As I was planning to get a summer break some where
by the sea, Sri Lanka was knocking my mind subconsciously. Though summer
is not an ideal time to visit the country, I could not disregard my long cherished wish to get a taste of Sri Lankan heritage.
On the day of Bangla new year, that is 14th of April in English Calendar, I along with my husband and my 8 months old toddler started from Hazrat Shahjalal Int Airport, Dhaka to Bandarnaike Int Airport, Colombo. Journey was smooth and it took 3 hours and 20 minutes. We reserved a cottage room earlier over internet and a hotel representative came to receive us from airport. It took a 45 minutes car drive from airport to Ziegler Cottage located in the town of Negombo.
Well, I have always been a backpack traveler and I never preferred a luxurious and comfortable hotel before. Rather I like to spend less on hotels and more on traveling. But this time our little kiddo precious was with us. So while choosing hotels over internet, we gave priority on choosing a comfortable, less noisy place for him and a soothing sea view for us. Ziegler cottage seemed to be the best one considering price and location. It has an amazing backyard and behind that is the sea. So the evening was well spent in veranda and back yard with the mystic sound of the sea. We ended up the day with a sea food dinner.
Early in the morning, we went to the beach and had some fine playful time there.I would say that the beaches in Sri Lanka are not so very suitable for bath and the sea too is quite rough.
Colombo seemed to has insufficient street lighting systems for night. So, we could not have a clear sight of the city that night but it appeared to be an organized and neat city to us. We had a good time at Arcade- Independence Square. It is two storied old building renovated as a mall. So the place has an antique styled architecture and yards with status and fountains. Returned to Negombo at mid night after having dinner at McDonalds.
Next
day we went out to taste more sea foods. We were suggested a nearby
seafood restaurant named Choy's. Enjoyed lunch with Shrimp and Cuttle
fish. In the afternoon, we hired the car again for Colombo. We spent the
evening visiting World trade Center, Colombo and having a city tour by
car. We brought some dry fish and local spices to take back to home
from a super store named Arpico,had dinner at Burger King and returned
to Negombo.
Sea Food |
The fourth
and the last day was the day that we had a tour in the town and
surroundings of Negombo. There are many old churches and Buddhist
temples with wonderful architectural views. Though we had a sight of the
Dutch canal while going to Colombo, this day we went to visit the
canal. It is old canel built in the dutch period for transporting goods
particularly cement to the port. There is a gate at the end of the canal
now called Dutch gate which has an European architecture. A part of the
gate is inside the prison now. There is small Dutch church nearby.
As
it got dark in the evening, we went for some shopping in local stores.
Sri Lanka is good for dry fish and spices. At night we went
to Choy's again and had our sea food dinner there.
We catched the flight next morning at 7:15 and returned home.
From internet and other sources, I am informed of many other
amazing places to be seen in Sri Lanka. But most of the attractions
could not be visited as we had our kid with us and there was extreme
summer heat. We thank Ziegler Cottage for making our stay very
comfortable there with the kid.
TIPS for TOURIST:
- If you visit Sri Lanka in summer specially in March-April, be prepared about the extreme heat.
- Try out fish and sea foods as much as you can. They really taste great !
- It costs around 5000 LKR from Negombo to Colombo and returning back by a rented car.
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