🙂 Gentle, lovely people. Wildlife. Culture. Top destination in world.
🙁 Poverty. Current economic crisis. Tsunami in 2004. Tamil Tigers reign of terror 1983-2009.
Currency: Sri Lanka Rupee
THREE things we did not now about Sri Lanka:
- Shaking your head means yes, not no. Both the Indian head bob and the Sri Lankan head waggle are a manner of communicating without words. In India, the bob is a side-to-side movement and in Sri Lanka it’s a figure of eight. That means shaking of the head actually means yes! (don’t worry, you’ll get used to it, and probably start using it!)
- Sri Lanka has the world’s second largest natural harbour. Trincomalee Harbour is a seaport on the northeast coast of Sri Lanka, and the world’s second largest natural harbour. The harbour is overlooked by terraced highlands, and its entrance is guarded by two headlands. The entrance channel is 500 m wide. Its strategic importance has shaped its recent history, with there being many sea battles to control the harbour. The Portuguese, Dutch, French and English have each held it in turn. (The largest is Sydney Harbour).
- Sri Lanka has the oldest human-planted tree. Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi is a sacred fig tree in the Mahamewna Gardens of Anuradhapura, a city in northern Sri Lanka. It’s said to have been a cutting from the historical Sri Maha Bodhi at Buddha Gaya in India. It was planted in Sri Lanka in 288 BC. And as such is the oldest living human-planted tree in the world – at least that we know of. Today it’s one of the most sacred relics of the Buddhists in Sri Lanka and is respected by Buddhists all over the world.
See here for some great books set in Sri Links: RELATED READING
Our Itinerary:
As this trip was postponed from 2020 to 2021 to 2022 due to Covid, by the time we actually travelled there and as a result of our daughters’ university and work commitments we had to cut out a significant portion of our original itinerary of 2 weeks in Sri Lanka – so we will be back! In the end we had two nights at The Sandhya in Ahangama and exploring Mirissa Beach (AMAZING), one night at Wild Coast Tented Lodge at Yala National Park (even more AMAZING!), two nights at 98 Acres in Ella (ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!), the FANTASTIC and MUST Do 3rd Class rail journey from Ella to Kandy and one night in Amaya Hills, Kandy.
We headed to the airport with great excitement as we had been waiting so long for this trip to finally materialise. We had not told the girls that we had bid for an upgrade to Business Class so they were super excited and overjoyed with this unexpected treat!
The flag of Sri Lanka, also called the Sinha Flag or Lion Flag, consists of a golden lion holding a kastane sword in its right fore-paw in a maroon background with four gold bo leaves, one in each corner.
Go To: Ahangama
