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Quote - Joseph Pulitzer

"PUT IT BEFORE THEM BRIEFLY SO THEY WILL READ IT, CLEARLY SO THEY WILL APPRECIATE IT, PICTURESQUELY SO THEY WILL REMEMBER IT AND, ABOVE ALL, ACCURATELY SO THEY WILL BE GUIDED BY ITS LIGHT" ***** JOSEPH PULITZER *****
DISCOVER - SRI LANKA: PROLOGUE

IN PRAISE OF MY BEAUTIFUL ISLAND,
INFORMATION, PHOTOGRAPHS AND VIDEO.

THE 13th CENTURY VENETIAN TRAVELER MARCO POLO DESCRIBED THE ISLAND AS 'THE JADE PENDANT IN THE INDIAN OCEAN'. THE ABUNDANCE OF GEMSTONES, SPICES, RAIN FORESTS AND WILDLIFE; THE MAGNIFICENT BEACHES, ANCIENT RUINS AND A WRITTEN HISTORY OF OVER 2500 YEARS MAKE THIS ISLAND A TOURISTS' PARADISE.

THE RUINED CITIES OF ANURADHAPURA AND POLONNARUWA ILLUSTRATE THE GLORY OF THE ANCIENT KINGDOMS. THE GIGANTIC STUPAS AND BUDDHA STATUES ARE AMONG THE BIGGEST MAN MADE STRUCTURES OF THE WORLD. THE MASSIVE RESERVOIRS, BUILT BY ANCIENT KINGS TO IRRIGATE THOUSANDS OF ACRES OF LAND, ARE MARVELS OF HYDRO ENGINEERING. THERE ARE EIGHT UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES IN SRI LANKA

THE ISLAND WAS KNOWN TO THE GREEKS AS 'TAPROBANE' AND TO THE ARABS AS 'SERENDIB'. EARLY MERCHANTS VISITED THE ISLAND IN SEARCH OF GEMSTONES AND SPICES, MAINLY CINNAMON AND PEPPER. COFFEE AND TEA PLANTATIONS WERE STARTED BY THE BRITISH COLONIAL RULERS. CEYLON TEA IS FAMOUS THE WORLD OVER.

TOURISM INDUSTRY IS A MAJOR MONEY SPINNER FOR THIS BEAUTIFUL ISLAND. THE VAST EXPANSE OF BEACHES, RAIN FORESTS AND NATIONAL PARKS WITH HERDS OF WILD ELEPHANTS, THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS WITH LITHE WATER FALLS, BRING IN THE TOURISTS. THE ISLAND IS DOTTED WITH HUNDREDS OF HOTELS TO ACCOMMODATE THE TRAVELER. AN ISLAND OF 25,000 SQ; MILES HAS 103 RIVERS AND 25000 RESERVOIRS, MOSTLY MAN MADE. WITH VARYING CLIMATIC CONDITIONS THIS IS TRULY A 'SMALL MIRACLE'.

" THE ISLAND OF SRI LANKA IS A SMALL UNIVERSE, IT CONTAINS AS MANY VARIATIONS OF CULTURE, SCENERY AND CLIMATE AS SOME COUNTRIES A DOZEN TIMES ITS SIZE........I FIND IT HARD TO BELIEVE THAT THERE IS ANY COUNTRY WHICH SCORES SO HIGHLY IN ALL DEPARTMENTS - WHICH HAVE SO MANY ADVANTAGES AND SO FEW DISADVANTAGES. LOVELY BEACHES, BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPES, IMPRESSIVE RUINS, A VIBRANT CULTURE AND CHARMING PEOPLE- NO WONDER SRI LANKA IS A SMALL MIRACLE ".***** Arthur C. Clark *****




Over: 70 Pages, 800 Posts, 1000 Photographs and 900,000 Page views
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts

19 December, 2010

SRI LANKA - PUTTALAM DISTRICT [ KALPITIYA PENINSULA ]



Puttalam is a district situated on the west coast of Sri 
Lanka. It has an area of 2,976 km2 (1,149 sq mi). Along with 
the Kurunegala District, it formulates the North Western 
Province of Sri Lanka. The district capital is Puttalam, which 
borders the Kala Oya and Modaragam Aru in the north,
Oya in the south, and the Indian Ocean in the west. Puttalam 
is well known for its picturesque lagoons, popular for shallow 
sea fishing and prawn farming activities. The town of Kalpitiya, 
and the Kalpitiya Peninsula, is located in this district.
Source : Wikipedia the free Encyclopedia



SRI LANKA - KALPITIYA TOURIST ZONE





Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority [ SLTDA ]
has named Kalpitiya as a tourist zone and invited 
foreign investors and infrastructure improvement
is underway.




