Sri Lanka Tour

I took a Gate 1 tour of southern Sri Lanka (map) and then a private tour of northern Sri Lanka (pronounced Sree––rhymes with “free”––Lanka). I became interested in visiting Sri Lanka by having met on other tours one who lives there now (and who I had phone contact with on my trip) and others who had lived in Sri Lanka. I also read a very interesting book on when the British were there––”The Tea Planter’s Wife” by Dinah Jefferies. But before my trip, the most that I knew about the country was that it was an island off India, it used to be known as Ceylon, it is known for its Ceylon tea, and that it had a brutal civil war which was now over, so that left much to discover.

Getting There

It was a very long trip from Los Angeles to Colombo, Sri Lanka. I flew on Singapore Airlines from LA with a stopover first in Tokyo (11 hours, 45 minutes), where we had to take all our belongings off the plane, wait inside the airport for two hours after going through security, and then board the same plane and take our same seats. Then on to Singapore (7 hours, 40 minutes with an almost 5–hour stopover in Singapore) and next on to Colombo (3 hours, 50 minutes), for a total LA to Colombo time of 29 hours and 5 minutes––I left LA on January 13 and arrived in Colombo on January 15. We arrived in Singapore at 3:35 a.m., with very little open at the airport. I did find a  Burger King open and ate breakfast at it. Then a Coffee Bean opened and I had a chocolate croissant to get rid of the taste of my Burger King meal. Other people on my tour took other airlines and routes, the majority going through Dubai (some took a tour of Dubai on their way to Sri Lanka), one through Hong Kong, and one couple through Qatar. I didn’t ask everyone so I am sure that there were other exotic ways to get to Sri Lanka from the United States and Canada. Photo taken at the Singapore Airport.

Singapore Changi Airport

There are various things to do at Singapore’s Changi Airport. One is to look at the gardens of flowers and plants. Another is to visit the Butterfly Garden, though you have to carry your carry–on bag down a number of steps to visit the garden, so I didn’t see it and the butterflies would probably have been asleep at 3 a.m. It became a more interesting airport later in the morning when the stores began to open. I couldn’t find where the train was from one terminal to another one that my flight would be leaving from so a tourist helper helped me. When I returned to Changi Airport on my return, I knew exactly how to find it so I felt like a veteran traveler. Note: If you on a series of flights and one of the flights is on an airline that doesn’t have the same letter code as the airline that would let you into an airport lounge (my flight to Colombo was on Silk Air), ask when you check in for your first flight to put on your boarding pass that you are eligible to use the lounge. I was denied access to the Star Alliance lounge. Photo: a very pretty flower garden at the airport.

Sri Lanka Languages

There are three main languages used in Sri Lanka: Sinhala, Tamil, and English. Sometimes you see all three languages on a sign, sometimes only Sinhala and Tamil or only one of the two, and sometimes only English. You see all three on the sign in the photo.

Heritance Negombo

Our first night of our tour was spent in Negombo, which is closer to the airport than is Colombo. We stayed on the beach at the very nice Heritance Negombo hotel.

Heritance Negombo Sculptures

The hotel had delightful sculptures on its outside. Photo: two of them.

Heritance Negombo Sculptures

Another sculpture.

Heritance Negombo Sculptures

And another.

Heritance Negombo

The view from my hotel room.

On the Beach

A raft on the beach. People would climb on it but I never saw it in the water. One of the hotel staff told me that sometimes it is taken out. The beach here is not for swimming.

On the Beach

Closer–up of the raft.

Our Tour Director, Shyam

On the fourth day of my trip, I met both our great tour director, Shyam, and also other members of my tour. This was a small group tour with a maximum of 22 people on it. We had 21. There was seven from Toronto, Canada––one who used to live in Toronto but now living in Hong Kong, 10 from California (for some reason, Californians have been well represented on many of the tours I have taken), and four from other states. It was a very friendly and interesting group to travel with. Sri Lanka was not as hot as I thought it would be or as humid, but it was hot and it was humid though, for me, quite bearable. I didn’t need even a light jacket during the day or the night.

Saint Mary’s Church

Our first stop: St. Mary’s Catholic Church, with construction starting in 1874 and completing in 1922, both dates during the British occupation of Sri Lanka. The state religion of Sri Lanka is Buddhism, but there is freedom of religion. From the 2011 census, 70.2% of Sri Lankans are Buddhists, 12.6% are Hindus, 9.7% are Muslims, and 7.4% are Christians, with 6.1% of them Roman Catholics. In 2008, Sri Lanka was considered the third most religious country in the world. In Negombo, you see many Roman Catholic Churches as the majority population in Negombo is Roman Catholic, so much so that Negombo is nicknamed “Little Rome.” Christianity was introduced in Sri Lanka by Thomas the Apostle during the first century, then promoted by Portuguese missionaries in the 15th century, the Dutch in 17th century, and the British in the 18th–20th centuries.

Saint Mary’s Church

The Stations of the Cross in Saint Mary’s Church were ceramic sculptures.

Saint Sculptures

There were also a number of sculptures of saints in the church. This one was of Saint Joan of Arc.

Saint Sebastian Church

The second church that we visited in Negombo was the Saint Sebastian Roman Catholic Church which was patterned after the Reims Cathedral in France and  built in 1946 during British rule. We visited the Negombo Fish Market between our church visits, but I have added Saint Sebastian to the slide show that Saint Mary’s is on.

For the slideshow “Negombo Churches,” go to  http://www.peggysphotos.com/negombo–churches/   (Slide Shows, Asia–2, Sri Lanka, Negombo, “Negombo Fish Market”).

Tsunami Warning Tower

We saw this tower on our way to the Negombo Fish Market. On December 26, 2004, a tsunami hit Indonesia, Thailand, India, and Sri Lanka with more than 30,000 deaths in Sri Lanka alone (though we heard it was about 50,000 deaths). Sri Lanka had two hours warning that a tsunami was coming but had no tsunami warning system by which to alert the residents. Now they do and this tower is part of the system.

Negombo Fish Market

The gate to the Negombo Fish Market, which was our stop between visiting the Roman Catholic churches.

Negombo Fish Market

Inside the fish market and with the Sri Lanka people. Sri Lanka is made up of many ethnicities: Sinhalese, 74.9%; Sri Lanka Tamils, 11.2%; Sri Lanka Moors, 9.3%; Indian Tamils, 4.1%; Sri Lanka Malays, 0.2%; Burghers and Europeans, 0.2%; and other groups, 0.1%. Arab traders and colonialism added to a diverse group of people. The Portuguese controlled Sri Lanka from 1506 to 1658, the Dutch from 1658 to 1796, and the British from 1796 to 1948. Sri Lanka gained its independence from the British in 1948 and changed its name from Ceylon to Sri Lanka in 1972 when it became a republic. Sri Lanka means “resplendent island.” Its population today is about 20 million. Sri Lanka is considered to be a developing country.

Negombo Fish Market

Fishermen untangling their nets on the beach outside the fish market.

Negombo Fish Market

Fish is dried on the beach on coconut mats. Dried fish is used in rice dishes and in curries.

For the slideshow on the Negombo Fish Market, go to http://www.peggysphotos.com/negombo–fish–market/  (Slide Shows, Asia–2, Sri Lanka, Negombo, “Negombo Fish Market”).

Evening Time

Watching the sun set on the Indian Ocean from my hotel room.