Sri Lankan Splendour

Lightening-Fast · 12th April 2011, 18:50

Next morning, after we finished the complimentary breakfast, decided to go on a day trip. On enquiring at the reception, we were redirecrted to guys who are stationed right outside the resort. They own autorikshaw's (tuk - tuk in Sri Lanka) as well as cars. We decided to hire a car for the day and the driver would take us around places to be visited which are nearby. Galle was 50 kms south from the resort. So Galle would be the farthest we would visit and cover few places of interest on the way. First in line was the turtle hatchery. Its a privately owned hatchery where turtle eggs are collected, naturally incubated inside soil for 40 days. Once the eggs hatch, there are kept in separate tanks for 3 more days and then finally released in the ocean. In all they house 5 varities of turtles and though we are not supposed to touch them, the guide was generous enough to let us hold them and even get clicked holding them. Personally i think they are doing a great job, considering that they had built the hatchery from scratch after it was completely destroyed after tsunami hit the coast. Entrance fee was 200LKR per person. Second stop was at a mask museum. Several traditional masks are carved out a wood that is very light. Very artistic and one can watch the whole process of carving till the mask is ready. There are different masks resembling various things. There was no entry fee and these masks are available for sale as well. Good thing about Sri Lanka and this is purely from our experience is that, people are warm, welcoming and do not pester us to buy. Thats good. You dont want to be bothered specially when you are in a different country. Made sure to contribute through some donation towards the mask museum. Moving closer to Galle, you will come across some spectacular coast line and greenary all around. Our next stop was a Buddha statue, gifted to Sri Lanka by the Japanese government in memory of the tsunami victims. I have this habit of clicking the highways, so made sure got a snap of the Galle road. After this, we headed to what was the highlight of the day. It was a ride for 30 mins on the glass bottomed boat to watch marine life and the corals. Spectacular beach, huge waves and as told by the driver, it was unusually windy resulting in massive waves. We had a great look at marine life, chasing our boat around fishes, turtles and corals. Everything around is so beautiful and you feel like having a piece of everything. It was hot and humid, but manageable and then there was the cool breeze constantly hitting us that kept us going. By this time, everyone we met had congratulated on the Indian victory over the Lankans we accepted the same with a proud smile.

It was already 1 in the noon and we made our way in to Galle. Its a busy town with a nice harbour. Being one of the most busiest town in Southern Sri lanka, our first stop was at the Galle fort. A popular visitor point, we walked around the fort taking pics and hanging around. Fort was built by the British and in my honest opinion, there are several better forts in India. But still a tourist attraction. It also gave us a birds eye view of Galle cricket ground. By this time we were hungry and i enquired with the driver if he could find us some indian food. Though he agreed, i could see it was difficult for him to find any indian restaurant on our way back. So we finally settled for a rice packet which tasted alright and made sure picked one for the night as well. Last attraction for the day was the moonstone museum. As told by the guide, this is the only place where moon stones are extracted, cleansed and then used for jewlleries. Quite a process and small room equipments handled the end to end process and they call that it a factory. Not much of fan of moonstone or jewellery in general, made a quick exit!!! By the time we were back it was almost 5. Rest of the evening was spent in the beach playing the waves and relaxing. It was always my dream or wish to listen to some of my favorite music looking at the stars on a beach. I was living my dream. And when you live your dream, no other thoughts cross your mind. You just live the moment. Our Induruwa stay was coming to an end and the realization was not a sweet feeling. We were already 2 days in the trip and colombo awaits us tomorrow.

Turtle at the Hatchery

This one eats fish and tourist fingers!!

Natural incubation for the turtles. They do rest in peace!!

Masks at the museum

Masks at the museum

Buddha Statue

Galle Road

Memorial for tsunami victims

Corals as seen from glass bottomed boat

Corals as seen from glass bottomed boat

Galle Cricket stadium

Galle Fort

With Players this time

Extracting moon stone from the well

bandlimitedlife · 13th April 2011, 11:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lightening-Fast

And then there are also makers like KIA motors and few others that are not available in India, but i could find them in SL. KIA motors are the official sponsors for US open and i guess are lower end car manufacturers in US

LF- I have driven Kia in the US on a couple of my trips. They are actually Korean if I am not mistaken. Extremely competetively priced and very reliable. I am sure if they setup operations in India they could probably become very popular like Hyundai.

Very nice pics of Day 2 !!!

