Travel Memories: January 2022

Dear Readers,

Always we are filled with great memories of the 'the first' things in our life. It is common to have a dream to travel abroad and I got the opportunity to fulfill my dream visiting Srilanka during 2016. I prepared my travel in the mid 2016 and I boarded my flight at Chennai and reached Colombo International Airport within one hour journey.

On arrival visa is permitted for Indians in Srilanka but we have to apply the visa online and need to pay the visa fee online.

I booked accommodation via online through booking.com in near by hotel to Colombo airport.

My personal experience in Srilanka

Whenever we travel, it is quite common to expect a new experiences and new places. The precious gift of any travel is the new experience that have been acquired during the travel. Our mind becomes jubilant to immerse in the unexplored places with enriching experience that is why it becomes everlasting in our memory. Neuroscientists say that new learning, experience forms fresh neuron connections in our brain that is the conspicuous gift of travel.

After reaching new places, our mind quickly looks for similarity with our own culture and country. In that matter, Srilanka shares many similarities with South Indian Tamil culture as Srilanka has its own ethnic Tamil community. I feel more connected to that community as I belong to Tamil culture. Due to time constraints, I could not visit Tamil living areas like Jaffna, Triconamalai etc where most of the population belong to Tamil community. While visiting Galle fort, I saw temples replicating South Indian Tamil architecture, tradition and custom. There are many shops owned by Tamil people in Colombo whereas in other places number is limited.

As a south Indian, the first striking difference I witnessed in Srilanka is their Buddha shrines. We can see Buddhist statue in every corner of the main places as we see many temples in south India. Singalese mainly follows Buddhism and they visit Buddha temples and offer prayer with instense sticks and meditation. In Buddhist temple, we can see numerous Buddha statues in every single temple. The next striking thing is the traditional attire of Srilankan women which is unique in its nature which has slight similarity with Kerala ethnic wear.

While I was travelling by taxi from Colombo to Kandi, I was surprised to see taxi drivers and all the four wheelers giving patient time to pedestrians to cross the road which is quite missing in India.

In Colombo city, there is big bazaar and road side shops near railway station where tourists can bargain and purchase souvenirs and normal purchases.

During my visit to Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, I could see how people are worshipping in Buddha temple. We visited a shopping mall and cooperative store in Kandi where we can purchase tea powder and spices.Srilankan tea and spices are very famous in all over the world. During colonial period, many European countries wanted to rule Srilanka due its tea and spices wealth.

Many surfers travel to Srilanka for surfing as sea is favorable for surfing sport.

My travel itinerary during Srilanka Trip

Day 1

Attended and Presented research paper in International Conference at University of Kelaniya

Day 2

Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic

Royal Botanical Garden Kandi

Day 3

Galle Fort

Colombo City Tour

Galle Fort in the Bay of Galle on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka, was built first in 1588 by the Portuguese, then extensively fortified by the Dutch during the 17th century from 1649 onwards. It is a historical, archaeological and architectural heritage monument, which even after more than 432 years maintains a polished appearance, due to extensive reconstruction work done by Archaeological Department of Sri Lanka.