Followers

Wednesday 2 June 2010

Sri Lanka Holiday

Sri Lanka Holiday Part 1

Hi all I was due to go for a 2 week holiday to Thailand from 7th May to 22nd May only to hear a few days before that the holiday was cancelled due to problems with the "red shirts" see http://www.guardian.co.uk/world2010/apr/20thailand-red-shirts-wage-war Then my tour company offered me a 5 star Hotel on the beach in Sri Lanka. Of course I said yes because after planning for nearly a year I was not going to do without my holiday.

Sri Lanka is an island off the south eastern shores of India, 880 km north of the equator, on the Indian ocean.

The religion is primarily Buddhism 70%, Hinduism 16%, Christianity 7%, Islam 7%.

The major industries are Gems, Jewelry, spices and Teas.

It is approximately 10 hours flight from London Heathrow on Sri Lankan airways. Now you all know that I am a frequent flyer and I have never liked plane food but this food was the best I have tasted on any airway so far. Staff were attentive and professional with unlimited alcohol, 30kg baggage allowance and you know us girls love to take our bedroom with us on holiday.

I stayed at the 5 star Heritance Ahungalla Hotel see here: http://www.heritancehotels.com/ahungalla This Hotel has so many facilities such as a gym, sauna and spa, disco, a number of bars and restaurants. The only issue is that it is 3 hours drive from the international airport but even this would not stop me from going there again.

It is stunning on a clean beach. Staff were very friendly and could not do too much. The Hotel management took customer service very seriously. This was my room, It overlooked one of two pools and was in view of the sea.










View from the room,




I went on a 3 day trip to kandy the main City in Sri lanka and visited an elephant orphanage. This is a baby elephant.


It was 32 degrees and monsoon season but I only had 3 days of rain during my 14 days. This is me on the beach.










Inside a temple. On entering any temple you must walk bare feet and women must cover their arms and legs. You are permitted to take photographs with some Buddhas but must never turn your back on a Buddha as this is seen as disrespectful. I noticed that on many street corners and in every town there are many Buddha statues and that these are very well kept. Me with a friend at the Elephant orphanage.





These ruins still had some original plaster inside.






Everywhere was decorated with carvings of animals especially Elephants.



This was also an impressive structure.

I found this picture hiding behind a pillar at the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy and I had to photograph it because I thought it was so beautiful.
This is the Golden Temple in Kandy. This was very very impressive.

This was made out of 1 whole piece of stone...





We were not allowed to pose in the picture with this statue.






I love stone and Sri Lanka certainly has some hidden treasures that I did not expect to find. Sri Lankans are very proud of their heritage.
Part 2 to follow...
Please do not copy anything from my blog without my express permission.
KittyLocks xx

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