Sri Lanka - Kandy NuwaraEliya and Colombo - 2

Good Day my Friends, let us Continue with Sri Lanka Travel Experience and show you something that would be nice and enticing for making you visit the Country.

Next day from morning after breakfast, checked out of hotel, and Duminda was waiting to take out to Batik manufacturing unit, Wood Carving factory and Gem Factory.

The person at Batik Printing Unit explained how a simple small piece of cotton cloth is turned in a demanding beautiful painting. Simple cloth, drawn with the outline of painting, then some of the design part painted with colour and coated with liquid wax, once wax is dried, it is soaked in naphthalene, then salt water and later in colour, once dried the part of drawing is waxed which is required to remain in same colour and the process is repeated of naphthalene, salt water and different colour, it is done few times till all various parts of drawing design is painted as required. Finally the whole painting is coated with wax and then last and final repeat process done, to give the final colour to cloth for proper boarder or back ground of different colour. Once it is all done and dried, it is soaked in hot water till all wax is removed and then dried to see the final product, the painting in various colours looks so nice and all done with the manual process, none of the machines are used. We purchased a few such paintings with different designs of Elephant, Map of Srilanka and Tree of Life.

Once out of here, went to see the wood carving factory, which gave the idea of different wood and how some of the woods are used to make colours, one explanation showed how wood is scrapped and the dust of wood added with hot water turns water in red, how a simple lemon juice can change the colour to yellow and how adding up simple chalk powder can change it again purple, all this water is boiled separately till it is as thick as paste. Then the colour is used on carved sculptures, as this natural colour gets soaked by the wood sculpture to retain the color for long time though this colour does not give the effect of glossy finish, just the matt finish. The artificial colour made of chemicals will give a glossy finish but will not be absorbed by wood, so it retains its charm only for few years. The natural colored crafts can be coated with wax to give a bit of glossy finish too. Well, bought Cobra and Elephant sculpture from here, and trust me it is lovely.

After that stopped to have a view of Kandy from the higher point of hill “Arthur Seat” and took pictures of the Lake and Kandy Town. 

Once done with it, went to Gem factory, here they showed how the rough stones are extracted about 15-20 meters below the ground level, the raw stones of different sapphires, ruby, moon stones were shown how processed, cut and polished to put for display and sell in their shops, though did not purchase any, but was a feast to the eyes and hard on pockets, at least for me. 

After all the 3 visits, we left for Botanical garden, spread in 7 hectors, spent about 3.30 hours, though our Guide had said, it may take about an hour and a half, but hey, we had time, right? So, spending more time was not an issue, just to grasp the facts that this place has so many varieties and properly diverted and separated in different areas of Garden, nothing should be missed, I would say, I can spend a whole day here, just to look around and have rest to enjoy the calm and peaceful environment. we were lucky to have no rain, not much sun and cloudy weather to make my visit a pleasant during whole time spending in this place.

Now, after the Botanical Garden we moved towards Nuwara Eliya, though had never been there, but always heard, tea plantation is the main work here and just about 70kms from Kandy, still took about two and half hours to reach as the place is on hill area and roads are small and curved, so no constant speed of vehicle can be achieved, but a pleasant travel in such weather, where temperature is decreasing from the Colombo and Kandy of 27 to 28c to about 10c less in Nuwara Eliya.

Once reached, checked in at Grand Hotel, an earlier a governor house, converted into one of the best hotel in this town. There is one Lake here Lake Gregory, besides tea plantations to visit; in this lake one can have a boat ride. Reaching time at Grand Hotel was about 6pm, so did not go out, temperature was around 19c and weather was foggy, which can be seen in some of the photos put on this blog. The Hotel has one Indian restaurant, Grand Indian, as hotel is about a kilometer away from the market area. Though a small town, still nice to spend some time here. Anyway, had dinner in Grand Indian Restaurant, not too good food, but comfortable with the costing comparing as it is of one of the best hotel’s restaurant in this town.

Next day morning, after breakfast checked out of hotel and visited one Tea plantation and factory where they showed us how process of fresh tea leaves into different grades of tea leaves are done and sold in market. Then there was about 5 hours drive back to Colombo, reached there around 5 pm and we had a stay at Galadari Hotel in Colombo. Well, no worry about Indian food as they have a lovely restaurant in the premises named Flavors, serving Indian food and it is excellent. Here in Galadari, as flight for returning to Mumbai was leaving at 23.45 had requested for late check out, as after breakfast wanted to visit few places and do some shopping also as last day in Sri Lanka, moreover, this is the only city in Srilanka having casinos, so had to take a peek in one of those too.

Next day morning, after breakfast, left for visit to few places, saw Viharamaha Devi park spread in few acres in the middle of the city, went to Independence Memorial hall with the statue of the 1st Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, visited old hindu temple, old parliament house, Fort and Dutch Church. Colombo is growing with architectural building, one Conference hall named after Bhandarnaike (BMICH) for summits and meetings of various Countries Dignitaries when they visit Sri Lanka. Just opposite to this is one big statue of Lord Buddha, few museums or ancient history of Country, art and culture, nice to see those all.

Once done with sightseeing, went to see Majestic City and House of Fashions for shopping, it seems they have good for cloths and footwear and many varieties and lots of shops, good prices and nice varieties of shopping. After visits the shops, went back to hotel finished with the packing, took some rest later on at 5pm, went for a check out and onward to travel back to airport. On the way took a stop for few minutes for a peek-a-boo at Bellagio Casino and spent about few minutes there to come out and travel onward to Airport for flight to Mumbai.

