Kandy, Sri Lanka

Kandy, is known as the last royal capital of Sri Lanka. Today it is a major tourist destination. It is about 115kms away from Colombo and approximately 450 meters above sea level. A drive from Kandy to Colombo could take around 3 hours. Here is a view from the hill top!

Kandy is synonymous with arts & crafts compared to any other city in Sri Lanka. If you are interesting in buying handicrafts & wood works, Kandy is the best place to buy these. Local crafts come to life in this place.

Here is a chess table...

This is how its crafted....

You can buy anything from these shops.... from small souveniers to dining table sets, bed sets, softs, bar counters, etc. Items will be shipped to your home..

We watched a cultural show that lasted for about 1 and ½ hour. It was great as it gives you a new perspective to Sri Lanka. The show starts at 05.30pm everyday.

Kandy is also the cultural capital of Sri Lanka. On the shores of the lakes are the Malwaththa & Asgiri temples. The most famous temple here is the Temple of the Tooth Relic. It is believed that Buddha’s tooth is kept in this temple. Built in the 16th century this temple has been constantly improved, restored and reconstructed. Daily rituals are carried out at various times. We were in time for the 7pm ritual. Please don’t forget that a dress code applies for entering any temple.

Take your time here, and read the story of Buddha. The octagonal pavilion is magnificent and enhances the beauty of this temple.

View of the Tooth Relic temple from outside...

Royal Botanical Gardens was once a pleasure garden for the Kandyan Queen. This is a beautiful park with numerous tropical foliage and must be the best garden in the land. It is believed that Mountbatten had his headquarters in the garden during the Second world war. This building pictured below today serves as the garden office. Don’t miss the orchid garden & the rose garden. The collections are endless. In the Royal Botanical Garden there is a small pond in the shape of Sri Lanka… it was amazing to see this.

While in Kandy, don’t forget to play a round of golf at the Victoria Golf Course in Kandy.

You surely need two days in Kandy. Day 1 for arts & crafts, wood works, batik stores, cultural show & temple of the tooth relic. Day 2 for shopping & the botanical garden. And of course Day 3 if you want to play a round of golf.

Egypt Day 3 – Cairo

Day 3 in Egypt started at the Al Azhar Mosque, which is a grand structure that reflects many centuries of style & elegance. There are five very fine minarets with small balconies and intricately carved columns. It has six entrances, with the main entrance being the 18th Century Bab el-Muzayini (barber's gate), where students were once shaved.

You then enter into a great & grand courtyard which dates from the 10th century and is overlooked by three stately minarets. The white facades, the huge pillars and the beautiful carvings and arches is where you can spend most of your time.

The madrasas are not open to visitors. But tourists may enter into the main prayer hall, which is warmly carpeted and supported by alabaster pillars.

This is inside the mosque. The lighting was amazing...

The dome with inscriptions...

The Cairo Museum, should really be on top of your list of things to do and see!! Its an amazing experience….. to walk through history. The Egyptian Museum is situated at Tahrir square in Cairo. Camera were not allowed into the museum, so I have no pictures to show you.

On the ground floor there are the huge statues. The upper floor houses smaller statues, jewels, the treasures of Tutankhamon and of course the main attraction - the mummies.

The museum ahs around 120 halls. Here you will find monuments from pre-dynasty and the Old Kingdom, monuments from Modern Kingdom and overall Middle East. The museum is also home to a large library and photography section. You can also see monuments from the late Greek & Roman periods and an area for coins, papyrus & scarabs.

You must surely visit the hall of the royal mummies. There is an extra entrance fee for this, but it is well worth it. Currently the museum has eleven kinds & queens.

We ended day 3 with a dinner cruise and cultural show on the Nile. The experience was well worth it. The music & dancers, all traditional Egyptians….. were just awesome.

Lapland Holiday

An excellent way to celebrate Christmas - a visit to Lap land. Most of these holidays are from the UK and need to be booked in advance. Here are two links -

http://www.laplandexperience.com/tours.php

http://www.laplandwildernesstours.com/

Stay in a log cabin

http://www.lapland-log-cabins.com/company.htm

and visit santa

http://www.santa-holidays.com/

Or do some winter sport.

Finnair only have flights from Dubai in the winter months starting Nov to Jan. They currently have a special offer on for airfare starting from AED 2000.

So dont wait any longer... go spend Christmas with Santa...

And write to me on torresp27@hotmail.com and share the experience.

Maldives – a perfect way to unwind

Maldives was definitely not on my list of destinations to visit…. But coming here has made me realize that a holiday is not really about site seeing but a time to unwind, relax & rejuvenate. And Maldives can offer you just that and a lot more!!

