srilanka fun – Harrytinkers travelog

Nuwara eliya

Posted on February 5, 2021March 15, 2021 by harrytinkers

Nuwara Eliya is a city in the hill station in Sri Lanka, also called “city on the plain (table land)” or “city of light” and “little England. The city is famous for its landscape and temperate climate. It islocated at an altitude of 6,128 ft and is known as the tea capital of Srilanka Nuwara Eliya has cool climate and one of the coolest areas in Sri Lanka.

The city is surrounded with tea gardens and hills. The city gives a British village feel amalgamated with colonial-era bungalows, Tudor-style hotels, well-kept hedges and neat gardens.

Nuwara Eliya or Seetha Eliya or Little England of Sri Lanka is well known for is forest looking ambience all around. The temperature is towards a lower side in this city as it’s a hill station. The climate is very pleasant in the daytime and its starts turning quite cold at night. Nuwara Eliya is blessed with nature’s bounty and that’s the major reason it attracts plenty of tourists per year.

Aadishakti Seeta Amman Temple

Sri Lanka is known since our Indian Epic Ramayana. As soon as you think of Sri Lanka the first picture which comes to my mind is of Ravana, and a series of imaginations pops up in my mind thinking about the times when Ravana used to rule Sri Lanka.

And to my surprise I got to witness some evidence of places where Ravana kept seetha in hostage. Not any of my imaginations could give this place a justice for its beauty, Sita was really lucky to have stayed in the beautiful valley (even though in hostage).

There is a temple dedicated to Seeta here in Nuwara Eliya which is known as Aadishakti Seeta Amman Temple. This temple is unique because it’s the only temple dedicated to Sita in Sri Lanka. The temple is painted orange with golden highlights on all the sculptures on the temple. There is no entrance fees for the temple.

According to the story Lord hanuman had Burned Lanka during his first visit which has turned the soil here in Black colour. There is a stream by the side of the temple where that runs from the hill, catered to the needs of Sita Devi during her stay at Ashok Vatika. She is also said to have bathed in this stream. About a century ago of three idols were discovered in the stream.

Temple timings

Morning 8AM to 1PM
Afternoon: 2PM to 6:30PM

Interesting Fact: There are few depressions on the rock besides the stream which is believed to be foot prints akin to Lord Hanuman’s. Some are of small size (resembles human feet) and some are of large size (resembles monkey paw),

The water flowing from the stream is sweet in taste as we tasted it during our visit.

Gregory park

Gregory lake or Gregory reservoir is situated at the heart of Nuwara Eliya city. It’s a beautiful park with Gregory reservoir being its major attraction. The Park is filled with exotic flora. The garden is huge and tourists love to relax here.

You can enjoy various water sports in this lake namely speedboat and jet ski. The charges of these activities totally depend on your bargaining skills. We paid 1000 Sri Lankan Rupees for jet ski and 600 Sri Lankan Rupees for speed boat per person. The entry fee for Gregory lake is 200 Sri Lankan Rupees.

The park timing is 6am-6pm.

The ambience of the park is very refreshing and you can relax here along with the view of enchanting Gregory Lake.
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Sigiriya rock

Posted on January 8, 2021January 7, 2021 by harrytinkers

Sigiriya is an ancient rock fortress located near the town of Dambulla in Sri Lanka is a popular UNESCO World heritage site and is known as one of the greatest inventions of ancient engineers and artisans.

I was really very much excited for this trek and have read about it so much. It’s a common notion that if you are in tourist famous destination it’s supposed to be beautiful as well as crowded. Well in our case we were lucky to visit this place with less crowd.

So, we reached around 4:45 pm and the ticket counter closes by 5 pm lucky enough!!

And the time for sunset was 5:50 Pm so technically we had only an hour to climb the rock.

The ticket costed us 2655 Sri Lankan Rupees per person.

There will be plenty of locals who would tell you they are tourist guides and would try to convince you to take them with you as a guide, I would Insist it’s better to take them, but bargain for prices as they tell you high prices initially. We did not take a guide because our Driver was also a tourist guide which was an added advantage for us.

