I just came across what I thought was a 10 minute compilation video of the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004. I clicked on it, got hooked, then found out it was only part 1 of 7. By that time I couldn't put it down, and ended up spending the next hour plus watching a handful of people's first hand Tsunami stories.
Although Sri Lanka is an amazing country to visit, their capital city of Colombo is not one of the highlights. Don't plan to travel Colombo, but since you'll probably be entering and exiting from the Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport, you'll have to spend a little time in the city, so you should know what to do and see. I had 1 day in the city, and chose to have a wander around, find a haircut shop, then board the local train down to Mt. Lavinia, Colombo's best beach.
At the time I was travelling from Colombo to Kandy in Sri Lanka, I didn't even know the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage existed. I saw a few signs and my driver asked if I wanted to stop by; I love elephants so of course I did. Not sure what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't really as much of a zoo-type facility as I presumed. For the 2 hours I was there the elephants (most of them) were free to roam around and play in the river as they pleased.
If you were to take a survey of human beings and ask what the funniest animal is, the overwhelming majority would answer "Monkeys". They're so similar to us, but still so different. There's something strangely familiar about the monkey, but still so animalistic. They have no rules and rely purely on their instincts, which means they're constantly getting into trouble and goofing around, which is what makes them so funny to us. Below are the top 10 places to visit if you want to see monkeys in the wild.
One of the major attractions in the Sri Lankan Cultural Triangle area, the ancient city of Polonnaruwa is a massive spread out area full of nearly 1000 year old ruins. There is a lot of variety in the UNESCO World Heritage site, with some of the best ruins in Sri Lanka, amazing temples, statues, and a healthy variety of wildlife (mainly monkeys). It's easy to spend a full day or two exploring this ancient city, rent a bike or hire a driver and get lost in Polonnaruwa.
The Dambulla Rock Cave Temple is one of Sri Lanka's 8 UNESCO World Heritage sites. In the heart of the Cultural Triangle of Sri Lanka, the caves are located conveniently between Kandy and the Siguriya Rock Fortress. At the base of the Dambulla Rock sits the World's Largest Budha statue (golden), then you climb up a flight of stairs for about 10 minutes until you reach the entrance to the caves. Inside there are 5 caverns, the large cavern being the most spectacular with it's painted ceilings, but all of them are pretty cool. The first cave has a big laying Buddha statue which was one of my favorites of the entire temple.
One of the coolest places in Sri Lanka has to be the Sigiriya Rock Fortress. It doesn't look like much from afar, and even from a lot of photos you see online, but when you get there and get to walking around you see why UNESCO has declared Sigiriya as the 8th Wonder of the World. Monastery turned King's Fortress, turned back to Monastery, Sigiriya has had quite a dynamic past.
Late this summer I visited Sri Lanka on my way from Singapore to India. I flew into Colombo and spent a couple days in the city and down on Mount Lavinia beach. Then, since my time was limited and I was feeling lazy, I booked a tour through a company so I could see as much of the rest of the country as possible. I had a basic idea of what I wanted to do and see, and worked with the agent to come up with this 7 day Sri Lanka itinerary. The itinerary is something she wrote, and I added a few of my comments to each location. A fair warning the article may be a bit choppy because of this.
I'm currently wrapping up my time here in Sri Lanka, a place I never planned to visit on this trip, but threw in last minute as I worked my way west towards India. I had about 3 weeks of time to fill from when I split with one set of friends in Vietnam, and before meeting another in India. Originally I was going to head straight to India, but instead I ended up cruising up the Mekong to Cambodia for 5 days, then stopped over in Singapore for a couple, and then noticed flights to Sri Lanka and on to India didn't cost much more than straight to India. On a whim I went for it and booked my flight from Singapore to Sri Lanka.
It took a while, but eventually I figured it out. The Sri Lankan outlets were unlike any I've seen in any other country. They looked as though my Euro 2 round prongs adapter should work, however it would not fit in the socket. After unplugging everything in my room and not being able to plug it back in I began to get frustrated. The lamps and TV were plugged in as you'd expect, just leaving the upper 3rd prong empty, similar to a lot of US plugs where they have the optional ground hole. I tried a lot of things, including brute force, but nothing worked. Eventually it hit me, that maybe I should plug it in diagonally because there was another outlet in my bathroom which had 3 holes as well, but for a US style plug, and if you used the left 2 it was 110 volts, and if you used the right 2 it was 220 volts. I gave it a shot, and accidentally shorted something and shut down power in my whole section of the hotel (not the first time I've done this abroad messing around with strange power adapter configurations).
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About The Cheap RouteTheCheapRoute.com is the site where you find fresh new travel destinations & ideas. We don't provide guidebook style writeups, we normally don't even offer you all the specifics, you can find that elsewhere. What we do provide are high quality photos & videos, useful tips, and a fresh perspective on travelling the world for cheap.
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