Sri Lanka

I visited Sri Lanka in December 2010 for 3 night / 4 days. I went to Colombo, Kandy, Sigiriya, Dambulla.
I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at Sri Lanka. It was totally a different experience as I was travelling alone for the first time without my parents and my twin brother..

In the days leading up to the trip, I was looking for a place so that I could spend some days on my own and at the same time visit a place that I hadn't been before..
After a lot of thought, I finally nailed it down to Sri Lanka.





 

The day finally arrived 21 of December, I woke up early by 3:30am and left my home by 5:15 am. My mom and my brother dropped me at a bus stand near my home. I took the 5:30 am Volvo bus to the airport. The Bangalore International Airport is about 45 kms from the main city center...
I reached the airport by 6:45 am. I got my boarding pass, cleared the immigration and all other formalities..

My flight was at 10:00 am to Colombo by Sri Lankan Airlines and was to arrive at 11:25 am at Bandaranayake Airport..
The cost of the ticket was approximately 13000 Rs.

I had my breakfast at the airport itself. My mom had packed some sandwitches for me....

The flight take-off was delayed by about 15 mins...

Boarding the Sri Lankan Airlines, at Bangalore

The flight journey was good..They served some cake, sandwitch, juice and a bottle of water..
I landed at Colombo airport by around 11:45 am.

The visa was on arrival was just basically a stamp on the passport.
I did not notice much of the problems when I arrived and getting through immigration and customs were pretty fast and efficient.

I then went to one of the many money exchange counters as I had to convert USD to Sri Lankan Rupees ( LKR ).
The conversion was like 1USD = 109 LKR and 1USD = 45 Indian Rupees ( INR ).

I then went to update the balace in the sim card which was given to me by my uncle ( Mr. Natrajan ).
I topped the sim card by paying 1000 LKR..There are many counters where you can either update or buy a local sim card...

I then proceed to towards the exit...As you proceed, on your right hand side you see a lot of tour operators who provide you a taxi to Colombo..The Airport is about 35 kms north of Colombo and it takes a minimum of 1 hour and 30 mins to reach the city..

I finally boarded the taxi by around 1:30 pm.. I booked my hotel at Renuka Hotel which was located the Galle Road..The room tariff was around 70 USD per night
I reached the hotel by 3:15 pm

After a quick lunch I just went for a stroll around the hotel area..




Hotel Renuka, Galle Road



Galle Road

Mr Buddhi, Mr Purna and some of Mr. Natranjan's friends came to meet me at my hotel room.
They took me to an Indian Vegetarian Restaurant called Shanmugas.
I had Masala Dosa and Sambar..The food was excellent and the ambiance was also pretty decent .
They later dropped me back at my hotel room..

Next day 22nd, was the tour of Colombo city.
I had cereals that I had taken from Bangalore itself for breakfast.I then walked up to Mr Buddhi's workplace which was just a 15 min walk from my hotel.
I reached his office by 9:30 am..Mr Purna had arranged a taxi for me.
Mr Purna also accompanied me in the taxi..

Our first stop was at Ganga Ram temple and also visited a temple on the Beira Lake. The temples were neatly maintained and very good.

Ganga Ram temple

Temple on the Beira Lake

We then went to Lakshala, Handicrafts store..This store is just the place in Colombo for all the souvenirs from Sri Lanka.
We spent quite a long time at this store and was fun shopping...Loved it..

We then went to House of Fashion, clothing store and  Barefoot for handicrafts...
All of these stores were completly crowded due to holiday season of Christmas..
We then went to Crescat Boulevard, up-market shopping mall. They have a food court at the basement, so we had our lunch by 12:30 pm .We had Dosas and a bottle of coke for lunch...

We then went to Kelaniya temple and followed by a visit to the Kelaniya church which was about an hours drive from Colombo..

Temple at Kelaniya

Church at Kelaniya

We then visited a store called Kandy near Kelaniya..It was also really crowded..

They then dropped me back to my hotel by around 5:30 pm.
After a quick refreshment, at around 7:00 pm I took a " tuk - tuk " to Odel Store.

Note - Please fix the price before you take a trip in a tuk- tuk. Look for at least 3 to 4 tuk- tuks before you settle on one..Please bargain..Trips might range from Rs 100 for short distance to Rs 350 for about 8 kms

The ride to Odel was around 300 Rs..Odel is a pretty expensive store but the quality of the products like shirts are good though...

