Sri Lanka, truly Asia :)

 Sri Lanka country known for its bloodshed, civil war, thirty years of bitter experience between Sinhalese and Tamils , the LTTEs but honestly the country is simply stupendous which many of us wont even imagine in our dreams.  Had a great opportunity to travel to this Island Nation with my travel guru – my beloved dad. It was really hard for me to convince him to come for this trip. Apparently, it happened to be his first foreign visit outside India. Well I was pushing him to visit me in Germany but unfortunately it never happened. It was definitely an experience which every son would cherish in his life to travel alone with his dad at the age of thirty :)

The visa regulations are quite easy because country strives on tourism. Just online application has to be filled up and meager amount has to be transferred to them. We had an hour’s flight from Chennai to Colombo by Air India. Colombo is highly crowded, congested as any sub-continent cities. Some of the notable places to cover in Colombo are Parliament house, War memorial, Galle face, Lotus temple, Gangarama Buddhist temple, Premadasa stadium if you are Cricket fanatic.

Kandy is geographically situated in the middle of Sri Lanka. If one stays in Kandy, one can cover most places in the island. Temple of tooth (Lord Buddha) is definitely one of the picturesque and artistic temple. The main place which one shouldn’t miss out in Kandy is the Botanical Gardens, one of the largest in Asia. Was really amazed with the diversified flora which they have got. It was green green everywhere. The white budda at the top of the hill is a must see in Kandy. One gets a panoramic view of the city of Kandy from the top. The striking animal in Sri Lanka is the elephants. In any corner of the country you would see an elephant. The elephant sanctuary named Pinnawala is definitely worth going. One gets a chance to see around fifty elephants at a single stretch. It was too good to see the newly born small elephants. 

Unfortunately, we went at the wrong time. It was raining all along the day with strong thunder showers. The local mentioned the best time to visit the island nation is on April. Out of many Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka, the golden temple at Dambulla is certainly the masterpiece. One can climb up the mountain to see the lord Buddha carved out of the single stone. One gets a panoramic view of the small city of Dambulla. Near to Dambulla is the must see place called Sigriya.  Because of bad weather conditions, we couldn’t climb up to the top of this rocky mountain. 

Anuradhapura, the previous capital of Sri Lanka was a great place to hang out for a day. The city is full of various Buddhist temples with very old history and tradition. If you love Buddhism, don’t miss Anuradhapura. The gigantic Buddhist stupas in Anuradhapura were breathtaking. Could you believe, I stayed in Sinhalese house as a paying guest in Kandy? Interesting isn’t it that a tamilian stayed in Sinhalese house. 

One shouldn’t miss Nuwera Eliya if you are nature lover. The picturesque mountain peaks, the tea estate, the water falls piercing through the mountains, driving in the midst of those are certainly which will reside in my memory forever. It’s about two to three hours of journey by car from Kandy to Nuwera Eliya. The major attractions in Nuwera Eliya are the Horton Plains but due to adverse weather conditions, we were not in a position to explore those places. We had a chance to look at the tea factory, their manufacturing process. Also had a chance to go to diary farm which gave us the opportunity to see New Zealand cows.

After Nuwera Eliya, we went to another coastal city, Galle in the extreme south. The train journey from Colombo to Galle is something which will linger in my mind for long time. Since my father worked in Indian Railways, had a chance to travel in many trains, but this journey from Colombo to Galle is a pick of the lot. The tracks were laid just few meters from the beach. Never seen any railway line which was so close to the coastal line. Just wondering what would have happened to those people traveling in train when Tsunami came in. The Galle international stadium was in the heart of the city and one could easily see a cricket match from the Galle fort which is about 50 meters away from the stadium. I still remember the double hundred scored by Shewag against Murali and Mendis in this ground and squared the series in 2008.

The strange experience in this Island nation was the entry fees for the foreigners. In major touristic attractions, the entry fee for the local would be 50 rupees but for foreigners it will be Rs.3000 which is something ridiculous. I had the same experience in India in major tourist attractions, where foreigners paid 10 times more than the locals but to taste the same pill in another foreign land was not easy to accept. In some places bought some local tickets since me and my father looked like Sri Lankans but they asked to speak Sinhala but I spoke in Tamil stating I was from Batticola.  The moment they asked my ID, I had to buy the foreigner’s ticket: P I can agree to the fact that the country thrives on tourism, but if Sri Lanka are to attract tourists from India, they need to relax the price for SAARC countries. 

It was always my dream to explore this island nation right from my childhood and ever since I watched Cricket matches played by Jayasuriya, Muralidharan, Arvinda De Silva, Ranatunga etc. It all happened that I explored this wonderful nation with my beloved dad. Thanks to my good friend Kaja who helped me in all aspects to explore this scenic country and made my stay so wonderful and pleasant. Thanks to my new Sinhalese friend Supan and his mother who showed the beauty of Nuwera Eliya and gave us a chance to stay in their guest house in Kandy. 

What was more fascinating about this island nation was, one stretch you have hill stations, mountain peaks and within 200 kms one hits the coastal line and within 200 kms one sees the cultural heritage with Buddhist monasteries. I could see all three languages Sinhala, Tamil and English written in all information and sign boards. I wish Sri Lanka as a country to strive in all aspects in south east asia in the coming years after all the bitter experiences of what has happened in that country. 

Many believed, the former Ceylon would be an example of thriving economy after Britishers left the sub continent. But unfortunately, became the totally mismanaged country of the world with all bloodshed, civil war and petty politics. But I could realize that every individual in the island nation are glad that the war is over and hoping for a new beginning. Sri Lanka, must see island in south east asia and perfect location for holidays during winter in Europe.

Cheers, 

Sathish Kumar S