Gardens and High Tea

Hakgala Botanical Gardens

It really does cool down at nights. We have a space heater in our room and our host even brings us an extra blanket. We are very comfortable and sleep well.

Premier Villa supplies breakfast. We are given a choice the night before whether to have a Western or Sri Lankan breakfast. Sri Lankan please!

Breakfast is all homemade with locally sourced milk and buffalo curd. You can taste the freshness of the coconut sambol, daal and the other dishes whose names I don’t know.  

After breakfast John orders a tuk-tuk on an app called “PickMe” which is a Sri Lankan version of Uber. I ask why he is using the app when tuk-tuks are so available and he replies “For the experience and prices are less than trying to bargain on the street”.

Our driver has a Glenfiddich Whisky glass bottle in his bottle holder. There is also a Buddha figure on his dashboard so I am pretty sure the bottle is filled with water.

It’s about a twenty minute drive to the Hakgala Botanical Gardens. The gardens, spread out on a mountainside, are still beautiful despite the fact that they are replanting after November’s extreme rainfalls.

I see a small snake but it slithers away before I can get a photo.

In the fern gardens we spot monkeys. These are different than any other monkeys we have seen in Sri Lanka. They are furrier with black faces. And these monkeys seem to hop when they are on the ground. We watch their antics for quite a while. Thanks to ChatGPS, I learn that they are the endangered Highland Purple-Faced Langur monkey which are only found in this area. 

We continue walking through the gardens and see another troop of Toque Macaque monkeys. These guys are very common, mischievous and not afraid of people. They are still fun to watch. Click here for a short video.

I follow John as we start walking towards the garden exit. Suddenly I feel someone poke my calf. Shocked, I yelp and spin around to see a male Toque Macaque run off to a nearby tree stump where he sits watching me.

Seethi Amman Temple

We grab a tuk-tuk and head to the nearby Seethi Amman Temple. This is a Hindu temple done in the Dravidian style which is common in Sri Lanka and South India. The mythology behind this temple is that this is where Ravana (demon king) held Sita (female goddess) captive after abducting her from her husband Prince Rama. Sita was rescued by Hanuman (half human, half monkey god) who left his footprint in a rock by the river. 

There is a large foot-like indentation in the rock where Hindus come to pay respect believing this to be Hanuman’s footprint.

There are all kinds of ceremonies going on inside the temple and many devotees. It is loud, busy and very colourful and interesting. Horns are blowing and bells ringing. A priest appears to be blessing people by placing then removing an ornate gold lid on people’s heads. Unfortunately photos and videos are not allowed inside.

Monkeys are all over the place basically making nuisances of themselves.

Lake Gregory

Our tuk-tuk driver is waiting for us and takes us  to Lake Gregory. Foreigners have to pay 1000 rupees (about $4.50 CAD) each to enter the park around the lake. It is free or a much smaller cost for Sri Lankans. We walk along the lake in the warm afternoon sun. We are often asked if we want to hire a boat.

High Tea at the Grand Hotel

It is shortly after 1:00pm and I am hungry so we take another tuk-tuk to the Grand Hotel for High Tea. We get a table on the Grand Veranda and are attended by the uniformed staff…all very civilized! We try four different types of tea and dine in the various good offerings.

I run into another Canadian in the ladies washroom. We recognize that we are both Canadian because we are both wearing white Vessi (made in Canada) shoes. She is also from Toronto.

John and I notice a lot of tour buses filled with older, luxury travellers pulling up to the hotel. Mostly British. 

I can swear I hear John quietly humming “Rule Britannia” as we leave the 1891 British colonial hotel.

We relax and hang out for the rest of the afternoon in the hotel gardens by the fountain.

We had plans to go to a nice restaurant across town but we are still full from high tea so we decide to go someplace nearby before calling it a night.