Scratch Pad

And here comes the last part of the trip report. I will put our budget and expenditure details at the end so that it is easier for others to plan with a rough idea.

After moving out of Botanical Garden in Kandy, we reached the Tooth Relic Temple. It is one of the most holiest Buddha temples in the world and is famous abroad as well. There is a small Lake adjacent to the Temple and we had a small boat ride. It was just a 15 mins ride and costs 1500 LKR. Though a little expensive the ride gave a magnificent view of the hills surrounding Kandy.

Nuwara Eliya is just 70KM from Kandy. But it took us around 4 hours to reach the place. The route had a number of twists and turns. I can hardly imagine a 10m stretch without a turn. But the entire route is scenic. I could remember the trip to Kulu-manali in my 4th year during undergrad. The peaks and the valleys give you a soothing and relaxing atmosphere. The entire route was like this - on side you see big mountains and valleys next to the road, and on the other you find lush green tea estates. I was told that the Tea produced in Lanka is mostly exported and is world famous. We stopped at a 150 year Scottish tea factory for a break. The attendant explained the entire process of how the final powder is produced from the raw tea leaves. Most of the process was done manually during olden days and now they have machines imported from Calcutta for some of the stages. Amazed to see a machine that separates the tea grains based on the color !! Also we were surprised to see some tea varieties that cost around 10000 INR per KG. You read it right. 10000 per KG. It is called White Tea made from the tea leaves that are dried for very long and finally looks like silver stubs. We bought some other varieties which would usually not be available in the market. At around 4PM in the evening we could see clouds capping the mountains and our final leg of journey was through these clouds. It was an amazing and awesome experience. The driver told us that the presidents holiday house is in Nuwara Eliya. There is a big golf course and stud farm next to the presidents holiday house. We reached the temple at around 5:30 PM in the evening. Though a very small temple it is well maintained and connected to the city. You will find Tamil priests doing the regular poojas. We went for small walk in the city center. The bus stand is small and dirty because of the rains.We found vadas being prepared on the road side and they tasted same as they would in Andhra. We started back to Negambo from there. Don't ask me what happened before we reached the hotel. I was fully tired of clicking and strolling and fell asleep. The seats in our cab are comfortable though not the best !! Had a nice and sound sleep in the hotel that night.

The last day was not as exciting as the previous days. We checked out at around 11:30 AM from the hotel. The breakfast was good and we had dosas with coconut chutney in the menu that day. The hotel manager asked us to book trough their website directly from the next time as they would provide discount on the room pricing [they would basically give us the commission they pay to booking.com]. We stopped in Negambo city center for some shopping. We found a gift center where we could buy some souvenirs. we reached airport by 2 PM. Our kingfisher flight was scheduled for departure at 3:30 PM. It was on schedule and we had our meals on-board. We didn't get enough time to explore sri lankan food on day three. I dont want to elaborate on the experience at Chennai. It was the most horrible weather that i have ever experienced [worst even compared to Pilani and Suwon]. We reached Bangalore by around 5:15 AM in the morning.

Here are our budget details for those who wanted to plan with a rough idea

A few observations

A few pics related to the journey path described above

Road to Nuwara Eliya [2/2]

Tea variants. Silver Tips are the costliest 10000 INR per kg

Near the stud farm at Nuwara Eliya

Seetha Rama Temple at Nuwara Eliya

We were back in the hotel by 5PM in the evening after Colombo city tour on day one. The driver stopped for lunch at around 3:30PM at a hotel named "almass". It's an Indian restaurant with all the Indian delicacies available. We liked the vegetarian curries compared to Non-vegetarian. The chicken tastes a little different in Lanka. I don't know if it is because of the spices or the chicken itself. Had a very relaxing time in the hotel at the pool. We spent around one hour swimming and enjoying the breeze from the Indian ocean.We later moved on to the beach area to enjoy the sun set by 6:30PM. The roaring sound of the Indian Ocean, the fierce waves and the cool breeze along with the orange Sun, all at the same time was an amazing sight to just sit and relax. Oh yeah, IPL finals were on the same day. Two of our colleagues went out to booze in the nearby club and i stayed back with another person to watch the IPL finals.

Indian Ocean during Sun Set

Day two began very early. We asked the driver to come to our hotel by 5:30AM in the morning so that we had enough time in the day to visit all the places as planned.We started for the long journey [Lankan Standards] at around 6:15 AM.The first destination was Kandy. Kandy is approximately 108 KM from Negambo in the central province.The journey was through hills and valleys with narrow roads. Except for a 20 KM ride in the middle the road condition was very good. We Stopped for breakfast en-route the highway. Though the Tea was excellent, i didn't like the chicken burger, again the same chicken taste :)

we were taken directly to the Botanical Garden at Kandy. The driver told us that the people from the rich castes, political families and industrial families reside in Kandy. It is one of the most beautiful, well maintained , rich cities of Sri Lanka. The entry ticket for the natives is just 50 LKR where as it was 1000 LKR [around 400 INR ] for foreigners. The place is well maintained. Don't be surprised to see newly wed couples [Girl in traditional red saree] posing for photographs and videos with their crew. We saw at least 6 couples on that day. It took us around 1:30 hrs to explore the place. There is one hanging cable bridge on the extreme opposite of the entrance. And yeah the same thing as that of Lalbagh. It seems there is an engineering college opposite to this botanical garden. We found lots and lots of young couples enjoying the cool weather of Kandy in there. Though not as big as Lalbagh we found it shady and more green. One word of caution. Avoid using toilets in there. There are very poorly maintained and emit a very foul smell. I don't know why they just left only this part when everything else is well maintained.
Some pictures from the garden are below.

