← All articles · Sri Lanka · 19 June 2014

Kandy

Kandy in June 2014: the white walls and moat of the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, then a working tea factory, from withering troughs to the tasting cup.

Kandy gave us a day of two halves in June 2014: the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic first, then a working tea factory on the way out of town. Old kingdom in the morning, fresh leaf in the afternoon.

The Temple of the Sacred Tooth

The Sri Dalada Maligawa sits low and white against the green hills, guarding a tooth of the Buddha. You hear the temple before you see it: drums, crowds, and the general hum of the holiest site in the country.

Still moat running along the carved white parapet of the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, the octagonal tower rising above — The moat and its carved parapet. The octagonal Paththirippuwa was once the king's viewing gallery.

Worshippers standing before the red and gold shrine of the tooth relic, framed by curving elephant tusks and Buddhist flags — Elephant tusks arch over the shrine room. The relic itself stays behind the red and gold facade, and Inga joined the quiet queue taking it in.

Dileep standing barefoot with a camera on the stone upper terrace beside the temple, a golden roof and hillside houses behind — Shoes come off at the gate. Dileep barefoot on the upper terrace, golden canopy roof behind.

From leaf to cup

The hills around Kandy are tea country, so we finished the day at a working factory, following the leaf from trough to tasting room.

Inga holding a handful of fresh green tea leaves over a long withering trough in a dark factory hall — Fresh leaf resting in the long withering troughs, the first stop on its way to the pot.

Inga and Dileep standing together beside a withering trough piled with green tea leaves in the factory — Proof we were both there, between the troughs.

Three factory workers in aprons with Inga among stacked crates and machinery in the tea sorting room — The sorting room crew kindly let us wander through mid shift.

Inga talking with two workers beside a green colour sorting machine, a tray of dark rolled tea in the foreground — Rolled and fired tea coming off the colour sorter, ready for grading.

Inga smiling in a rattan chair holding a small cup of tea in the wood panelled factory tasting room — The good bit: a proper cup of the house tea to end the tour.

Kandy was our gateway to the high country. From here we headed for Ella and, best of all, the hill country train through the tea.