The final day of 2019 brought a visit to the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens in Kandy. We were recommended to leave a couple of hours for the visit but ended up spending far more than this; the gardens are extensive, well-kept, peaceful and ideal for a gentle stroll through the shade to avoid the scorching sun – as well as a little photography.

There are some amazing trees that together with diffused lighting lent themselves to creative shooting with the children; well worth lugging a heavy bag of gear around for.

I have no idea who the two Chinese girls are beyond that following sharing some advice to help them achieve what they were trying to achieve with one of their iPhones, I ended up taking their photograph with a promise that I will send them a copy. I’m pleased with the result and hope that they will be, too.

The peacefulness was broken at one point by a fearful screeching more akin to a horror movie than a genteel garden. The further we walked, the louder it got until we realised what it was; bats. Many hundreds, if not thousands of them!

Just beforehand, we found a couple of tall trees defying the laws of physics, and of course, monkeys.

Steve