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Best Places to Visit in Lovable Sri Lanka

July 18, 2018 Kathleen Poon Destinations, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is simply lovable. I’m very fond of Sri Lanka – its gentle and lovely people, laid-back lifestyle, rich ancient history and culture, delicious spicy foods and fantastic beaches. As such, I don’t have anything negative to say about Sri Lanka. Whenever anyone mentions this tear-drop island nation in the Indian Ocean, I wish I’m back on the island again. My first trip to Sri Lanka was in 2009 – barely five months after the civil war had ended – every now and then, our vehicle was stopped at various checkpoints in the city for inspections. It was a

An Evening at Temple of the Tooth, Kandy

October 22, 2014 Kathleen Poon Destinations, Sri Lanka

Temple of the Tooth in Kandy – no visit to Sri Lanka especially Kandy, is complete without visiting this temple. The temple is actually a royal palace complex, a former palace of the Kandyan kingdom, and it houses the relic tooth of Buddha. The relic is very significant in the politics of ancient Sri Lankan kingdom that whoever holds the tooth governs the country. The Temple of the Tooth is also a UNESCO world heritage site. The first time I came to Sri Lanka in 2009, I had visited this temple during the day. Here’s the entrance of the royal

In Pictures: Polonnaruwa…and Duran Duran

October 16, 2014 Kathleen Poon Destinations, Sri Lanka

Duran Duran…that got your attention, didn’t it? Well, hold that thought and I will explain shortly 🙂 We were on the quest of visiting and exploring UNESCO heritage sites in Sri Lanka. After 2 days of visiting Dambulla Caves and climbing up Sigiriya the Lion Rock in the Central Province, our drive went slightly further up to North Central Province. The drive from Peradeniya to Polonnaruwa was about 3-4 hours. For this excursion, we had to wake up earlier than previous days, thus we set off at 7am. We stopped en route to have breakfast, and thank goodness, we did

Sigiriya The Lion Rock

October 12, 2014 Kathleen Poon Destinations, Sri Lanka

Picking up from where I left off in chronicling the Sri Lanka holiday – we saw the beautiful Sinhala frescoes and Buddha statues in Dambulla Caves – we continued to move on to Sigiriya, only just 30 minutes drive from Dambulla. Sigiriya is a massive rock of 600 feet high and top of the rock was once a palace of King Kasyapa dated back to 5th century, The King built a gateway to his palace in the form of a lion, hence Sigiriya is also called the Lion Rock in Sinhala. The entire site was built as a palace and

Dambulla Caves: Buddha Statues and Impressive Sinhala Art

September 21, 2014 Kathleen Poon Destinations, Sri Lanka

We felt fresh in the morning – had a good night sleep and ate a hearty breakfast of toast, egg roti and a cup of tea (lots of tea here in Sri Lanka!) – and most of all, we were excited. We had read quite a bit on the UNESCO sites prior coming to Sri Lanka and it was our intention to see these places. We discussed with our host’s daughter, Michelle, the evening before, and she offered to arrange for a private car and driver to take us to Dambulla Caves, Sigiriya and Kandy city for US$65 a day.

Kandy Guesthouse In Idyllic Peradeniya

September 17, 2014 Kathleen Poon Destinations, Sri Lanka

In my last post on our arrival in Peradeniya Railway Station after a 3-hour train journey from Colombo, we were whisked off by our host’s driver to our accommodation for the next 3 nights. We stayed at Kandy Guesthouse, reachable from Peradeniya within 5 minutes’ drive while Kandy is only 15 minutes away. Peradeniya is famous for the Royal Botanical Gardens and is the location of the University of Peradeniya which is the second oldest in the country. We came across Kandy Guesthouse when we were browsing for accommodation options on the net. Its 4.5 stars on Tripadvisor helped quite

It’s Always Pleasant in Sri Lanka

September 10, 2014 Kathleen Poon Destinations, Sri Lanka

The first time I visited Sri Lanka was in October 2009. The 25-year civil war had ended just 5 months prior to my visit. Sri Lanka was in my travel bucket list for quite some time but it was way down the list because of the war. Until a friend of mine from India who had travelled to Sri Lanka several times for business reassured us that it was safe for tourists, war or no war…and he offered to travel along with us at that time. When I arrived in Sri Lanka in 2009, I fell in love with the

In Pictures: Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, Sri Lanka

October 20, 2013 Kathleen Poon Destinations, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a beautiful island and I came to this island just as the civil war ended. When I arrived in Colombo in Oct 2009, there was something different about the capital city. It didn’t feel like a capital city but like a beach city. There were cars, traffic, skyscrapers, however, it felt different like the wind was blowing my hair and all my worries flew away. The city puts you in a different mood altogether. As the days went on, I was so glad that the war ended in May (5 months before I arrived) because this tear-drop