JY's Sri Lankan Travels (Part One)
Why Sri Lanka? Seems like an uncommon holiday destination for Singaporeans. Well indeed it is. In fact, it's probably more popular among the Caucasians because I definitely saw more of them then fellow yellow-skinned people. Regardless, if you are one who enjoys the rich cultural heritage of ancient empires and breathtaking scenery, do visit Sri Lanka.
18 December 2007 - Bandaranaike International Airport
We arrived slightly after 4pm. After clearing immigration and baggage collection, we made our way out of the airport to the pick-up area. It was chaotic, but we got onto our van safely. It took about 2 hours to get to Dad's apartment in Colombo city because of slow traffic but that gave me an opportunity to observe their traffic police in action. At most major junctions and roundabouts, there were traffic police stationed to direct traffic. I even saw them stopping the incoming traffic to lead pedestrians across zebra-crossings so that really impressed me. By the time we arrived at the apartment, it was close to 8pm. Mom and I whipped up a quick dinner and we sat down to eat as a family for the first time since... oh wow I can't even remember... possibly one year!19 December 2007 - Galle
We set off for Galle, 4 hours down south of Colombo, at 7.30am. Galle lies along the west coast of Sri Lanka and is famous for its beautiful bays and beaches, handmade lace and Dutch forts. Enroute to Galle, we stopped at two Buddhist temples. Unfortunately, I cannot remember their names and well, don't blame me, you wouldn't either. Heh.
The outstanding feature of this temple the dome-shaped ceiling which causes even the slightest whisper to be echoed and heard.
This is a very holy tree, said to have grown from a branch of another holy tree that was grown from the branch of the tree that Buddha sat under when he attained Nirvana.
The second temple is famous for its gigantic seated Buddha statue. It also has a pet elephant. Dumbo below is 10 years old and lives on a steady diet of fresh fruits provided to him by the temple-goers.
We also stopped by one of the many sea turtle conservation efforts along the way. The one we stopped at was manned by a young Caucasian woman and had two kinds of ticket fares. Tourists' tickets were 200 rupees each; locals' were 20 rupees each. And it's actually nothing more than a few long concrete tanks hall-filled with sea water, containing a few turtles each. But it is sorta for a noble cause so...
That's a hatching ground. The sticks indicate which type of eggs lie beneath the sand.
We then stopped at the beach to take a boat-ride in a glass-bottomed boat specially designed for coral-viewing. Here's the beach (and my mom):
And the coral with fish happily swimming in between:
Moving on, we finally reached Galle where we had lunch at a hotel and everyone else around us were Caucasians, most likely English. Turns out that Galle has a famous cricket stadium and the match between the Sri Lankan and English cricket teams was on the same day so many of them were watching the live telecast on TV. Anyway we weren't interested in cricket so after lunch, we took a short stroll among the fort walls and also went to the lighthouse.
Then it was back to Colombo. But not before stopping to take a picture of this boat:
It probably isn't meant to carry a lot of people and I do wonder whether it will be a comfortable experience for the buttocks.
Alright more to come soon. For the first time in my life, I will not be spending CNY in Malaysia but will be right here in Singapore so I should be able to finish blogging about Sri Lanka during the long break. Gong Xi Fa Cai everybody!
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