Sigiriya / Mt Lavinia, Sri Lanka

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March 10, 2008

Mt. Lavinia, Sri Lanka

Today was another day on the road back to Mt. Lavinia, on the ocean, south of Colombo, with a stop at a very important Buddhist Temple and a very large golden colored statue of Buddha. We continued to work our way back to Colombo with a nice drive through the county side and small towns and villages. One short stop was made at Sigiriya to check out a very large rock outcropping that was the home to a fortress, on top, that was built by a ruler of the time to house his palace. This looked like a very complicated and difficult climb so we elected to take some photos and pass on the climb to the top. ( Mostly because we were too lazy to try )

This was a fairly long day in the car but the scenery and interesting discussion with Tushal, our guide / driver regarding the country, politics, history and future made it a very enjoyable day.

Our compliments to Toureast Lanka and our guide Tushal for a nice whirlwind overview of Sri Lanka.

We did not visit the far north or the very nice beaches in the south but we saw a lot of the country and liked it very much. In hindsight we wish we had a few more days here as we didn’t see any of the famous tea plantations or the beaches in the south. This is a very interesting destination and the country side and people are wonderful. They also have some of the best curry dishes we have had. ( and we were in India). Curry here is a little spicy but not as sweet as some of the Indian curry.
We are sure with a little work and some better marketing the tourist business will come back.

It is a shame that the country has gone through some very hard times with the tsunami damage in 2004 and the continuing ridiculous problems with the Tamils who are causing enough trouble to keep many would be visitors away. From what we have read and heard the Tamils have been given some very generous power sharing options with the government but the radical faction keeps asking for more. 24 years is enough already !!

We arrived in Mt Lavinia in the afternoon and enjoyed some time to relax at the pool at the very beautiful, 200 year old colonial style, Mt. Lavinia Hotel . This hotel was built during the British period in Sri Lanka and is on a decent beach on the Indian Ocean about 1 hour from Colombo. We also enjoyed one of the best meals we have had on our trip at one of the 3 restaurants at the hotel. This is really a first class place!!

Our scheduling could have been better as we have a 07:00 flight to The Maldives tomorrow and had to leave for the airport a 03:30 A.M. That makes for a long day tomorrow!

Off to another adventure in The Maldives tomorrow.

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