Travel for me is an experience that offers leisure, peace of mind, and unforgettable memories. And recent trip to Sri Lanka with my family gave me all of that, and something more: the desire to go back there again.

The relation between Sri Lanka and Nepal goes back to thousands of years.  Think of Lord Ram’s wife Sita, who was born in Janakpur in Nepal, and who was abducted to Sri Lanka by King Ravana, as narrated in the epic Ramayana.  And think of Lord Buddha, who was born in Nepal, and who visited Sri Lanka three times in his lifetime.

Things have certainly changed over past several millennia.  Ram had to seek help from bandar King Sugreev, his army, and god Hanuman to build a stone bridge from the southern tip of present day India to cross over to Sri Lanka.  I still haven’t figured out how Buddha travelled to Sri Lanka, but that feat itself is nothing short of miraculous.  And all we did was board a plane in Kathmandu, and we were in Sri Lanka, in about three hours time on the same day.  It was easier than driving from Kathmandu to Nagarkot. 

This was our family’s -- my husband’s, my three children’s and my parents’ -- first vacation together in Sri Lanka.  There was an excitement in the house the day we decided to go to there.  I made a long list of to-do items such as booking plane tickets, finding accommodation, and obtaining visa.  And it took me couple of months to tick off the all the things I needed to complete before leaving for Sri Lanka.    

We finally flew to Sri Lanka by Himalaya Airlines on December 7, 2016. The direct flight had saved us the need for flying via Delhi or Bangkok, which would have considerably extended out flight time, and made us more tiring.  In December, the weather in Kathmandu was mildly cold, but the weather is Sri Lanka was like in spring, warm and pleasant. 

We had decided to stay in two different places while in Colombo, Sri Lanka: a family run B & B (Colombo Haven B & B), and a five star hotel (Colombo Hilton).  We had transportation waiting for us to take to Colombo Haven B & B.  We had planned to stay there to experience a typical Sri Lankan lifestyle.  The ride to our place took about forty to forty five minutes from the airport.  Since I had booked the rooms online, I was not sure how Colombo Haven B & B would look in real time.  On reaching the destination, I was a little shocked as the external appearance was not exactly what I had expected.  We were a little disappointed, for a brief while.  But all that changed when we met the owners (a very friendly and accommodating couple), and saw the rooms inside.  Each room was spacious, with AC, had attached bathroom, and was clean.  The children started running around choosing their rooms.  Their faces were flushed excitement.  We alternated our places of accommodation: we stayed at Colombo B & B on the day of arrival, at Colombo Hilton for the next four days, and again at Colombo Haven B & B for the remaining two days.  By staying at the B & B, we got to experience a bit of typical Sri Lankan family life, and by staying at Colombo Hilton, we got to experience some of the creature comforts only a five start hotel could offer.

Sight Seeing

We started our visit in Sri Lanka by taking a tour in a red double-decker bus that had an open top.  We took the evening tour as the morning tour was already fully booked.  The tour started at about 3:30 in the evening and the duration for the entire tour was about four hours.  It was amazing to be on the bus and go around the beautiful city.  The roads were clean and without potholes.  And there was almost no pollution (well, at least compared to Kathmandu).  Most of the places that we saw from the top of the bus were too clean and surrounded by greenery.  The tour also included a boat ride in a lake next to the parliament building.  During the boat ride, the boat captain stopped the engine as we approached small islands that were full of cranes, and he let the boat simply drift the boat in and out simply on its initial momentum.  It was serene and peaceful beyond belief, and the only sounds we heard were those of birds settling down to sleep.    

We also visited several other beautiful places in Sri Lanka in this short week-long trip (we left Kathmandu on Saturday, and returned on the next Saturday).

Kandy:

Kandy is approximately 300- 350 km from Colombo.  There are many ways to go to Kandy: train, public bus, and taxi.  We booked a taxi all the way to Kandy for sight seeing.  We started early as we had to cover a lot of places in Kandy.  On the way to Kandy we made a short stop to visit an elephant orphanage in Pinnawala Mawatha Dehiwala.  There were about sixty wild elephants, and many orphaned baby elephants.  We were allowed to feed the elephants and watch them take bath in a nearby river. The children enjoyed watching the elephants take shower beneath a huge water pipe, as the elephants were very playful amongst themselves.

We then headed towards Kandy.  After a short stop for lunch, we reached the famous Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. There was a long line of worshippers and tourists.  We stayed in the line for about an hour.  We finally made it to the heavily guarded room that housed Lord Buddha’s tooth.   We didn’t get to see the tooth per se; the visitors there are only shown a small gold stupa, which contains the tooth, at the doorway of the room.

Due to time constraints, we could not go to other places such as Peredeniya Royal Botanical Garden, town area etc. in Kandy.  We returned the same evening to Colombo.  Visitors there are often advised to stay for a day or two in Kandy to fully enjoy the place. 

 Galle

The next place we visited was Galle Fort, a heritage sight and a wonderful marvel of architecture, in Galle.   Galle was about three to four hours drive south from Colombo.  We hired the same taxi we took to go to Kandy to go to Galle.  There were a lot of beautiful beaches along the way to Galle.  We stopped along some of the beaches to take pictures.  The children played in the beach.  My youngest eight-year old daughter’s flip flops almost got washed away in one of the stops.  Our quick thinking taxi driver luckily managed to waddle into the water to retrieve the flip flops for her.

