Tour of Sri Lanka 2025 | Day 16 | Adam’s Peak – Kandy | 92.1 kms

My alarm wakes me around 1 AM, followed by the owner’s persistent knocking, as requested. I finally get out of bed at 1:30 AM, get ready, and leave the room by 2 AM after eating two bananas. The streetlights illuminate the otherwise dark surroundings.

I can see the path lit up by the bulbs all the way to the top. I start walking. Can’t see many people around. The amount of people coming down is more than the people going up. Mostly, foreign people like me are going up to see the sunrise. The sky is clear and I can see the stars in numbers. The full moon is also shinning bright. Initially, the gradient is slow but afterwards it increases and also the height of the steps keep on varying making it difficult to maintain constant pace. I climb slowly and steadily and only stop in between to have water.

Climbing slowly but without taking big stops, I am able to reach the top in around 2hr 20min. The view from the top is great and the time is around 4:20am. I take the blessings of the ‘Shri Pada’ shrine and wait myself out in a cave just below the temple where numerous pilgrims are seen resting or sleeping. Standing outside is no good as the winds are blowing, increasing the intensity of the cold. I sit in the cave cross legged and somehow try to keep myself warm but it’s tough.

Around 6am, I move outside as local people and foreigners wait to capture the first glimpse of the sunrise which happens around 6:30am. The view is just amazing, feeling like sitting on top of the world and mountain tops engulfed by clouds. It’s like a river of clouds all around us.

Around 7am, I start to move down like many people and reach back to my hotel around 8:15am. At the base, I am offered ‘prasad’ by the local people.

At the hotel, I quickly get ready to move myself to Kandy. I load all the luggage on the bike, have my coffee along with some cookies before moving out. Apparently, I take the same road from where I had came the previous day and even the same road through Aberdeen and Laxapana waterfalls when I was going to Nuwara Eliya. Almost 40kms of road I back track before emerging out at the Gigigathhena junction where I take a left to Kandy.

The weather is nice and sunny and there’s traffic on the road. On the way, I stop to have some coconut and corn before making my way towards Kandy. Aftermath of cyclone can be seen along the way as, at many places the mountain sides has caved in and cleared away temporarily to allow smooth passage of traffic. I drive parallel to one river before arriving in Kandy.

The city welcomes me with heavy traffic as the pace of the vehicle reduces to a walking once. It takes around 15mins to travel the last km to reach the city centre. I park the bike at the side of the road and book my hostel which is less than a km away. The owner is there to greet me at the gate. Since no one’s at the hostel for today, he upgrades me to a private room from dorm. After settling down, he invites me for a tea following which I get ready and go to the ‘Tooth Relic’ temple for which Kandy is famous. I park the bike nearby around the temple. The entrance fee is 1500LKR.

Huge number of people can be seen, both local and foreign as it being a Sunday today. I go inside the temple premises, offer my blessings to the shrine which is on 2nd floor. Along with the main shrine, there are many other things around which I go and see like the museum, the converted royal palace, ‘Raja’ the Kandy tusker house and lastly the ‘world centre for Buddhism’ museum which showcases Buddhism from countries like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Korea, Japan etc.

Finally, around 5pm, I come out of the temple complex. I meet a local guide at the shoe keeping place. He invites me to the cultural show happening nearby when I ask him what other things can be explored in Kandy. I enter the hall adjacent to the temple complex free of charge. The show is for 1hr and is a beautiful display of Sri Lankan traditional folk dance.

The guide even helps me out with something to eat when I tell him that I am hungry and haven’t eaten a proper meal since morning. Eating some samosas and roll brings some relief as we end the show with an outstanding fire performance. It’s dark by the time we all come out.

I explore the town thereafter by foot before going back to the hostel. After I freshen up, I go walking looking for my dinner place. I find one near the Bus parking junction where I eat fried rice with chicken. After that, I buy myself some cup cakes as I sit along the lake writing my diary till around 10pm. After that, I make a long tired walk back to my room to end the day which drained me physically.