It's fun to circle together ... around Sri Lanka ...
[in good company around Sri Lanka] It seems like quite recently, at the beginning of winter, I posted an announcement on TURPRAVDA. COM about recruiting a group for an expedition to an island south of India, and it's already spring outside the window, and a CD with a photo sent in memory of our trip is spinning in my laptop. A photo report of about 1000 shots, from touchingly private to catalog-beautiful, where there is "nothing personal" ... But I know that now we are all united in our love for this tiny (on the map - not in life! ) country-island on the other side of the earth. It has been called Sri Lanka for 35 years, but for some it is better known as Fr. Ceylon. In my pioneer childhood there was such a fervent chant: "Together it's fun to walk across the open spaces ...". And although we have grown up, our tastes have changed, and the possibilities too, no, no, and yes, and nostalgically I want to go on a trip.
But not on an individual tour (sometimes I like those “by myself” with a camera and a guide, when you can peer, without fussing to choose a frame, press the shutter lightly - and look forward to what you managed to keep on film ...) , but in a vociferous company, as happened in summer camps with hikes, halts and heartfelt conversations and songs around the evening fire ... Then I begin to "trumpet the gathering. " On the island, where every step, there are plenty of reasons to be surprised, in a group "format", as it is fashionable to say now, I really like to wander as a guide (or in the English way 'guide'). Having traveled around the country more than once and looked around in places popular with tourists, and in other corners, away from the beaten paths, I am ready to share my revelations about the island that was discovered to Europeans a long time ago.
Even today, despite the attention paid to it by serious travelers, researchers and writers (from Ibn Batuta and Marco Polo to the science fiction writer, Oscar winner Arthur C. Clarke; and also Bunin, Chekhov, Herman Hesse ...) and millions thousand years of guests, is still full of charm. Until now, it remains among the rare corners of the planet, where the primordial images (tropical forests, deserted bays, savannahs heated by the sun or high mountain plateaus) make the hearts of those who are looking for special impressions beat excitedly. I was lucky this time too - the group turned out to be dynamic, inquisitive and friendly: 14 adults and independents became friends even before arriving on the island. Waiting for departure at the airport (which, as often happens, was postponed), later a transit stop in Dubai - there is enough time and reasons to exchange views on the route, share plans and discuss intentions.
In a word, having arrived in Colombo and found that 9 out of 14 luggage were behind and, according to the forecasts of the tracing service, would be in the next 3 days, the more persistent were ready to console the upset, cheer up the inexperienced and knew exactly how to neutralize the annoyance of travel troubles. On the first day, we swam in the ocean, learned to distinguish palms from banana bushes, mongooses from palm squirrels, deftly split coconuts and found a recipe for extinguishing a fire in the stomach from hot-spicy curry sauces. We also drove around Colombo, looked into a couple of art galleries and a shopping center (to replenish the wardrobe of those who were left without suitcases and make sure that the prices for textiles and souvenirs are pleasantly affordable).
Our itinerary allowed: - to form an opinion about the kaleidoscopic Colombo and the grandiose Sigiriya, - to walk all day along the romantic Polonnaruwa (one of the 3 ancient capitals of the Sinhalese kingdom - "brick"), - to meet wild elephants that grazed in countless herds in the eco-park in around Giritale. In the evenings there were friendly water polo matches (the most daring girls willingly took part in them), gourmets in a restaurant and learning the cunning names of Sri Lankan dishes. We circled the mountain roads for a couple more days, first in an effort to check the story from the "tea" commercial (Where does the Kandy princess live? ), then - in order to make sure that the "little England of Ceylon" in the highest part of the island is the place, without which the opinion of Sri Lanka would be incomplete.
Finally, we went down to the coast to carelessly bask at the water's edge for another 3 happy days, in the spectacular LIGHTHOUSE hotel (it arose according to the drawings of the talented Sri Lankan Geoffrey Bawa among a pile of rocks, a 10-minute drive from the cult place of Galle, which actually turned out to be an old a fort with massive ramparts, bastions and a wonderful town inside, deservedly taken under the protection of UNESCO). In this short nostalgic reminiscence, inspired by watching a photo disc, it remains only to add that in 12 days "individual tourists" from Dnepropetrovsk and Pavlograd, Kyiv, Nikolaev and Kharkov have become a wonderful company. Maybe because the group gathered such jokers that it was necessary to appoint a moderator of the evening "forums" under the southern starry sky of the big and kind Ruslan (Pavlograd), and the chronicle of events was led by an excellent photographer Pavel (Nikolaev), in adulthood - a very serious gentleman.
Tired laughing girls Anechka, Irishka, Natasha, Lenochka, Tanyusha, Larisa and Oksana set a special mood, and even reasoned with them (the beautiful half of the company on a trip, and for their colleagues in Ukraine, for sure - strict business women and office managers). The motley line-up of participants was successfully complemented by the indefatigable lover of mountain climbing and tracks Vlad (now Kyiv), and the skeptic and grumbler, and at heart - the esthete and connoisseur of plants and living creatures Alexander (Kharkov), as well as the philosophic and laconic Zhenya (Dnepropetrovsk) and those who had strayed from flocks for the reefs and coral gardens of Hikkaduwa Tamara and Andrey (Kharkov). They all managed to get it right and, it seems, they are planning new joint trips.
Now some of our impressions can be backed up by photos, but - to make up your own - you will have to venture on a flight towards the equator and discover the spicy magic island, whose name Sri Lanka is translated from Sinhalese as "blessed land" (which, I confess, absolutely correct). For reference: - this glorious group was assembled by the AVIONIKA company (Kharkiv), using the experience of colleagues from LOTTUR (also Kharkov) and its group in January 2008; - received tourists on the island t / operator JETWING Travels (Colombo, Sri Lanka), - planned the route "Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in GRAND format" and coordinated the program Tatyana Gribova, she is Lanka-Lanochka in the TURPRAVDA community. COM She is always ready to repeat such an encore number... It's up to you to dare to leave your favorite sofa : )
Photo shared by: Pavel Kokarev (Nikolaev) and Tatyana Gribova (Kharkov).