After spending four long years at Samsung, the trip to Sri Lanka was a much needed break before entering the hectic schedule at IIM Bangalore[yet to experience, just heard this from the seniors]. I have been to Sri Lanka on a three day tour with my colleagues. We are 4 in all and didn't go for any tourist packages. I wanted to plan everything from end to end from exploring the places to booking the tickets to managing things over there.I would write about the entire trip in three parts so that it doesnt turn out to be a very long and boring one. And yeah i am gonna put many pictures of the places that we visited clicked with my canon powershot camera.!

Our tour started from Bangalore. We took a KSRTC Volvo bus to Chennai. Started our journey at 1:45 PM in the afternoon and reached Chennai Koyembed central Bus stand by 8:30. We booked a fast track cab prior to going to Chennai. Fast track cabs charged 600 INR for 4 hours, 40KMS package. We took a break at my colleague's brother room and headed to airport. It takes around 1 hour from central bus stand to airport and a little more at peak hours. So proper planning is required if you have to reach airport in time. Check-in closes 1 hour prior to departure.Chennai Airport is being modernized and they forgot the current airport is still functioning. It is a horrible airport. The WORST of all the airports i have seen till now. We are lucky to have a small queue at immigration counter. I expected a lot of questions since we are going to sri Lanka on a holiday. NO questions at all. Immigration was a breeze. Security check also took only 5 minutes. The waiting area is also a horrible place. There are not many seats to seat all the passengers at rush hour. Our flight was at 00:30 hrs on Saturday Morning. One more bad aspect of this airport is that arrivals and departures merge in the same floor and people get confused on what queue to stand to enter the flight. Spice Jet flight costed us 2800 per pax, with out any meals on board. The seats looked cheaper compared to KSRTC Volvo. It was a very short flight [45 mins flying time].

Bandaranaike International Airport was much much better than what i expected. It is clean, well maintained , well lit and gave a very spacious look though a very small airport compared to Delhi T3. For a country with a population of 21 million i suppose it is a very good airport. I don't know if we went there in the off season, but there are very few flights and we had the same experience while returning as well.

The guy at the Sri Lanka tourism desk in the arrival hall was very helpful in planning our trip. He showed all the places in the sri lanka that are worth a visit and that we could cover in the 3 day stretch.There are several cab and tour operators that are available in the same arrival along with all the FOREX desks. All the banks charge the same commission and same forex rate. We went to Budget Cab service as it is an internationally recognized service. Mr Lional Dalpadadu[shihanad@gmail.com] was very helpful in charting our trip. I was told that the more days you hire the cab the cheaper per day charges would work out. For more than 5 days it would be just 50 USD per day. We took the cab for three days at a cost of 200 USD. Details of the each day are elaborated below.

We reached Paradise Beach Hotel, Negambo which is just a 15 min drive from the airport at around 4am in the morning. We booked the hotel through bookings.com at a price of 65 USD per night and with the sri lankan taxes it would be 81 USD per night all inclusive and only breakfast in food section. The rooms are well maintained and have a television with 90% of the indian channels getting broadcasted :)

View from the hotel room

We started our trip with a guided tour of Colombo city. Our Nissan Cab driver Mr Rexy Fernandez could speak English though not very fluent. He took us around the city explaining about the places and stopping at places of importance.

The following are the places that we visited in the tour
Colombo Fort and Harbor area, Colombo fish market[both new and old], St. Anthony’s Clock Tower, St. Anthony’s Church[Very famous as per the driver], Kotahena area, Supreme Courts Complex[we were not allowed to take any pictures here], Sugathadasa Stadium, Armour Street, Pettah Market, Central Bus Stand, Fort Railway Station[not a great view], Lake House Complex, Air Force grounds, Galle Face Area[we stopped here for some time as this place has vast ground facing ocean], Presidential Secretariat, Colombo city hotels, Ministry of Tourism, Temple Trees[This is the street where the president resides], Colpetty Police Station, Liberty Plaza[One another shopping mall, not so great] Shopping Complex, Public Library, War Memorial, Vihara Mahadevi Park, St. Bridget’s Convent, National Centre for Performing Arts Theatre, Cinnamon Gardens residential area, Town Hall, Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH)[under construction] and replica of the Aukana Buddha Statue[This statue is very huge] .Below are a few pictures of the above places.

Clock Tower

Galle Face Area

Independence Memorial Hall

State Museum



Aukana Buddha Statue