mark55

I'm spending a month in August in Sri Lanka teaching English in a remote village called Wasgamuwa near Adam's Peak (2 hours from Kandy.

I have weekends off so where do you recommend I see or go?

Kippy

Well Adam's Peak is a must see and I didn't. Next time!

You could pretty much strike off in any direction because you are going to be in the centre of the country and one of my favourite areas.

KANDY with it's busy streets and Temple of the Tooth. On the outskirts -Perideniya Gardens are worth a look if you are into Botanical Gardens. There are also some amusing antics with small groups of monkeys and if you go to the futher reaches amazing large fruit bats hanging in the trees.

NUWARA ELIYA. Hill town in which tourists usually only stay overnight, but I think it needs a bit more time to have a look around and perhaps have a meal at the Hill Club. It may be a welcome relief from the heat of August up there too. Again on the botanical theme, Hakgala Gardens a few kms out of town. There's also a golf club in N.E. Visit a tea plantation

Take the train from Nanu Oya which serves Nuwara Eliya to Ella. Great train journey through tea plantations. Ella is a lovely little place with good walks around and wonderful views down through Ella Gap.

Depends what you are interested in and how far you are prepared to go -

The Ancient cities -

Anuraddhapura and Polonnaruwa

Sigirya is amazing and definitely worth making the effort to get to.

Kitigula isn't too far and there is a great white water rafting trip you can do on the river there.

Wildlife - try to get to one of the national parks - see some wild elephants

So much to do and see!

mark55

Yes I definitely will go to a national park since I'm staying right next to one (in fact the village where I'm staying has to have an elephant proof fence since they tend to wander over there).

Would love to go to Kandy and Anuraddhapura too and also I hear the train journey's are fascinatingly busy, rickety affairs little changed since the colonial era.

I wish I had more time!

Thanks for your suggestions

Kippy

Yes, you probably will wish you had more time, but it sounds like you are going to have a good non-tourist experience in a remote and beautiful area.

Kippy

Mark55,

I had another thought -

Given that you are going to be there in August, that is the time of the perahera in Kandy. The dates are according to the full moon and so you would need to check and see when it is this year. I haven't been there at that time but it is supposed to be one of the most amazing spectacles in Asia.

I went to a perahera in the south of Sri Lanka at a different time of year and it was a small procession compared to the Kandy Esala Perahera. It is an experience like no other with many, many dancers cracking whips, caparisoned elephants in beautiful coloured silks, fire eaters and acrobats. This makes it sound like a circus but it is a very high energy religious procession which in Kandy is to honour the sacred tooth which is enshrined in the Temple of the Tooth.

I have heard that accommodation prices go through the roof during that time!

Hopefully someone who has been to the Kandy Perahera will post their experience here.

fuzzylogic

Hi there - concur with all suggestions so far. The only place that hasn't been mentioned is one I still see in my dreams!! I think if I could go back to Sri Lanka one day Dambulla would be #1 on my list of places to go (Sigirya where I didn't get to first time would be #2.)..

Dambulla is on the road from Kandy to the East coast. Sorry I can't be more precise. There's a bus.

It is the most amazing place - one cave full of wall paintings - another with a fine reclining Buddha.

I was there in 1994 and stayed close by the night before in a REALLY basic place. There may or may not have been alternatives at the time. No idea how busy it has become now.

But it's World Heritage listed. And if you can ...go and see it.

Cheers and the best of luck.

mark55

Thanks I'll keep the perahera and Dambulla in mind when I try to make up some kind of itinerary.

I'm also visiting/particpating in a Buddhist retreat just north of Columbo once I have finished teaching.

Thanks again!