Skywatch Friday... Above the Indian Ocean

There we were walking from the airport shuttle all set to hop into the flight and head off to our final destination- Colombo. We were flying in a Bombardier Q400 aircraft- "Spicejet Laung", a flight with a capacity of about 50 passengers. We hopped in via the small staircase and found our seat. The flight took off and before we knew it, we were flying on top of the Indian Ocean. The blue beneath and the white fluffy clouds above was just a sight too good to be true! It was a short one hour flight, and most of the time was over the ocean. 

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Sri Lanka- The Planning

This was a trip like no other. Why do I say that? There is only one reason why! This is my 1^st ever trip across the Indian borders, yes, I was finally gonna get a stamp on my passport and setting foot on foreign land. So what if it was Sri Lanka, our neighbouring country. It was still a country that needed a passport and visa and all that jazz! For those who have travelled across the globe, this is no big deal, but trust me – it was such a huge deal for me! Actually, this was true both for me and my friend. We had kinda made a pact a year or so ago that we would make our 1^st international trip together and it so happened that the dream came true…

She called me towards the 3^rd week of March and asked if I was game to do a trip to Sri Lanka and I immediately said Yes. She had done quite a bit of research and began rattling out flight and visa details even before the whole thing settled in my mind. I checked the net, got her passport details and booked our tickets and Visa. Within a day we had also booked the hotel for the 1^st night and we had decided to take the rest as the days progressed. I took 2 friends into confidence and asked them about places to go, things to do and so on.  I also referred to the net, checked out quite a few sites of which I found Sri Lanka Travel portal to be quite good and informative! 

[Image courtesy: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/asia/sri-lanka/map_of_sri-lanka.jpg]

We booked tickets on Spicejet from Madurai, cos that was the cheapest flight available on the dates we wanted to travel. There are quite a few other Airlines- Air Lanka, Air India Express and so on. 

The Visa was done online, and it took a few minutes only. All I did was Google “Sri Lanka visa” and the “https://eta.gov.lk/” site popped up. In that, after reading the process, i clicked on “Apply” which opened out a form that i filled out [name, passport number, issue and expiry date, address, dates of travel, and an address at the destination], then make the payment via credit card [USD 15]. However, visa is also available on arrival, but that costs USD 30.  Once you are done filling out the form, check and make sure the information provided is correct, esp passport number. If you don’t really know where you are staying [which was the case with us], just fill in Colombo [landing destination] and it works! Now when you are done with payment gateway, you will receive an email saying your visa is under process and you will hear from them in 24hours. I received a “visa approved” mail within that time and I had it on my phone in case anyone asked for it [which none did]

Similarly, for the ticket, you just need to store the email on your phone, don’t need print outs. Just make sure you are carrying your passport with you as you will need to show it at multiple places.

With regards to Foreign Currency- we did a rough estimate after talking to friends/travel agents and people living in SL, and decided we might need about 50K Sri Lankan Rupees [LKR], which was equal to Rs25000 INR. So, I called up a money exchange company, took a copy of the passport and ticket and cash and got the LKR money.

LKR is quite interesting- the notes are all different, some large, some small but all of them have a collection of birds/animals/symbols/masks on them. Quite colourful.  The LKR 2000 notes are much larger than LKR 5000. They also have coins, very similar to ours except theirs is all gold in colour.  The normal conversion rate is 1 INR= 2.17 LKR, but most places give upto 2LKR.  We needed little more and so when we approached Western Union in Galle, they offered us 1.9LKR only [lost about 500 bucks in that transaction].

That is all you need! Oh and you can draw cash if required using your ATM card from your local Indian Banks. The ATM machine gives a good rate – 1INR= 2.17 LKR. Our Credit cards also work everywhere, for no additional charge! The credit card slip comes in LKR, while the SMS/email notification in our INR.

Now that you know what you need to plan a SL trip, I shall talk about my experiences in the next post.

Guess the destination

Well, it has been quite a while since I travelled.. And so I have decided to take a short holiday, and this time am travelling with a dear friend.

Where am I headed? Well, that is for me to know and for you to guess.. And if you guess right, a small something awaits you :)

So, leave your guess in the comment and wait for me to update!!

Clues-

There are beaches

There are mountains and Hills

There are elephants and then there are people

There are temples 

There are tea plantations and 

There are interesting dishes... 

Where am I headed to ?

Oh yes, if you are among the few who know where I am headed, shh, stay away and you shall get a small something.. lol..

See you all soon~!!

Skywatch Friday-Durgiana Mandir, Amritsar

We had just landed in Amritsar and plans were being made for the days to follow. We learnt there was a temple near the hotel we stayed at which is a beautiful one. So that was marked as the 1st place to visit, followed by the other sites. We hailed a cab since we were 5 of us and I kinda convinced all that it made sense to travel together rather than in two autos.. :-) 

As the vehicle pulled into the parking lot, I looked around to see if the temple or the gopuram was in site. I did see a tall gopuram but was told that belonged to another temple. We had to walk down the road to see this temple. The temple is called Durgiana Mandir [ named after Goddess Durga] and some also refere to it as the Lakshmi Narayan Temple. It is situated near the Lohgarh Gate. Leaving our footwear in the car, we made our way down the road [well, it was just a path with nothing but stones and rubble] . A huge gate guarded the temple, near which was a small shrine for Vaishno devi. 

The temple was built by Harsai Mal Kapoor  back in 1908  and has been constructed very alike the Golden Temple. Only prominent difference are the silver doors which has led to it being referred to as the Silver Temple. You walk down a long passage with water on either side, and a fountain that was spouting water to quite a height. There was a carpet laid out and the entire place was just clean [not a speck of dirt or trash to be seen anywhere]. All the pillars and light fittings were in Gold colour adding to the grandeur. After the darshan of Goddess Durga, we also went around to see the other shrines located around. There were quite a few,

Sitla Mata Mandir

Lakshmi Narayan Mandir

Bada Hanuman Mandir

Tulsi Das Mandir and the

Sat Narayan Mandir

As we made our way out, I noticed on top of the inner gate the names of all those who were responsible for erecting the temple. The names ran a mile long.. 

[ To know more about this temple, do visit this site]

It was such a visual treat and I was already excited to visit the Golden temple... Which was set aside for later in the day!! 

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