Travel Guide : Sri Lanka - The Resplendent Island

If you’re looking for a quick, short international vacation and don’t want to dig deep into your pockets, Sri Lanka is a good and worthy option. Sri Lanka is an unheralded, unblemished tourist spot which doesn’t have much airs about it but is extremely hospitable and welcoming. Beaches, hill stations, monasteries, tea plantations, wildlife, and lots of local life, there is enough to keep your travel flames burning. Oh, and they worship cricket here, making it ridiculously easy for most Indians to strike up a conversation with a local.

How To Reach

The Bandarnaike airport in Colombo is the gateway to the Island of Ceylon. Technically, It is nestled in a suburb called Negombo, around 30km from Colombo, and is approximately an hour’s drive to the main city. With some shrewd ticket hunting and a pinch of good luck, you can get return tickets to Colombo from Chennai for an absolute bargain of less than 8k.

For short visits to Sri Lanka, tourists can apply for a visa or ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) online. These visas have a validity of 30 days and can be obtained for a nominal fee of 15 US$.

What to see / do

Well, a lot. Sri Lanka is the epitome of diversity in terms of its geography, weather, history and people. With tourism bringing in close to 2% of the Sri Lankan GDP, it is a service taken seriously in the isles, and is evident in the great experiences it offers.

Apart from being the gateway, Colombo has lots to do in terms of shopping, food, and partying. It is home to the famous Cricket Club Café. There’s also the Galle Face Green, a renowned place for watching the sun calling it a day, and for a quick snack or drink by the beach.

The beach at Mt.Lavinia is dotted with shacks aplenty

A few minutes’ drive from Colombo city is Mt. Lavinia, or the Goa of Sri Lanka.  A small, peaceful small town, it is the ideal place for hanging out with friends or your loved ones. With a panaromic view of the Colombo beach and waves crashing at your feet, it is an idyllic setting for you to waft a lazy evening away.

Then there is Kandy, or the pearl of Sri Lanka. A tiny hill station, 3 hours’ drive from Colombo, Kandy is home the temple of tooth. A highly sacrosanct place for Buddhists, as it is known to house the tooth of Buddha, this temple is located next to the Kandy Lake. A walk along the calm premises is a must-do. Kandy is also home to the Seat of Arthur and Kandy Team Museum. A short distance from Kandy is the Pinawalla Elephant Orphanage, where you can experience firsthand the magic of being around elephants.

The Majestic Sigiriya Rock Castle

Or you may want to head to Galle if visiting an UNESCO World Heritage site is in your list of things to do. A 17^th century fort built by the Portuguese overlooking the magnificent Indian ocean is sure to overwhelm and humble you with its grandeur. Or, how about being dazzled by the imposing sight of the ancient palace of Sigiriya and its massive rock column. What makes it better is that all these places lie within a 3 hours’ drive from Colombo.

Superlative beaches, World heritage sites galore, and amazing, cheap food (Don’t miss out on the Sri Lankan rice and curry), Sri Lanka will dot your vacation with amazing highlights and memories. And, you can do all of this for less than 15k INR. So, I don’t see much stopping you from booking the tickets.

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Fun Fact: Mirissa, Sri Lanka is one of the best places in the World for Blue whale watching.    

2012 T-20 World Cup : Gangnam Style

Afghanistan: Honest triers. Fearless Pathans. Took India very close and were then demolished by Luke Wright, England’s poor attempt at replacing KP. The Afghans are here to stay though. 

Australia: Not sure if Australian Team or Watson and Starc Inc. Destroyed every team in sight (Thank You Watson), before Pakistan gave them a trial by spin, which had them fist pumping on reaching 112. And, then they were clinically put away by the Calypso Kings in the semis despite a captain’s knock by George Bailey. Oh yes, Bailey was their captain.  

Bangladesh:  They were the victims of the Group of death. I fancied Bangladesh to sneak over New Zealand in their group, but first a BMac blitzkrieg and then a Imran Nazir onslaught showed them the exit door. And hence, yet again, Bangladesh faltered to deceive. They have been living with the minnow tag for far too long.

England: Defending Champions. No KP. No semis. The highlight for England in this tournament was most certainly the way they handled the Indian spinners. That was stuff of legends. Few shots were so atrocious that It was impossible to believe that Andy Flower, one of the best players of spin in history was their coach.  After this match, the English practiced so hard to handle spin, that they forgot about pace and Malinga took over. Poor English. They tried. You can’t really blame them

India: Rain. Enough Said (Yes, I am being biased here). Only team to have won 4 matches and not qualified for the Semis, Dismissed their opposition 4 times out of 5 and gave former champions, Pakistan and England their lowest T-20 WC scores. Someone who didn’t watch the WC would ask how on earth did this team not make it to the semis. Well Of Course, It was the rain.

Ireland:  There was only one upset in this tournament and Ireland were a part of it. A lowly ranked Watson and Starc Inc bulldozed the Irish team in their opening fixture. This is being considered as one of the biggest upsets in T20 WC history, with the Dutch beating England coming a distant second. They couldn’t go past the group stage as they could not recover from that huge Upset.

New Zealand: Officially the first team to consider Super Over as shit. They have every right to. They managed to tie two matches from the brink, but were deprived of a win first by Slinga Malinga and then by Chris Gayle. What could have been 2 wins and 1 loss, turned out to be 3 losses for them in their Super Eights group, and the perennial Semi-finalists missed out on their 9^th semi-final in ICC tournaments.

Pakistan: They possibly had the best bowling attack in the tournament. A manic innings from Umar Gul, a mandatory loss to India and a demolition job of Watson and Starc Inc. later, they reached their 4^thconsecutive semis in T20 WC’s. In the semis though they were done in by a committed Sri Lanka and Rangana Herath. Saeed Ajmal was ridiculously good, Emergence of Raza Hassan is something one needs to watch out for.

South Africa:  They had the batsmen to win matches on their own, They had Steyn and Morkel who could win matches on their own. Heck, they had 2 good spinners in Peterson and Botha. They had the most capped T-20 player ever in Albie Morkel. But then, they also had, you know, the C-Word. Lost all 3 matches in their Super Eights group. Urghh..

Sri Lanka: Yet another final. Yet another loss. Cricket South Africa is checking with ICC on procedures to award the Chokers tag to Sri Lanka Cricket Board. They had everything going for them. Perfect run up to the finals (Except for one loss to South Africa,, oops) , a battery of mystery bowlers and home crowd. But the occasion got to them, yet again. You will have your cup soon Lankans

Zimbabwe: Were they in the tournament? Oh yes, I remember, they were the first team to be knocked out of the tournament. That too, before New Zealand, Pakistan, England, West Indies and Bangladesh had even played a single match. I genuinely feel bad for them.

West Indies: And finally, OPPA GANGNAM STYLE. The Champions. The resurgence of the Calypso Kings. They were pre-tournament favourites, and they delivered or what! Gayle, Narine, Bravo, Pollard, Badree, Rampaul ,everyone had their moments. None better than Marlon Samuels though, coming up with an immense innings in the finals. West Indies also came up with the quote of the tournament. “If Jesus Christ could go no wrong and still get crucified, who is Darren Sammy”. Sammy came up with this gem on being asked about proving his critics wrong.

The 2 ladies look amused

Take a bow Champions. The West indies finally have their moment to savour after many tough years.