Sri Lanka,
one of the neighboring countries of India, was there in the bucket list for long
time and Christmas vacation was the perfect time for ticking that off from the
bucket list. To make a hassle free trip, we had booked the trip with Thomas
Cook. There were initially some inconveniences with Thomas cook, however everything
got sorted out later. We got ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) online for
three of us to avoid the queue in Colombo.
We started our journey from Bangalore on 23rd Dec and reached Colombo at around 2:00 AM of 24th Dec 2016 and greeted by Mr. Jai Thilak from Luxe Asia at the airport. He was a punctual polite 63 years guide of us for next 4 days and the witness of all the adventures. After approaching to the Banks & Thomas Cook desk at airport to convert INR to LKR, much to our surprise, got to know that INR could not be converted to LKR legally. Really!!! So the trip started with zero cash and with one debit and one credit card (activated internationally). Finally reached Slivas Beach Hotel, Negombo at 3 AM.
Day 1 - Day 1 in Sri Lanka started with healthy English breakfast and met our fellow travel mates – such a wonderful folks. Started our Journey for Kandy which had been declared as a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1988. Journey from Colombo to Kandy was awesome. Sri Lanka looked like cleaned India with slight variations. It has autos with various colors - Yellow, green, red, black etc. After observing the autos for long time, finally we could boil down that color depends on makers :-) We still could not crack the logic of the car number plates. Another significance difference is that SriLankan are not so fascinated with movies as we could hardly see any posters.
We stopped near by some road side shop on our way to Kandy and our great guide lent us 1000 LKR to have some refreshments :-(. We also had lunch at Royal Rest House (Peradeniya). Rich, spicy, tasty food but not much veg options. Unexpectedly Green Jackfruit curry (every bong’s favorite as it tastes like meat:-)) was there in the buffet! Kandy is famous for its jewelry. So was our next destination – “Sifani Jewellers”. We had an opportunity to see an awesome video which elaborated the ritual how jewelry search process begins in sea and total Jewelry extraction process. Even today, they follow all the rituals which began centuries ago.
Our next destination was Kandyan Art and Crafts Industrial center. Prices are exorbitant in both the places e.g price of one lungi is 5000 LKR (2500 INR). We didn’t buy anything. Even if I would have bought, my dad would not have worn and would have kept like a memento. Finally the best thing was waiting for us - Kandyan dance. Being a Kathak dancer for 12 years, I know it's hard to get pleased with something very easily but yes, it was really mesmerizing.
Ultimately we reached our hotel "Yo Yo" by skipping the view point after totally getting exhausted after a day long journey. But that was not the end as it was 24th night. Dinner with DJ was waiting for us :-D.
Day 2 - Day 2 started with again English breakfast but we were hopeful that we would definitely get Sri Lankan breakfast one day. We started our journey with missed view point. How we get restaurants in Kolkata and liquor shops in Kerala, we could find out same number of statues of Buddha in SriLanka, it is there in every corner, every street, every lane, top of every mountain/hill, bank of every river.
On the same line, our next destination was Temple of the tooth which houses, the relic of the tooth of the Buddha. Though not being so religious, (as my husband and son were not at all interested), I was planning to enter into the temple in spite of huge rush as I might not be able to come back to Sri Lanka again. Entrance and exit were not as organized as Tirupati (going by the suggestion by fellow Indian Travelers as I have not personally visited Tirupati) nevertheless finally we entered. However all of us had no clue why we entered and what we were planning to see as there was separate pass (we got general pass and was not having any clue that it would only helped us to enter into the temple and would not allowed to see relic of the tooth) required to see the relic of the tooth.
Our next destination was Oak Ray Wood carvings. It got various wood work and garments. This is the only place where you can exchange LKR with INR.
Next we headed towards Susantha Spice and Herbal Garden, Ganethenna, Hingula. It had various plants starting from Clove, cinnamon, cardamom and so on. It had many Ayurveda medicines, however everything was very expensive. They offered nice neck messages for all of us.
