The Perahera

Ah, the Perahera.

I wish there were words that could adequately describe the experience. Think of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade at night with Fire and Elephants and Religious icons. That's really it.

It started around 8 pm, but didn't get to our view point until 11pm and it lasted until 12.45am.

When it finally came to our 'seats' we saw it down the road, and it took literally 30 minutes for the procession to arrive in front of us. There were men, dressed in typical/historical Sri Lankan garb. They were dancing with fire and dancing with flags. Show all of the flags of the various kingdoms that were around originally. you could see these enormous elephants (their legs were shackled so they couldn't stampede the crowd, which has happened in the past) and there were men and boys of all ages dancing. They carried with them fake swords and musical instruments to show their respect and dances of the past.

The photos will really speak for themselves, along with some of the videos that i have. I hope you enjoy them when they are up.

Oh yea, and one last thing about Kandy. In our hotel room, i looked outside yesterday afternoon and saw Monkeys out the window. About 5 of them. Seriously. They come from the jungle near by and take stuff out of people's rooms. I can't wait to go back there and hopefully get some photos of them. I had never seen a stray monkey like that. Think of squirrels on the rooftop.