Take you to the KANDY shop…

The penultimate stop on the tour was Kandy, and although every tourist we met until now told us we could skip the city with a clear conscience, we were full of anticipation. Because the Perahera Festival was taking place during our planned stay. We had already seen a smaller version in Ella and were now looking forward to the original (more on that later). However, the mood was slightly dampened by the journey. The planned 3-hour drive (which turned into 5) was spent standing and sweating in a packed bus, as not only our bus with about 20 people too many on board wanted to go to Kandy, but seemingly the rest of Sri Lanka as well. So we had a traffic jam - or rather complete traffic chaos. In addition to countless pilgrims, tuk-tuks, mopeds, and all kinds of vehicles were slowly making their way towards Kandy. Buses don't stand a chance in that situation. After finally arriving, we found out that our accommodation had rented our rooms to Chinese tourists. It went really smoothly. Fortunately, our tuk-tuk driver managed to find us accommodation in a similar price range and even a better location. All in all, we had had enough of the day. A quick evening snack and then a brief look at the Perahera Festival, which was the reason the world was really turned upside down here. Perahera is originally a Buddhist festival that takes place over several days around the time of the full moon in July/August. Today, it is celebrated by both Buddhists and Hindus with processions (Peraheras) in which a tooth of Buddha is worshipped. Since everyone wants to see this colorful parade with elephants, dance groups, and drummers from the front row, places are reserved and covered with plastic sheets from the morning onwards (practically Sri Lanka's answer to the Germans reserving sunbeds by the pool with towels). Only Janina and Philipp managed to endure until it really started, and it was similar to what we expected, only much much bigger and slightly more professional than in Ella. We didn't want to subject ourselves to the stress again the next day.

So all that was left was a shopping spree through the city. And it was extremely successful. At the end of the day, we could spread out and divide our new treasures on the bed, more than satisfied. If the city hadn't been hopelessly overcrowded, it would have left a better impression. So we were glad when our train headed towards Negombo the next day, and we even managed to get a seat.