There are approximately 1200 steps to reach the top of Sigiriya rock and it takes about an hour and half to climb them depending on your age and health conditions. The steps become steeper and narrower as you climb up.

Watch the video to know more

History

Sigiriya (means lion rock) is rock fortress built in 5th century AD by a Sinhalese king Kashyapa. He chose sigiriya to build his fort because of the special position this rock beholds in the midst of a lush jungle. The rock is 660 ft high which offers a 360^oview of the whole area. After king Kashyapa’s dynasty fell, the fortress was lost the jungle and later was discovered by the Britisher historians in 19^th century.

As in Sinhalese historical stories it is said that the lion is the mythical ancestor of kings and symbolises royalty, Kashyapa decided to build a lion shaped gateway in order to symbolise power.

Architecture

The kingdom was decorated with beautiful fresco paintings, garden and water fountains. The fortress is a best example of ancient Sinhalese urban planning.

Sigiriya has miniature and traditional water gardens considered to be the oldest in the world and their underground water ways are still functioning that’s so amazing. Water gardens utilizes a very complex ancient hydraulic system.

It’s a fort with a moat for its defence mechanism.

The ‘Lion rock’ got its name from the gigantic lion which greeted visitors halfway up the rock on a small plateau. Only the lion paws are remaining right now, but just imagine who beautiful it must have been back then.

Even thinking about it I get goosebumps; how marvellous the construction was also it would have been extremely meticulous to construct the whole fortress.

Frescos

Well this was something which was a surprise element for me as I have never seen such beautifully preserved frescoes. It’s mainly ladies which are depicted in these frescoes.Its painted with natural dyes on wet plaster. Well you have to climb a narrow spiral staircase to reach the cave where these frescos are preserved.

SIGIRIYA, POLONNARUVA, SRI LANKA – CIRCA APR 2013: Ancient painting on rock

Mirror Wall In The Sigiriya Complex

Originally the walls were so perfectly polished that the king could see himself whilst he walked alongside it. Made of brick masonry, the wall was covered in highly polished white plaster, used a technique that combines a unique combination of natural rock, brick powder, kaolin, dolomite and oil of a bark of Dorana tree. This walled path continued till the summit through the lion’s mouth.

As soon as you start climbing more and more, the scenic beauty starts increasing in your surroundings. When we reached at the top of the Sigiriya rock we could see the ruins of the old fortress, which takes you to an imagination of how grand palace would have been. One could see a 360 view of the surrounding areas which is breathtakingly mesmerising.

Beware of the bee hives on the rocks. Try not to make too much noise as the bees can get disturbed and attack you.

The climb down took only ½ Hour and it was quite dark and there are no lights to guide you. So, its always better to leave as soon as the sunset. Also, I had sprained my ankle while coming down as I missed a step and slipped.

With its ancient history, marvellous architecture and scenic view from the top Sigiriya is sure to leave a mark in your memories.

adventure activity, Srilanka, things to do

Millennium elephant park

Posted on January 1, 2021December 24, 2020 by harrytinkers

Sri Lanka is well known for its wildlife , especially for its massive herds of Asian elephants residing in forests and the national parks.

We started by 9 am from Colombo and it takes about 2.5 Hrs. (70.9 km) to reach Kagalle.

Millennium elephant foundation is a charity organization which rescues captive Asian elephants and take care of them.

There are different visiting package fares which you can choose from and it’s a contribution for the elephant welfare. We took the Tour package of 2000 Sri Lankan rupees which included elephant museum, elephant bathing and tour of the park.

This park is fascinating and huge. It offers a very natural habitat to the elephants. The elephant tamers are very kind towards the animals and look after them generously.

I am not very fond of touching animals and this time I got to touch an elephant which was a very different experience. What I noticed is they have very rough skin and have thick har on then which is merely visible because of their skin texture.

Elephants are very human friendly creatures and I find them to be super cute.

Check out our time at elephant foundation below:

The park is very well maintained and its takes about an hours’ time to take a stroll around the park. The park is covered with beautiful flowers and coconut trees.