Sri Lanka - Budgeted trip to the Paradise. #islandlife

AYU BOWAN - Sri Lanka

Unless playing in snow is a must in your travel plan, there is no reason to not go to Sri Lanka for a vacation. Vacation here means any kind of vacation. A family vacation, Friends hangout or even your Honeymoon.

Sometimes we are so engraved in the main line vacation spots, which are mostly overcrowded and costly anytime of the year, we tend to neglect a much better and underrated vacation spots. My girlfriend literally had a fight with me when I disclosed her that we were to go to Sri Lanka for our honeymoon. Will let you know her reactions of that trip at the end of this article.

Let me know share my experiences with you all. If you are with light pocket and still want to enjoy the hospitality and nature, SRI LANKA is the destination never to be missed.

We started from Nagpur to Chennai in train. I preferred train to Chennai rather than to travel from Mumbai because I was very low on budget. Imagine that, a low budget honeymoon with a already angry on destination wife. I was supposed to be doomed. From Chennai took a 1.05 Hour flight to Colombo. A car with a chauffeur was waiting for us at the Colombo Airport. After clearing the immigration and getting our tourist visas, we got into our car and the journey of a lifetime started.

En-route to Kandy, the second biggest city of Sri Lanka, we stopped by at our first spot. PINNAWALA ELEPHANT ORPHANAGE. A park where hundreds of elephants are kept and taken care of. You can feed them and play with them, of course from a safe distance. If you are lucky with your timing of visit, you can have the pleasure of elephants being taken to bath across the highway.

We reached Kandy by evening. After taking rest in our hotel, we decided to take a city tour. This city majorly contains government offices. A bit overly populated but the city is beautiful. Next day we started from the hotel for the HILL STATION of Sri Lanka - Nuwara Eliya. But before that beautiful destination is to be reached, visiting TOOTH RELIC temple in Kandy is customary when in Sri Lanka. One cant miss this magnificent temple.

One can also enjoy River Rafting near Nuwara Eliya. I decided to give it a skip (remember I was a bit tight on budget, and I already had multiple experiences of water rafting).

(for photos of sri lanka trip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZVU1xxCnFY)

Well, NUWARA ELIYA is the highest and coldest part of Sri Lanka. Wherever you look, until the horizon, mountains are covered by beautiful tea gardens. One can enjoy a walk around the beautiful Lake Gregory. We visited tea gardens, tea factories, Hanuman Temple and Sita temple here. Yes you heard in right. Lord Hanuman and Sita Temple here in Lanka ki Nagari. If you have read the Ramayana, Ashok Vatika has to be this place. It is that beautiful. After spending 2 nights at this heaven on earth, we started for Bentota.

Another gem in this trip was this beach destination BENTOTA. Beautiful, Clean and green. Nothing more you can ask for. You can enjoy SPA, watersports, boat rides, paragliding or just relax on the beach. That is what I prefer, post dinner sitting on sand with cool breeze gently kissing your face and soothing waves washing your feet taking away all the tiredness of travel. This is a kind of feeling I can spend my hard earned money on.

Next day started at 4 am. We decided to go for Whale watching in Mirrisa, skipping watersports activity. Sitting in a small ship, riding on ocean waves for hours together it was getting very sleepy. But before I could have a nap, we spotted turtles, Wild, mating Turtles in middle of nowhere. And then a few minutes later for what we all were waiting for - a gigantic WHALE. From deep inside the water emerged a huge whale, spraying its iconic breathing fountain. This was nothing less than watching National Geographic LIVE. Even as we were still in the wonderland of whale in front of us, we were surrounded by hundreds of DOLPHINS. Jumping, playing swimming all around our boat were dolphins. This trip of no less than a DREAMLAND.

On way back to Bentota we visited Turtle Hatchery, Galle Fort and had River Safari in Maduganga River.

Next day we started one of the most scenic road trip from Bentota to Colombo. Beautiful seaside road throughout. On reaching Colombo a small city tour and dinner at the Ramada with one of my local know person brought an end to the day.

This was our last day in this undoubtedly one of the most underrated destinations in the world. You remember my angry girlfriend before this trip? She now simply doesnot stop going gaga over this honeymoon vacation. We suggest everyone to take this as a very serious option while planning your trip.

Apart from giving life time memories, SRI LANKA you saved my life