Day:4 (22nd December '09)
I don’t know why, but we haven't realized that this journey would be about 7 hours before we started although we had the map and the Srilanka Tourism book which I was reading to get an insight into the places we were going to see that day.This turned out to be the best drive of our trip with the lush green surroundings, ghat roads in the mountain region and also the place we ended up going… Nuwar-Eliya
View from the Home Stay/Coffee Shop
On the way from Bentota/Beruwela to Nuwar-Eliya we've been to a Coffee Shop. It’s a home stay in the making and their backyard led to a river kelani which was very beautiful. The view was picturesque and they had a special ayurvedic tree that is used to treat heart ailments.
Flowers from the Home Stay garden..
White Water Rafting: This was the most exciting part of our trip. On the way to Nuwar-Eliya we stopped at Kitugala (which is about 2 hours drive from Colombo otherwise) where river kelani has a white water section with 4 Level 2 and 3 level 3 raft sections. To be honest I was a little hesitant initially since both I and Madhu did not know how to swim but then gathered some courage. We did still water rafting (I don’t know if it can be called rafting at all or not …) in Kemmangundi (Karnataka, India) before but that would turn out to be in no comparison to what we were about to do. We got into a boat with 5 Polish people who were there at the same time, incidentally they were all doing it for the first time too…
We had two guides one sitting at the front and one at the back. It started slow with still water and within 3 minutes or so we reached the first level 2 when the raft sloped through the rocks the guide (the front one) was the first one to fall as the raft tilted from one side to the other amdist the rocks and the flow was quite fierce.
On our way...
Rafting place (Kithugala)
We continued as he got onto the raft quite easily and in no time we reached the 2nd Level 2 and this time one polish lady fell into the water and was floating with her life jacket. The guide immediately jumped into the river to get her back. As soon as we finished this we entered a wider section of the river where the famous Hollywood movie "Bridge on the river Kwai" was shot. The guides showed us the rocks between which the bridge was built during shooting.
Then came the consecutive level 3's in a row… The guide gave us a few instructions before we entered the level3 to keep the body weight inside and to come completely into the boot once he yells. Since everyone was an amateur, all of us jumped into the raft s soon as the white water section came. The raft tilted to both the sides and we managed to pass it without overturn.
For the second Level 3 the guide told us that there could most probably a overturn and so it happened. The boat overturned and every one fell in different directions. I was floating on my back but Madhu was almost going down as she could not float probably because of the way she fell and was clinging onto my life jacket. The guides had a lot of work to do during this section they had the set the raft back and get all the people into it. It was such a wonderful experience although fraught with danger. The third level3 was also good but all of us were in the boat this time…
By this time the Level 2's were not that much fun anymore :) so we passed through the other level2's quite easily. We thanked the guides once we reached the other side of Kitugala and moved on to have lunch…. I would say this experience is something I can never forget. I realized that water is really exciting but very dangerous indeed.
Water Falls: Nuwar-Eliya is a hilly region about 1868 m from sea level where temperatures drop quite drastically within about 200km from Colombo. The temperature was suddenly sub 10 Deg. C. On the way to our hotel we saw Devon Water Falls and St. Clair Water Falls both from a distance and they are indeed beautiful. This is probably the quietest and unpolluted places in Srilanka. The landscapes and mountains bring the much needed freshness to the travelers and I would say this is a must see place in Srilanka. By the time we reached Nuwar-Eliya it was already dark and it was getting quite cold so we could not explore too many things tonight but tomorrow on the way back to Kandy we're going to start early and see some places before we push off to Kandy.
St. Clair Water Falls
Landscapes on the way to Nuwar-Eliya
Devon Water Falls
Gallway Forest Hotel: This is probably the best hotel we've stayed in Srilanka. Although not contemporary and modern it brought a sense of peace and calmness. The view from the room is really good and apart from a very few hotels thankfully this place in not yet commercialized and its nature in the purest form with some civilization around.
Day:5 (23rd December '09)
Nuwar-Eliya (Spelled: Nuwa-Reliya) to Kandy
We started at about 8 O'clock after breakfast at Gallway Forest. It was very cold and was filled with fog..On the way back to Kandy from Nuwar-Eliya we first stopped at the "Gregory lake" with horses and cows grazing the grass next to it. The greenery was such a pleasant sight. This place is also called "Little England". The pictures below should give you an idea of how beautiful it is… Tea plantations , leek plantations and fresh vegetables are something that one can see everywhere. The fresh vegetables made Madhu think about all she can cook with them :).
