The sacred city of Kandy

February 12, 2010

Kandy 20 December 2009 - The train ride from Colombo (Fort Railway Station) to Kandy is approximately 2 ½ hours. Once we reached Kandy station, we hired a tuk-tuk to get us to The Pink House. Yes, that’s what the guesthouse is called – The Pink House. No, the house is not pink, maybe it used to… just maybe.. not sure though. Even though the guesthouse looks a little quaint, we had a great hospitality treatment. The owner was a very friendly and helpful lady, whom never failed to asked us if everything was ok.

In the middle of Kandy town lies Kandy Lake. It is a man-made lake created in 1807 by the last Sinhalese king of Kandy. It is situated by the side of the Tooth Relic Temple which is the main attraction within Kandy town.  The temple is believed to house the left upper canine tooth of the lord Buddha himself. This precious relic attracts white-clad pilgrims, bearing lotus blossoms and frangipani, every day. The big ceremony where they parade the golden caskets comes either July or August every year. It is said that the final night procession is the most spectacular event in Kandy. More than 50 elephants parade the city accompanied by the drummers, dancers and chieftains.

View photos of Kandy.

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Colombo 19 Dec 2009 – After an hour transit at Kuala Lumpur, we reached Bandaranaike International Airport in Negombo at 1010hrs. A 3-wheeler (or more commonly known as tuk-tuk) cost us around Rs2,500 to Juliana Hotel in Colombo.

Little did we know that Juliana Hotel was a popular place for “night activities” with the locals. But the hotel was more than decent and look not a little bit dodgy. And fortunately, there wasnt any unpleasant encounters. After venturing around the area, we met up with Sarindar and wife for dinner. Discussed with them if our route planned around Sri Lanka was a doable trip. He agreed with a tour agent whom had advised us earlier at the airport that we should do a reversed route as what we had planned.

And so we head off to Kandy the next morning to visit the ancient ruins and temples, followed by the cool hill areas and end our trip along the southern coast to enjoy the sun, sand and the sea…

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Sri Lanka – where beauty remains abundant and unspoiled

January 11, 2010
Sri Lanka map

19 Dec 09 – Woke up in the wee hours to catch our flight at 0705hrs. Met up with Z and Sue at the airport. Even though they were going in a different direction – Cambodia, they had an adeventure of their own. Farah and I, we were heading to Colombo where we spent our [...]

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Tilt Shift @ Kent Ridge

October 13, 2009
Thumbnail image for Tilt Shift @ Kent Ridge

After learning how to create tilt-shift effects using photoshop, I was determined to get my hands on the real thing… the TL (tilt-shift) lens. A friend recommended a place where I could rent lenses and the next thing I knew I was out shooting at Kent Ridge Park for hours.

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Earth Hour 2009

March 22, 2009
Earth Hour

Earth Hour is an annual international event created by the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature/World Wildlife Fund), held on the last Saturday of March, that asks households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. It [...]

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Save the whales… again!

March 12, 2009
Save the whales

Hayden Panettiere or more popularly known as Claire Bennet in the TV series – Heroes, is aiming to get 1,000,000 signatures for a petition to stop all commercial and lethal scientific research whaling, worldwide. The million signatures will be submitted to the IWC (International Whaling Commision) meeting in June 2009. Why sign the petition?
 Overhunting, [...]

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