Sri Lanka ~ A Pear Shaped Emerald In The Indian Ocean
The Sigiriya Rock ~ A Hiker’s Paradise
“Sri Lanka is a beautiful little island nation parked perilously close to India; a little too hot, a little too humid, and perhaps too expensive, but to its credit are fantastic beaches, strangely melancholy hills, and the ruins of kingdoms past.”
― Yudhanjaya Wijeratne, Numbercaste
Sri Lanka is a pear shaped emerald in the midst of the sapphire blue sparkle of the Indian Ocean. It might be small in size but it’s mighty in it’s offering attracting every one from serious historians to playful tourists looking for the perfect beach holiday.
The contrasts as you travel across from the island are mind boggling and you definitely get to view them up close and personal since the current infrastructure makes crossing the island a slow process. I arrived on a night flight from New Delhi which is not the way most tourists arrive per the sage advise of my driver guide. I guess I shoulda coulda saved myself a night in a hotel and arrived on the morning flight and set off immediately on adventures across the island.
As I was having my breakfast on thanksgiving morning at a hotel not too far from the airport, my driver suggested that since I had planned to be in Sigiriya and then do an elephant safari in the Minneriya national park it made more sense to skip the famous Pinna Wala elephant sanctuary since who wanted to over dose on elephants anyway. Anyhow that is exactly what I did and that established an excellent relationship with my driver guide that allowed me to stop where I chose and do small diversions as we pleased. On the super plus side I was able to squeeze in an extra ayurvedic massage in the extra time I had just bought myself.
Every morning I was treated to a King Coconut which after the breakfast buffet was an excellent way to hydrate and fill in for the gelatos that I loved to have while traveling in Europe. During the long drives I got a first hand history, geography and cultural education on the people of the country as I watched and listened to the sights and sounds of every day life in the small towns that we passed along our way.
Fully refreshed from my massage we headed to the Minneriya National Park for the elephant safari. It was almost like a race when a host of jeeps set off together and then each driver veered in a different direction to give their passengers the first elephant sightings. There were a lot of elephants and no one was disappointed. It did seem however that an unseen bat signal went out when someone spotted a herd of elephants and all the jeeps seemed to converge on the location.
After an interesting afternoon jolting around the pot holes and bumpy roads we returned to our hotel for dinner and a much deserved rest. My hotel that night was adequate though there were a lot of mosquitoes I enjoyed dinner on the patio with a group who was doing a national geographic tour of Sri Lanka.
The next morning we left for Kandy by way of Dambulla where we made a stop at this giant golden Buddha right on the roadside. You have a bit of a climb/hike to get tot he cave temples but it’s worth the climb.
Despite the history of the Ramayana that is woven into some of the locations here in Lanka the country is pre-dominantly Buddhist or Muslim. We did pass this beautifully carved and preserved Hindu temple on the road and I couldn’t resist stopping at the gate for a rare photo opportunity.
The climate and fertile soil lends itself in addition to tea, spices. Spice gardens abound around Kandy where you can find cardamom, cinnamon, vanilla, aloe, nutmeg, cloves, etc. amongst the herbs and spices that are grown here. We toured one of these gardens and I got to spend time with a medicine man who introduced me to a bunch of potions made from the homegrown herbs and spices that were blended and prepared under his direction. The old gentleman was also a great sales man because I found myself uncharacteristically shelling out bills for home made remedies. Alas like most things like this bought on vacation I carried them all the way home to the USA and never opened any of the containers let alone attempt to use these items.
On arriving in Kandy we headed straight for the main city and the palace complex where the The Temple of the Tooth is located. This is supposed to the be an actual tooth relic of the Lord Buddha and local lore maintains that whoever controls the relic controls the country.
I have travelled all over Europe and have been well aware about the rules about bare arms and legs found myself in a sleeveless cotton top as I got dropped off in front of the entrance. Luckily for me, I never leave home without my pashmina so despite the stifling heat I covered my arms and shoulders and made my way into the temple and palace.
