10 Cool Things To Do In Colombo

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               We arrived at Colombo International Airport in the middle of the nigh, after a three hour plane trip from Bangkok. We had booked a cheap hotel in Colombo 6 (Col 6) – Wellawatta, which turned out to be really bad! It was just beside the train tracks, and we could hear EVERYTHING – the trains, people, dogs and whatever else making noise outside and inside the hotel! Needless to say we did not get much sleep that first night. But since we only had one and half day to explore the Sri Lankan capital, we just had to get up in the morning, put on our sandals, hail a tuk-tuk on the street, and head into downtown Colombo!
 

The first day we just wandered around the streets of Colombo, with no particular purpose. The second day we did some tuk-tuk sightseeing around the city, and took the express train down to Galle in the afternoon. Here are 10 cool things to do in Colombo:

1. National Museum

The beautiful building that houses the National Museum, was built in 1876 and founded by the British governor of Sri Lanka at the time. It is the largest museum in Sri Lanka. Surrounding this amazing building is a lovely and peaceful courtyard.
 

Inside the museum are statues and exhibits telling the story of ancient Sri Lanka. The museum also displays items own by the former royal family of Sri Lanka, like the kings golden throne and crown.
 

2. Beautiful colonial buildings

All around downtown Colombo there are huge monumental buildings dating back to the Dutch and British era of Sri Lanka.
 

3. Independence Memorial Hall

Sri Lanka got its independence from Britain in 1948, and this huge stone building surrounded by a peaceful garden is a monument to that. In front of it is a statue of Sri Lankas first president, “The Father of the Nation”. This hall is used for religious events and the annual national day celebration. For us the place was a nice escape from the noise and crowds of Colombos streets, as there was hardly anyone there.
 

4. Gangaramaya Temple

The Buddhist temple Gangaramaya consists of several buildings, and is a bustling temple complex filled with an enormous amount of things. Some of which are frankly pretty strange and a little scary.  It includes for instance a library, a museum and a display hall of gifts received from devotees and well-wishers over the years. The temple has a LOT of buddhas, in stone, white plastic and gold. I don`t think I have ever seen so many buddhas in one place!

All the gifts from devotees are on display all around the temple, including a lot of things made of ivory!
 

In one corner there is even a sad-looking elephant, actually a stuffed real elephant! Not as nice as the real ones out in the wild! Very weird!

5. Beira Lake

Close to the Gangaramaya Temple, in the heart of Colombo, is a huge lake – Beira Lake. In the middle of the lake is a small island containing the Simamalaka Shrine, which was build from donations made of a Muslim sponsor. The lake connects with other lakes through narrow canals, and ends up in the Indian sea. In the colonial era the lake and its canals were used for transporting goods within the city, and it still has its Portugese name Beira. A really nice and peaceful place to sit and have a sightseeing break, with a crazy green colored water! We were temped to go with one of the duck paddle boats that were for rent, but we backed out :).
 

6. Old Dutch Hospital

After all this sightseeing and wandering the busy and crowded streets of Colombo, it was nice to have lunch at the Old Dutch Hospital. This is considered one of the oldest buildings in the Colombo Fort area, dating back to the Dutch colonial era (ca. 1681). Today it houses nice restaurants and cafes, and cool shops. We had the lunch special – chicken biryani with watalappan for dessert, delicious!
 

7. Wandering the streets of Pettah
 
It is a real adventure full of sound, smells and people watching just to walk around the streets of Colombo. We went to the old quarter Pettah, and plunged into the madness of shops, stalls and markets! Fun and exciting! It can eventually become a bit overwhelming, so my advise is to plan for breaks in between to get your head straight from all the chaos.
 

8. Street ice cream

When the heat is about to knock you out, it is refreshing with a cold ice cream from one of the ice cream vans cycling all over Colombo. Yummi!!

9. Tuk-tuk ride

It is pretty tiring walking around Colombo in the heat, and the tuk-tuks are EVERYWHERE and real easy to find! They are the main transportation for both locals and tourists, and they are also a lot of fun. Wherever you walk in Colombo, tuk-tuks will stop by you and the driver will ask you if you want a lift, not one time but like ALL the time! And if you don`t answer (yeah, it is possible to get a bit fed up with this), they will ask you again just louder.

We ended up taking tuk-tuk most places we went in Colombo. Riding a tuk-tuk is great fun, especially after dark!

