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Leaving the bustling port city on 24 September, Ashby took a train into the tea-growing region of the Sri Lankan highlands. During this 122-kilometre journey, his train rattled through thick leafy jungles before plunging into dark narrow tunnels. At Kandy, he checked into the Suisse Hotel and promptly drafted a brief telegram to the BSR Secretary in London. He had been in the country for less than 48 hours when he asked Shaw to:

Wire [me the] date [the BSR is] opening, 
[I] might extend stay if [it has been] put off.

Sri Lanka was unlike any place he had seen before, and he wanted to see more. The following day, Shaw's reply arrived from London: 

[Ashby] return for [BSR] opening [on] first November.

During his stay in Kandy, Ashby explored the Udawattakele Gardens (the Royal Forest Park), a 104-hectare forest reserve that covers a hill ridge behind the Temple Tooth. That afternoon, he snapped eight photographs whilst trawling along the walkways and bridle paths that wind back and forth across the hillside. The series includes image 1, which he took from Lady Horton's Drive, looking down on the lakeside city. In 1834, Sir Robert Horton (Administrator of Ceylon) built the road for his wife, who was an amateur botanist. The second picture is of Lady Gordon's Road (image 2), which was similarly built by the Colonial Administrator Arthur Hamilton-Gordon (1883-1890) and named after his wife.

All photographs by Thomas Ashby, BSR, Thomas Ashby Collection: 
View from Lady Horton's Drive, Kandy, 1914, TA-XLVII.031
Lady Gordon's Road, Kandy, 1914, TA-XLVII.024 
Telegram: Thomas Ashby to Evelyn Shaw, 24 September 1914. BSR Administrative Archive, Box 51.
Telegram: Evelyn Shaw to Thomas Ashby, 25 September 1914. BSR Administrative Archive, Box 51.