The blue skies, the turquoise blue sea that gets darker in colour as it get deeper, the blazing sun is an ideal location for a tropical holiday. The combination of sun, sea, sad, a thousand scattered islands, massive lagoons with varying depth, amazing underwater corals and breathtaking marine life…. Can give you the tranquility that you are looking for.

So serene, calm & peaceful, yet Maldives has a lot more to offer. There are a few resorts here and am sure all of them offer more or less the same amenities. Check details on Maldives & places to say here. We stayed at Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort & Spa. Do check it out as well… its awesome!!

While you are here, you can try snorkeling, diving or eve simpler water activities like water skiing, banana boat rides, string ray rides or even just fishing.

Maldives if famous for its rare, extremely colourful, abundant & beautiful life underwater. This is what has made Maldives a fascination for divers & snorkelers. All resorts in Maldives have professional dive schools with multi-lingual instructors.

 

I am no diver or snorkeler, but the 30mins instructions are more than enough for enthusiasts like me to experience life beneath. Just a few strokes away from the beach are the house of reefs & shallow corals. Some reefs are so shallow that you can simply walk up to them and enjoy their beauty. However do not stand or attempt to walk on the corals as this will damage them and it can take upto five or more years to regain itself. The snorkeling equipment is easily available at all resorts.

Snorkeling is an amazing experience. One that I cannot describe in words. To see the fish in their habitats, was like seeing life beyond my everyday being. Among the many fish I saw, the ones that caught my attention were tens of tiny aqua coloured fish that went around in groups, then a purple coloured fish with yellow fins, then a huge purple, blue & aqua coloured fish…. I stood there absolutely spell bound seeing the beauty of the colours and the psychedelic colours of life beneath.

 

While in Maldives you can also do island hopping and a visit to Male or some other smaller islands to see the lifes of people here.

Please also remember that the weather in Maldives is warm / hot all year long. So carry sufficient linen / cotton clothes and sun screen. Don’t forget your swimsuit & waterproof sunscreen and ofcourse underwater cameras.

 

I am no beach lover, yet I absolutely loved Maldives. Just sitting by the beach listening to the waves and reading a book or sipping my coffee. Lazing around the beach, going for a massage, watching the sunset, spending some time with myself, was the break I much needed. I am a 100% sure you will enjoy it too.

Bab Al Shams – day trip

Bab Al Shams is a magical resort that takes you away from modern Dubai and makes it possible for you be a part of history.

Rightly located about 45 minutes drive from the city of Dubai, close to the Endurance city, the resort is accessible by a dedicated road.

The resort overall has a feeling of the bygone era. The rooms although beautifully architected to be an integral part of earlier times, has its modern elements to it. You could spend a whole day just being in this room…

The pool & pool bar truly feel like an oasis & enables you to relax, refresh & rejuvenate.

 

The pool includes a children's play area & pool, leisure pool & lap pool… With a few fountains & mini waterfalls… you are made to feel a part of nature. 

At Bab Al Shams they also have a Spa, Kids Club and Gym. In the evenings you could also do horse riding & camel ridding. Other activities include tennis, golf putting, croquet, table tennis, archery, dune bashing & desert safari.

 

There are lots of places to just laze around or sit & spend a few intimate moments…..

 

 

 

After a whole day of fun & excitement in the resort, you must try Al Hadheerah Desert Restaurant in the evening. The food is mainly Arabic, with live cooking stations. However, they place livens up with small handicraft kiosks, henna, camel & horse rides & falcon displays. The Arabic entertainment with folklore dancing & shows & belly dancing is surely not to be missed.

 

Here are a few pictures of the resort in general…

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Bab Al Shams, you can refresh, focus, revitalize & capture memories that will last you a lifetime.

Egypt Day 2 in Cairo

Next day, we took an early morning flight from Luxor to Cairo. As soon as we arrived into Cairo we drove straight to the step Pyramids. Located in the Saqqara Area, the step pyramids were constructed by Pharaoh Djoser. Having a total of 6 huge steps, it is meant to be the tallest building of its times. We walked through a gate (or rather a 10 meter wall)… into a courtyard of temples, chapels & columns.

As the Step Pyramid is meant to be a tomb, the burial chambers are underground hidden in a maze of tunnels to prevent grave robbers. Sadly the tomb was robbed and all that remained was Pharoah Djoser’s mummified foot.

From here we went to a Carpet school. It was interesting to see young kids learning the trade.

We then drove to the Great Pyramids. I have always wanted to visit the Pyramids (after watching Moses I think!!), and this was indeed a dream come true.