Once in Airport, had plenty of time, so was going through with the duty free shop, and realized they are cheaper then Mumbai Airport’s Duty free shop, so, my suggestion, if you need to do any duty free shopping, do it at Colombo, as even after the advanced purchase shopping at Mumbai airport, the costing is working cheaper at Colombo airport without any special discounts. Anyway, that still remains personal choice for buyer.  Flight for Colombo to Mumbai was unfortunately delayed by about 45 minutes, “due to operational reasons….” And finally left Sri Lanka at around 12.30 am and reached Mumbai by 3 am with nice memories of my tour and wish to visit Sri Lanka again and see different cities like Sigiriya, Yala, Bentota and Galle to cover up the main parts of Central and Southern Country. Hope it will be soon.

Wish you enjoyed reading this blog, and hope it is informative enough and wish, would be able to give more information and experiences on next visits to share with you. Regards from Phila Tours, wish you all have a great day ahead, till then, see you around. Meanwhile please enjoy the magic of nature and see how simply the colour changes as we saw in Wood Carving Unit in Kandy.

Sri Lanka - Kandy NuwaraEliya and Colombo - 1

Good day to all, this time bringing you my experience of travel to Sri Lanka, 

The day was fixed and finalized for 6 to 9th September, and not that haven’t been to Sri Lanka earlier, but this travel was different, traveling as a tourist and taking advantage of being a travel and tourist agent too. The tour program was arranged by Mrs. Lakshmi Gunarathana running the Company of Heavenly Tours as Managing Director a young and enthusiastic lady looking for good expansion in the business.

6th early morning taking a flight to Colombo by Srilankan airlines, leaving Mumbai at 3.20 am and departed right on time from Mumbai to reach at morning 5.35 at Colombo, Bandaranaike international airport, lovely experience of hospitality from Srilankan Airlines, giving me whole day to explore in their country.

Once reached and out after showing visa copy at immigration and

clearing customs without hesitation passed through green channel, found Mr. Duminda, Tour Guide cum Driver waiting with the garland of Flowers. A pleasant personality himself. Felt all things were going good, feeling was positive about the tour. 

Leaving airport, going straight towards Kandy first, around 120kms, was looking forward to have a nice travel of about 2-3 hours, as per the condition of roads in Srilanka. On the way to Kandy, took a stop at Pinnawala, 

for a visit to the elephant orphanage, started in 1974 or 1972 as per the guide, it has been accommodating about 90+ elephants, either found after accident with rail roads or being orphans in wild, taken care here, being fed milk to small baby elephants of few months till they are grown and still taking care of them for feeding and washing them and taking their care, something must be seen.

Pinnawala Elephant orphanage starting at morning 8.30am and costing about 500 Srilankan Rupees for SAARC country citizens and other foreigners about 2000 should be seen, for feeding them, enjoying those elephants in their natural habitat and feeding the baby elephants milk and then at about 10 am taking elephants to the nearby river for bath in the river.

Elephant dung can be used to make the natural paper… here its called “elephant poo paper”, the Elephant dung is collected, treated by putting in boiling water, whatever is received after the boiling and killing bacteria, adding it with colours and then making a pulp out of it by leaving in water then kept  to dry and paper is ready to be pressed for smooth finish, then it can be used to print or bind as diary or calendar etc and to be sold as souvenir. There are few other things also made out of it, such as dolls and sculpture so various animals such as Elephants. Expensive items to buy, but surely suggest to take a souvenir; just to support them and remembrance of natural products.

Once out from here at about 11 am, it took another 30-45 minutes to reach Kandy, entered Mahaweli Reach hotel, checked in took rest for about 2 hours, and were out again…. saw local market, and at around 6 pm went to see the dance show of Traditional Kandyan and Low Country Dances of Srilanka at Kandyan Cultural Centre Hall in Kandy.

At this show, after traditional welcome dance, it was Pooja Dance for the Teachers of Dance and then various dance forms such as anteru Natum, Cobra Dance, Mask Dance, Mayura Wannama, Raban Dance and finally Ves Dance.

After that the National Anthem of Srilanka was played and followed by Fire Dance and Fire Walking, all a treat to eyes and under one roof taking about hour and a half for whole show to complete.

After the lovely show, just a walking distance is the Tooth Relic Temple, The Dalada Meligawa, it is said that the Lord Buddha’s after his nirvana, his tooth has been saved here after searching the safe and right place from the other religious predators. It proclaims not only the Tooth of

Buddha, but also a lot of manuscripts of ancient time written on tree leaves, the temple is lovely place to visit and very sacred for Buddhist people. The Entrance fee to the temple is Srilankan 500 Rupees and it’s same for all foreigners. One good guide to give a detailed explanation about the temple, an hour can be spent to see the whole place and it sure is peaceful feeling.

Returned back to hotel, ordered some food, well, even in 5 star hotel, food did not cost more than 15 USD with 3 chapati/paratha, raita, paneer masala, potato vegetable, daal makhani, papadam and basmati rice with pickle. It was an early retreat to bed as not able to sleep previous night during travel from India to Sri Lanka.

Next day morning after breakfast, checked out of hotel, and Duminda was waiting to take out to Batik manufacturing unit, Wood Carving factory and Gem Factory in Kandy and then travel towards Nuwara Eliya, but friends let me give you that experience in next blog to come. Meanwhile, please do enjoy the dance show saw in Kandy.