March 28, 2004
Sri Lanka Pics!
Well our 'honeymoon-like' tour of Sri Lanka is finished and we have no regrets. We couldn't wipe the smiles off of our faces for the entire trip!
Colombo is well known for it's inexpensive shopping, Odel's, Arena and House of Fashion. We hit them all and it was a fantastic experience. These pics are from a temple we came across in Colombo, but we didn't see many (we are kind of 'templed out').
The Ceylon Continental, the first of our luxury hotels and were we ever in heaven! Nice big room, ordered room service and a beautiful pool overlooking the ocean, what more could backpackers ask for? haha!
Sigriya Rock... what an amazing place. A king built this amazing fortress/palace way back in the 5th century and it still exists today, though there has been much decline it is still unbelievable to visit! He also had a harem of 500 women and he had each and everyone painted on the rock face on the way up to the top... but unfortunately only 18 or so still exist today (one of the existing portraits is included below).
The next set of pics are of the ancient city of Pollonaruwa. We found it very similar in ways to Angkor but not as exquisite. Judge for yourselves... but it's still beautiful in its own right.
Hotel Giritale, our next hotel, was just as amazing... look at those views, sunsets and the pool! Sri Lanka is definitely treating us right! The band was actually nice enough to come over and serenade us as we ate! I felt like climbing under the table, but we had fun with it!
On our way to Kandy we stopped at the Dambulla Rock/Cave temple and it was such a unique place. Amazing sculptures of Buddha's and paintings all over the caves in the side of the rock! We really enjoyed this little side trip.
In Kandy we saw another temple that was quite interesting actually, and then saw a cultural dance program.
We also went to the elephant orphanage in Pinnewala, just an hours drive from Kandy. Did we ever enjoy this experience. We saw the elephants working, getting fed and bathing!! Very entertaining.
The Royal Botanical Gardens in Kandy was also nice. Here are some pics of the beautiful flowers, colourful trees and giant bamboo. The last pic is of one of the many couples who were trying to seek privacy all throughout the gardens. There were couples everywhere so we thought we tried and get a candid shot of at least one of them! haha
Here are some close ups of the tea plantation and then some of the countryside. As you can see it is very lush and has many terraced rice fields and tea plantations up in the hills around Nuwara Eliya. What a scenic drive, though many hairpin turns up and down the mountains.
The beach in Hikkaduwa, another beautiful view!
Some unique characters along the way...