Finally the best one was Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. We got so lucky that we didn't miss elephants taking bath in river. Finally could had some snacks near a restaurant near the river at almost 5:00 PM. Surprisingly all shops near the river gets closed once elephants go back to orphanage after taking bath. This orphanage has around 65 elephants in age from newborns to elderly matriarchs and include orphan, abandon and injured in the wild. Lastly it was time to go back to Colombo. After some long drive 4 –5 hours (approximate), we finally reached to GSH hotel at Colombo at night around 9:00 PM.
Day 3 - Day started with awesome Panjabi Breakfast as it seems GSH is Panjabi hotel. We started our journey to Bentota.
First was boat trip on Madu River. That's a very big river which meets the sea at Balapitiya. There were many small islands like Cinnamon Island and so many. In Cinnamon Island, we got to know entire extraction process of cinnamon, there were floating shops on the river, fish spa. Even we could spot two crocodiles during the trip. It took generally one and half hour for the river trip. This river trip was providing us a feeling of Amazon River trip.
After the river trip, it was time to see some turtles in Arun & Aman turtle conservation & research centre, Galle Road, Duwemodara, Kosgoda, Srilanka. They take care of all the turtles which come out of sea because of illness.
After that we went to Sunshone water sports center which offers Snorkeling & diving, Surfing, windsurfing, water skiing, canoeing, banana ride and unfortunately none of us did anything as we don’t know swimming :-((
We had lunch at Amal Villa, Bentota. It seemed to be a very famous and popular restaurant and hotel. This is the best place for the people who want to see live cooking of sea animals.
Our final destination for
day 3 was beach and witnessed Sunset. We had a blast on sea beach. Beach was
very clean, however there was no shops, restaurants nearby.
Day 4 -
City tour was planned on Day 4. However as our guide ditched us, we had to wait for long time to get another guide from Luxe Asia.
Our day 4 journey started with visiting Dehiwala Zoo. It has around 3000 animals. That zoo is so so big that we could not completely visit that.
After having a quick lunch, we started the real city tour. Colombo city exactly looks like downtown, so many buildings, so many banks, I could spot even Accenture there.
And then final thing was street shopping. It’s awesome and same as Esplanade. Really loved it.
With this, our four days trip got ended and it was time to come back. Apart from visiting two new cities, we got to know two new families, Aaron got a new friend (Rashmi) and we three could spend 24 hours together :-D
We started our journey from Bangalore on 23rd Dec and reached Colombo at around 2:00 AM of 24th Dec 2016 and greeted by Mr. Jai Thilak from Luxe Asia at the airport. He was a punctual polite 63 years guide of us for next 4 days and the witness of all the adventures. After approaching to the Banks & Thomas Cook desk at airport to convert INR to LKR, much to our surprise, got to know that INR could not be converted to LKR legally. Really!!! So the trip started with zero cash and with one debit and one credit card (activated internationally). Finally reached Slivas Beach Hotel, Negombo at 3 AM.
Day 1 - Day 1 in Sri Lanka started with healthy English breakfast and met our fellow travel mates – such a wonderful folks. Started our Journey for Kandy which had been declared as a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1988. Journey from Colombo to Kandy was awesome. Sri Lanka looked like cleaned India with slight variations. It has autos with various colors - Yellow, green, red, black etc. After observing the autos for long time, finally we could boil down that color depends on makers :-) We still could not crack the logic of the car number plates. Another significance difference is that SriLankan are not so fascinated with movies as we could hardly see any posters.
We stopped near by some road side shop on our way to Kandy and our great guide lent us 1000 LKR to have some refreshments :-(. We also had lunch at Royal Rest House (Peradeniya). Rich, spicy, tasty food but not much veg options. Unexpectedly Green Jackfruit curry (every bong’s favorite as it tastes like meat:-)) was there in the buffet! Kandy is famous for its jewelry. So was our next destination – “Sifani Jewellers”. We had an opportunity to see an awesome video which elaborated the ritual how jewelry search process begins in sea and total Jewelry extraction process. Even today, they follow all the rituals which began centuries ago.
