Strolling Kandy

The a walk around the the chaos that is lovely Kandy. You get use to the craziness like just stepping into traffic and cars stop, the small sidewalks with mass of people.

Temple of the Tooth: History

Sri Dalada Maligawa or the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic is a Buddhist temple in the city of Kandy, Sri Lanka. It is located in the royal palace complex of the former Kingdom of Kandy, which houses the relic of the tooth of the Buddha. Since ancient times, the relic has played an important role in local politics because it is believed that whoever holds the relic holds the governance of the country. Kandy was the last capital of the Sri Lankan kings and is a World Heritage Site mainly due to the temple.

Bhikkhus of the two chapters of Malwatte and Asgiriya conduct daily worship in the inner chamber of the temple. Rituals are performed three times daily: at dawn, at noon and in the evenings. On Wednesdays, there is a symbolic bathing of the relic with a herbal preparation made from scented water and fragrant flowers called Nanumura Mangallaya. This holy water is believed to contain healing powers and is distributed among those present.

The temple sustained damage from bombings by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna in 1989 and by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 1998 but was fully restored each time.

More Kandy: Tooth Temple

Kandy.

The drive to Kandy went from being boring to surreal when my driver pulled out a quart of booze, and started drinking. I said “ Isn’t drinking and driving against the law?”  He put the bottle away. The Sri Lanka infrastructure is terrible, one road, 2way it take forever to get somewhere
He dropped me off at my wonderful hotel Sevana.
This hotel has everything under $50 a night, immaculately clean, big rooms, great staff, room service, good breakfast (but eat dinner elsewhere) swimming pool, centrally located.I wish every hotel I travel to is like this.

Columbo, Sri Lanka: Marino Beach Hotel

Sri Lanka airlines economy is SOOOOO much better than Air India. I spent two days at the very reasonable and nice Marino Beach Hotel doing absolutely nothing and I’m proud of it. On my second
day, I had a great massage, good seafood dinner and an evening coffee. Some photos:

Symphony Restaurant

I did have a wonderful meal at the recommended Symphony Restaurant. I had grilled shrimp, after all, we are on an island, with vegetable rice. The inside was well appointed and the staff attentive. The price was about $16 USA.

Hotel Octave

The Hotel Octave sits on a corner in the heart of Male. The hotel is clean with friendly staff and provides pick up from airport. The room while basic and not large was clean. The only issue is the WiFi which one reviewer said was from the “Stone Age”.

Maldives

What a nice relief as him will see in this view from the poverty of India.

Air India Sucks

Flying Air India was almost physically painful. To begin, the blight was delayed 3 hours and the once on what had to be the worst economy seat in existence, we were told ALL FLIGHTS were delayed because of their Independence Day. Can you believe it? They shut the country air traffic.
I will do my best NEVER to fly Air India economy ever again...

The Taj III

The Taj II

The Taj I

A young male driver picked me up at my hotel at 7 am for our Taj Mahal journey. The drive is long about 4 hours with an excellent stop for the bathroom and coffee.  I realized on the ride that I left my phone in the hotel at the lounge. A quick call resolved the issue and off we went to the Taj.  Once in the city, we meet our guide an affable chap with a good sense of humor. He proceeded to guide me into the Taj.

The Taj Mahal: History

The Taj Mahal is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the south bank of the Yamuna river in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (reigned from 1628 to 1658) to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal; it also houses the tomb of Shah Jahan himself. The tomb is the centrepiece of a 17-hectare (42-acre) complex, which includes a mosque and a guest house, and is set in formal gardens bounded on three sides by a crenellated wall.

Construction of the mausoleum was essentially completed in 1643, but work continued on other phases of the project for another 10 years. The Taj Mahal complex is believed to have been completed in its entirety in 1653 at a cost estimated at the time to be around 32 million rupees, which in 2015 would be approximately 52.8 billion rupees (U.S. $827 million). The construction project employed some 20,000 artisans under the guidance of a board of architects led by the court architect to the emperor, Ustad Ahmad Lahauri.

The Taj Mahal was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 for being "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage". It is regarded by many as the best example of Mughal architecture and a symbol of India's rich history. The Taj Mahal attracts 7–8 million visitors a year and in 2007, it was declared a winner of the New7Wonders of the World (2000–2007) initiative.

Jama Mosque

This great mosque of Old Delhi is the largest in India, with a courtyard capable of holding 25,000 devotees. It was begun in 1644 and ended up being the final architectural extravagance of Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor who built the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort.

The Lonely Hat blowing in the 

Around Delhi..

Some quick stops..

The Red Fort

The Red sandstone walls of the massive Red Fort (Lal Qila) rise 33-m above the clamour of Old Delhi as a reminder of the magnificent power and pomp of the Mughal emperors. The walls, built in 1638, were designed to keep out invaders, now they mainly keep out the noise and confusion of the city.

Tomb III

Tour II