The Perahera is one of Asia’s largest and most famous festivals. It has been performed every years literally for centuries and tonight I decided to go see it for myself. I seriously underestimated the crowds it attracts, however. I was told the parade started at 8.30pm, so I headed into town about 4pm to get some food and find a place to watch it. However, the streets were already jam-packed with people, some of whom had been sitting in their spot since before 9am this morning! I eventually resigned myself to "buying" a seat (£10) near the parade route and sitting in it for what turned out to be 4 hours (parade started filing past) plus 3 hours (parade finally finished!). It was worth well the waiting though with 1000s of dancers, musicians, acrobats, stilt walkers, fire-eaters, etc and over 50 elephants decorated and lit up with fairy lights. Quite a spectacle!
