Afternoon Tea at the Mount Lavinia Hotel

mount_lavinia_hotel_sunset (Photo credit: Chonil Weerawansa)

Today I am blogging from the famous Mount Lavinia Hotel.  This amazing white building was built by a British governor in 1805 to be his house.  This governor fell in love with a local lady here and named this mansion after her.  The beach here is spectacular, bit it is not recommended to swim here due to the strong current.  This beach is just a 10 minute ride from the Fort Railway Station and costs US$0.38.  This area is great for a quick get away from Colombo.

The governor’s palace, Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Day 4 in Paradise

Narigama beach, Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka (Photo credit: Mydaas!)

Hikkaduwa morning (Photo credit: Shreyans Bhansali)

Hikkaduwa (Photo credit: Photosightfaces)

English: Fishing boats near the Hikkaduwa beach. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Hikkaduwa beach by sunset. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The beach at Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Hikkaduwa beach. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: seema malaka temple, colombo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Gangaramaya temple in Colombo (Photo credit: Dhammika Heenpella / Images of Sri Lanka)

Gangaramaya temple in Colombo (Photo credit: Dhammika Heenpella / Images of Sri Lanka)

Yesterdays highlight included seeing my high school.  To my surprise the school nurse is still there and remembered me.  I then found my second house and happened to spot the president at Gangaramaya Temple for his birthday.

Today we are off to buy our train tickets for Hikkaduwa to find the site of where my 10th grade Geography field trip was held.

Gangaramaya Temple – Monk in the Morning Mist (Photo credit: tantonr)

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Back in Sri Lanka Day 2 and Day 3

World Trade Center twin towers with the Bank of Ceylon tower to their left and the Presidential Secretariat in the foreground, Colombo, Sri Lanka (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: The Colombo World Trade Center in Sri Lanka. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Galle Face Hotel, Colombo, Sri Lanka Français : Galle Face Hotel, Colombo, Sri Lanka (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Galle Face Hotel, Colombo, Sri Lanka Français : Galle Face Hotel, Colombo, Sri Lanka (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The entrance of the Galle Fave Hotel, Colombo, Sri Lanka. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have to say that Sri Lanka is growing.  Growing is a good thing.  After many years of war, it is good to see a World Trade Center up, and a Hyatt being built.  The Galle Face Hotel which was built in 1864 is under renovations.

Today I am off to see the high school I graduated from, the Overseas School.  Lets see if any of my teachers are still there.  Later on, I am having a small gathering at the Colombo Swimming Club which was the main hang out for my school.

English: Galle Face Hotel seen on the way. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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How Old is Sri Lanka?

Sigiriya, Sri Lanka (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sri Lanka Traditional Drum (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is just 8 days before I leave and I want to know how much you know about Sri Lanka.  You will be allowed to take this quiz till the day before I leave.  On the evening of Nov 11 (on Korea time), I will reveal the correct answer.

English: Buddha statue in Vatadage, Polonnawura, Sri Lanka Français : Statue du Bouddha dans le Vatadage, Polonnawura, Sri Lanka (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Sri Lankan Culture

Sri Lankan Mask (Photo credit: A.Davey)

Trincomalee beach, Sri Lanka (Photo credit: james_gordon_losangeles)

The Kandy Perehara – Colombo, Sri Lanka (Photo credit: whl.travel)

Elephants in Sri Lanka, so presumably Sri Lankan Elephants. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was just doing some research on Sri Lankan culture for this memoir when I came across an article on Wikipedia that badly needed editing, so I decided to edit it.  Here is the the work in progress: Culture of Sri Lanka.

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Places to Visit in Bangkok, Sri Lanka, and Maldives

Photographs from Maldives (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Photographs from Maldives (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Photographs from Maldives (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Photographs from Maldives (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Maldives (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Photographs from Maldives (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sorry for posting a blog more than once in a day.  I try not to do this as I know you are all very busy people, but I wanted to post this before I get more busy today.  This is my revised schedule.  Again, please let me know if you think I am missing anything.  Another reminder to 28 days to go!.

Day	Place	Areas to Cover
Day 1 ~ Day 4	Bangkok	·                 Palaces ·                 Temples
Day 4 ~ Day 6	Colombo	·                 Temples in Colombo
Day 7	OSC	·                  Visiting Overseas School (my high school)
Day 8 ~ Day 12	Southern beaches	·                  Galle Fort ·                  Yala National Park ·                  Bentota ·                  Mt Lavinia
Day 12 ~ Day 17	Hill country	·                  Adam’s Peak ·                  Horton Plains ·                  Nuwara Eliya ·                  Uda National Park
Day 17 ~ Day 19	Kandy	·                  Kandy ·                  Elephant orphanage ·                  Sinharaja Forest
Day 19 ~ Day 24	Cultural Triangle	·                  Dambulla ·                  Polanarua ·                  Annaradnapura
Day 24 ~ Day 22	Colombo
Day 22 ~ Day 26	Maldives	·                  Maldives
Day 26 ~ Day 29	Colombo

Map of the Area I be Visiting

Traffic waiting at a busy intersection in central Bangkok. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

32 days to go!

Sri Lanka – Galle (Photo credit: iris0327)

In exactly 32 days I will be embarking on my adventure.  So much still needs to be done but I am getting more and more excited each day.   Here is a video that tells a lot what Sri Lanka is like.  Can you name all the places in it?  I can and have been to all of them.  Can’t wait to see of them again on my 20 year anniversary from when I graduated from high school in paradise. Who will be joining me during my journey?

Post by LankaModel.info.

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An Interview with an Indian Tamil

Just recently, I had the opportunity to meet an intriguing man who has found me from this blog and contacted me through Facebook. 

He invited me to his house for lunch in Seoul where he served me parota and chicken curry. 

Chicken Curry, Southern Indian Style

 

Parota, a Southern Indian Type Bread

A traditional southern Indian food he made from scratch.  It really made me miss Sri Lanka more.  In just over a month now, I will be eating all the rice and curry I can eat. 

Next, we talked about his hometown in Tamil Nadu.  Amazingly they only make US$2 or less a day.  I was then told that he already has two masters’ degrees and is now getting his PhD in Molecule Biology and plans to graduate next year.  He has definitely come a long way.  With Tamil being his first language, I was quite surprised how articulate he was in English.

He then went on to say how he illegally road a boat from this providence to Jaffna.  Not just once, but twice he took the trip.  He went on to say that, the trip took only 20 minutes and there were many islands that you could almost walk across to get from India to Sri Lanka.  “The Sri Lankan Navy is always on the lookout for people who try to cross.  You are very likely to be killed”, he said. 

The Area he Crossed from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka

 

 

Where is Sri Lanka?

English: Location map of Sri Lanka. Equirectangular projection. Strechted by 101.0%. Geographic limits of the map: N: 10.2° N S: 5.5° N W: 79.2° E E: 82.3° E Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Location of Sri Lanka. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Map of the Indian Ocean (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Location map for Sri Lanka. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

An enlargeable topographic map of Sri Lanka (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Lately I have discovered that not everyone knows where Sri Lanka is.  Sri Lanka is in south Asia and is located in the Indian Ocean just south of India.  Sri Lanka is also not part of India but is its own country.  Here are a few maps to help you get started on how you may want to fly there.  During the war it was nick named “Tear Drop” because of its shape and because it was “crying” from the war.  The war ended in 2009 so instead of “Tear Drop”, it is now “Beautiful Eye”.

 

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