Golden Sri Lanka Travel Blog

Arugam Bay is located in the East cost of Sri Lanka, the unspoiled beautiful beach is a must visit place. Arugam Bay is with an easy reach of the town Pottuvil and you can visit many interesting and beautiful places like Yala, Kataragama, Lahugala National Park and superb kovils at Oganda as well.

Arugam Bay is among the world’s top ten surfing locations. The people in the area have developed tourism by their own there are no larger hotels, most of the hotels are stilt cabins and coconut palm leaf cabins. Near by village abundant bird life and the archeological sites have made Arugam Bay a destination like no other. No wonder Arugam Bay awarding the highly commended Best Destination by the World Travel Market Responsible Tourism Awards Ceremony which was held in London on the 14 th of November among other thousands of nominees.

From the day we won our independence from our colonial masters we had the problem of poverty.I think it dates back to the day of Sinhal monarchy.But there were no standards to differentiate the poor from the rich.Since Sri Lanka had a self sufficient economy the use of money & trading had no great impact.Even the people who were called poor had at least few paddy fields.The aftermath of the introduction of market economy “the term ” poverty came to exsisit.Since the development was limited to few areas , the knowledge,technology,expertise,money,investments etc got limited to the so called areas.Resources were not properly distributed.The true meanings of free education was never achived.As a result the growing of the middle class was very slow.The succesive governments did not do anything long term for the development of  the masses .Because it was their voters.They kept the masses at the bay.Introduction of social welfare systems as “Samurdhi,Janasaviya” lost its initiative.It was just a propaganda machine & a voting machine for the politicians.It did not have a proper plan.As long as the social welfare systems are not properly planed & as long as their objectives are not decribed & achieved poverty & the poor will live for a very long time.We will find enough & more politicians emerging as heros of masses who would wow to erdicate poverty & simply forget it.Good thing about Sri Lanka is that now we see the expanation of the middle class.It will make huge differences in time to come.

The Sri Lankan war theater seems to be taking a totally different path from what it was some time back.Everyday there seems to be new stratergies adopted by government forces who are fighting a most ruthless terror outfit.The bombing campaign carried out recently seems to have very effective.The high value targets taken almost daily keep creating news every now & then.At any given time it will be no supprise if the government announces that the terror chief has also been a victim of an arial bombing.They say its a matter of time .

The annual Travel Trade Ball was held last month at the Colombo Hilton.This specticular event was an outsatnding colourful event.Despite the low number of arrivals due to the Rugby Finals, it went on till the breakfast with non stop entertainment by Gypsies & Mysty.Guests were rewarded by a number of air line tickets & hotel vouchers.

Hot air ballooning is becoming a popular adventure sport in Sri Lanka. The third hot air balloon festival will be held on 21st of March to 4th April 2008. This festival is facilitated by the Ministry of Tourism Sri Lanka and organized by the Ceylon Airship and Ballooning Club of Sri Lanka. It is expected more than 80 participants and there will be 25 hot air balloons. The visitors will be able to have an exclusive two week hot air ballooning experience in Sri Lanka.
As the terrain in Sri Lanka is challenging for hot air balloons, the pilots must be licensed pilot with a PPL/CPL(B). Contact us for more Information

It is now believed that Sri Lnka is blessed with the black gold - the most influncial natural resource in the world- OIL.The mannar basin has been the identified reigon for this.It will be such a moral boost to the SrI lankan economy.We could one day rise form the current sithuation & stand by our own without being a pray of the world financial institutions & their hidden agendas.But the sad thing about OIL is that it has never brought stability or peace for any reigon or a country.Let it be Venuzula or Nigeria or even Burma. There are issues,wars,internal unrest.Is it because the big powers such as USA,RUSSIA,CHINA,INDIA  are poking their fingers to these countries?The only wish could be that ‘may Sri Lnaka’s OIL bring properity & peace to our society not bring more wars & cahos.

Sri Lanka has an yaer round beach fronts.Depending on the two monsoons we are blessed to operatethe southern beaches from November to April & the eastern beaches from April to November.The beaches in the East coast are spectaculaar.You find the white sands reminding the Maldives.The heavy tourist traffic which kept the Eastern beaches bussy took a heay beting with the LTTE terrorism.The tourist traffic was diverted to the Maldives. The most lovliest one time tourist destinations of Nilaveli,Vakarai,Passikuda turned in to garrisons which fought heavy battles.Now with the liberation of the eastern province there are new rays of hope for tourism in the eastern coast.It will be a fantastic experience to see the resorts are build up soon and the tourist start to pour in to the reigon.

The closing date for the first ever presidential awards for Travel and Tourism Excellence will be on the 28th of November. The ceremony is scheduled to be held on the 18th of December in Colombo. The mission behind the presidential awards for Travel and Tourism 2007 is to identify and encourage the stakeholders of the past and present. Finally to encourage the development of tourism industry in the future.  For more information please visit official web site of Sri Lanka tourist board.

