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens near campus.  It is considered the finest in Asia and we leisurely walked about 2.5 hours exploring every nock and cranny. 

You de-bug me and I’ll de-bug you –

When we got to the Memorial Trees (which were donated and planted by famous people) we stopped at the first large tree and read the plaque.  It was donated by King George and Queen Mary on April 14 (today’s date!) 1901.  What a coincidence!!

We had a great day for photography

Flower houses

Gardenias

We returned to the university to check and write email then went home for lunch.  Since it was early in the afternoon, we asked Shenani and Ananda if they wanted to go to Hunas Falls.  On the way we drove to the top of a hill above Kandy Lake to see the large Buddha statue.  I think it is more impressive from the ground as we walk around the lake.

The view from the top is great.

 I thought Hunas Falls were nearby…a matter of miles, and they are, but the roads are so bad it took almost an hour. In fact, from the base of the mountain to the hotel on the top is 11 km or 6.6 miles and it took 40 minutes.  We knew that the waterfalls would be good because of the rain and we were not disappointed.  When we got there, Tom was taking our picture and to get a better shot he stepped up some grassy, weedy slope.  A man nearby was telling him not to go there and Tom thought he didn’t want him walking on the flowers.  The man was telling him in Singhalese LEECHES!!!  Yep!!!  Tom had several in his shoes and up his pants again!!!   These are black slimmy things, not very big, look like very agile worms.  It’s the rainy season and they are in their glory!! 

We continued to the hotel which was fabulous!  There was even a helicopter landing pad there.  

We had tea on the terrace and basked in the sun then took a short walk around the lake (which fed the falls) and grounds.