Day nine and I feel to have settled in after a full-on first week. I began to feel relaxed as I walked around Kandy’s botanical gardens. Though it might sound obvious, the place is an oasis of beautifully tended flora. It was another occasion to wonder at the magnificence of plant life in Sri Lanka: 172 beautifully tended hectares hold the most varied and ingenious trees, palms, bamboos, creepers and attendant species such as orchids. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.