The Kandy Esela Perehera is usually held in month of July or August. It’s being held in the Sri Lankan hill capital, Kandy. This is a colorful procession with a festival atmosphere. No it is not like Rio Del Jenerio Carnival. This is a holy festival. This historical procession is held annually to pay homage to the Sacred Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha, which is housed in at Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy. 

This artistic procession comprises of many traditional dances. Such as fire dances, whip dances, kandyan dances and various other cultural dances to make the parade beautiful. Then the there are many elephants are paraded during this event. They are dressed in colourful lavish garments to make the parade glamorous.  The Main elephant will parade the Scared Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha during the Perahera.

The scared tooth Relic of Lord Buddha was brought to Sri Lanka in 4^th Century EC. After that all the Kings should be Buddhist to rule Sri Lanka. It was a practice if you are the King of Sri Lanka the Scared Tooth Relic should be in the capital of the kingdom. As the time passed by Kingdom locations were changed from Anuradhapura to Kandy. Therefore resting place for Scared Tooth Relic also changed accordingly. The last Kingdom of Sri Lanka is Kandy. That is why still the Lord Buddha’s Scared tooth Relic in housed in Kandy. This is the reason the today’s Esala Perahera is called ‘Kandy EsalaPerahera’.

It is truly a magnificent event which is a very important date in Sri Lankan calendar. More than 2000 people participate in the parade and more than 80 Elephants are parade. This is the pinnacle showpiece of Old Sri Lankan cultural festival. It is being telecasted live on National Television Channels and on the world wide web. But this time it will be telecasted live in South Korea.

This year Perahera will start on the 15^th of August 2015 and the final and the biggest Perahera (Parade) will be held on the 29^th of August 2015 night. Lot of foreigners arranges their tour to Sri Lanka to witness this magnificent event.

Big Match - Cricket Madness

Month of March is the cricket festive season for the schools in Sri Lanka. Cricket is by far the most popular sport in Sri Lanka. March is the month where two rival schools lock horns for a cricketing battle.

When the two rival schools play their cricket match, that is called the Big Match. All the Big Matches have unique nick names. ‘Battleof the Blues played between RoyalCollege and St. Thomas Collage is the second largest uninterrupted cricket series in the world. Then there are many more cricket matches to name few are Battle of the Saints played between St. Joseph’s College and St. Peter’s Collge, Battle of the Maroons Played between Ananada College and Nalanda College and the Kandy Battle of the Blues played between Trinity and St. Anthony’s College.

During the Big Match season school boys will go wild. They put their school flags while they are going to school and coming back home. With the old boys they organize vehicle parades and many more activities. Big match brings a real carnival atmosphere to all and Cricket is played in true spirit.

 

Ayurveda in Sri Lanka

Ayurveda is a form of medication which has been known in SriLanka for more than 5000 years. Many generations have perfected the art of Ayurveda and still more than 60 % of the Sri Lankan population is treated with Ayurvedahealing system.

Ayurveda means ‘Science of Life’. Basically it has derived from ‘Ayur ‘ (Life) and ‘Veda’ (Science).  Ayurveda does two things. That is to preserve health and cure bodily afflicted disease. The fundamentals of are called “Tri Dosha” or Three Vital forces.  Those are

• -          Vayu (Air)
• -          Pita (Bile)
• -          Kapha (Phlegm)

Vayu (Air) means transmission of energy within the body. It is done through nerve impulse, muscle contraction and hormonal activities. Pita (Bile) means the body metabolism and internal heat production, While Kapha (Phlegm) means mucus, often described as ‘The Protective Fluid’.

What Ayurveda does is, it RE-BALANCES the balance between Mind and Soul. If the balance is correct you are in good health.  Ayurveda practitioners first study the patient as a whole with objective resorting the balance. They first find the root of the problem and start to treat it.

Almost all the star class hotels in Sri Lanka have their own Ayurvedic centers. But these will only offer you temporary treatments. There are many Ayurvedic hotels in Sri Lanka. These hotels will have different packages according to your need and staying duration. For example 4 days, 6 days, 8 days and 14 days stay packages.

