I was a little concerned about the quality of accommodation because of the "budget" tag and also because the bookings were not done by brand names. Although I had done the necessary check on sites like Trip Advisor, my mind was put to rest only after we checked in into the hotel room at Kandy which was our first stopover of the trip. I am not considering the overnight stay at Colombo as it was a last minute booking done to simply accommodate us for the surplus time (due to flight schedules) before the tour began the next day. The sight of the clean room and bathroom with all the basic amenities in place allayed my concerns and I felt a tinge of pride in having taken a well-worth risk.
We visited the Royal Botanical Gardens of Peredaniya the next morning. This 147 acre huge green space is house to a plethora of trees, ferns, orchid, a spice garden and a lake. It would take a minimum of 2 hours to visit all the mapped areas within this beautiful garden. We set about without any agenda to tick off the places on the guide map. We just wanted to let R be himself and stroll around taking in the exotic view and sweet fragrance that accompanied us throughout the shady and cool trail.
We spent a good one and a half hour strolling at the garden, at times running after R who was just too thrilled to be left on his own in such a vast area of openness.
We visited a wood art showroom that offered on display intricate and beautiful wooden pieces of art, furniture and the famous Srilankan masks. Also known as devil masks, they are used to ward off evil eye. Sri Lanka is expensive and has a depreciated money value. But all the shops have a discounted rate for people coming from neighbouring countries. Yet, even after a discounted rate and a favourable exchange rate, the price can be a deterrent to hoard these lovely artifacts.
We stopped by for a brief period at a Batik clothes boutique-cum-workshop where they showed us how the fabric is printed, coloured and dried- all done manually.
Sri Lanka is also famous for its precious gemstones. The blue sapphire is the most precious and expensive gemstone found here, also known as Ceylon Sapphire. The husband gifted yours truly blue Topaz, its more affordable semi-precious substitute as an anniversary gift.
After some post-lunch rest at the hotel-room, we headed off next to the temple of tooth relic. We took the services of a separate guide to narrate us the history behind this Buddhist temple which is very sacred to the people of Sri Lanka. R was obviously not interested in halting anywhere much less appreciating the history or beauty of the ancient temple. Poor Mr.Shirley took upon himself to manage the little fella so that we could get some space and peace of mind to hear what the temple guide had to say.
Surprisingly, we were allowed to take photographs even within the temple.
We visited the Royal Botanical Gardens of Peredaniya the next morning. This 147 acre huge green space is house to a plethora of trees, ferns, orchid, a spice garden and a lake. It would take a minimum of 2 hours to visit all the mapped areas within this beautiful garden. We set about without any agenda to tick off the places on the guide map. We just wanted to let R be himself and stroll around taking in the exotic view and sweet fragrance that accompanied us throughout the shady and cool trail.
We spent a good one and a half hour strolling at the garden, at times running after R who was just too thrilled to be left on his own in such a vast area of openness.
We visited a wood art showroom that offered on display intricate and beautiful wooden pieces of art, furniture and the famous Srilankan masks. Also known as devil masks, they are used to ward off evil eye. Sri Lanka is expensive and has a depreciated money value. But all the shops have a discounted rate for people coming from neighbouring countries. Yet, even after a discounted rate and a favourable exchange rate, the price can be a deterrent to hoard these lovely artifacts.
We got a couple of such masks |
Sri Lanka is also famous for its precious gemstones. The blue sapphire is the most precious and expensive gemstone found here, also known as Ceylon Sapphire. The husband gifted yours truly blue Topaz, its more affordable semi-precious substitute as an anniversary gift.
After some post-lunch rest at the hotel-room, we headed off next to the temple of tooth relic. We took the services of a separate guide to narrate us the history behind this Buddhist temple which is very sacred to the people of Sri Lanka. R was obviously not interested in halting anywhere much less appreciating the history or beauty of the ancient temple. Poor Mr.Shirley took upon himself to manage the little fella so that we could get some space and peace of mind to hear what the temple guide had to say.
Surprisingly, we were allowed to take photographs even within the temple.
The entrance-moonstone step |
Seems like you all had a great time!! And all the pics are very nice... are you there in any of them??? On the elephant???
ReplyDeleteWe had a gr8 time, Radhika..oh yes, its me on the elephant with R and hubby :-)
Deletelovely pics! Sounds like a awesome vacation.Surprising to hear that Srilanka is expensive. The shopaholic in me is drooling at the masks :-0
ReplyDeletethanks, Bhargavi..yes, I was surprised and disappointed to find out the same. Nevertheless, we did our bit of shopping :-D
DeleteThe botanical gardens look soooo good! I can imagine how thrilled R must have been.
ReplyDeleteit was such a treat to idle about in the midst of such greenery..R had a total masti time :-)
DeleteThe pictures are beautiful rey...I loved the botanical gardens wala pics :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, RM! :-)
DeleteWow! Read all the trip 'unread' posts in one-go:-) Looks like you had a wonderful time! More pics or in email pls:) This has been in the reckoning for long and for some reason or the other, we have not been able to break the jinx ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Vidya. We did have a wonderful trip..
Deleteaah..hope that your jinx is broken very soon..
interesting...im contemplating whether to visit sri lanka....or malaysia
ReplyDeletehttp://sushmita-smile.blogspot.in/
Hi Sushmita, welcome here :-)
ReplyDeletehmm...maybe you can do both in the near future :-) ;-)
Loving your posts on Sri Lanka, was on a trip there sometime back and feeling nostalgic :)
ReplyDeleteHi Ekta, thanks and welcome here :-)
Deleteyou have a gr8 blog :-)