Udawatta Kele Sanctuary @ Kandy

Located on a hill right on the north edge of Kandy is the Udawatta Kele Sanctuary, basically the natural version of the Peridanyi Botanical Gardens. The difference here is that the trails are carved out of a natural jungle and you can actually get a bit lost in-between them. Although the nature here is quite beautiful, I highly recommend bringing a couple beers along with you for the hike to help stave off boredom.

Peradeniya Botanical Gardens @ Kandy

With not so much information to work with I picked out the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens as my first excursion around Kandy. It's located 8km to the west of Kandy and takes about 15 minutes to get to in a rickshaw, admission is 1500 rupees (10 usd) for foreigners and 50 rupees for locals. As I waited in line to buy my ticket, watching the locals fork over less then a 20th of what I was paying was slightly painful.

Inside the park walking around was slightly boring at first, just a bunch of  plants and trees in a garden, but eventually a couple things got my interest. You can find an occasional pack of monkeys, bats, a cow or two, and some other weird animals scattered about the garden; although I'm not a vegetation enthusiast, there was still a couple trees which actually stood out for me. On the very north side of the park there is a bridge you can walk out on which has an excellent view of the river which circumvents the park, from here you can see the view of the surrounding area or just watch some locals bath in the river.

Kandy, Sri Lanka

Kandy is a UNESCO world heritage sight right in the center of Sri Lanka, a 3 hour train ride from the legislative capital Colombo. From the constant jostling of the train to the fruit salesmen walking the isles and the occasional pile of burning trash outside; the ride immediately gives you a sense for what level of development the Sri Lanka is. Aside from the burning stuff, the view outside is great; you can see the landscape evolve from grassland to mountainous jungle as the elevation rises toward Kandy.