13th December 2018 / Business and Leisure Trip to Colombo city and visited Galle Beach, Red Mosque, Independence Square, Colombo University, Colombo City Centre & some city sightseeing.
Checked Into Cinnamon Red Hotel
Welcome to the vibrant new feather in the Cinnamon cap. Cinnamon Red is a pioneering new breed of a city hotel in Colombo combining economy with elegance and intelligence with style. Nowhere else in Colombo will you find the design, elegance, and comfort of a 5-star hotel for mid-range budgets than with us at Cinnamon Red!
First Lunch in Colombo
After we checked into Hotel, we found very nice Chicken Biryani. Our driver suggested the shop.
GALLE BEACH
Two kilometers away is the famous beach resort town of Unawatuna, popular with foreign & local tourists alike for its placid deep blue sea, a fine reef for snorkeling also the only spot where one could spot whale shark the largest know fish in the world and not a shark, and one should also know that sharks are unheard of in Sri Lankan waters. The area is also frequented by turtles to lay eggs.
Jami Ul-Alfar Masjid (Red Mosque)
Sri Lanka’s Red Mosque, or Jami Ul-Alfar Masjid, is one of the architectural wonders of the world. Situated in the bustling Pettah district, one of the oldest parts of the city of Colombo, its tall minarets are seen from almost every street, towering over the hustle and bustle of the busy neighborhood streets
Independence Square
It is located in Independence Square (formerly Torrington Square) in the Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo. It also houses the Independence Memorial Museum. Independence Square is a monument of political significance in Sri Lankan history. There is nothing unique of very interesting about the monument. There are some nice carvings on the ceiling of the hall but the place is not worth spending more than 5-10 minutes
Business Meeting at Colombo University
The University of Colombo is a public research university located primarily in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is the oldest institution of modern higher education in Sri Lanka. Specialised in the fields of natural, social, and applied sciences as well as mathematics, computer sciences, and law.
Dinner and Fun Time at Colombo City Centre
Colombo City Centre is at the forefront of the dynamic changes transforming Sri Lanka and its capital into one of the world’s most exciting cities. Conveniently located, Colombo City Centre represents the best of our country with an innovative design inspired by Colombo’s rich cultural heritage and integrated with the style of a progressive Sri Lanka.
My Walking Story :
Today I am going to narrate my Sri Lanka trip, in this story, I am going to describe the first and second day in Colombo, Sri Lanka, the plan for Sri Lanka was there in my mind for a long time, and one thing I have noticed for myself that for whichever place I have a dream to visit, it came to be true because of any reason. This was one of them and I wanted to visit Sri Lanka to see the specific place which was mention in the Hindu mythology book name Ramayana.
By chance I got this opportunity to visit Sri Lanka as I got one project in Thailand, Bangkok from UNESCO, after their project they have conducted one meeting in Sri Lanka, they had invited me for that. I thought that I should grab this opportunity to visit Sri Lanka no matter the reason was the official meeting and that was also of one day only and rest time I can spend as my personal time and will stay for near about five days after completing my official meeting.
I thought of taking my team manager along with me but because of certain reasons, he was unable to join me for this trip. So, became along, and then thought of taking my cousin along with me for this trip, he is working as an IT Professional in South India and lives in India only. He was young and it was his first job in IT Field in South India, so this was his first trip which was out of India. I told him not to worry about the travel expense as it will be bear by me only, all he needs to do was to take a leave from his workplace.
Finally, I booked tickets for both of us and ask him to wait for me on a day, so that we can travel together but he visited before me. It was a morning flight and I directly landed in Colombo on 13th Dec’18, while my cousin was also waiting for me at the Colombo airport and our hotel was already booked and the name of the hotel was Cinnamon Red Hotel.
While Indian visitors get visas on arrival so there wasn’t an issue with that and after that we sat in our booked cab and went towards our hotel. While I told my cousin that after check-in is done, he has to join me for a city tour, which will be good for him as well to explore this place and we both can enjoy each other company in this country and make some good memories by having fun together.
As I don’t have much time to lazily spend, while I had already booked my next place to go for the next day as per plan. We are done with our check-in formalities by 12 in the afternoon and straightway we went for lunch as I was damn hungry. I ask my cab driver for a good place to have Biryani, so he suggested one place to us name Grand Pila, New PIlawoos Hotel. We had over there for lunch it was delicious, and I had uploaded a photo of food one can see on my blog, the first thing I did after that was to buy a local sim card for contact purposes.
So we move ahead to the next destination which was Galle Beach, which was two kilometers away and it is the famous beach resort town of Unawatuna, popular with foreign & local tourists alike for its placid deep blue sea, a fine reef for snorkeling also the only spot where one could spot whale shark the largest know fish in the world and not a shark, and one should also know that sharks are unheard of in Sri Lankan waters. The area is also frequented by turtles to lay eggs. While it was hot weather, I enjoyed Guava fruit and spend nice quality time over there and took a snap of the place and of a few fun moments.
Now, our next destination after this was Jami Ul-Alfar Masjid (Red Mosque) which was suggested by a cab driver, so we went over there, our driver parked at a side place and ask us to visit the same place after exploring this place. So, I and my cousin were walking on the path, it was a crowded place, while we observed local people living style and a local drink, the way people work and tried some sweets.
Sri Lanka’s Red Mosque, or Jami Ul-Alfar Masjid, is one of the architectural wonders of the world. Situated in the bustling Pettah district, one of the oldest parts of the city of Colombo, its tall minarets are seen from almost every street, towering over the hustle and bustle of the busy neighborhood streets, still this place has its own beauty. From vehicle only driver help us to see few sight-seeing and I captured that moment into picture which I have posted on my blog. Further, we went to a popular place name Independence Square, it is in Independence Square (formally Torrington Square) in the Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo.
It also houses the Independence Memorial Museum. Independence Square is a monument of political significance in Sri Lankan history. There is nothing unique of very interesting about the monument. There are some nice carvings on the ceiling of the hall, but the place is not worth spending more than 5-10 minutes. This place was just like connote place in India people visit over here and capture pictures, so do I do and knew the history of it.
I came to the hotel at 7 pm in the evening and I had my dinner with my client as he was also staying in the same hotel as mine. He was also going to attend tomorrow’s meeting, so we had dinner together and the next day we had a meeting. While meeting was at Colombo University and the whole day meeting was going on, there were vice-chancellor, teacher and big personalities were available, we had our lunch over there and back to back presentation was going on. Finally, it got over at 5 pm in the evening.
We were roaming at Colombo University to see the surroundings, while we saw Colombo City Centre, so we went there for dinner and I like it and explore the mall as well. The food was tasty and tried a local drink also, it was 8 pm at night, so after that, we came to our hotel and had a nice sleep. This was the club of two days’ plan and it ends over here, I like Colombo a lot it was neat and clean along with beautiful places. I hope you like it!
