As part of my Project Assignment I have been staying in Oman quite long time. Just to take a break from my daily 9 to 5 life, planned for short Sri Lanka (SL) trip.
As we didn't have much time to research about our destination, so we have opted for tourist agent (www.visitsrilankatours.com). SL has Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) process for tourist Visa. Applied for the same using (www.eta.gov.lk) online, had to pay 20 $ each. We had received a acknowledgement post to our payment (Within 24 hrs.), which will be sufficient enough for on arrival VISA stamping.
SL culturally quite similar with South India, specifically to Chennai (India). Almost 70% population believes in Buddhism. They talks mostly in Sinhala, Tamil and English.
We were flying from Oman. Our flight was via Dubai to Sri Lanka. We reached SL airport on 22-May-2017, 8 am. As we already had the ETA, immigration process was quite simple and fast. Took a local sim which costed me 9 $. Outside of Airport Sampath was waiting for us with a placard. Sampath had been assigned as our tour guide from tourist agent we opted for. He could speak manageable English which we were quite fine with it. We started our journey towards Sigiriya which was almost 180 Km away from Airport. We were enjoying the beauty of SL, it was raining that day. Sigiriya is Historical place and famous for wild Safari life as well. We tried some cuisine in lunch. After reaching there, first place we went to "Minneriya National Park" for Jangal Safari (Wild Life Safari). Hired a Jeep for 2 hrs for 90$, which initially they asked 100 $. It was a adventurous experiences all together for us.
Post to wonderful trip we stayed that night in “kassapa lion rock resort”. Such a wonderful resort it was. We enjoyed our dinner along with local live music play.
Day 2 started with wonderful morning view at “kassapa lion rock resort” with fresh air and full of greenery. We checked out from Hotel post to our breakfast. As always Sampath was waiting for us to start for our next destination.
We went to see SL’s one of the most popular historical place “Sigiriya Rock Fortress”. A 650 feet high rock fortress in the sky, a masterpiece of construction, artistry & irrigation. A world Heritage Site (5th Century AD). The world famous fresco paintings of Heavenly maidens are housed in a cave. Generally entry fees are 30$ each but SAARC member countries gets 50% discount. One guide had been assigned for us to explain and took us though whole Sigiriya Rock journey.
Post to imaging experience of Sigiriya Rock fort, we did experience of Elephant ride too. Now we were ready to start towards our next destination – “Nuwara Eliya”, which was again 180 km away from Sigiriya. Its a Hill station with wonderful weather. On the way to Nuwara Eliya, we stopped at Kandy for Lunch. That day we tried lunch in a luxury restaurant called “Oak-ray Residency”. After lunch we went to a famous tea factory, where they showed us how they process Tea in details, and gave an opportunity to try 8 different flavor of tea. We brought a Green tea bag from there. :)
Then as we were moving towards Nuwara Eliya, we got to see beautiful Waterfalls, named Ramboda waterfalls.
Finally we reached "Nuwara Eliya". Nuwara Eliya resembles an old English town, complete with a lake, race track, well kept lawns with hedges, an Anglican Church and an 18 hole golf course. We were pleased with the view from our hotel "Heaven Seven". Enjoyed the weather most.
Day 3 we started with morning breakfast from Hotel itself. We had a small tour around Nuwara Eliya city. As this was our last destination, so we preferred to go Negambo beach, which was round 170 km away from Nuwara Eliya. On the way we tried Avocado which they were serving with Honey. Honey which again made from Kithul tree. Trust me , it was just awesome. We again stopped Kandy for lunch. Kandy basically famous for gems. Sampath took us to one place where they showed us how Gems are being processed.
We reached Negambo, stayed at Paradise Beach Hotel. Evening we enjoyed the beach view, relaxed. Next early morning we had flight to come back to our work place.
As distance between each of our visited place were too much , we got bit exhausted. We suggest not to choose these three places together in a single trip, even if you are choosing for, please plan for at-least 8-10 days trip.
Explore the World !! :)
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