The City of Kandy

We slept over 14 hours. Definitely needed and made us way more ready for a day.
We got up and couldn't remember if breakfast was included, so we headed downstairs to fill waterbottles  (they have a purifier) and sat around a bit before realizing it wasn't.  We went back to our room to eat some of what we had and prep for the day.  Being Shabbat our plan was just to walk around. We went out and started around the lake (which it turns out is very close by). We saw a goanna (a crazy big lizard) and lots of ducks and birds.
There's a spot on the lake walk where the locals stop, turn away from the lake toward what must be a temple or palace, take off their shoes, bow, give a donation  (there are donation boxes) and continue on their way. We decided to check out what the place was, so we found the entrance, Meir put genie pants over his shorts and we walked in.  The grounds were nice with interesting statues, but the explanations weren't in English so we still don't know what it was. It seemed there was an entrance fee though, so again being Shabbat, we just left.  

It's day 1 of a 2-5 day (depending who you ask) holiday, the Tamil and Sinhalese New Year, so we'd been told everything would be closed. We did realize that a lot was, but were surprised by how much was actually open.  Everything felt very market like to us. We walked along busy streets and through small alleys (that Meir felt were creepy). We discovered that the 'gun shots' we kept hearing were actually fire crackers and at home fire works for the new year. (Side note: some of them make a noise as they go up before the boom, and the first time we heard it, as Israelis who recently heard a rocket explode, we freaked out completely and thought it was some sort of attack - knowing what it is still gives freaks us out a bit hearing it but then we calm down) 

We stopped in a crowded square to eat, and someone set off a firecracker nearby which made us jump and made me decide it was time to leave while locals laughed at us. We found a mall for a bit of AC and a restroom and then decided to go find the Big Buddha on the mountain (clearly we haven't gotten a hang of local names but everyone gets what we mean).

We stopped for a few directions, walked through a cool market and started the climb.

I'd thought it was steps all the way up, but turns out its mostly roads leading to residential areas on a hill, until you turn off onto a side road.  It was a bit steep but there was enough shade that it wasn't torture.

When we finally got up, we had to take off our shoes for the religious site, and luckily were able to just put them in our backpack so we didn't need to pay. We climbed up some steps (they put out rugs so your feet don't get too hot) and then there was a guy waiting for an entrance fee! We explained that it was our sabbath and we had no money and we were just about to turn back but thankfully he was incredibly kind and let us in (I think the sweat showed how much effort we put in getting up there).
It was so worth it. You could climb up behind the Buddha and the views were amazing! It helped us get a better idea of where we'd been and the city.  For the second largest city in the country, it's actually not that big (though it is quite crowded). We realized we'd wandered through most of it earlier in the day.
We also got awesome views of the surrounding area, and just enjoyed some quiet at the top for a while.
We finally went back down and started our slow trek back, now knowing the way ourselves.

We walked along the other side of the lake, and saw so many animals! It was like a safari within the city! We saw a turtle eating a dead fish (we didn't know turtles eat fish) and a goanna eating a fish (it ripped it up using its hand and banging it against the ground to make it into pieces it could swallow) and birds feeding baby birds in nests in trees. There were all types of birds and across the lake we saw bats filling the tops of trees (weirdly they were trees without much foliage. We were surprised they didn't mind that much sun). We saw lots of fish and catfish. It was very cool.

We also noticed that although there was traffic, it was much less than the day before.  There were, however, buses running, though we'd been told there wouldn't be.  This holiday is a bit confusing for us.

We sat by the lake a while before deciding to head back.  It was clear people were dressed more nicely today, many women in white, fancier clothes than yesterday. Around the lake a lot were also barefoot. (In general it seems the older men wear wrap skirts and the younger men wear jeans, and women wear all sorts of fashion though no one seems to wear shorts)  Most of the shoes are sandals and flip flops.

As we headed up towards the inn, we noticed guys playing cricket and decided to go watch. It was clearly a local neighborhood game, and seemed to be kids versus older guys (younger than us though). We watched a while and spoke with a few of them. One guy, Assam, explained a bit about the game and the neighborhood, who was playing etc. It was a very fun local moment.  The whole while firecrackers were going off everywhere. 

We went back, showered and changed and went out hoping to find food. The place nearby that we'd seen earlier was closed, so we just picked up mini bananas and continued to a market, but that also had closed despite being open less than 10 minutes before, so we just came back.

And that's that for now! It was a great day just getting a better feel for the area and not being too crazy.

Some random thoughts/facts:

The people overall are incredibly friendly
We haven't been asked too much for money, but one guy did and was definitely a beggar, but we saw him ask locals as well, and a little girl who clearly doesn't know English said "Hello, money, hello money" as her only two English words which seemed a bit sad to me

Meir read that they recently brought back the death penalty, and the airport had signs all around about how drugs are bad and the penalty for drugs is death

People mostly talk to Meir (like tuk tuk drivers ask "Sir, do you want a ride" except for a few clothing vendors who referred directly to me

People aren't on their phones so much while walking around

The wifi isn't great (thankfully we don't care on this trip)