Sri Lanka visit

25th Dec,2014

After a flight of over 3 hours, reached Colombo airport by Flight no.196 of Sri Lankan airlines at about 10.30 pm.We were delayed on the way to Cinnamon,Red 4 star hotel by about half an hour due to traffic jam,caused by road accident, The road journey from the airport to the hotel normally took one and half hour. We touched hotel at about 1 am. The kitchen had kept some chicken sandwiches for us. It appears the Tour operators who planned our itinerary had not informed the hotel management about our food habits/preferences. Dinners were included in the cost of the tour,paid by us.Anyway,they hurriedly prepared some vegetarian sandwiches.The check-in /sandwiches took unusually long time. While Venita went to sleep around 3 AM, i slept at about 5 am of 26th.

26th
After a sumptuous breakfast,we went on a tour of the city of Colombo. Due to Christmas holidays,the most of the shops were closed. We could spend some time at Mount Lavinia hotel beach. Quite refreshing. Ceylon tea was memorable.
 At Mount Lavinia hotel beach.

 The hotel is located in a massive  British time building where the Governor would come and spend time for recreation and rest.The stay in the hotel is expensive and patronized by the rich. The cell was non-functional for most of the day. Network comes for a short-while. Except the beach, there is nothing much to see in  Colombo. Government buildings and other buildings. Tried to contact a friend's son who is the Deputy High Commissioner here. No response from the High Commission, perhaps due to Christmas holidays. I did not have his cell number. As we had slept little yesterday, we slept for about 3 hours from 5 to 8 pm.Took asparagus soup and delicious dinner. One could choose from Continental,Chinese, Indian/Sri Lankan. From 23rd floor of the Cinnamonam Red  hotel, Colombo looks a sleeping town with few vehicles on the road.
Retired to sleep at about midnight.
27th
Left Colombo at about 10 am after breakfast. Reached Habarana at about 8 pm covering over 200  kms on not so good road. Only in patches it was good. We did not feel uncomfortable due to a sturdy Toyota car. On way, we had coffee/tea at a heritage hotel, Ambepussa. Seeing us, an old man started playing Hindi devotional film tunes on the flute sitting in a small hut on the tree. He had a picture of Radha Krishna by his side. The hotel is patronized mostly by foreigners. Later after a journey of over 100 kms, we had lunch at Kurungela pizza hut. Venita ordered soup and got pizza. Mixin in her quite often mixes up. People here do not understand English well. In Bhutan we did not face this difficulty.
Visited Damrula Buddha cave temple.

As it  became dark and  and was raining,we did not climb-up the hills to see thousands of year old caves and had to to satisfy ourselves by looking up the temple museum at foothills. Driver is our guide too. But he has rudimentary knowledge of people,places and history of Sri Lanka. As we still had 4 days of stay in Sri Lanka and had paid for the services of a licensed guide, requested our travel agent in India to get in touch with Walker tours , their counterpart in Sri Lanka, to provide a proper guide. The driver is good in driving.The 35 km stretch of road from cave town, Damrula to Habarna was quite good. The cottage in Chhaya village where we stayed was comfortable. it was well furnished with all modern facilities.They compared well with what we had in Havlock islands, in Andmans and Pahalgaon in Kashmir. Dining hall looked as if someone was hosting/feeding a whole barat of Europeans/East Asians, so many of them, mostly middle class putting on knickers and slippers. We looked stupid dressed up properly.  Indians were few.
Retired to sleep at about 11 pm.
28th
After breakfast left for Polonnarua to tour the ancient city.Saw King Nissank's  palace ruins of 12th century AD.

The king dug a massive lake which irrigates paddy fields of Southern Sri Lanka even today. Had tea

at the Lake house hotel. A number of  foreigners were staying there. We had lunch at a nearby hotel

As we were returning and passing through densely forested area,saw a  herd of wild elephants who had come to the lake to drink. We had Aurvedic massage near Chhaya village for one hour 20 minutes, followed by steam bath. It was very refreshing. Retired to sleep early after dinner at about 9 pm. Timings here are according to IST.