Lightening-Fast · 13th April 2011, 11:59

Thanks bandlimitedlife. Totally agree with you. Kia Motors cars looked good and as you mentioned resembled hyundai. Their introduction could stir up the competition in an already over crowded market

Lightening-Fast · 13th April 2011, 16:50

Our pick up for colombo was at 1 in the noon and hence we lazied around and absorbed as much as we could of the beautiful location. Went for an early morning walk along the beach and decided to come back later when the sun was up and bright. Photos looked much better when the sun was out. At 1 we started to Colombo and reached by 3. We did not check in to the hotel. Rather the driver took us for a sight seeing tour. Colombo looks very much like India. There are malls, there are roads like MG road here, its busy and there are plenty of eating and stay options. Stopped at shopping centre and made sure got back some souvenir's. Among the many places we visited, memorial marking Sri Lankan's independence stood up. Nice place for a evening visit. Checked into Hotel Sapphire at 6 in the evening. Though i had reservations about the hotel by its apperance from outside, it was quite good from inside. Its located predominently in Tamil Speaking area and hence there is no shortage of Indian food here, though most of them could be overpriced. Shanmugas was the unanimous choice as mentioned on enquiry. About 15 mins walk from the hotel, we had our dinner at Shanmugas. Overpriced and not so great ambience to talk about, the food tasted alright. A welcome break from the rice packets we had been having for a couple of days.Next morning we were transfered back to the airport for flight to chennai. Had a waiting time of 4 hrs for a 55 min flight to Bangalore!!! And that was it. Our small little trip to a small little island had come to and end with lot memories to cherish.
If i were to give a report card and if you could spend 25K for a person and have 4 days in hand, Sri Lanka is a great option. If you have more time, there are more places like Kandy to visit. Visa is on arrival and is free and its proximity from Southern India makes it a great holiday destination.
And with that we have reached the end of the writeup and till the next travelogue, happy miles everyone!!!!!

Finally i leave you guys with a pic worth mentioning. The Indian Tricolour at the Colombo Airport. We are the world champions!!

amitwlele · 13th April 2011, 17:24

[quote=bandlimitedlife;2312007]LF- I have driven Kia in the US on a couple of my trips. They are actually Korean if I am not mistaken. Extremely competetively priced and very reliable. I am sure if they setup operations in India they could probably become very popular like Hyundai.quote]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lightening-Fast

Thanks bandlimitedlife. Totally agree with you. Kia Motors cars looked good and as you mentioned resembled hyundai. Their introduction could stir up the competition in an already over crowded market

Kia motors was taken over by Hyundai in 1998 and it is a Korean Chaebol. That could be one of the reasons for the non entry of Kia into India. No Cannibalisation. But i think eventually they would come to India as well.

@LT - Thank you for the short and crisp TL. It has all the information that might be needed for a quick 4 day trip. Visa on arrival really helps

Lightening-Fast · 13th April 2011, 17:33

They should come to India. You cannot let someone have a monopoly. As long as we have more options, customer is the king and i am not complaining. Thanks Amit, Hope this writeup is of use to people planning a SriLankan getaway

ranjith.rajaram · 14th April 2011, 12:53

Thanks for the lovely pics Lightening-Fast. a great collection showing all aspects of Sri Lanka. Lively, colourful and lovely scenes

Lightening-Fast · 14th April 2011, 13:56

Thanks ranjith for the nice words. Glad you liked the effort

12th April 2011, 18:50	#16
Lightening-Fast BHPian Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Bangalore Posts: 251 Thanked: 11 Times	Re: Sri Lankan Splendour Next morning, after we finished the complimentary breakfast, decided to go on a day trip. On enquiring at the reception, we were redirecrted to guys who are stationed right outside the resort. They own autorikshaw's (tuk - tuk in Sri Lanka) as well as cars. We decided to hire a car for the day and the driver would take us around places to be visited which are nearby. Galle was 50 kms south from the resort. So Galle would be the farthest we would visit and cover few places of interest on the way. First in line was the turtle hatchery. Its a privately owned hatchery where turtle eggs are collected, naturally incubated inside soil for 40 days. Once the eggs hatch, there are kept in separate tanks for 3 more days and then finally released in the ocean. In all they house 5 varities of turtles and though we are not supposed to touch them, the guide was generous enough to let us hold them and even get clicked holding them. Personally i think they are doing a great job, considering that they had built the hatchery from scratch after it was completely destroyed after tsunami hit the coast. Entrance fee was 200LKR per person. Second stop was at a mask museum. Several traditional masks are carved out a wood that is very light. Very artistic and one can watch the whole process of carving till the mask is ready. There are different masks resembling various things. There was no entry fee and these masks are available for sale as well. Good thing about Sri Lanka and this is purely from our experience is that, people are warm, welcoming and do not pester us to buy. Thats good. You dont want to be bothered specially when you are in a different country. Made sure to contribute through some donation towards the mask museum. Moving closer to Galle, you will come across some spectacular coast line and greenary all around. Our next stop was a Buddha statue, gifted to Sri Lanka by the Japanese government in memory of the tsunami victims. I have this habit of clicking the highways, so made sure got a snap of the Galle road. After this, we headed to what was the highlight of the day. It was a ride for 30 mins on the glass bottomed boat to watch marine life and the corals. Spectacular beach, huge waves and as told by the driver, it was unusually windy resulting in massive waves. We had a great look at marine life, chasing our boat around fishes, turtles and corals. Everything around is so beautiful and you feel like having a piece of everything. It was hot and humid, but manageable and then there was the cool breeze constantly hitting us that kept us going. By this time, everyone we met had congratulated on the Indian victory over the Lankans we accepted the same with a proud smile. It was already 1 in the noon and we made our way in to Galle. Its a busy town with a nice harbour. Being one of the most busiest town in Southern Sri lanka, our first stop was at the Galle fort. A popular visitor point, we walked around the fort taking pics and hanging around. Fort was built by the British and in my honest opinion, there are several better forts in India. But still a tourist attraction. It also gave us a birds eye view of Galle cricket ground. By this time we were hungry and i enquired with the driver if he could find us some indian food. Though he agreed, i could see it was difficult for him to find any indian restaurant on our way back. So we finally settled for a rice packet which tasted alright and made sure picked one for the night as well. Last attraction for the day was the moonstone museum. As told by the guide, this is the only place where moon stones are extracted, cleansed and then used for jewlleries. Quite a process and small room equipments handled the end to end process and they call that it a factory. Not much of fan of moonstone or jewellery in general, made a quick exit!!! By the time we were back it was almost 5. Rest of the evening was spent in the beach playing the waves and relaxing. It was always my dream or wish to listen to some of my favorite music looking at the stars on a beach. I was living my dream. And when you live your dream, no other thoughts cross your mind. You just live the moment. Our Induruwa stay was coming to an end and the realization was not a sweet feeling. We were already 2 days in the trip and colombo awaits us tomorrow. Turtle at the Hatchery This one eats fish and tourist fingers!! Natural incubation for the turtles. They do rest in peace!! Masks at the museum Masks at the museum Buddha Statue Galle Road Memorial for tsunami victims Corals as seen from glass bottomed boat Corals as seen from glass bottomed boat Galle Cricket stadium Galle Fort With Players this time Extracting moon stone from the well
	() Thanks