Landscapes at Nuwar-Eliya and Gregory lake
Sita Eliya Temple: The Hindu Epic Ramayana has a connection with this place People here believe that Ravana hid Sita in this place. It also has a mark of Hanuman foot. You can see a glimpse of the foot in the pic below. By the way this is just one of the many places where they claim this.. Interestingly, there is a special tour called "Ramayana Tour" in Sri Lanka where they show all the places they claim that sita stayed..
A view from the temple
Monkey at the temple
They claim that the hole is Hanumans' foot
Tea Factory: Nuwar-Eliya is one of the most important locations for Tea production in Srilanka. We went to a tea factory where they explained the process of manufacturing tea from leaves. They employ hundreds of women, each one plucks about 22kg of Tea leaves per day. We reached Kandy about lunch time and went to a restaurant called Devon. We were the only people apart from the staff in the restaurant as we reached in only by 4.00 PM
Tooth Relic Temple: Now comes the very famous Tooth Relic Temple in Kandy. The tooth was brought to Srilanka by a princess named "Hemamali" from India in her hair and it remained in Srilanka since then. The temple has a museum where they portray the LTTE bombings that destroyed the temple in 1998. It’s a very beautiful and sacred temple for Buddhists
Lord Buddha at Tooth Relic
View from Tooth Relic
Cultural Dance: Our guide made us run to a auditorium 1 km away from the tooth relic temple so that we don't miss a bit of the cultural dance program :). There were 7 - 8 forms of dance (which were more like folk dances in India ) and some of them needed great practice with the props they used and postures they adopted. The dance ended with few men walking on fire. The whole show was more tribal and they used lots of drums in the performance. With an ear for Indian music and classical dance honestly I should say I didn't enjoy it much. But it took me back in time imagining the tribes performing for the Kings.
Shopping: Street T-Shirts which had Srilanka written on them. It was the only local shopping we did in Sri Lanka apart from buying a Buddha statue. We bargained and were successful to get the T-shirts for about the half the quoted price.
I don’t know why, but we haven't realized that this journey would be about 7 hours before we started although we had the map and the Srilanka Tourism book which I was reading to get an insight into the places we were going to see that day.This turned out to be the best drive of our trip with the lush green surroundings, ghat roads in the mountain region and also the place we ended up going… Nuwar-Eliya
View from the Home Stay/Coffee ShopOn the way from Bentota/Beruwela to Nuwar-Eliya we've been to a Coffee Shop. It’s a home stay in the making and their backyard led to a river kelani which was very beautiful. The view was picturesque and they had a special ayurvedic tree that is used to treat heart ailments.
Flowers from the Home Stay garden..White Water Rafting: This was the most exciting part of our trip. On the way to Nuwar-Eliya we stopped at Kitugala (which is about 2 hours drive from Colombo otherwise) where river kelani has a white water section with 4 Level 2 and 3 level 3 raft sections. To be honest I was a little hesitant initially since both I and Madhu did not know how to swim but then gathered some courage. We did still water rafting (I don’t know if it can be called rafting at all or not …) in Kemmangundi (Karnataka, India) before but that would turn out to be in no comparison to what we were about to do. We got into a boat with 5 Polish people who were there at the same time, incidentally they were all doing it for the first time too…
We had two guides one sitting at the front and one at the back. It started slow with still water and within 3 minutes or so we reached the first level 2 when the raft sloped through the rocks the guide (the front one) was the first one to fall as the raft tilted from one side to the other amdist the rocks and the flow was quite fierce.
On our way...
Rafting place (Kithugala)We continued as he got onto the raft quite easily and in no time we reached the 2nd Level 2 and this time one polish lady fell into the water and was floating with her life jacket. The guide immediately jumped into the river to get her back. As soon as we finished this we entered a wider section of the river where the famous Hollywood movie "Bridge on the river Kwai" was shot. The guides showed us the rocks between which the bridge was built during shooting.
Then came the consecutive level 3's in a row… The guide gave us a few instructions before we entered the level3 to keep the body weight inside and to come completely into the boot once he yells. Since everyone was an amateur, all of us jumped into the raft s soon as the white water section came. The raft tilted to both the sides and we managed to pass it without overturn.
