This year for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, I’m writing about the 1800s in celebration of Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s race around the world in 1889, the subject of my new novel based on this adventure: Liz and Nellie.
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Kandy is the second largest city in Sri Lanka. On Nellie Bly’s trip around the world in 1889 she had a stop-over in Colombo and was told that Kandy was a lovely place to visit. With the exception of the botanical gardens, she found the visit a disappointment. Seeing as how she ended up with one of her headaches, I can sympathize. She probably only wanted a cool, dark room and nothing else at this point.
Colombo Street in Kandy 1895 By William Henry Jackson – Library of Congress
Arriving at Kandy at last, we hired a carriage and went to see the lake, the public library and the temples. In one old temple, surrounded by a moat, we saw several altars, of little consequence, and a bit of ivory which they told us was the tooth of Buddha. Kandy is pretty, but far from what it is claimed to be. They said it was cool, but we found it so hot that we thought with regret of Colombo. Disgusted with all we found worth seeing we drove to Parathenia to see the great botanical garden. It well repaid us for the visit. That evening we returned to Colombo. I was tired and hungry and the extreme heat had given me a sick headache. –Nellie Bly
Street leading to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth / Street scene 1895
There are tons of videos on Youtube. Here are two. The first shows the flowers, the second shows the monkeys!