Within Egypt this is the most popular ancient site – One of the seven wonders of the world – Great Pyramids of Khufu. It is indeed beyond impressive. Standing at some 480 feet high and covering thirteen acres of land. In reality these Pyramids are less interesting than many other ancient structures in Egypt – mainly because it does not have any inscriptions or paintings….. however the magnitude & architecture in its times must have been commendable. We attempted to walk into the 2^nd pyramid…. Its got a long & narrow walkway to the main tomb. It was dark, smelly & claustrophobic and my friends backed out…. I wasn’t brave enough to do this on my own. The Pyramids have a mysterious feel to it…. ….

Many of the later pyramids were not as large as the Great Pyramids of Giza. So I guess that the Pharaohs were making a statement about their own power, glory & strength.

A little further from here is the Sphinx. You feel magical seeing the Sphinx with the backdrop of the Pyramids. This Sphinx is a body of a lion & head of a king. This is believed to be the most immense stone sculpture ever made by man. The Great Sphinx is not an isolated monument, and cannot be looked at in this way. Like many other monuments in Egypt, the Sphinx is a complex consisting of an old temple, a new kingdom temple, some other small structure & a sacred lake.

     

 

My Day 1 in Egypt ended here….. and I cant wait to tell you all about my next day in this memorable, ancient, mesmerizing land….

Favourite things on holiday….

One of the best things about blogging is that I’ve met a lot of talented people through it and today, can call a few of them ‘my friends’. One such person blogs at ‘Purplehomes’ and wanted me to write about 5 things that I love doing on vacations…. So here they are….

Every day of my life… I plan my next vacation. That statement on its own will tell you how much I love travelling.... I absolutely love browsing through holiday packages, checking airfares, hotels, making plans, reading about the destination…. And sorting out everything to do with our holiday. So much so… that I only have to tell my hubby what time he needs to get to the airport, the rest he can be assured of… is all well taken care of!

On a holiday….. I love people watching. I can spend hours at a café on a busy street and just watch people …. Its something I don’t really get the time to do within my busy schedule… One of my favourite places was Champs Elysees in Paris. I’ve spent mornings… and evenings sipping coffee and eating crepes at Champs Elysees watching people rush to work with coffee in their hands, watching tourists getting excited over the Arc De Triumph, watching artists paint, sculpt or simply sketch…. Oh.. the list is endless..

 

Walk the streets…. A true vacation is when I can aimless stroll through the smallest alleyways looking around into shops….. Not necessarily buying anything, but just enjoying the sites & sounds of the people in that town or city. It was bliss to do this in Italy… In Venice we just walked & walked & walked & walked…. the roads didn’t end…. the little churches, the sounds of hymns and bells, the pigeons fluttering around…. make the walk worthwhile. I even loved the walks in the streets of Florence, Rome, Naples & Pompeii.

Street performances – is the next best thing. There is so much you can learn about the culture, the people, the place in general… Here I’m talking about theatre, music, art, circus, painters, sculptors, any form of artists in general. One year, we were in Sydney for Easter and got to be a part of the Darling Harbour HOOPLA. The theme was circus & street theatre….. it was spectacular, chaotic, humorous!! The performances were breathtaking, jaw-dropping, and I stood there spell bound!!! You could spend a whole day there…. and the nights were transformed into carnival nights. Simply amazing!! We ended our evening with an amazing dinner at one of the Harbourside restaurants.

  

Romancing in the Country Side. The sceneries of the country side just make me skip a heart beat…..  One of the most beautiful country sides is definitely Salzburg…. Sadly, I went to Vienna for a conference and then wandered off to Salzburg with office colleagues… so there was no romancing. Definitely, once a year, my hubby & I wander off on a holiday without the kids….. this is when romancing is in full bloom. Switzerland was by far the best holiday we had in this respect…. And of course the Swiss countryside is super impressive. Just getting lost on the mountains, or on our way back to the hotels…. Or simply sitting by the riverside…. Be it St. Moritz, Zurich, Lucerne, Interlaken, Montreux or Geneva…… the countryside here is purely breathtaking.

 

I only have to write 5…. So this is the last one… but my favourite of them all!! Every place I go to… I have to have taste their ice-creams. I know it sounds silly…. But a few flavours or brands are more popular or tastier in certain places…. Eg. Custard Apple from Naturals in Mumbai, Cold Stone in New York, Fresh Fruit sorbets in Sydney, Ben & Jerry’s in London, Tiramisu in Paris, Dark Chocolate in Switzerland, Gelato in Italy.

 

So that’s my fab 5 – and I leave you now….this post has set my mind ticking again – to plan my next trip!

If you wish do write your fav 5 and let me know…. I’d love to read what you enjoy doing the most!!!