trip to Sri lanka - by shruti balaji

1. Hi all,

This article is written by my daughter shruti

It may be useful for people who want to visit Sri lanka

prabha

Hi shruthi,

I would love to read about the sri lankan trip.. But i don't have enuf privileges, "access denied..." ..

Will i be able to read attachments once i'm a junior IL-ite? hope to get a reply soon...

cheers,
sujithra

hi sujitra,


Become a junior Ilite fast.

prabha

Hi Prabhabala,

Thanks for the reply.. mmm.. i'll try my best to become a junoir one ASAP... :)

My parents have taken this sreelankan trip long before, but didn't take a single foto..

cheers,
sujithra

sujithra this is specially for u...........


Kandy – The Natural Paradise of Asia

By Shruti Balaji

Located in the central part of Sri Lanka, Kandy is one of the most popular hill stations in Sri Lanka and is at an altitude of 1629 feet (488 meters). Kandy is the perfect blend of relaxation and sight seeing and is a 3-hour drive from Colombo. Public transport & train services are available from Colombo to Kandy.

Kegalla, a small town between Colombo and Kandy is where the “Pinnewala Elephant orphanage” is situated. Having more than 80 elephants under its care, Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage was established in 1975 by the Sri Lankan Wildlife department. This 24-acre large elephant orphanage is the breeding place of these elephants.

In the orphanage, there are elephants of all ages ranging from the youngest one being about 3 months old and the eldest being about 45 years old. Elephants need a daily supply of around 350 liters of water and 140–270 kg of food per day, depending on its age. The elephants here are taken care of in a professional manner.

comtinued.................

The daily routine here includes - Feeding milk to the baby elephants in the morning followed by free roam around for the elephants during the first half of the day followed by lunch. At 2pm every afternoon, the elephants walk about 400 meters to the river Maha Oya for a two-hour bath. The elephants enjoy themselves by playing with each other and throwing water at each other. Tourists have a wonderful time watching the pranksters from an open verandah at the riverside restaurant. One is allowed to feed the elephants planktons and the baby elephants are especially cute to watch!

Elephants having fun at the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage
Kandy is just around an hour’s drive from the Elephant Orphanage. It is a wonderful place for tourism. The prominent resorts to stay in are Earl’s Regency and Amaya Hills. Amaya Hill Resorts has Buddhist architecture. Here the guests are welcomed with a steaming cup of Black Ceylon Tea with a piece of jaggery that can make you fall in love with the place! It has a simply stunning view and is worth a stay just for its beautiful scenic location. The entire Kandy city is visible from the resort. The sunset from Amaya Hills is splendid as the sky is filled with a vivacious mixture of blue, pink, yellow, orange and tons of other colours!

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Kandy has a very important Buddhist landmark – The famous “Tooth Relic of Buddha”, is where Buddha’s tooth has been preserved. The Temple of Tooth as it is referred to, is located in the heart of the Kandy city. Once a year around July during the Asala festival there is a huge procession with as many as 70–80 elephants taking part in the procession. The Asala festival is held to commemorate Buddha's Conception, his Renunciation and the First Sermon. During the procession, the main elephant is decorated beautifully and the elephant robes are embedded with stones.

A Buddha statue made of ivory in the temple of tooth

The architecture of the Buddhist Temple is mesmerising. The walls were adorned with a mythical creature, which had the trunk of an, sharp elephant, the sharp teeth and mouth of a crocodile, the intelligent eye of an eagle, the sensitive ear of a pig, the beautiful body of a fish, the strong legs of a lion and not to forget the majestic feathers of a peacock. There is a library, which had a huge collection of Buddhist literature and books. Some of these were thousands of years old and were engraved on copper strips. In the central hall there is a collection of Buddha statues, which were contributed by various countries. These Buddha statues are made of different materials such as gold, silver, ivory, sandalwood among others. There are also paintings in the hall depicting Buddha’s early life and the history of the sacred tooth’s movement to Kandy.

Whilst you are in Kandy, you ought to make a visit to the “ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDENS” in Peranidiya (7km from Kandy). It has a rich and varied collection of tropical woody plants. Occupying 59 hectares (147 acres), it has about 4,000 species of plants!

It has more than 300 varieties of Orchids, spices, medicinal plants and palms trees.Here there are trees, plants , bushes, shrubs and herbs of every size, shape, colour and texture!! It is a perfectly picturesque place for nature lovers.There are many unique features here which tourists see for the first time which include the “Umbrella Tree” wherein the trunk is huge and it branches out widely to form the shape of a gigantic umbrella . The area covered by this single tree (with multiple braches) can accomadate a thousand people for a picnic! This botanical garden is one of the few places in the world where the Umbrella Tree is found.Amazing Isn’t it?
There are umpteen varities of palm and coconut trees from different parts of the world and this includes the double cocnut tree where the fruits are humongous and the tree fruits only once every 8 years! The botanical garden also houses trees planted by world leaders,which included our very own Indian leaders like Indira Gandhi and V.V .Giri .

Sri Lankan cuisine is quite close to South- Indian cuisine in taste and offers variety. There are a number of hotels offering a wide range of international cuisine to choose from.

Kandy is a must visit place in Sri Lankawith a lot of sight- seeing and spas. The people here are very friendly and they make the tourists feel at home. The hospitality of the people in Kandy is just great and believe me, one would not want to come back home after a holiday in Sri Lanka!!!



prabha

Dear Prabha,

Thank you so much... I really enjoyed reading thru it. After reading it , wanted to see all the places there especially the elephant orphanage and the tooth temple.. wow.. U guys had a blast of a time there. isn't it?

Your daughter's writing style is good, full of energy and it has all the small details of the places . I love reading travelogues. We like to travel also. Now Kandy has become top priority in our list.
Did u go to any other place in sreelanka? When did u take the trip? how many days was ur trip. ?Is it safe to go to sreelanka , since we hear abt LTTE fights with the govt.. Hope u don't mind answering these

Thanks again for posting it specially for me.. I'm sure all New IL-ites ,who wanted to read this attachment, wud be happy too.... ...

Cheers,
sujithra

hi sujithra,

It is very safe to go there. I am very happy that u could read it

Do visit srilanka . It is a wonderful place.

People are so good there

We had also been to Bentota beach 4 yrs back.

Srilanka is like kerala full of greenary

prabha

some pictures ..........