Summer in Srilanka

So it feels great to be back blogging again...esp after a long vacation...And to blog about the vacation feels really nice....Its like gettin to feel the hot sun turning u really brown in Kaluthara or getting lost in the crowds of Kandy on Vesak or just trying to eat hoppers for breakfast all over again......and hey if you still havent gotta clue, I'd been to Srilanka...
Despite many warnings and good natured leg-pulling from most of my friends about LTTE and Tsunami, I did spend a great holiday in Ceylon...Here is a really interesting anecdote to get started with...Did any of you know that the word "Serendipity"(the discovery of beauty by accident or coincidence) is coined from the word "Seredip" which was another name for Srilanka by the ancient seafaring Greeks?I certainly didnt(my ignorance in etimology) and this piece of info that I came across in a magazine and the lovely landscapes in Kanathil Muthamitaal raised my expections about Srilanka...
It was 7:30AM, 22nd May and I was in the Trichy airport to board the flight in about an hour and it just struck me that I'm actually going to an international destination...And when such a thought did dawn in my mind, I got into the "feel-good" factor and when I stretched out my limbs as a sign of total relaxation , I stubbed my toe....The bleeding toe was just the beginning of the very long day that lay ahead....But then I think I can skip the part of me getting extremely sick in the flight, the bumpy plane ride due to the rain clouds and me falling into an uneasy sleep as soon as getting into the vehicle outside the airport....When I did wake up I felt like asking the question "where am I?" but then half scared that my parents would accuse me of watching too many dumb films in the hols, I forced my tired eyes to scan the place....It was the elephant orphange at Pinnawala...Quickly recovering and regaining my spirits, I joined my family to take a look of the baby elephants being fed.....There was nothing unusual but for the large feeding bottles, several litres of milk , tonnes of sugarcane and a multitude of elephants....This was followed by their bathing time(eat and then bathe....how I'd love to do that....).It was really sweet to watch the elephants frolic in the water..For people who plan to spend some more time in Pinnawala consider the option of staying in "Elephant Park Hotel" which faces the river...It was a great place filled with tourists....I resumed sleeping in the van till we reached Kandy...It was nearly 4pm when we reached Hotel Topaz.....Hotel Topaz , I must say, is probably one of the best places to stay in Kandy.....Nearer to the town, with a really cool view and great facilities, it is undoubtly a very comfy place to be in..After struggling with a really weird lunch(?!), we went to the "tooth relic temple”…The temple, in all aspects(expect ofcourse cleanliness) reminded me of Kerala….It was the day before Vesak(Buddha’s bday) and the temple was being decorated for the same…The tooth relic was by itself very unique and beautiful. It was being adorned with 7million dollors worth jewels(as grand as any of our temples)..Then after a walk downtown (it was deserted at 8pm owing to the festival the next day) and dinner, we hit the bed….
The next day I was feeling much better….I started the day with a leisurely swim in the hotel’s pool followed by a hearty breakfast…We visited the botanical gardens in Kandy..It was more or less like Ooty expect it being definitely more cleaner (trust me, I’d keep repeating this)..We were supposed to attend the Vesak procession the evening…So after some shopping for “bhakets”(lanterns) and having a short nap, we just managed to catch a glimpse of the procession…The bhakets were coloured paper lanterns of various shapes and sizes and were throughout the town along with the multicoloured Buddhist banners(I incidentally wore a top with the same colours)..After a visit to a Buddhist temple on a mountain top which had a very large Buddha statue, we enjoyed 2 hours of the cultural show organized in honour of Vesak…Then we decided to take a walk around the town(it being very small)..So we started from the hill top Kandy and then walked around the lake and the temple…This task took nearly 4 hours as the entire Srilankan population seemed to have landed in Kandy that day..The temple esp was so crowded..There was festival stalls and bhaket competition everywhere..This bhaket competition impressed me becoz it involved only youngsters…Their creativity, originality and the multitude of stalls really livened the occasion..My trip was just getting more interesting..
Dambulla caves were at the top of our agenda on the third day….Dambulla was a fortress cum temple cum gallery…It had a collection of really exquisite roof paintings and Buddha statues that really compensated for the long trek and the noisy crowd…It was certainly less cleaner than most other places we saw(there I go again)...After a short stop in a spice garden, we made it to Sigiriya…the place where nature,art and culture meets(so proclaim the SL tourism boards).
In Sigiriya, we stayed at Sigiriya village..This was by no means any comparison to an Asian village(no sir!)….It was set up on the lines of a posh American country resort with artificial ponds and cottages...The cottages though very simple,were definitely elegant and really comfortable...The place Sigiriya was very picturesque with a lot of greenery……The ancient fort and the excavation sites were indeed breathtaking and I guess I enjoyed Sigiriya the most,not only for its scenic value but also for the hotel’s emerald pool and the climate…I could go on about Sigiriya but then I have to move on..
The 7 hour journey from Sigiriya to Kaluthara was probably the most tiresome thing but then the short breaks inbetween at the Sigiriya crafts village and a small wayside inn made it a bit lighter. Reaching Hotel Villa Ocean View at 4pm on the fourth day, we had a light tea and then decided to check out its famous seaside pool….This large pool lay very near the sea and we had a great swim in the sunset..That would probably stand out really long in my memory…The next morn we had a small tour of the town which was pretty small again and left for Colombo…
Colombo was a mixture of the old and the new…Its colonial buildings, magnificent hotels,malls and the beach were really delightful..The Colombo city tour which included a visit to the museum,the old and new parliament houses, embassy areas, beach and the Buddha temple was short but very interesting..The zoological garden in Colombo was a pale shadow of Vandaloor(pathetic is the rite word)..The remaining days in Colombo were spent in the house of our friend(Mr.Gemunu and his family), shopping and visiting other friends..The last day is worth mentioning becoz we kids(me too) got to watch the movie “Lion King 1 and a half” which was downright hilarious with a huge carton of pizza and coke…..Well it did feel a bit sad leaving Srilanka despite the lousy food in all places but Colombo, the unpredictable weather and most of all the enormous differences of entry fee to any place between Srilankans and non-Srilankans(no kidding..in Sigiriya it was Rs.50 for SL and Rs.2000 for non SL…get what I mean)….Though we may encounter many a similarity between SL and India…there are always enough differences to make up for it….
The architecture, the fresco paintings, the cuisine, the people, the crafts and the ethnic aura make Srilanka , “the teardrop of the Indian ocean” stand apart from the rest of the world….Ayubowan….