All of sudden during the first week of August 2005, an office tour plan cropped up in the minds of me and Hari (my colleague) to visit Lanka. I immediately started enquiring about the package.
I remembered that, some time back, I helped one of my friends to get a job in a travels company (through an HR guy). When I contacted him to enquire about the Lanka Package, I was assured that I could be offered an excellent package.
Confirming that the total cost would be within our budget, we stepped ahead to fix up the plan. After checking both of our work schedules, we finally fixed the date as 12th August 2005.
When other colleagues in office knew the plan, they started advising us about what are all the places we should visit in Lanka. I have to thank them at this moment for expressing their interest on our plan.
As the days were nearing the travel date, we were very much worried whether we could finish off all the pending work before that,,, but some how finished them all in the late night on 11th. We hove a sigh that we were ready for the travel.
Here's the itinerary:
Colombo, Nuwara Eliya, Kandy & Pinnawela (05 Days / 04 nights)
Day 01 - Friday - Airport/Colombo:
Arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport and welcomed by the representative. We were given a Ford Pulsar car and a chauffer-guide for the complete trip.
Proceed to Colombo and check in at Hotel Grand Oriental.
Colombo is the commercial capital of the country and is the hub of the business community of the island. With a hive of activity during the daytime, it has a vibrant nightlife with many casinos and nightclubs. Colombo is a fascinating city with a comfortable blend of the East and West and a cozy mix of the past and the present.
In the evening, we visited CricInfo Lanka office, met Charlie, Chaminda and Manoj. We spent that evening freely with them sharing our ideas and thoughts on various topics (includes official matters too).
An unexpected incident happened in Colombo this day, was the assassination of Foreign minister Lakshman Kadiragamer. But to our surprise, the city was so cool and calm; and no terror happened as expected and mentioned in the media.
Day 02 - Saturday - Colombo:
This day, we had planned to have our city tour and shopping. We were worried whether we could make it because of the murder happened in the city, but we made it without any hassles.
City Tour of Colombo - This included visits to the old Parliament, the present Parliament, the Town Hall, the Fort and Pettah areas, Buddhist and Hindu Temples including the beautiful Gangaramaya Temple and the Shree Ponnambalavaneesvarar Temple.
Shopping was very exciting with visits to the Majestic City, Odel Unlimited, and the House of Fashion. Our shopping ate all the currencies on the hand :-)
Day 03 - Sunday - Nuwara Eliya :
Breakfast at the hotel. After Breakfast Proceeded to Nuwara Eliya via – Kitulgale.
Kitulgale is the Place where a Part of the famous Hollywood Film “Bridge on the River Kwai” was filmed in the year 1957. We happened to see an aged person there who acted as the jungle boy in the movie. He showed us some of the news-cuttings about the movie and explained how the movie was shot. As per the story of the movie, the bridge, which is originally located at River Kwai in Thailand, has to be blast in a scene. Since, the original bridge cannot be blasted, they found the identical river in this place, constructed a similar bridge and blasted it for the movie.
Then, a drive to Nuwara Eliya was through green hills covered with carpets of tea plantations interspersed by cascading waterfalls and winding roads. As you get closer to this much adored city of Nuwara Eliya also called “Little England” by the British, the salubrious climate greets you with nippy fresh air and its wintry atmosphere. This city located 6,000 ft above sea level, has many comely cottages, churches, a 18 hole Golf course, a lake and the park. It is a famous holiday resort for both local and foreign tourists.
Arrived in Nuwara Eliya and checked in at Hotel Galway Forest Lodge.
Tour the City with visits to the Sita Amman Temple – the location where King Ravana is supposed to have kept Sita hidden from Rama, the 18 holes Golf Course and Lake Gregory.
I have to tell you an incident happened in Sita Temple.
On the way to this temple, we had taken lots of snaps. When we were inside the temple and thought of capturing the footprint of Lord Hanuman (there is huge foot-print of Hanuman on a rock), we could NOT do that. Not only the footprint, we were unable to take any photo-shots inside the temple.
We then checked up the camera around 10 times, replaced batteries etc but everything went useless. We thought that since we used the camera continuously for 2 days, the camera went wrong and needs to be repaired (anyway, we had another digital camera but left at the room). When we were returning back to our hotel, we tried to take some snaps. To our surprise, it worked fine. We still don't know why it did NOT work inside the temple.
