During the National Day in 2015, I flew from Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur alone, saw the female university student sitting next to me writing a dense Sri Lanka route map on paper, admired her going to Colombo alone, thought that one day I would also go to taste Ceylon black tea, and then read a lot of information and photos about Sri Lanka. In the summer of 2016, I had planned to go to Sri Lanka, but for some reason I changed to Borobudur, Indonesia, and then when I signed the transit in Kuala Lumpur, I met three female university students who were about to transfer to Colombo... Sri Lanka attracts free travelers to this way, with 8 World Heritage Sites on an island country no more than twice the size of Taiwan Island, known as one of the world's three major black tea producing areas (China's Keemun black tea, Sri Lanka's Uba Uva black tea, India's Darjeeling black tea Darjeeling), as well as the smile of the legendary Lankan people... In the summer of 2017, several students invited me to Sri Lanka with me as the "royal photographer", so the last tears of the 11-day search for the Indian Ocean began.
Known as the "last tear in the Indian Ocean", Sri Lanka has beautiful beaches, a thousand-year-old city, a castle in the Netherlands and an abundance of heat-driven plants. The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, is a tropical island nation located on the Indian Ocean sea and a member of the British Commonwealth. Ancient China used to call it the Lion Kingdom, the Shizi Kingdom, and the Sinhala Kingdom. It is less than the size of two Taiwan Islands, but it has 6 World Cultural Heritage Sites and 2 World Natural Heritage Sites. The economy is dominated by agriculture, and the most important export product is Ceylon black tea. It is also one of the three major tea producing countries in the world. The biggest advantage lies in the mining and geographical location, it is a gem-rich island, the world's top five gem production countries, known as the "gem island", ruby, sapphire and cat's eye are the most famous. Sri Lanka, which means "promised land" or "land of light and wealth" in Sinhala, is known as the "jewel kingdom" and "pearl of the Indian Ocean", and is considered by Marco Polo to be the most beautiful island.
Don't take the regular route of the whole charter bus! Uncle Must See World Cultural Heritage "Golden Triangle of Culture"! The "Spirited Away" seaside train that small partners must experience! Seeing Thailand's cruelty to elephant entertainment, he decided to give up going to the "Elephant Orphanage" (it is said that he only watched the elephant bath at a certain time, and it is good to see it bathing), so the final route is to stop in Negombo after the flight to Colombo, then go to the golden triangle of the ancient city culture, and then take a clockwise circle back to Colombo (see map below). The round-trip flights are all AirAsia transiting to Kuala Lumpur, using the 120-hour free transit pass to visit Kuala Lumpur, taste the food, and also go to Ipoh alone to taste the legendary authentic white coffee.
On July 5, 2017, Jieyang flight flew to Kuala Lumpur, departing at 15:55 and arriving at 20:35, staying in Kuala Lumpur
6 July Day Trip Around Kuala Lumpur: Mainly around Petaling Street to the National Mosque; Flight 21:00 flies to Colombo, arrives at 21:55 local time (Colombo time difference is 2.5 hours slower than in China), check into Negombo
7 July Negombo Fish Market, bus to Kurunegala, transit to Anuradhapura [map from A to B] Main attractions: Negombo, Anuradhapura Ancient City
July 8 Day Tour of Anuradhapura Main Attractions: The Ancient City of Anuradhapura
9th July Chartered bus from Anuradhapura to Dambulla ---- Sigiriya ---- Polonnaruwa [B to C, D, E] Main attractions: Dambulla Cave Temple, Sigiriya, Lion Rock
July 10 Polonnaruwa, afternoon bus to Kandy, check into Kandy [map from E to F] Main attraction: Polonnaruwa Old Town
July 11 Kandy Main attractions: Buddha Tooth Temple, Kandy National Museum, Royal Botanical Gardens of Perania
July 12 Kandy Bus to Nuwara Eliya [Nuwara eliya map from F to G] Main attractions: Tea Plantations, Pink Post Office
13 July Nuwara Eliya, train to El Ella, chartered bus to Tissemharama Tissamaharama [G to I in map] Main attractions: Horton Plains National Park, Horton Plains National Park, Ella Railway Station
14 July Tissamaharama Chartered Bus to Galle Galle [From I to J on the Map] Main attractions: Tissa Dagaba, Tissa Dagaba, Tissa Lake Tissa, Tissa Lake, Galle Galle Ancient City
July 15 Galle, 10:55 train to Colombo, 13:15 to [J to K in the map] Main attractions: Sri Lanka National Museum, etc
16 July Flight 10:30am to Kuala Lumpur, arriving in Kuala Lumpur at 16:45 local time (2.5 hours difference)
17 July Ipoh Day Tour Main Attractions: Ipoh Old Town, Old Town White Coffee
July 18 13:50 Flight Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong, arriving at 17:45
July 19 Hong Kong Day Tour, return to Shenzhen North Railway Station
The whole journey is 15 days, the actual Sri Lanka is 11 days, the travelogue will be written from the entry into Sri Lanka as DAY 1, and the rest will only be supplemented.
After dinner at Kuala Lumpur KLIA 2 Airport, take AirAsia flight AK 47 to Colombo at 21:00. The journey is 2455 km, arriving at 21:50 local time (2.5 hours slower than the time difference between Colombo and the country). The immigration card will be distributed on board, the instructions will be filled in as shown in my note below, and then the e-visa printout, passport and entry card will soon pass through customs.
Bandaranaike International Airport
The airport is very small, the customs came out to see the window for changing money, are the same exchange rate, 1 dollar for 152 rupees, and later in the ancient city of Galle only changed to 150 rupees 1 dollar, it is recommended that the airport can be more exchanged, the exchange rate will not be too bad. Major hotels, shopping malls, KFC, etc. support VISA and MasterCard credit card purchases.
It collects a 100-rupee note with a size of 138x67mm, with a frontal design of the Putlam coal-fired power station built with Chinese aid, which is the first coal-fired power station in Sri Lanka and the largest economic cooperation project that China and Sri Lanka have completed; La Sapana Waterfall; represents thermal power and hydropower respectively, alluding to Sri Lanka's energy development achievements. On the lower left is the silver leaf butterfly (scientific name: Doleschallia bisaltide); on the right is the orange-billed partridge (scientific name: Turdoides rufescens), a species of the genus Thrush, endemic to Sri Lanka. The conservation status of this species is rated as near threatened. The back is depicted as one of India's four classical dances, the Bharatanatyam dance, the drummer of the Magic Single Drum (Mridangam), and a guard stone carved with a Naga motif.
There are many telecommunications companies in Sri Lanka, common ones are Dialog, Mobitel, Aritel, Etisalat, etc., which can be processed at the exit of the airport, just provide a passport. Etisalat's card is 4GB for 14 days and 1300 rupees, which is more cost-effective.
Booked a pick-up from the homestay driver in Negombo, and the service was quite attentive.
(To be continued) Follow "Asian Travel Photography" and travel together!