 |
| banana seller |
Two weeks after our trip to the
Philippines I was off travelling again, this time to meet a friend in Sri Lanka. There are no direct flights from Seoul, so I had to travel there via
Singapore.
As I was travelling with a friend who writes guide-books, we were lucky enough to be invited to stay in 9 different hotels over a two-week period, gradually working our way down the south-west coast. One of the first hotels we stayed in was the
Mount Lavinia, just south of the capital
Colombo. This is the view we had from our room :
The hotel has an interesting story, as it was originally a country mansion built by the island's second Governor,
Sir Thomas Maitland, in 1806. When he fell in love with a beautiful mestizo dancer, Lovinia Aponsuwa, he lodged her not far away and an underground tunnel - which apparently still exists - connected her humble dwellings with the governor's mansion so that they could pursue their clandestine romance.
There is a railway station just next to the hotel, and Colombo is not far away by train.
Here are some street scenes from Colombo:
 |
| Jami-Ul Alfar mosque, Colombo |
 |
| Cargills department store, Colombo |
Further down the coast at
Kalutara we stayed at the
Kani Lanka resort:
 |
| hauling in the fishing net |
 |
| Gangtok Vihara dagoba, Kalutara |
 |
| mosque, Kalutara |
 |
| temple, Kalutara |
 |
| lighthouse, Berawala |
Here is one of the ubiquitous
tuk-tuks, normally seen on the roads, but exceptionally in this case on the beach!
 |
| tuk-tuk |
This area suffered many losses during the 2004 tsunami. I dedicate this memorial to the 1270 train passengers who lost their lives that day.
 |
| Tsunami victims memorial |
 |
| Tsunami victims memorial |
Our following stoop down the coast was the UNESCO-inscribed town of
Galle, staying in
The Fortress hotel - much more luxurious than its name sounds!
 |
| Galle |
 |
| playing cricket |
There were many fishing stilts in the sea just in front of the hotel. The fishermen perch, holding onto the stilt with one hand and fishing with a rod in the other hand.
 |
| fishing stilts |
 |
| fishing stilts |
We then moved onto another Barberyn Ayurvedic hotel, the
Beach Resort, from where we visited
Dondra, which has two important temples and a
lighthouse at Sri Lanka's most southerly point.
 |
| temple, Dondra |
 |
| temple, Dondra |
 |
| temple, Dondra |
 |
| Dondra Head lighthouse |
 |
| Sri Lanka's most southerly point, near Dondra |
We also visited Weherahena temple which houses an enormous Buddha statue as well as scenes from Buddha's life.
 |
| monk, Weherahena temple |
 |
| Weherahena temple |
 |
| Weherahena temple |
 |
Weherahena temple
|
Afterwards we headed inland to Ella in the hill country for one night:
 |
| rice paddies |
 |
| plantations of Ceylon tea |
 |
| tea pickers |
before taking the train to
Kandy.
 |
| on the train |
 |
| tea plantations & pickers seen from the train |
 |
| on the train, looking back |
 |
| Temple of the Tooth |
One of the striking architectural features of Sri Lankan temples are the moonstones, which are semi-circular carved stone slabs.
 |
| Moonstone |
Inside the temple of the tooth:
We then took another train down from Kandy to Colombo, and from Colombo to Wadduwa, where we stayed at the lovely
Blue Water Resort.
 |
| Kandy to Colombo train |
 |
| from the train |
 |
| Wadduwa |
 |
| kingfisher/kingfisher-type bird |
Recommended reading:
