During the months of March and April of 2007, I had the memorable opportunity to travel abroad and visit the countries of England and Sri Lanka. This was my first time leaving the country and was quite an exciting prospect for me. Unlike the usual way of planning for a trip of this magnitude, which normally requires a great deal of research and thought about where to stay and what to do in the foreign country my husband and I were privileged to stay with his relatives in both places. Leaving from Denver International Airport we started the first leg of our journey on an eight-hour flight into London Heathrow Airport and then to Northolt, Middlesex which is a like a suburb of London to spend four days with my husband’s Aunt and Uncle.
They live in a charming bungalow with a gorgeous little garden off the back that was frequented by an adorable little Robin bird, which they fed regularly. There was quite a nip in the air that time of year since it was still March and I was glad we had brought along a few pieces of warm clothing although we would not need them once we arrived in Sri Lanka due to the tropical climate. We only had four days before our flight to Sri Lanka, which unfortunately did not leave as much time for exploring as I would have liked but we made the most of it nonetheless. We traveled through London taking a tour on the top of a double decker bus, saw the sights including the Tower of London, and a bit of unusual British architecture in the form of a sort of giant green pickle shaped building affectionately dubbed the Gherkin by the locals. We went shopping in town, walked through Saint James’ Park, and took a ride on the London Eye just before dark, which gave us the unique perspective of seeing Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament all lit up at night. We even saw Buckingham Palace and took a picture with one of the guards. All in all, despite the shortness of the time we stayed there it was a wonderful trip. Several things I remember the most was how surprised I was at how crowded London streets can get, and how there were daffodils in bloom everywhere in all the parks and even on my Husband’s Aunt’s front porch.
From there we again boarded a plane on what would now be a ten-hour flight from London, England to Colombo, Sri Lanka. We arrived at night in Sri Lanka and my first impression looking out the window of our airplane was how dark everything was with the exception of the airport itself. When we disembarked and went through customs, I noticed how hot and muggy it was in parts of the airport due to a lack of air conditioning. However, I recently heard that they have finished remodeling the whole airport so this may have changed since I was there. After we finished with customs, my brother-in-law met us outside and took us to the home of a friend where we were staying. Our trip to Sri Lanka was considerably longer than it was in England as we were able to stay there for an entire month. Let me tell you it was well worth it too. My brother-in-law was really wonderful and had made arrangements for us to tour various parts of the island during our stay and we didn’t have to do a thing.
We were able to take in many historical sites such as the ancient ruins at Polonnaruwa and the magnificent remains of King Kassapa’s palace atop of Sigiriya or “Lion Rock.” That was one of my favorite places on the island, Sigiriya I mean. For those of you who have never seen or heard of it Sigiriya is this truly impressive monolith that rises some 650 feet straight out of the ground. It is like a lone sentry standing guard and at its peak; there lies the remains of King Kassapa’s palace. It was once guarded by the gigantic shape of a lion completely carved in stone the only access to the palace being through its mouth, which is where it gets the name Sigiriya meaning Lion Rock in English. We also visited the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage where I got to pet a baby elephant, and we went to World’s End as well, which provided some amazing views from atop the cliffs.
Another neat thing we did while we were at World’s End was hike to Bambarakanda Falls the highest falls in Sri Lanka. On the way there, we had to cross a rice paddy field and it was no easy task let me tell you. As you may know paddy fields are usually flooded making them muddy and difficult to walk through so the only way we could avoid this was by balancing on a four inch wide low concrete wall that cut through the field for maybe a hundred feet or so with a sharp wet drop on either side. It was rather like being a gymnast but we were able to make it through safely and most importantly dry.
We had an amazing trip while we were there. We visited Tea Estates and sampled the freshly grown and prepared tea, we ate the many exotic, spicy curry dishes and wonderfully sweet desserts the island is known for, and we saw rubber plantations as we drove by. We even went swimming in the Indian Ocean from some of the many pristine beaches on the south side of the Sri Lanka. We took in history and architecture and I learned so much about the culture and the people of this beautiful island. We saw and did so many wonderful things; too many even to write about in one short article.
Although it has been several years and I have not been able to go back, I would definitely travel to both England and Sri Lanka again. The only thing I wish I had done differently was remember to wear plenty of sunscreen while in tropical Sri Lanka because I got a bad sunburn on the back of my neck on the day we hiked to Bambarakanda Falls. Other than that, it was an unforgettable experience for me and I urge anyone who has the means to go and visit either one or both places in the near future. I am sure that you will have as wonderful of a time there as I did, hopefully without the sunburn.