Tour Itinerary

DAY 01    :  AIRPORT/COLOMBO

Transfer from Airport to Colombo
Overnight stay at Galle Face Hotel

DAY 02    :  COLOMBO/PINNAWALA/PERADENIYA/KANDY

Breakfast at Galle Face Hotel
Transfer from Colombo to Pinnawala.

Those who want to see the tamed and semi wiled elephants in close proximity the best place is the “Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage”. It is located northwest of Kegalle town along the Colombo ~ Kandy main road. The orphanage is in a twenty five acre coconut land near Maha Oya. The wide area of shallow water and the huge rocks of Maha Oya make the ideal place to these magnificent animals. This facility was established in year 1975 as a conservation breading center for Elephants by Sri Lanka Wildlife department. It was started with a heard of five baby Elephants. In year 1978 it was taken over by the National Zoological Gardens of Sri Lanka. Pinnawala Elephant orphanage is treated as one of the largest breading center in the world. Today the heard has grown up to 69 elephants. Among the many elephants of the orphanage there are three of them which will definitely get your attention. Namely “PANDU” “RAJA” and “SAMA”
Transfer from Pinnawala to Peradeniya.

The Royal Botanic Gardens (Peradeniya botanical garden) is a very popular tourist attraction in Sri Lanka and it’s a paradise for nature lovers. It is located at Peradeniya about 1550 feet above from the sea level, near “Mahaweli River”. The total area of the gardens is about 147 acres. The variation of the clime is very less and the rain fall is about 229 cm per year. The most attractive place in the gardens is the orchid House which has more than 300 varieties of orchids

Transfer from Peradeniya to Kandy.

Kandy was the last capital of Sinhala Kings. The valley of Kandy is surrounded by magnificent hills which made it as the last bastion. Today Kandy offers its visitors rich collection of art and craft and historical buildings. It includes a collection of ancient temples buildings, handicrafts, souvenirs, bazaar and gem museum and the temple of tooth relic which houses the most sacred Buddhist relic in the world, the Tooth of Lord Buddha. Thereafter witness a cultural show.

Overnight stay at Earl’S Regency Hotel.
DAY 03    : KANDY/MATALE/SIGIRIYA/KANDALAMA

Breakfast at Earl’S Regency Hotel.
Transfer from Kandy to Matale

Visit a spice garden in Matale to see different spices for which Sri Lanka is famous for. Clients will be able to see different spices and how some of these spices are grown and processed. Witness Cookery demonstrations as well.

Transfer from Matale to Sigiriya.

Climb the citadel of Sigiriya which was built in 5th century. Sigiriya is treated as one of the most remarkable creations in the world, built by King Kashyapa (477-495 AD). Path through the gardens along stone stairways come to the Lion Gate. Only the rock carving and the brick structure is evident today of the lions mouth through which millions of people have walked to admire he beauty of this magnificent citadel.

Transfer from Sigiriya to Kandalama.
Overnight stay at Heritance Kandalama

DAY 04    :  KANDALAMA/DAMBULLA/COLOMBO

Breakfast at Heritance Kandalama.
Transfer from Kandalama to Dambulla

Dambulla Rock temple was built by King Walagambahu during the 1st Century B.C. The major attraction of Dambulla is the largest and best preserved cave temple complex which covers an area about 2,100 m². Dambulla is a UENESCO world heritage site. There are more than 80 documented caves in the surrounding and the paintings are done on the ceiling. There are a total of 153 Buddha statues 3 statues of Srilnkn kings and 4 statues of god and goddess

Transfer from Dambulla to Colombo.
Do a city tour of Colombo

Colombo is the commercial and business center of Sri Lanka located on west cost. The city blends together with old colonial type building, high-rise commercial buildings and hotels. It is filled with shopping malls the Pettah bazaar - where one can shop for bargain. Some of the finest structures built during the colonial times still preserved in one part of the City. For example, there is a 100-year-old clock tower. And the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) which was a gift to Sri Lanka from the People’s Republic of China.

Overnight stay at Galle Face Hotel.

DAY 05:  COLOMBO/AIRPORT
10/12/07     Transfer from Colombo to Airport to Colombo

From the beginning of the site development we were anxious to start a complete travel guide to Sri Lanka. Last week we were able to go live with our travel guide which will eventually help travelers to get an idea of this beautiful island. We have taken lot of effort to make this travel guide an accurate one and we believe that there are lots of other topics which are not covered here as well.  We hope to add more details to this very soon. Please help us to improve this travel guide by sending your comments and ideas to info@goldensrilanka.com . Visit our travel guide on http://goldensrilanka.com/travel_guide.php