Sri Lanka: A Complete Travel Guide to Cherish This Treasure of Tropics

There is a spot in Hikkaduwa beach, right in front of the Hotel Trans Hikkaduwa, where these giant turtles come up on the beach to greet the Thalassophile. But for this you should have luck on your side, as sometime they come, sometime they don't. It's a matter of luck. It was heavily raining, but I kept my fingers crossed. It was my last day in Hikkaduwa so was my last chance to see him. So I couldn't afford a pathetic 'Give Up'. This meeting saddened me. I saw how this Human Race is being the biggest threat to every strata of food pyramid . Kids were jumping on them. Some were forcefully dragging it onto beach to take photographs. A Spanish lady ( no less than 190 lbs) sat on its shell to take selfie, refusing to offer minimum respect and tenderness to this beautiful, ancient, marine creature.

You can consider the Galle city as a slice of Europe enveloped with tropical essence. Europeans have been here for a along time. It was initially built by Portuguese for the protection against the kingdom of Sri Lanka. Later, the Dutch community enlarged it in size and gave it a form it is in today. It's a World Heritage Center and people believe that the word 'Galle' derives from the word 'Gala', a Sinhala word that means rock.

This small city is lovely, colorful and spreads a charm of rich European history in its own way. While strolling through the narrow alley streets I had a strange feeling of medieval city in Europe. Galle fort isn't just a fort. It has post office, hotels, cafeteria, police station, hospitals, clock tower, alluring shops and restaurants and what not inside it. It's more a small city than just a fort.

There were temples, churches and mosques inside the fort, making this place a pot of melting fused culture. Galle fort represents a frame showing how many religions can peacefully live side by side in one place.

The Boat safari in Madhu river in motor powered boat is a relaxing trip. You will pass through a plenty of mangrove caves and stop at multiple destinations. On this ride you can see how the local people use their techniques for prawn farming and traditional fishing. In this river there is abundance of wild animals like water monitors, small crocodiles, wild monkeys and birds like kingfisher, Hawk eagles and Comarans.

This boat trip halts at following spots:

(a) The family living in Cinnamon Island would demonstrate cinnamon peeling and rope making. You need to pay no entrance fee to visit cinnamon farm. But if possible buy some product from them like cinnamon oil, cinnamon stick or powdered cinnamon at the end of demonstration. It doesn't cost much and your kind gesture would encourage the farmers to continue and enrich their tradition in long run.

(b) Amidst the bustle of tourists seeking sea, sun and beer desperately, this little island sits peacefully in the lap of Madhu river offering the faithful a devoted time of prayer and meditation at Kothduwa Temple. The Buddhist and the history has an age of almost 200 years.

(c) The fish farm offers the tourists a sensual fish spa on the river itself. The river is barricaded in small sections with thousand of Thelapiya and Mosambique fish. They will eat up your dead cells off your feet. This amazing farm allows the tourists to enjoy spa in fresh river water. There is no such feeling like this in world, trust me. Your tired feet will get a million and one reasons to be happy. While writing these lines I can still feel that tickling sensation. However you have to pay Rs. 200 for no strict time limit.

Once a turtle is grown up in natural habitat with proper food and good health they release it back in sea. Alongside, they rescue severely injured or seriously ill sea turtles and treat them properly. Sri Lanka has truly exemplified the manner of maintaining animals and natural habitats.

This site attracts huge Asian tourists from Thailand, Indonesia, Japan and China with deep rooted devotion in Buddhism. During prayer the heavily guarded room housing Buddha's tooth is open to tourists and devotees. However, you can not see the tooth as it is kept in a golden stupa. The temple complex gets over crowded during prayer. It receives a big rush of worshippers, Buddhist monks, tourists, backpackers, all jostling for space.

If you are an art and culture lover, Kandy is a superb place to indulge in Sri Lankan traditional cultural show. The male and female dancers in beautiful glittery costumes perform high energy traditional Sri Lankan dance with Drummers, fire walkers and high pitched folk songs. This show is not very expensive and definitely quite entertaining ( not outstanding, I must say). Go for prior booking to get the front row seats. After performance the artists pose with tourists for photographs and politely ask for tips.

Kandy is also famed for a beautiful, giant Botanical garden and some spice farms. You can also visit Gem shops for buying jewellery and wooden craft house for colorful small souvenir back home.

Different historical theories exist in support of the founder of this rock fortress. However, majorly it is believed that this was built by King Kuwera, who was father of Ravana. The hiking up to the Sigirya highest point is a steep affair. It's a not so easy matter of 1200 steps. But it leads to astounding panoramic view. Once you get on the top, your trembling body muscles would cheer you up for your exhausting triumph.

However, I wish some basic amenities like railing on the side of stairs, drinking water, benches to sit and washroom facilities could have been added to make the hiking more convenient specially for children and senior citizens. So don't forget to carry your water bottle with you. This site also holds the World Heritage tag high. The entry fee for SAARC citizens is 2400 LKR.

You can also see few statues of Hindu God like Ganesha and Vishnu. The air inside felt a bit different. A strong spiritual presence and peacefulness was all around us.

The turbulent water stream and small rocks is a perfect playground for them. All the elephants are taken to the river by Mahut for bathing twice a day. My heart beamed with joy watching them bathing, teasing and playing with each other in water and showing themselves with their trunks.

One can cherish this lovely view for hours without being fed off. It never gets monotonous, believe me. Some were playful, some were lazy inside water and there were few who refused to take bath.