We recommend you to start a round tour in Sri Lanka and enjoy all the beauties of Sri Lanka offers. Then at the end of the tour hop in to one of the Ayurvedic hotels and relax your mind and soul. You will go back to your country with lovely memories of Sri Lanka along with a relaxed mind and with a healthy body after Ayurvedic treatments.

Sri Lanka celebrate 67th Independence Day

Sri Lanka celebrates its 67^th Independence Day on 4^th February 2015. Exactly 200 years ago that was in 1815 Sri Lanka, known as ‘Ceylon’ became a British Colony. Even though Britain invaded Ceylon in 1796 they were only able to capture Kandy that is the last kingdom of Sri Lanka in 1815.

Before British, Portuguese ruled the coastal areas from 1505-1658. Then Dutch captured the coastal areas from 1658-1796 until the British invasion.

The firs struggle against the British army started in 1817 with ‘Uva Rebellion’.  Like the UvaRebellion there were many unsuccessful struggles. But in the beginning of 20^th century Sri Lanka adopted a more political approach which was led by Our father of Independence D.S. Senanayake. As a result we obtain Independence in 1948 and Our first Prime Minister was D.S. Senanayake.

Independence day celebration was organized in a grand scale. It was held at the Parliament grounds with the participation of President Maithripala Sirisena. Main highlight was the military parade. It comprised of over 5000 Army personnel.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping extended their wishes to the Sri Lankan President and the people of Sri Lanka in view of our Independence Day.

Pineapple

“Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?” Everyone knows where I have extracted that phrase. I am sure that the pineapple that Spongebob calls home is surely a pineapple from Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan pineapples do not need to be marketed. No other pineapple can challenge the sweetness, the colour and the juiciness of the Lankan pineapple. Even though the hard outter cover is trouble to peel of the insides are to savor. The Lankan pineapple is expertly used in fruit salads, juices and in cakes. It is the ideal remedy for a hot summer day.

Pineapples are cultivated all around Sri Lanka’s flat lands and it is exported to countries such as Japan and the European Union. Pineapple vendors can be found all around the country. 

If you visit Sri Lanka, there is no excuse for you not to have a Sri Lankan pineapple.

Have a Sri Lankan pineapple and feel the difference.

China’s President Xi Jinping boost the travel Industry in Sri Lanka

Like the Barmy Army travel with the English Cricket Team, Like the Thailand People travel with The Royal family, now there is a trend where Chinese citizens follow there exemplary lead where ever they go.

His Excellency Xi Jinping President of China traveled to SriLanka during September 2014. Automatically tour package to Sri Lanka in October for the ‘National Day’ holiday were fully booked after the president’s visit.

Chinese President has done wonders to the Chinese inbound tourism and well as for the outbound tourism. He is a great advocate for responsible tourism. When he visited on an official visit to Maldives he urged his fellow Chinese tourist to,

"Don't throw empty bottles everywhere," he instructed. "Don't damage their coral reef. Eat less instant noodles. Eat more local seafood."

So we Sri Lankans eagerly await to greet our Chinese friends during the upcoming Chinese Spring Festival. So pack your bags and jump into a Sri Lankan airline flight and head towards Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka welcomes arrival of 1.5 millionth tourist

What year it has been to for the Tourism Industry in SriLanka. Mr. and Mrs Jaime were welcome at the Bandaranayake International Airport recently as they were the 1,500,000^th Travelers to visit Sri Laka in year 2014. 

Sri Lanka attracted 1,527,153 tourists for the past calendar year. It is a 19.8% year on year growth. These figures have been released by the Tourism Development authority in Sri Lanka.  Most number of visitors has visited from China, India and UK.

So it was a wonderful year for the tourism in Sri Lanka. Still Sri Lanka is a relatively unexplored country due to the 30 years of Civil war which was ended in 2009. This peaceful Island Paradise has many things to offer to the world. We believe in 2015, Sri Lanka tourism will reach greater heights.