The relatively short drive from Polonnaruwa to Kandy should last somewhere around three hours, but they flew one after another and we were not even close. After five hours that we spend driving on the steep, winding roads and breaking through the roadblock (work on the road, along the road and elsewhere), we finally get to Kandy, where we came across the real traffic chaos. People drive like maniacs here, they don’t obey the rules at all. Crazy. The owner of our guesthouse explained us that this kind of chaos last for at least two weeks, because of all kinds of roadblocks.

Kandy is a real transport hub for trains and buses, which is reflected in the number of tourists. Compared with Polonnaruwa, Kandy seems like a completely new world, a lot of people, bakeries, shops – they even have one true European shopping centre. For locals Kandy is the most holy place because of the temple, where is kept a tooth of the Buddha, which is considered for holy sacred relic of Buddhism. For the tourists are in addition to the temple with its surroundings, interesting also the Royal Botanical Garden and the elephant orphanage in the near Pinnewala.