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14 October, 2010

SRI LANKA - THE ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDEN


Royal Botanical Garden, Peradeniya is located in close proximity to the city
of Kandy in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. It is renowned for the collection
of a variety of Orchids,and has more than 300 varieties of Orchids, spices,
medicinal plants and palms trees attach it is the National Herbarium. Total land
mass of the botanical garden is 147 acres (0.59 km2), 460 Meters above sea
level with a 200 day annual rain fall, it is managed by the Division of National
Botanic Gardens of the Department of Agriculture.

Contents

 [hide]

[edit]History

The Classical Avenue of Palms is located in this Garden. One tree with a
significant history is the Cannon ball Tree planted by King George V of the
United Kingdom and Queen Mary in 1901. The tree is bent with its fruits which
look like Cannon Balls, which is how it came to be named.The origins of the
Botanic Gardens dates as far back as 1371 when King Wickramabahu III 
ascended the throne and kept court at Peradeniya near Mahaweli river, this 
was followed by King Kirti Sri and King Rajadhi Rajasinghe. A temple was built
on this location by King Wimala Dharma but it was destroyed by the British
when they were given control over the Kandyan Kingdom. Thereafter the
ground work for a Botanical Garden were formed by Mr Alexandar Moon in 
1821. Botanical Garden at Peradeniya were formally established and plants
from Kew Garden at Slave island, Colombo and from the Kalutara Garden in 
Kalutara were moved up until 1843. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya
was made more independent and expanded under Mr George Gardner as its
superintendent in 1844. The gardens came under the administration of the
Department of Agriculture when it was established in 1912.
It was also used during the Second World War by Lord Louis Mountbatten,
the supreme commander of the allied forces in South Asia as the headquarters

Source : Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

[edit]

07 October, 2010

THE ROYAL PALACE OF KANDY




From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[edit]The Royal Palace of Kandy in Kandy, is a the last royal residence of the
 Kingdom of Kandy and in Sri Lanka. The last King to reside in it was King Sri 
Vikrama Rajasinha until he wasoverthrown by theBritish in 1815 with the aid of 
Kandian chieftains. Once part of a large palace complex that included the royal
 court the Magul Maduwa and the Temple of the Tooth that held the Relic of the
tooth of the Buddha.By ancient tradition the one who was in possession of the 
Tooth Relic had claim to the throne. Adjacent to the Royal Palace is the Victorian
 era building that until recently housed Kandy High Court.

National Museum of Kandy

The palace complex has changed over the last century, with only a few buildings
 remaining. Those that are apart from the Temple of the Tooth Relic, has been
 turned in to the National Museum of Kandy run by the Department of Archeology.

[edit]Magul Maduwa

Found between the main palace building and the Temple of the Tooth Relic is the
 Magul Maduwa,a the Royal audience hall with wooden pillars built in 1784 by King
 Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, where the his Royal Court convened. It was here on March 5,
 1815 the Kandyan Convention was signed between the British and the Kandyian
 Chieftains (Radalas) ending the Kingdom of Kandy,
 the last native kingdom of the island.
[

05 August, 2009

SRI LANKA - UDAWALAWE NATIONAL PARK [ BRIEF ENCOUNTER ]




THE UDAWALAWA NATIONAL PARK IN SRI LANKA IS FAMOUS FOR ITS ELEPHANTS AND OTHER WILD ANIMALS SUCH AS BUFFALO, WILD BOAR AND DEER, THERE IS A CONSIDERABLE BIRD POPULATION TOO. WE SET OUT ON OUR FAMILY EXCURSION IN JANUARY 2009, ON THE 16TH OF JANUARY WE REACHED OUR HOLIDAY BUNGALOW "De OLIFANT" AT ABOUT SIX IN THE EVENING. THE NATIONAL PARK HAD THE MAIN ROAD AS ONE BOUNDARY AND THERE WAS AN ELECTRIC FENCE ERECTED TO KEEP THE ANIMALS AWAY. TO OUR SHEER AMAZEMENT THERE WERE ELEPHANTS STANDING JUST BEYOND THE ELECTRIC FENCE WATCHING THE TRAFFIC PASS BY. SOME TRAVELLERS STOPPED AT THE BOUTIQUES SELLING FRUITS TO BUY SUGAR CANE IN ORDER TO FEED THE ELEPHANTS, WHICH THEY GLADLY ACCEPTED FROM BEYOND THE FENCE, BUT THIS WAS PROHIBITED ACCORDING TO THE NOTIFICATIONS POSTED ON THE FENCE.


