Once settled into the hotel our fixer suggested we check out the local community hall for some for some tradional sri lankan dancing. It was great, but we couldn’t work out were all the tourists had come from because up till now we seemed to be the only Europeans around town.
That evening a lovely Sri Lankan family seemed to adopt us over dinner and help with tips and info. Mum, Dad and daughter were a constant help over the next 3 days. Dad, Major General Lalin Fernando, retired, gave us his card and asked us to get in touch at any time if we needed any help whilst in SL. He was a fascinating guy, had been to school with Lord Mountbatten's son!
We headed to The Sacred Temple of the Tooth Relic – an important shrine for Buddhists as it holds the tooth relic of Lord Buddha. Hooked up with a guide, Denzil, who showed us around. The temple was bombed in 1998 by Temal Tigers. Again shoes off and shoulders covered. We would have really struggled to figure everything out in this deeply religious temple without his help.
Next stop was the Millennium Elephant Orphanage, busy day or what! We bathed (with a coconut husk), rode (hanging on for dear life!) and fed (for the cost of a few rupees of course) these amazing huge but gentle giants (although during our ride a guy told us there were about 150 deaths per year due to elephant rampages). Each elephant has a ‘mahout’, his trainer who sticks with the same elephant for life until they pass down to their son. Our elephant was called Poojah and was 24 years old and was the first to be born in captivity.
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