10. Galle Face Green

Galle Face Green is a long stretch of green lawn next to the narrow beach and sea promenade in Colombo. Originally it was cleared by the Dutch to give the canons clear sight, but today it is a nice and peaceful place perfect for walking, running, playing football, kite flying and cricket. The promenade is packed with couples and families taking a stroll in the afternoons, especially Sundays. It is a great place to watch the sunset.

Along the promenade there are also a lot of food vendors, selling great street food at a cheap price! Some of the places even have tables on the pavement. We had indian food at one of those places, really delicious!
 

We had a nice one and a half day in Colombo, but the city  just never really won us over. If you want to see it, I think one or two days is probably enough time.


Would you like to go Colombo Tour? Please mail your comment in the my mail box below,  ( basuratravels@gmail.com ) I can help you it. Thank you! If you like this blog post, or find it useful, please share it on social media!

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Beach Paradise – Mirissa

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             Picture yourself slipping into a hammock with a coconut in your hand, gently rocking in the breeze, just laying there watching the days and weeks go peacefully by. Yep, that`s Mirissa beach in a nutshell!

We came to Mirissa, the third Sri Lankan beach we visited, after Unawatuna Beach and Jungle Beach. We had high hopes for Mirissa, as we thought Unawatuna beach was too crowded and busy. Luckily Mirissa met our expectations! It is a really nice beach, with a relaxed and laidback atmosphere. Along the beach are plenty of small restaurants and cafes, serving delicious and fresh sea food. After dark the restaurants put out tables on the beach, light lanterns and candles, and serve sea food barbecues. Really nice!
 

The beach is fairly large with plenty of space to put out towels, lay down and just relax and watch the beach life roll by. Mirissa is designed for simply sitting and being! If one really wants to get up and do some action, the water is very clear which makes it perfect to go snorkeling around the small reefs and rocks.
 

The waves at Mirissa beach can be pretty big, and the beach is popular for surfing at some places, especially at the western end of the bay.

I must admit, neither of us have been too fan of coconuts. We have given it a try a couple of times in Asia, especially in Thailand, but never really gotten a hang for them. So we were a little skeptical when our driver on the way to Mirissa stopped  at a coconut seller, and bought three coconuts. Well, there was no other way out of the situation than to smile, say thank you and drink up. We were both really surprised how good it tasted, much better then the ones we have tried before in Thailand! The difference is that the once in Sri Lanka are yellow, and not the young green once they sell in Thailand.

So after that “mind-blowing” coconut experience, we drank coconuts every day in Sri Lanka! “One coconut a day keeps the doctor away!” (as a coconut seller said to us…..)

At one end of the Mirissa Beach was a small island, that one could walk out to in between some rocks. Really nice walk up, and good view at the top overlooking the beach and the sea.
 

We really enjoyed our three days stay at Mirissa. Loved the laid back atmosphere and great sea food restaurants that popped up along the beach each evening! We liked Mirissa much better than Unawatuna, and some say Mirissa is a good glimpse of what Unawatuna was like 15 years ago. Hopefully Mirissa will stay this way forever so that more people can enjoy its nice and relaxing vibe!


Would you like to go Mirissa Beach? Please mail your comment in the my mail box below, ( basuratravels@gmail.com ) I can help you it. Thank you! If you like this blog post, or find it useful, please share it on social media!

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Would You Like A Cup of Sri Lankan Tea ?

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          Have you ever wondered where your cup of tea comes from, and how it is produced? Welcome to Sri Lanka`s Hill Country, home of the famous Lipton tea! Or maybe you know Sri Lankan tea as “Ceylon Tea”, as it is branded internationally.

 

• Tea History

Tea first came to Sri Lanka in 1824, for a botanical exhibit, planted by the British. At that time, nobody had any idea what kind of impact the introducing of this plant would have to Sri Lanka. The real tea production began in 1867 after a disease had destroyed a lot of the coffee plantations on the island. British plantation owners soon found out that the Hill Country`s climate, high altitude and hillsides were perfect for tea growing.

Sri Lankan tea soon became more and more popular in London and the rest of tea-drinking Britain, making tea production spiral upwards. The early growers obviously managed to do something smart with their branding, as almost everybody worldwide has heard of Lipton Tea!
Tea is BIG business today

Sri Lanka was in 2008 the second most important tea producing country in the world, producing 330 million kilograms each year! Today it is no. 4. Pretty amazing for such a small country if you ask me!

