Its Destination Colombo - a trip report [Part 1]
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 :)
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 roomWe 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.
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
chaitanyadvk
June 2, 2011 at 8:46:00 PM PDT
Wonderful.. Thats a nice explanation. :)