We walked around Galle Fort for several hours.  There were tuk tuks one could use to see around Galle Fort.  But the children preferred to walk along the small cobbled alleys.  We went around looking at different shops that displayed touristy items along the clean street.  We also went, within the historic Galle Fort, to the 400-year old Old Dutch Hospital which is one of the Sri Lanka’s most iconic buildings.  It is now a shopping complex with restaurants and cafes. We walked around these shops and did some shopping to bring home gifts for the near and dear ones.

We also visited to Galle National Museum, which is in an old Dutch building, and which featured ancient ornaments and artifacts.  This museum is dedicated to the culture of Southern Sri Lanka.  We saw how precious stones such as moon stone, emeralds etc. are refined and made into jewelry.    

Finally we went to the Galle beach.  The children enjoyed splashing and jumping in the blue water.  They were a little frightened of the waves in the beginning but they got use to it in a short while.  It is always wise to pack a few extra clothes and towels as the children ended up going back into the water even after they had changed into dry clothes.  We finally headed back to Colombo late in the evening.

Places within Colombo

The long distance travel to Kandy, and Galle made the children tired so on the remaining days in Sri Lanka we went touring within Colombo itself.  We visited few places such temples, beaches or just walked around the city.

Gangaramaya:

Gangaramaya is located in the heart of Colombo, and is a cool and shaded spiritual haven.  It was only five or ten minutes walk from the hotel where we stayed but due to the heat we took tuk tuks to the temple.  On entering the cool premise we felt a sense of relief.  We walked around the temple taking pictures.  There was a museum of artifacts, and a long line of expensive cars including a couple of Rolls Royce, which had been donated to the temple.  The main attraction was the jade Buddha statue.  One interesting thing was that we were not allowed to turn our backs toward the statue of Buddha.  So we had to stand sideways to take pictures.  We just sat there for couple minutes in silence and listened to the chant of the monks praying.

Keliniya Sleeping Buddha:

Keliniya Raja Maha Viharaya was blessed with Buddha’s presence during his third visit to the city. This is a highly venerated Buddhist shrine.  We had to take off our shoes and walk in the hot sand.  We bought lotus to put that on the feet of the statue of sleeping Buddha.  We also put water on the banyan tree, the sampling of which, we were told, was brought there by Emperor Ashoka’s daughter.  As residents in Patan at a place close to an Ashoka stupa, which was built by Emperor Ashoka, we felt some metaphysical closing in of a circle, despite a long spatial and temporal gap.

When I think of the recent visit, it always brings a smile not only on my face but also on the faces of our children.  And makes me want to Sri Lanka once again for the third time, just like the way Lord Buddha did two millennia ago.

When I think of the recent visit, it always brings a smile not only on my face but also on the faces of our children.  And makes me want to Sri Lanka once again for the third time, just like the way Lord Buddha did two millennia ago.

Colombo beach:

We went to the Colombo beach on the last day of the trip.  This beach is not suitable for swimming, but is great for viewing the sunset and for flying kites.  We went in the evening and the beach was already crowded with people enjoying the beautiful sunset.  Though no swimming was allowed, there were still some folks playing in the water.   The children too went to play in the water for the last time.   There were many stalls selling different types of seafood along the beach.  Since my father, my husband and I are fond of seafood we had to try some.  In one evening, we had a taste of crab, octopus and prawns.  We stayed there late till late to enjoy our our last day in Sri Lanka.

Due to time constraints, we missed some other popular sightseeing places such as Sigiriya Lion Rock Fortress, which is one of the seven Wonders of the World, and Bentota beach, which has many water sports such as surfing, banana ride, canoeing, stand up paddling, game fishing, water skiing etc.

There are many huge shopping malls in Sri Lanka.  Children with their pocket money bought some gifts for their cousins and for themselves at some of these malls.  The shopping continued till we were at the airport duty free shop. 

Odel:

It is the most popular department store which has a huge selection of clothes, home wares, interior decoration items, shoes, perfumes, books and a colorful children’s section.  This store also has branches in Kandy, and Galle, among other places in Sri Lanka.

Majestic City:

This mall is at the heart of Colombo with a number of shops selling imported items including clothes, jewelries, and electric items.  There is also a super market, a foreign exchange counter, cinema halls and a basement food court within this mall.

Cotton Collection:

Like Odel, Cotton Collection is a popular place for shopping.  But unlike Odel, it has only huge collection of clothes, both ethnic as well as modern.  This is also an ideal place to buy clothes as gifts for family and friends back home. 

Barefoot:

It is famous for colorful Sri Lankan handloom items.  We purchased books, artifacts, toys and home decoration items here.  It is an ideal place to shop for gifts.

I am very fond of Sri Lanka and in my first visit there in December 2010, we (my husband and I) had promised that we would one day bring our children to enjoy this beautiful country.  When I think of the recent visit, it always brings a smile not only on my face but also on the faces of our children.  And makes me want to Sri Lanka once again for the third time, just like the way Lord Buddha did two millennia ago.