"De OLIFANT" WAS A PLEASANT ABODE WITH THREE DOUBLE ROOMS WITH ATTACHED BATHS AND A DORMITORY TO ACCOMMODATE TWELVE. THE CARETAKER DID THE COOKING WITH HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTER,THEY LOOKED AFTER EVERYTHING IN A VERY PLEASING MANNER AND WE FELT AT HOME AND CONTENTED.THERE IS A HUGE RESERVOIR A FEW KILOMETERS AWAY WHICH PROVIDES WATER TO THE VAST EXPANSE OF PADDY FIELDS IN THE AREA AND AGRICULTURE IS THE MAIN SOURCE OF INCOME FOR THE POPULATION IN THE UDAWALAWE AREA.


THE BRIEF ENCOUNTER - WITH A WILD ELEPHANT - TOOK PLACE ON THE SAFARI IN THE UDAWALWE NATIONAL PARK THE FOLLOWING DAY. A FEW KILOMETERS INTO THE PARK THERE STOOD,RIGHT ON THE TRACK, A LONE ELEPHANT IN MUSTH WITH ITS TEMPLES DRIPPING. THE TRACKER IN THE FRONT SEAT OF THE JEEP BECKONED US TO KEEP STILL.THE VERY NEXT MOMENT THE BRUTE STRODE GENTLY TOWARDS THE JEEP AND EVERYONE WAS AGHAST, LOW MOANING SOUNDS WERE HEARD FROM THE LADIES, BUT THE YOUNGEST IN THE CROWD, GEELAKA KEPT ON CHATTERING. 


THE TRACKER GOT OUT OF THE VEHICLE AND SHOUTED WITH ARMS RAISED IN A FEEBLE ATTEMPT AT SCARING AWAY THE COLOSSAL BEAST BUT THE ANIMAL KEPT COMING,THIS PROMPTED THE TRACKER TO GET IN THE JEEP IN HASTE, THE BLACK HEAP OF FLESH AND MUSCLE STRODE GENTLY AND GRACEFULLY TOWARDS THE JEEP AND PASSED ON THE LEFT SIDE ,JUST A FOOT AWAY AND GOT ON TO THE TRACK PICKING UP GRASS ON ITS WAY. THOSE WHO KEPT THEIR EYES CLOSED OPENED THEM WITH DELIGHT AND THE CHATTERING BEGAN. ACHINDA HAD THE PRESENCE OF MIND TO FILM THE HAIR RAISING INCIDENT ON HIS MOBILE PHONE.GOOSE BUMPS VANISHED AND THE SWEAT WAS WIPED OFF. WE RETURNED TO "De OLIFANT" AN ENTHRALLED AND SATISFIED LOT. (WATCH VIDEO)






25 July, 2009

SRI LANKA - SMALL MIRACLE [ BY ARTHUR C. CLARKE ]

" THE ISLAND OF SRI LANKA IS A SMALL UNIVERSE,IT CONTAINS AS MANY VARIATIONS OF CLUTURE,SCENERY AND CLIMATE AS SOME COUNTRIES A DOZEN TIMES ITS SIZE........I FIND IT HARD TO BELEIVE THAT THERE IS ANY COUNTRY WHICH SCORES SO HIGHLY IN ALL DEPARTMENTS - WHICH HAVE SO MANY ADVANTAGES AND SO FEW DISADVANTAGES. LOVELY BEACHES,BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPES,IMPRESSIVE RUINS,A VIBRANT CULTURE AND CHARMING PEOPLE- NO WONDER SRI LANKA IS A SMALL MIRACLE ".

ARTHUR C.CLARKE.

RENOWNED AUTHOR.
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