Srilanka - The hidden paradise
The destination was Colombo. When I got there by flight, Sinhala girls dressed in sarees were standing there saying Welcome to duty free shop. I got down and changed some INR to LKR. Dialog's SIM card was also taken.
There's Uber over there. But a taxi driver forced himself and I had to take his taxi. It was an Alto the same as in India but it has space inside. The driver said that petrol cars are more common in Sri Lanka. Tourism is the main income of people. So many people live by driving taxis and autos. The name of the auto is Tuk Tuk.
I went straight to the hotel. The hotel has got a rooftop swimming pool. What was special about it is, Colombo main road was in front, the railway rails were in front and the sea also in front of it. But it was very hot. Nowhere else have I seen such a scene of vehicles, trains and ships at the same time.
There were some Sri Lankan dishes as well.
A curry called sambal and another specialty was kothu porota. There were many other restaurants. Especially since the Chinese invasion is more, there were more restaurants in Colombo who serves Chinese/Japanes/Korean dishes.
The reason for talking about China is because a huge port is being built over there by China. Colombo has got two sides with two types of people.Sinhalas on one side and Tamilians on the other side. Tamilians side was like mini Tamil Nadu. Kovil (Temples), Tamil hotels, theaters where Tamil movies are playing and so on.
There was a famous hotel called Saraswati Lodge. There are dishes like Dosa, Idali and Idiappam.
Sri Lanka has a lot of special features like beautiful beaches and places with natural beauty. Each beach has its own specialty. If one beach has surfing then the other has got snorkeling. Seeing is not enough you have to go and feel it. Their fishing has been a specialty. They sit on a pole and catch the fish. And one thing worth mentioning in Sri Lanka was its train journey. There is a world famous casino called Bally's and many famous people frequently come over there. I traveled for the first time in a mountain train to see the natural beauty of the mountain ranges. It is worth an experience.
Sri Lanka has mostly Buddhist people and mostly their temples. As in Sabarimala people wear black, Srilankan's wear white clothes and they take lotus flowers to offer. When I went on the train, there were full of people wearing white clothes. I was able to see Buddhist temples and experience their rituals. There was a temple where Buddha's tooth was kept. We should not our back to the Buddha statue or idol as per their belief.
Apart from this, there were many beautiful places. I will post the map I got from the tourism council.Then the specialty was the moon stone. The stones they dig up from mines. It is nice to see their mine. They will tell you everything in detail during mine tour. If we book the tour there will be guides who will accompany us. Then there were rivers with mangrove forests. You can get a fish pedicure over there in the middle of the river. But there are snakes and crocodiles. While I was doing a pedicure, a snake came and touched a child's leg and rolled away.
Another attraction was whale watching. It's worth watching and an amazing experience. Whale dives once, then it will go one kilometer away and again will come up. Tourists from many countries come to see this wonderful creature.
But the internet was not that popular over there when I went. Data plans were horrendously expensive.
People eat more bread over there. Every now and then there will be a food truck on the road. There will be many types of bread served. This was seen in Colombo. Another town, Kandy, was beautiful. There were markets selling everything starting from salt to camphor.
All in all, Lanka was very beautiful. Ravana did not just build a fort and stay over there. I can't write enough about the views and features over there. It's a paradise with a lot of suspense and hidden treasures.
Go pack your bags,watch and enjoy.