Sri Lanka 2015 (Colombo, Kandy and Galle)

---

As I got married last year we went with my husband for 2 weeks last december in Sri Lanka for a honeymoon. Actually we went there for few reasons: we were living in India and I had to renew my tourist visa to India which I cannot do from India itself so we were thinking about the closest and cheapest countries to go from India to renew my french tourist visa. We had 2 options, Nepal or Sri Lanka. As Nepal is much more far we booked our tickets to Colombo.

As we were used to the Indian road traffic I felt like people were much more careful on the road even though the two countries are quite close to each other. I remember very well when we landed in the capital city we took a rickshaw to the hotel and the traffic was blocked for a while as they just found a dead body in the sea.. Cool for a first day ! That was very hot also there and Colombo made me think about Perth in Australia. The signs and roads look pretty much the same that was funny. I believe if you wish to visit India you should start with Sri Lanka this will be a soft start. We stayed 2 days in Colombo and then we took the train to Kandy which is like 4 hours journey. I advise anybody to take this train the view is amazing. You can even have a sit when you can in between 2 wagons to enjoy the view as there is no doors ! Normally those trains are always full you have no choice to stand for the whole time. Kandy is a small city inside the country as Colombo is located on the coast. I was astonished with the view. That is so green, all around and surrounded by mountains. Absolutely gorgeous !

We stayed for one week living in a local family. They were so kind to us and we were eating local and discovering food, culture and religion. Sri Lanka is mainly Buddhist. Tamil is also spoken a lot but usually Tamil people kind of avoid to say they are Tamil because of sensible history. There were also a French couple who came at the same time for a couple of days. In Asia the whole family is living together so in that family the grandmother was living there also and she used to listening to the radio all night long to hear buddhist prayers in Sinhalese language. That was changing me a lot from Hinduism I was more used to hearing while living in India.

Before we went to Galle the family we were living in Kandy dropped us along with the French couple to see an elephant orphanage about one hour drive from Kandy called Pinnawala. That was good to go there even if it makes me sad no to see elephants free in the nature where they belong. I am fascinated with elephant I really think there is something fabulous about them. Also I could stay there the whole day to watch them if the sun was not that hot.

From Kandy we took another train to Galle in the south of the country and located on the coast as well. We spent Christmas there. I remember it so well, everything was closed not because of Christmas but because it was the full moon on 25th ! So we had a bit of Arrack liquor and couldn't get any specialty for dinner as no shop was opened. Where we were staying in Galle there was another couple and there was a scooter for rent from the owner so we could go and visit around. That was good fun we went to Hikkaduwa, Unawatuna and Jungle beach around Galle. These were great times on the scooter and beautiful places. Hikkaduwa was all along the road with restaurants or touristic shops selling memories. As it was Christmas time I managed to get a Christmas hat for fun.

All this time we were actually waiting for my visa to be renewed and I managed to get my passport back the day before we went back to India ! Very short but very very pleasant and beautiful stay. I recommend this country the local people are great and the landscapes are breathtaking ! I definitely loved it.

---