Sri Lanka - Aarini's first trip abroad

I had planned to write a long post on this much awaited trip. The plan had been to relive the whole thing once again through the blog.

Work.

Baby.

Dog.

Home.

Laziness.

All however conspired to make a whole month pass before I could even get on to the blog.

So finally I am here to write about Aarini’s first trip abroad.

We landed in at Bandaranaike International Airport at about 4 pm. As promised by makemytrip a brand new Nissan Bluebird and an effervescent Pious Silva were waiting for us at the exit gate.

We were happy to be on holiday.

A forty km ride into main Colombo through markets thronging with Christmas shoppers took a good part of two hours. We were however too busy marveling at the sites, checking the similarities between our island neighbours and us to mind the trip too much.

The first night of our trip was spend at The Grand Oriental Hotel which was set up in the 1800’s by royal decree and has since then been ceaselessly entertaining guests. It also happened to be our anniversary – so cutting a cake was in order.

Early next morning we were off to the ancient city of Anuradhapura.

A visit to the temple of the Sacred Bo tree. Checking out awe inspiring Buddhist architecture. Mind you all that you see in the pictures have been around since before Christ.

And then retiring to the Galway Forest Lodge for the evening. The lodge is build right next to a huge lake and is a perfect laidback place to laze in.

We however had other plans so the next day sees us zooming towards Sri Lanka’s third capital Kandy. Situated in the hills, Kandy reminds on of the British settled hill stations of India – its almost a mix of Shimla and Nainital. Good shopping, droolworthy bakeries and a very pleasant climate makes Kandy my favorite amongst the cities I visited. The lake in the center of the city and next to the Temple of the Tooth Relic makes it a picturesque city. Kandy also boasts Sri Lanka’s biggest university. Signage claiming easy Indian visas abound – making us feel quite proud. J

We stayed at Hotel Topaz which was build on top of a hill.

The next day morning dad and daughter decided they would have a splash session in the swimming pool no matter what Momma said. And off they went.

Aarini checked out the water a bit tentatively first but then was very happy to plunge in with Dad.

Breakfast and then another short ride to the hill station of Nuwara Eliya – the highest point in the island country. Nuwara Eliya was a bit of a dampener as it rained ceaselessly there – making the climate damp and cold. We were happy to be inside our well appointed hotel room, lazing around and watching the rain. This hotel was a part of the Galway forest chain though we felt the one in Anuradhapura was much better in terms of facilities.

We did take a short trip around the town though – I was very eager to see a Church and did go to one. Sadly it was closed.

The next day we began our descent to the sea beach of Mirissa.

Travelling through villages, jungles, towns and finally we arrived at the beach resort.

The Indian Ocean was spread infront and the hotel right at its edge. This was bliss.

Aarini also quickly learnt to swim in the kiddie pool which became the highlight of Parry’s fortieth birthday.

Two days at Mirissa and then it was time for us to head back to Colombo for our homeward flight.

Aarini fact file:

Though we carried her formula milk and some cerelac, apart from her regular milk diet she tried and ate almost everything we did there.

She likes fruits and was happy to have decent quantities of the same. Sri Lanka being a tropical country had an abundance of fruits – mangoes, bananas, pineapples, peach, coconut, rambootans kept her happily fed.

She also discovered that she can hold and eat a French fry on her own which delighted her no end.

Aarini had no trouble sitting inside a moving vehicle for long stretches.