13th April 2011, 11:59	#18
Lightening-Fast BHPian Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Bangalore Posts: 251 Thanked: 11 Times	Re: Sri Lankan Splendour Thanks bandlimitedlife. Totally agree with you. Kia Motors cars looked good and as you mentioned resembled hyundai. Their introduction could stir up the competition in an already over crowded market
	() Thanks

13th April 2011, 16:50	#19
Lightening-Fast BHPian Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Bangalore Posts: 251 Thanked: 11 Times	Re: Sri Lankan Splendour Our pick up for colombo was at 1 in the noon and hence we lazied around and absorbed as much as we could of the beautiful location. Went for an early morning walk along the beach and decided to come back later when the sun was up and bright. Photos looked much better when the sun was out. At 1 we started to Colombo and reached by 3. We did not check in to the hotel. Rather the driver took us for a sight seeing tour. Colombo looks very much like India. There are malls, there are roads like MG road here, its busy and there are plenty of eating and stay options. Stopped at shopping centre and made sure got back some souvenir's. Among the many places we visited, memorial marking Sri Lankan's independence stood up. Nice place for a evening visit. Checked into Hotel Sapphire at 6 in the evening. Though i had reservations about the hotel by its apperance from outside, it was quite good from inside. Its located predominently in Tamil Speaking area and hence there is no shortage of Indian food here, though most of them could be overpriced. Shanmugas was the unanimous choice as mentioned on enquiry. About 15 mins walk from the hotel, we had our dinner at Shanmugas. Overpriced and not so great ambience to talk about, the food tasted alright. A welcome break from the rice packets we had been having for a couple of days.Next morning we were transfered back to the airport for flight to chennai. Had a waiting time of 4 hrs for a 55 min flight to Bangalore!!! And that was it. Our small little trip to a small little island had come to and end with lot memories to cherish. If i were to give a report card and if you could spend 25K for a person and have 4 days in hand, Sri Lanka is a great option. If you have more time, there are more places like Kandy to visit. Visa is on arrival and is free and its proximity from Southern India makes it a great holiday destination. And with that we have reached the end of the writeup and till the next travelogue, happy miles everyone!!!!! Finally i leave you guys with a pic worth mentioning. The Indian Tricolour at the Colombo Airport. We are the world champions!!
	() Thanks

13th April 2011, 17:33	#21
Lightening-Fast BHPian Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Bangalore Posts: 251 Thanked: 11 Times	Re: Sri Lankan Splendour They should come to India. You cannot let someone have a monopoly. As long as we have more options, customer is the king and i am not complaining. Thanks Amit, Hope this writeup is of use to people planning a SriLankan getaway
	() Thanks

14th April 2011, 12:53	#22
ranjith.rajaram BHPian Join Date: May 2008 Location: Pune >> Bangalore Posts: 356 Thanked: 9 Times View My Garage	Re: Sri Lankan Splendour Thanks for the lovely pics Lightening-Fast. a great collection showing all aspects of Sri Lanka. Lively, colourful and lovely scenes
	() Thanks

14th April 2011, 13:56	#23
Lightening-Fast BHPian Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Bangalore Posts: 251 Thanked: 11 Times	Re: Sri Lankan Splendour Thanks ranjith for the nice words. Glad you liked the effort
	() Thanks