29th
Left Polonnruwa at about 10 am. Arrived Sigiriya. Visited 49.3 meter high rock, situated in vast green surroundings of hills and a rivulet trickling down therefrom . It was the center of attraction of the place. On the vast top of it, a king had built his palace and lived in the 5th century AD. Earlier a Buddhist monastery was located there.The climb is arduous. Due to lack of time, did not go up. It has frescoes and wall paintings of Ajanta-Ellora type . Saw the museum which had collection of artifacts,collected from the area.

                    49.3 meter high rock with the ruins of 5th century AD palace

Visited a spice garden. A guide took us round the garden and told us the medicinal values of plants and spices grown there. Venita bought some spices and Aurvedic medicines. Had lunch at the restaurant in the garden. Reached Kandy around 6.30 pm. After a tub bath and sumptuous dinner at Cinnamon Red hotel on the bank of deep/wide Mahavalley river,surrounded by thick forested area, we retired to sleep in a deluxe room at about midnight.
30th
         At Kandy. There is a big lake in the center of the town.

You see a number of foreign couples sitting around it. No moral policing by locals. They are friendly to outsiders.Visited local massive
Buddha temple. It has Buddha's tooth in a casket. It was brought here by Sanghmitra and Mahendra,  daughter and son of Emperor Ashok.

                                                          Outside Buddha temple

Casket with Buddha's tooth

 The police, revenue and local self government are the same in Sri Lanka as in India.. Sri Lanka has Presidential form of government.

 In a jewelry shop here they showed the mining and processing of gems. Venita bought a few. After lunch, went to an Arts and Craft center and a boutique. In the evening saw a cultural show at Kandy lake club.There were about 200 foreigners. They applauded a lot. All the items presented by the artists had a touch of East/Northeast of India and in fact entire Asia but lacked sophistication of the dances of South India,Odishi etc.

After dinner  retired to sleep at about midnight.

31st
Left Kandy at about 10 am for Colombo. On way Venita visited gem shop and changed a few items. She bought a new one too. At botanical gardens saw some rare orchids. Received message of Sangita's brother's sudden death at Noida. He was 57.
Further on way stopped over at a tea factory and saw processing of tea for sometime. Nothing much new for us. Bought some tea packs for friends and relations. Next stop-over was at an Elephant orphanage where the baby elephants,separated from their mothers,are bottle fed once in the morning and later in the evening.
                      Mahavalley river near Elephant orphanage

Elephant orphanage 

           Orchids at botanical gardens

           
                         In botanical garden

                                                              Orchids

All along Kandy--Colombo road, about 120 km ,we saw multi-color lighting at quite a few places. People were getting ready to receive and wish Happy New Year to each other. Checked in the hotel at about 9 pm.
In the dinner it was meat,chicken,fish,beef,pork of different kinds. Not a single vegetarian dish. Seeing our plight the hotel staff  hastily prepared some vegetarian Chowmein. It too was tasteless. We took some varieties of sweet dishes. As eggs had crept in quite a few of them,we had little choice. We filled ourselves with buns,cheese,butter and mamlate. There were over 150 guests,mostly foreigners,in the restaurant drinking/eating.
    Restaurant of Cinnamon Red hotel, Colombo on New Year eve

As we were tired of a long day of journey,we retired to sleep at about 11 pm.

1st Jan 2015  

Left Colombo at about 2 pm by Sri Lankan Airlines. Arrived Delhi at about 5.30 pm. 

Some interesting facts about Sri Lanka :

May read out to children and later test them as to how much they could retain. Take the help of the map if necessary,including illustrative comparisons to explain the details : Many national parks have elephants,leopards,deer and bears. Adam's peak is 2,243 meter above mean sea level. Anuradhapur is where the Sri Maha Bodhiya (sacred Bo tree ) grows. Literacy rate is 92%.Blue water lily is the national flower. National bird is jungle fowl. National tree is Ironwood Na tree.No animal is named as national animal. Elephant,lion and giant squirrel are listed as important animals. Population is over 2 crores. Area is little over 65.5 Sq km. Capital is Jaywardenpura Kotte. Commercial capital is Colombo. Name of the country is the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. It is separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Strait.. It lies in the Indian ocean to the southwest of Bay of Bengal.