For the second Level 3 the guide told us that there could most probably a overturn and so it happened. The boat overturned and every one fell in different directions. I was floating on my back but Madhu was almost going down as she could not float probably because of the way she fell and was clinging onto my life jacket. The guides had a lot of work to do during this section they had the set the raft back and get all the people into it. It was such a wonderful experience although fraught with danger. The third level3 was also good but all of us were in the boat this time…
By this time the Level 2's were not that much fun anymore :) so we passed through the other level2's quite easily. We thanked the guides once we reached the other side of Kitugala and moved on to have lunch…. I would say this experience is something I can never forget. I realized that water is really exciting but very dangerous indeed.
Water Falls: Nuwar-Eliya is a hilly region about 1868 m from sea level where temperatures drop quite drastically within about 200km from Colombo. The temperature was suddenly sub 10 Deg. C. On the way to our hotel we saw Devon Water Falls and St. Clair Water Falls both from a distance and they are indeed beautiful. This is probably the quietest and unpolluted places in Srilanka. The landscapes and mountains bring the much needed freshness to the travelers and I would say this is a must see place in Srilanka. By the time we reached Nuwar-Eliya it was already dark and it was getting quite cold so we could not explore too many things tonight but tomorrow on the way back to Kandy we're going to start early and see some places before we push off to Kandy.
St. Clair Water Falls
Landscapes on the way to Nuwar-Eliya
Devon Water FallsGallway Forest Hotel: This is probably the best hotel we've stayed in Srilanka. Although not contemporary and modern it brought a sense of peace and calmness. The view from the room is really good and apart from a very few hotels thankfully this place in not yet commercialized and its nature in the purest form with some civilization around.
Day:5 (23rd December '09)
Nuwar-Eliya (Spelled: Nuwa-Reliya) to Kandy
We started at about 8 O'clock after breakfast at Gallway Forest. It was very cold and was filled with fog..On the way back to Kandy from Nuwar-Eliya we first stopped at the "Gregory lake" with horses and cows grazing the grass next to it. The greenery was such a pleasant sight. This place is also called "Little England". The pictures below should give you an idea of how beautiful it is… Tea plantations , leek plantations and fresh vegetables are something that one can see everywhere. The fresh vegetables made Madhu think about all she can cook with them :).
Landscapes at Nuwar-Eliya and Gregory lakeSita Eliya Temple: The Hindu Epic Ramayana has a connection with this place People here believe that Ravana hid Sita in this place. It also has a mark of Hanuman foot. You can see a glimpse of the foot in the pic below. By the way this is just one of the many places where they claim this.. Interestingly, there is a special tour called "Ramayana Tour" in Sri Lanka where they show all the places they claim that sita stayed..
A view from the temple
Monkey at the temple
They claim that the hole is Hanumans' footTea Factory: Nuwar-Eliya is one of the most important locations for Tea production in Srilanka. We went to a tea factory where they explained the process of manufacturing tea from leaves. They employ hundreds of women, each one plucks about 22kg of Tea leaves per day. We reached Kandy about lunch time and went to a restaurant called Devon. We were the only people apart from the staff in the restaurant as we reached in only by 4.00 PM
Tooth Relic Temple: Now comes the very famous Tooth Relic Temple in Kandy. The tooth was brought to Srilanka by a princess named "Hemamali" from India in her hair and it remained in Srilanka since then. The temple has a museum where they portray the LTTE bombings that destroyed the temple in 1998. It’s a very beautiful and sacred temple for Buddhists
Lord Buddha at Tooth Relic
View from Tooth RelicCultural Dance: Our guide made us run to a auditorium 1 km away from the tooth relic temple so that we don't miss a bit of the cultural dance program :). There were 7 - 8 forms of dance (which were more like folk dances in India ) and some of them needed great practice with the props they used and postures they adopted. The dance ended with few men walking on fire. The whole show was more tribal and they used lots of drums in the performance. With an ear for Indian music and classical dance honestly I should say I didn't enjoy it much. But it took me back in time imagining the tribes performing for the Kings.
Shopping: Street T-Shirts which had Srilanka written on them. It was the only local shopping we did in Sri Lanka apart from buying a Buddha statue. We bargained and were successful to get the T-shirts for about the half the quoted price.
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