What to see and savour in Sri Lanka: Cities, Buildings, Buddhas, Dosai and Tea!

Where is it?
Off south East India. The Indian Ocean is to the South. The Bay of Bengal is to the East.

Which are the major cities to visit?

The capital, Colombo, is on the West coast. Kandy is in the centre.

Travellers' Problem
What to see?
Is it safe?

Answers
What To See
Old buildings, new buildings, Buddhs and more Buddhas. Tea - the famous Ceylon tea.

Traditional Buildings

Building in Jaffa. Picture from Wikipedia.


UNESCO World Heritage Sites such as Kandy and Sigiriya.

National parks Minneriya and Yala .

Tea plantations such as Nuwara Eliya tea plantations.

The sandy bays of Ahangama.

Trips to Sigiriya rock fortress.

Trips to the ancient city of Polonnaruwa.

Buddhas
At least three major buddhas.


Food
Rice and curry.
Masala dosa (or dosai). Dosa means pancake.
String hopper.
Food might be served not on a china plate, nor the banana leaf of Little India in Singapore but a plantain leaf or lotus leaf.

Sri Lankan Restaurants In London
Central London and the suburbs have Sri Lankan restaurants.
Hoppers, Soho

Is Sri Lanks safe?
You might have heard about trouble.
Wikipedia says:
Colombo, 1983: The Black July, 400–3000 Tamil civilians were killed across the island in the anti-Tamil Pogrom allegedly backed by hard-line Sinhalese ministers.
Tamil Tigers bombed the sacred Sri Dalada Maligawa temple in 1998.

That was a while back. 

 A Sri Lankan friend from a Toastmasters Club in Singapore told me that the troubles are over.

Officially over?
That didn't stop gang warfare in London. A murder took place in a park in London. Imported feud. But if London is now as bad as the rest of the world, might as well travel.

What was that news story from the UK?
2003:
http://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/381882.Life_sentences_for_murder_gang/

Safety Advice
From the British Government

From the American Government

From the Canadian Government

Sri Lankan Restaurants In London, England
https://metro.co.uk/2018/05/11/where-can-you-find-authentic-sri-lankan-food-in-london-here-are-5-restaurants-to-check-out-7532055/
hoppers.london.com
Jaffna House Restaurant
www.lokhandwala.co.uk
Papaya Restaurant

Virundhu, 113 Field End Road, Eastcote, Pinner, HA5 1QG tel +44 (0)20 8866 7500
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g7380842-d12507013-r502299728-Virundhu-Pinner_Greater_London_England.html
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/sri-lankan-food-where-to-eat-it-and-how-to-make-it-hoppers-soho-london-review-moonstone-review-a7717251.html

Masala Dosa in Singapore
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4474319509042475984#allposts/postNum=1

Competition from Travelzoo for two weeks in Sri Lanka
Click on this link because that is supposed to give me a credit for referrring you.
https://wyng.io/gIrGyi

It is organized by Lumle Holidays. I checked them out on Tripadvisor and they had good reviews when I looked in July 2018.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my other posts on learning Tamil, Famous Tamil people, Masala Dosai in Singapore, vegetarian food in London. Please share links to your favourite pages.