On all the walks we did around Ella, we walked through huge fields of tea plants! There were lush and green tea plants as far as the eye could see. It was like being surrounded by a green sea of tea! So beautiful!
 

Sri Lankan tea is considered better quality and is therefore more expensive than tea from India, the worlds market leader within tea production. The Sri Lankan tea crop is valued to 1 billion US$ yearly, and is 15% of the country`s economy.

Today the tea industry in Sri Lanka gives work to more than one million people, about 5% of the entire population, so it is important for the people of Sri Lanka. The tea pickers wages are very low though, only around 3 US$ each day. It is expected that each of them pick a minimum of 20 kg of leaves per day.
 

When the British tea owners started tea production in Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese did not want to work in the tea plantations. So the British brought a huge amount of Tamils from India. Even today most tea workers are Tamils.

The tea plantations cover approximately 1900 km² of Sri Lanka, primarily in the Hill Country where the growing conditions are best. On our walks we met a lot of tea pickers, mainly Tamil women, but also some men. They were moving elegantly through the rows of tea bushes picking the leaves and buds at an impressive speed!
 

• Types of Tea

Besides producing various types of black tea, Sri Lanka also produces green tea and white tea. From our walking guide we learned that the tea pickers pick the entire green leaf off the tree, but only the smallest and freshest tea leafs on top of the branch becomes white tea. The rest becomes green or black tea. That explains why white tea is more expensive than green and black tea.

This small tip of the plant, is all that will be used for white tea.

They also pick tea flowers, which give a particular flavor to the tea, like the one our guide is showing here.
 

• Visiting a Tea Factory and Buying Tea

We visited one of the tea factories in Ella, Newburgh Green Tea Factory. The tour cost 250 rupees, and lasted about half an hour. The Newburgh estate is more than 100 years old, established in 1884, and the factory in 1903. On the tour we were shown the whole production process. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside the factory, but I will try to explain what we saw and learned.

Inside the factory tea leaves were spread out on mats on the floor, in huge piles. First the leaves were demoisturiesed by blowing air through them at a fixed temperature in a huge and noisy machine. The partly dried leaves were then crushed, and more heat were added to the leaves, making them turn coppery brown. With even more heat they became black/ brown, as we are used seeing the tea.

From the tea leaves are picked, till they are processed and placed in bags for shipping, takes around 24 hours. There is a definite art to the whole tea producing process, which has been refined and evolved over decades, making tea what it is today.

We also learned that tea are graded by size and quality, from cheap dust till more expensive leaf tea. The whole leaves are best, and the young tips are the very best. Tea grading does`t stop there, oh no, it is also categorised into low-grown (under 600 m), mid-grown and high-grown (over 1200m). The low-grown is apparently high in body but low in flavour, and the high-grown are more slowly grown and have more flavour. Well, that kind of makes sense or?

I also bought some green tea in the factory, and have a cup each morning on our travel. It tastes really good! A pack of 200 g cost 200 Sri Lankan Rupees. On the tour we were given a cup of tea and a pamphlet mentioning all the health benefits of green tea. There are a lot of benefits from a cup of green tea, which can help with/ prevent: Weight loss, Diabetes, Heart disease, Oesophageal cancer, Cholesterol, Tooth decay, Bloody pressure, Depression, Skincare and Anti-viral and Anti-bacerial! So drink more green tea you guys!
 

I really love tea, and drink it every day, as I don`t like coffee. It was very fun and interesting for me learning and seeing how tea is grown and produced! I also enjoyed meeting the tea pickers on our hikes.


Have you ever tried Sri Lankan tea? Maybe their famous Lipton Tea, or Dilmah? Would love to hear what kind of tea you like the most in the comment area below! & Would you like to Visiting a Tea Factory? Please mail to my mail box below, ( basuratravels@gmail.com ) I can help you it. If you like this blog post, and find it useful, please share and like it on social media! Thank you so much!

.................................................................................................................................

Hi ! Everybody !!!!
Tell Your Friends Join this Web Site. Share this Pictures Ur friends.
Im Tour Organizer in Sri lanka.
So you like travel to Lanka? I can help you.
We given to you Booking Hotel Rooms & Tour Transport.
Please Visit my Facebook & website get more details.
FB Page - www.facebook.com/lankapicturespage
Website - http://lankapicturespage.blogspot.com
http://lankavideospage.blogspot.com
My mail is - basuratravels@gmail.com
T:p :-  +94 0776 714 227
Thanks!