Kandy and Surrounding Temples

From Nuwara Eliya, we had another few hours ride to the sacred city of Kandy. Arriving at early evening, we were surprised to find a city in a state of slumber. As you would expect of a sacred city, partying really isn't a thing here. 

Early the next morning, modestly dressed from covered shoulder to long skirt, Rosa, Shane and I made our way to the Sacred Tooth Temple, that holds a sacred tooth relic of the Buddha. This relic in of itself stressed me out--hundreds of devoted worshippers, ill family members looking for a miracle and an assorted cast of local tourists crowded around the room that housed the relic. When the door was opened, bodies smashed together and I struggled to breathe. 

Outside of this, however, the rest of the temple and its grounds were elaborately constructed and decorated: 

I didn't understand much of what was going on but it was beautiful to see:

From further away, the city of Kandy (and Bogambara Lake) rested tranquilly:

Later that afternoon, we made our way to the Kandyan Cultural Centre and their show. I cannot vouch for the authenticity of much of what we saw but it was very entertaining:

The show ended with a traditional or 'traditional' fire walker:

Which was entirely as terrifying as it looked:

On the way out of Kandy, and because we were on a flying visit of the country, we stopped at a Hindu temple somewhere on the Jaffna Road. Having been in very few Hindu temples in my life, I was impressed with the colours, the statues, the outside pillars:

Nearly templed out, we had one more quick temple stop of the day.