A Srilankan Roadtrip #photosabroad

Tripoto
30th Nov 2018
Photo of A Srilankan Roadtrip #photosabroad by Ameera Azeez
Day 1

We a group of 8, landed in Colombo,Srilanka in the wee hours of a beautiful December morning. We had rented a huge van and were all set to begin what we dint know then was going to be a trip we would remember for the rest of our lives. For our stay we chose a serene house by the Wellawatte beach and spent the rest of the morning roaming around it. We had some delicious Srilankan Buriyani (that's how they call our biriyani, hehe) for lunch and we set out to explore colombo with no itinerary planned. First we decided to head to the Gangaramaya temple, set right in the middle of the popular tourist hub of the city, this temple gave off super positive vibes and was truly a beautiful sight for all the architecture lovers. Feeling all relaxed we decided to visit the Galle face beach, which is known for its beautiful sunset views. Trust me, we were blown away by what this place had to offer. We spent our entire evening there taking in the heart filling view. At around 7pm we visited a near by mall, and spent the rest of our evening there. We headed back home after having dinner at a Subway.

Wellawatte beach

Photo of Colombo, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Gangaramaya temple

Photo of Colombo, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Aah those no filter sunsets ????

Photo of Colombo, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Gang gang

Photo of Colombo, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Blown away (Galle face beach)

Photo of Colombo, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez
Day 2

Day 2 started early, we drove about 2:30 hours to reach The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage were we could see a bunch of elephants, watched them bath and you can even feed them for an extra cost. Honestly this place was little bit of a led down,as we weren't expecting to see elephants in captivity.But this was a good place to get some cute souvenirs to take back home. After a brief lunch stop we headed to our next destination, Nuwara Eliya. This was considered to be the Mini London of Srilanka, and it was true to that name with postcard perfect houses and beautiful scenery all around. We reached a little before sundown. We decided to ditch the usual lake and park visits and headed to a small strawberry farm. This farm had an attached cafe, which served a variety of strawberry dishes, all of them equally tasty. We then decided to head to our house for the day, a cute cottage located at a slight elevation. We had dinner at a local roadside shop, which served some delicious kottu. This is a must try dish if you ever decide to visit this beautiful country. We spent the rest of the night walking and dancing around in the cold, brrr.

Pinnawala elephant orphanage

Photo of Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Adma agro strawberry farm

Photo of Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Yayy giant strawberry

Photo of Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

????

Photo of Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Cozy cottage

Photo of Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez
Day 3

At around 6 am we started from our cottage, making various stops at offbeat lakes and fields. We were headed to the most awaited part of the trip, "The world's end trail". We reached a little later ( a lot) than planned. The ride to this place was super adventurous and slightly scary too. This was supposed to be a 4 hour hike of 9kms up and down, which lead to a beautiful view (we were told one could even see beaches from up there). Oh, the beautiful sights we saw in this journey, they totally deserve all the hype. We crossed fields, lakes, waterfalls and some forest type routes in this hike, all equally amazing. The view however was a little disappointing, but this was our fault as the ideal time to reach the view point was 10 am and we made it a lot later. Even though this trail was super time consuming, it was fairly easy and you must definitely include this in your itinerary. Also please eat before you start as you won't find any shops in this trail.  After this we headed to Ella, another cute hill station. This was a hip place, with a lot of fancy cafes and pubs. We headed to the 9 arch bridge after lunch. We ended our trip to Ella, with some tea shopping ( it tasted like heaven). We then continued to Mirissa, a beach destination, as we had booked our stay for the night at this place.

Look at that background ????

Photo of Ella, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Postcard much?

Photo of Ella, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Scenic lake pitstop

Photo of Ella, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

The view we got to see

Photo of Ella, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

On the road (literally)

Photo of Ella, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

????

Photo of Ella, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

No filter skies

Photo of Ella, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Baker falls

Photo of Ella, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez
Day 4

We decided to sleep in a bit on this day. At about 1 pm we headed to the parrot rock beach. This place had a lot of surfers, and you must visit it for sure if your into surfing. The main attraction of this beach was a huge rock type hill, a little inside the sea with a little bridge leading to it, which you can cross when the tide is low. We were also lucky enough to spot a rainbow, yaaay! Next we headed to another popular spot in Mirissa, the coconut tree hill. We sat here and enjoyed another beautiful sunset. We then went to have a fancy dinner by the beach and ended the day with some souvenir shopping.

Ahoyy

Photo of Mirissa, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Spot the rainbow

Photo of Mirissa, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

The bridge leading to the view

Photo of Mirissa, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Parrot rock

Photo of Mirissa, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Bliss

Photo of Mirissa, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Coconut tree hill

Photo of Mirissa, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Starry dinner under the starry skies

Photo of Mirissa, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Candle light dinner by the beach

Photo of Mirissa, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez
Day 5

We started this day with a boat ride into the sea to watch some whales. We were told we would be able to see some dolphins too if we were lucky. It cost about 2500 lkr per person (food included) and i wouldn't recommend this to you if you are prone to sea sickness (like me 😢). We weren't that lucky and we were only able to see the tail of a whale and it took about 8 hours to return to land as the sea was a bit rough that day. If given a chance to redo this, i would probably choose some activity like snorkeling over this and also please check the weather before you head for any activity related to the ocean. We had lunch at a highly rated restaurant called Ambrosia roti shop, head to this place if you want to try the best versions of the srilankan local food. We then headed to Bentota, which was a 2 hour drive from Mirissa. Our stay for that day was a beautiful heritage house located in the city, where my friends were kind enough to organize a pre-bday surprise for me 💓.  We ended the night with a small barbeque party at the house.

Boat ride

Photo of Mirissa, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

SriLankan tea

Photo of Mirissa, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Pre-birthday party

Photo of Mirissa, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Salt bae

Photo of Mirissa, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez
Day 6

The final day of our trip we spent relaxing and playing in the beaches of Bentota. Very clean and extremely empty, this is the perfect place to unwind if you are a fan of beach destinations. We took a tuk-tuk ride, went on a speed boat, saw a statue of Medicine Buddha, held a baby crocodile, and went through a mangrove forest  as a part of an hour long river safari and that was truly exhilarating. We then spent the rest of the evening doing water sports like jet ski rides, speed boat rides and sofa rides in the lake (the lake meets the sea), this is one of the main attractions of Bentota and is for sure a must try. After a short dinner break trying hoppers and some more kottu, we headed off to colombo to catch our flight back to Chennai. Thus ending an epic trip filled with a lot of fun, laughter and memories! I will definitely suggest it to those of you who are looking for a low budget trip outside India with your friends or family. SriLanka truly has a lot to offer and i truly can't wait to visit again!

This was so scary ????

Photo of Bentota, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Mangrove forest

Photo of Bentota, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Going coconuts

Photo of Bentota, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Medicine Buddha

Photo of Bentota, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Beautiful Bentota

Photo of Bentota, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez

Srilanka you were beautiful!

Photo of Bentota, Sri Lanka by Ameera Azeez