Our next destination was Kandyan Art and Crafts Industrial center. Prices are exorbitant in both the places e.g price of one lungi is 5000 LKR (2500 INR). We didn’t buy anything. Even if I would have bought, my dad would not have worn and would have kept like a memento. Finally the best thing was waiting for us - Kandyan dance. Being a Kathak dancer for 12 years, I know it's hard to get pleased with something very easily but yes, it was really mesmerizing.
Ultimately we reached our hotel "Yo Yo" by skipping the view point after totally getting exhausted after a day long journey. But that was not the end as it was 24th night. Dinner with DJ was waiting for us :-D.
Day 2 - Day 2 started with again English breakfast but we were hopeful that we would definitely get Sri Lankan breakfast one day. We started our journey with missed view point. How we get restaurants in Kolkata and liquor shops in Kerala, we could find out same number of statues of Buddha in SriLanka, it is there in every corner, every street, every lane, top of every mountain/hill, bank of every river.
On the same line, our next destination was Temple of the tooth which houses, the relic of the tooth of the Buddha. Though not being so religious, (as my husband and son were not at all interested), I was planning to enter into the temple in spite of huge rush as I might not be able to come back to Sri Lanka again. Entrance and exit were not as organized as Tirupati (going by the suggestion by fellow Indian Travelers as I have not personally visited Tirupati) nevertheless finally we entered. However all of us had no clue why we entered and what we were planning to see as there was separate pass (we got general pass and was not having any clue that it would only helped us to enter into the temple and would not allowed to see relic of the tooth) required to see the relic of the tooth.
Our next destination was Oak Ray Wood carvings. It got various wood work and garments. This is the only place where you can exchange LKR with INR.
Next we headed towards Susantha Spice and Herbal Garden, Ganethenna, Hingula. It had various plants starting from Clove, cinnamon, cardamom and so on. It had many Ayurveda medicines, however everything was very expensive. They offered nice neck messages for all of us.
Finally the best one was Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. We got so lucky that we didn't miss elephants taking bath in river. Finally could had some snacks near a restaurant near the river at almost 5:00 PM. Surprisingly all shops near the river gets closed once elephants go back to orphanage after taking bath. This orphanage has around 65 elephants in age from newborns to elderly matriarchs and include orphan, abandon and injured in the wild. Lastly it was time to go back to Colombo. After some long drive 4 –5 hours (approximate), we finally reached to GSH hotel at Colombo at night around 9:00 PM.
Day 3 - Day started with awesome Panjabi Breakfast as it seems GSH is Panjabi hotel. We started our journey to Bentota.
First was boat trip on Madu River. That's a very big river which meets the sea at Balapitiya. There were many small islands like Cinnamon Island and so many. In Cinnamon Island, we got to know entire extraction process of cinnamon, there were floating shops on the river, fish spa. Even we could spot two crocodiles during the trip. It took generally one and half hour for the river trip. This river trip was providing us a feeling of Amazon River trip.
After the river trip, it was time to see some turtles in Arun & Aman turtle conservation & research centre, Galle Road, Duwemodara, Kosgoda, Srilanka. They take care of all the turtles which come out of sea because of illness.
After that we went to Sunshone water sports center which offers Snorkeling & diving, Surfing, windsurfing, water skiing, canoeing, banana ride and unfortunately none of us did anything as we don’t know swimming :-((
We had lunch at Amal Villa, Bentota. It seemed to be a very famous and popular restaurant and hotel. This is the best place for the people who want to see live cooking of sea animals.
Day 4 -
City tour was planned on Day 4. However as our guide ditched us, we had to wait for long time to get another guide from Luxe Asia.
Our day 4 journey started with visiting Dehiwala Zoo. It has around 3000 animals. That zoo is so so big that we could not completely visit that.
After having a quick lunch, we started the real city tour. Colombo city exactly looks like downtown, so many buildings, so many banks, I could spot even Accenture there.
And then final thing was street shopping. It’s awesome and same as Esplanade. Really loved it.
With this, our four days trip got ended and it was time to come back. Apart from visiting two new cities, we got to know two new families, Aaron got a new friend (Rashmi) and we three could spend 24 hours together :-D
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