As I purchased my foreign priced ticket I found that I had to leave my shoes at the entrance. Again I am used to the Sikh temples where you leave your shoes and you are given a token for when you come back to retrieve them. Here I just abandoned them and made my way around. Luckily I came back to where I had entered from and was able to successfully retrieve my shoes without much fuss or needing to spend the rest of the day bare foot.
These are not Barbary apes and nor do I know of any lore associated with the monkeys but they are found all over. Including the rooftops of the buildings visible from the rooftop of my luxury hotel in Kandy.
Kandy Lake is a jogger’s paradise. The beautiful Queen’s hotel right there across from the lake and palace complex reminded me so much of the colonial style of buildings that was a legacy of the British rule in Kolkata where I grew up.
My guide was extremely well connected in the tourist scene and I got front row middle seat billing for the cultural performance. the performance consisted of several song and dance numbers, with some comedy and then fire eating and fire walking in the parking lot below the hall where the performance was staged.
For some random reason I was reminded of a middle school performance where the annual play was King of Kandy. Our drama teacher was so enthralled with Bhangra dancing at the time that she inserted a dance performance in the middle of the play staged by my sisters and cousins. I can assure you that it was nothing like the performance that I attended here that day.
A visit to Sri Lanka would be incomplete without a visit to understand the various gemstones that are mined here amongst which rank the legendary Ceylonese sapphires. Given that sapphires are my birth stone and I definitely had a very lose control on my purse strings I splurged again. Must have been those subliminal buy messages that I was getting from the air. I did manage to buy some beautiful carved wooden elephants from my grandson.
A visit to the tea gardens is a must as is a tasting and sampling of the tea. I even got to visit a tea factory and Yes! I bought a bunch of tea to bring back as gifts for friends and family. Yes I still have unopened Ceylonese tea sitting in my house, any takers?
I then decided to skip spending a night in Nuwara Eliya and decided to head for the beach instead not realizing that my impulsive change also cut out some of the beautiful waterfalls I had planned to see. Oh well! I guess I’ll just have to combine those with a visit to Mirissa and Yala National Park on my return to this beautiful country.
Regardless of how many beautiful beaches we have here at home in Southern California, I truly enjoyed my time at this beautiful resort in Bentota. I really unwound and relaxed here as I walked the gorgeous unspoiled beaches and enjoyed the gorgeous sunsets and sun rises. However all good things must come to an end and it was time to check out, see Colombo and catch my red eye flight back to New Delhi.
A beautiful view of Colombo in the distance. Interestingly enough even though Colombo is the largest city on this island country there isn’t a lot to see and do here, so I spent just a day in the city. Unfortunately it turned out that there was some type of government event so the center of the city was closing down as we rushed through it on a drive by rather than stopping and seeing the sights. C’est Le Vie!
Galle Green. For some reason the name had me imagining that it was a place to play cricket but nope it turned out to be the green space in the city for the local residents. Clearly I did not do a good job of research on this one.
The Gangaramaya Buddist temple in Colombo is an interesting mix of Indian, Chinese and Thai influences. As I was wandering around the temple, there was a monk who was performing a ceremony in a glass enclosed area which housed a golden idol of the Buddha. He called me in when I paused there and tied a red thread around my wrist and blessed me. My guide was pretty impressed. Not sure what I did to receive that blessing but I am grateful and wore the thread until it frayed and fell off.
If you’re in Colombo then you must try the Ministry of the Crab. I was able to get a reservation and enjoy dinner here on my last night. I will say its a place to really go as a group because then you can really enjoy their menu.
So you’ve got a late late night flight, you’ve checked out of your hotel, you’ve driven around Colombo at night so what do you do to run the clock down until its time to get to the airport? Why try the Bally’s Casino and empty your pockets of all the local currency you have left. What an interesting end to a fabulous trip.