Elections and Elephants – Sri Lanka
Elections and Elephants
Sri Lanka
We visited Sri Lanka in early 2004 to see the Australian cricket team in one of their matches. We didn’t plan too much beforehand and this proved our undoing in some ways. On arrival in Colombo, we took a taxi to our hotel – The Galle Face. This really is an “olde worlde” hotel and is a very impressive building right on the beach front. Not exactly five star, but if you’re after a sense of history, definitely the place to be. We had intended to visit Sigiriya but found that both the trains and the hotels were booked out for the entire period of our visit. If you really want to get up that way, it would be best to organise it before you arrive in Sri Lanka.
Since this part of our plan fell through, we decided to head down to Hikkadua and relax on the beach instead. Unfortunately, we didn’t realise that it was the last day for election nominations and encountered some very heavy traffic. All of the local townspeople form a parade and accompany their candidates to the registry, so every town was moving at walking pace. Once we got there, Hikkadua was great – very relaxing in an art deco type guesthouse right on the beach. We took in some diving and the sheer numbers of fish were amazing. We also visited Galle and the old walled town, which was really cool.
Back to Colombo and the cricket was fantastic as expected. The Lankans really enjoy themselves and provide non-stop music throughout the games. What fun! We also took a taxi up to Kandy for the day, mainly to visit the elephant orphanage. Don’t be outraged by the fact that foreigners get charged about ten times the rate of locals and this place is fantastic. The herd of elephants is quite big and you can interact with them quite closely.
I don’t know the extent of the damage around Hikkadua and Galle from the tsunami, but hopefully the rebuilding is proving successful. It is sad to me that Sri Lanka seems on the brink of civil war again.
Did you like this article?
Share it
Place a comment| Now you can also comment with your Facebook Account |
Rate this story
Follow Us
Subscribe to the BootsnAll articles RSS feed
Related articles found in:
Asia, Asia Travel Stories, Indian Subcontinent, Indian Subcontinent Travel Stories, Nicole Smith, Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Travel StoriesRead similar items found across the BootsnAll Travel Network:
Sri Lanka Travel Guide – Accommodation
Sri Lanka – on a Corporate Budget – Sri Lanka
Thoughts on Sri Lanka After The Tsunami – Sri Lanka
If you are wondering whether it would be worth it to bring your young children on a trip with you, reading Rachel Denning’s experiences and advice will likely convince you.
[Read more]
Somali pirates and Halloween pirates seem to get all the press these days, but there is a rich history out there of the real thing. Steve Bramucci takes us to five places where pirate tourism is easy to find.
[Read more]
Would you like to pretend you are Michael Palin, or perhaps someone else who gets to stay in historic colonial hotels in the East? Here’s a cheaper way, as Inga Kastrone takes us on a tour if 8 of the finest of these landmark properties.
[Read more]
You are probably aware of the big wine industries in Argentina and Chile, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Eileen Smith lives in Chile and here she explains where to look and what to taste throughout the continent.
[Read more]
There are plenty of creepy castles out there, but some really stand out and are actually said to be haunted. Cherrye Moore takes us on a tour of six of the most notorious of these.
[Read more]