I then returned back to my hotel room by 8:30 pm..I then took a walk near my hotel and finally decided to quit the day by 10:00 pm

Next day 23rd, I was to leave to see Sigiriya.
Sigiriya (Lion's rock) is an ancient rock fortress and palace ruin situated in the central Mathale District of Sri Lanka.It was built during the reign of King Kassapa I ( AD 477 - 495 ). It is one of the seven World Heritage Sites of Sri Lanka

Mr Buddhi came to the hotel by 7:30 am in his car to take me to Sigiriya, Dambulla and Kandy...
We stopped for breakfast around 9:00 am. I had authentic Sri Lankan breakfast which was special kind of rice with dal and some chutney ( with spices and onions ). It was good..

The journey from Colombo to Sigiriya is about 166 kms and takes around 3 1/2 hours. The roads are well maintained except for some pockets..

There are lots of  paddy fields and farm land on either sides of the road all along the entire journey..

Fields on the way to Sigiriya

We stopped at a juice centre for a quick refreshment...

We finally reached Sigiriya around 11:30 am.
The cost of the ticket for foreigners is around 2500 LKR which is expensive...
Just as we parked the car, it started rain heavily for about an hour..
So we took shelter under some small rock..An umbrella was of great use to us.

We need to walk around 4 to 5 kms to reach the entrance Sigiriya from the car parking area. All along the walk there are thick forests on either side of the path..In the past there have been sighting of wild elephants and jackals near this path.

Sigiriya ( Lion's Rock )

We then started climbing the Sigiriya Rock once the rain had subsided...At about half the way to the top, we can see some frescoes on the caves.

Buddhist monks at Sigiriya

The frescoes at Sigiriya are considered to be one of the world's most famous frescoes..

Frescoes at Sigiriya

We finally reached the top of rock after about an 1 1/2 hours..
The view was just breathtaking and was well worth the climb..I just loved the beauty of lush green forest all around the rock...

View from the Top of the Rock

 View from the Top

We then returned back to the car park  by around 3:00 pm and left for Dambulla caves.

We reached Dambulla caves around 4:00 pm. The road between Sigiriya and Dambulla is really good...The distance is approximately 15 kms

Entrance at  Dambulla

Major attractions at Dambulla caves are spread over 5 caves, which contain statues and paintings. These paintings and statues are related to Lord Buddha and his life.

Buddha Statue at Dambulla

Buddha Painting at Dambulla

Dambulla Caves

We spent around an hour at this place and headed to Kandy which was my final destination in Sri Lanka.
Kandy is about 72 kms south of Dambulla.
On the way we stopped at one of the many road side restaurant. We had "appam" and a cup of tea.
The tea is just really too good..

We also visited the famous temple at Matale which is about 26 kms from Kandy.

Finally we reached Kandy around 7:00 pm

We stayed at Country Club, Babylon, which is a guest house slightly outskirts of Kandy.
We were served chappati, rice, and some curds. for dinner. The food was good...

Next day 24th, we had dosa, bread, and tea for breakfast..We then left at around 9:30 am to see the Sacred City of Kandy which is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
We visited the Temple of Sacred Tooth Relic .It is located in the royal palace complex which houses the Relic of the tooth of Buddha. It is the most sacred place in all of Sri Lanka..

Temple of Tooth, Kandy

Buddha statue at Temple of Tooth

Temple of Tooth

The entrance fee for foreigners is around 1500 LKR. Usually between 10:00 am to 11:00 am there is a lot of local crowd.

We then left the temple complex by around 11:30 am. We went to The Kandyan Arts and Crafts Industrial Centre for shopping..This place is frequented by a lot of foreigners for shopping.
I loved this place...They had a lot of handicrafts and many other interesting items...

We then had lunch at one of the Restaurants at around 2:00 pm and proceeded towards Pinnawela.

I visited  Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage.

At Pinnawela

Elephants at Pinnawela

A baby Elephant

This place is about half the way between Kandy and Colombo.
This place houses about 80 elephants under its protection.This place is very popular amongst the tourists.
The entrance fee is approximatly 1000 LKR
It was good as one can touch and feed the elephants..It was fun...Enjoyed...

We then proceeded to the airport
We reached the airport by 4:30 pm and after all the security checks and other formalities, I sat in the departure lounge by around 5:30 pm.
My flight was at 6:40 pm by Sri Lankan airlines to Bangalore..

I reached Bangalore at 8:15 pm..At the airport I bought some Swiss chocolates at the duty free shop and boarded a Volvo bus back home.
My mom and my brother picked me from the bus stand and reached home by 10:30 pm.

Thus ending one of my most memorable trips..I totally loved the experience..
The people of Sri Lanka are generally warm and nice..
Thoroughly enjoyed my stay at Sri Lanka














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