Overnight stay at the hotel.
Day 04 - Kandy :
Breakfast at the hotel.
Proceeded to Kandy, the last bastion of Sri Lankan rule and resistance to British Colonialism.
Enroute visited 18 feet Hanuman Temple build by Swamin Chinmayananda and a Tea Factory.
Arrived in Kandy and check in at Hotel Swiss Residence.
Had a City Tour of Kandy.
Kandy is a city of enchantment and retains its own culture, pace and aristocracy. It’s located in the center of the Island and is rather hilly although not as high as Nuwara Eliya.
The Temple of the Tooth is the focal point of the city with thousands of visitors worshipping to invoke blessings from the Sacred Tooth. The Bogambara Lake is by the side of the Temple which has a tiny island in the center.
The last king of the country – Shree Vickrama Rajasinghe who ruled from Kandy is said to have submerged “Ehelepola Kumarihamy” – the wife of one of his chieftains – in the lake which is surrounded by a parapet wall and much folklore.
There are numerous shrines and temples in and around Kandy where you will see rare paintings, frescoes and stone carvings.
The Royal Botanical Gardens contain rare flora both exotic and endemic with beautiful flowers wafted by the gentle breeze across the River – Mahaweli flowing alongside. The avenue of Palms is famous for memorable walks for many a visitor.
Attended a Cultural Dance Show in the evening. It was wonderful to watch that for one particular performance, the famous Tamil song 'Vaaraayo Vennilaavay' was sung by them and applaused by the tourists.
We had an opportunity to attend the famous anniversary function ' Perahara'.
Kandy’s biggest attraction is the "Esala Perahara". It is a 10-day pagent which leads up to until the full moon of the month of July. There are two kinds of pagents. The first is called the "Kumbal Perahera" which parades for the first 5 nights. Then the "Randoli Perahera" which parades the last 5 nights. The last nights perahera is the grandest of all. Randoli means the ‘Queen’s Palanquin’. Up to 1775 A.D palanquins were carried alongside the elephants in the perahera. The elephants are dressed in colourful silk costumes. The number of elephants increase daily making the perahera more spectacular each night. The Maligawa perahera is followed by those of the 4 devales(hindu temples). It is illuminated by torchbearers because it is held in the night.
First of all the whip crackers crack their whips to announce the Perehera. Next comes the flag bearers carrying all kinds of flags, followed by an official who is called the Peramunerala riding on the first elephant. After them come the drummers. The Gajanayake Nilame, who is a very high official, is the next in line. The highlight of the procession is the Maligawa Tusker carrying the tooth relic of Lord Buddha. The Tusker is in between the dancers and drummers.The Diyawadana Nilame who walks in all the oriental splendour comes after the Tusker. The palanquins, which are also called the randolis, come next. The water cutting ceremony is held at dawn followed by the last perahera on the full moon day.
Though it was a street procession, it was really tough to get tickets to watch the show. Somehow, our guide got tickets for us and we watched the show. The show was too good.
Overnight stay at the Hotel in Kandy
Day 05 - Kandy/Pinnawela/Airport:
Early breakfast at the hotel.
Proceed to the Bandaranaike International Airport via Pinnawela.
En route visited a Spice Garden in Mawanella.
Also visited the Elephant Orphanage in Pinnawela.
The Spice Garden contains many varieties of valuable indigenous as well as exotic spices and medicinal plants and herbs. These can be purchased raw as well as in prepared form to be used for flavouring of food and in ayurvedic treatment
The Orphanage was opened to care and protect elephants of varying age, size and maturity discovered lost, hurt or abandoned by their herds. You will find them well looked after at this foster home for them. They feed, bathe, play, fight and also mate in this environment and there are a few baby calves born in captivity at the orphanage. Bottle-feeding is done three times during the day and it is a treat to watch.
All the elephants (around 200) are taken to the river in the morning for bath. The best part of the show was that when we were standing near the gate to take snaps of the elephants, all were rushing towards us to proceed to the river. It was so thrilling to watch so closely this much number of elephants.
Arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport at 12.30 p.m for departure.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE PHOTOS !!
~~~ End of Tour ~~~
