Category Archives: tourism

The Allure of Pigeon Island near Trinco in Lanka

SHENELLER introduces many tourist sites in Sri La nka ….and in this video-film episode introduces PIGEON ISLAND off Trincomalees Nilaweli Beach in a video entitled “Swimming with Sharks at Pigeon Island” 

https://mail.google.c/u/0/?tab=rm&ogbl#inbox/FMfcgzGtwgkxvGvkShGtfRNZCTMmmdvh?projector=1

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Rhodes Island is Burning!

Tourists and residents are being evacuated from the Greek island of Rhodes due to severe forest fires. The fires began after a prolonged heat wave, and temperatures are expected to rise further in the coming days, and winds are also expected to increase.

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The Galle Fort: Skyrocketing Property Today

DG Sugathapala, in Daily Mirror, 9 June 2023 “Value of a perch in Galle Fort increased to Rs. 22mn”

More than one hundred buildings, located within the Galle Fort, have been purchased by foreigners, increasing the value of one perch to Rs 22 million, the Galle Heritage Foundation said. With this development, the population within the fort, which used to be around three thousand, has decreased to around 1000.

 

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Bernard’s Odyssey in Sri Lanka: Further Marvels

Bernard Van Cuylenberg, whose chosen title is  “An Odyssey: The Search for Heritage, Part Two”

Nilaweli Beach in 2020 –Pix by one Mike Roberts

PROLOGUE: Saying “Goodbye” is never easy. The “Goodbyes” I bid to the Staff at Nilaveli Beach Hotel after a relaxed idyllic holiday following the first leg of my tour was hard. This was where I cut my teeth on life’s road and the ties that bind me to this Hotel were, and remain, very strong. But there was a long road ahead, a road I never travelled before. Travice Ondaatjie, whose late Dad Mr. George Ondaatjie was my Boss when I worked for Nilaveli Beach Hotels Limited drove up to Nilaveli on Friday the 24th and told me that on Sunday the 26th March we would leave for Passekudah, Arugam Bay and travel down the Eastern seaboard right down to the Lahuggala National Park in Amparai to visit the archaeological sites there, and then head for Wellawaya and finally to Colombo.

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Galle Fort Today: Its Western Ramparts in the Sun

Amateur Camerawork by Michael Roberts, in Early April 2023

 I  was fortunate to benefit from the hospitality of Moninna and Gamini Goonewardena of Parawa Street and took the opportunity to record some of the work with autistic teenagers & children that was conducted at ECSAT in Wakwella Rd on the Friday (easily the most vital event during my stay).
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Galle Fort & Its Peoples in Black & White

Gagno’s Searing Camerawork

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Old World Charm: The New Oriental Hotel in The Fort of Galle

Joe Simpson, in https://www.worldgenweb.org/lkawgw/noh.htmlwith highlighting added by Thuppahi and pictorial embellishments from Joe on request or from his past articles plus other cameramen

“Preserving the spirit of a forgotten world”  ––  anecdotal glimpses of the New Oriental Hotel, Galle Fort, by Joe Simpson. otesaga@shaw.ca

Not long ago while reading a Canadian newspaper article about the restoration of Penang’s Eastern & Oriental Hotel, founded in 1885 by the Sarkie brothers, the same Armenian-born Malay Peninsula hoteliers who built Singapore’s legendary Raffles Hotel, I felt stirred to begin delving into the history of an even more venerable South Asian hostelry of my past acquaintance – Sri Lanka’s New Oriental Hotel.

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Mack & Tessa’s Glorious Cinematic Pictures of Sri Lanka Today

Two Weeks in Sri Lanka | A Recent Cinematic Travel Video: 

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Leopards in Sri Lanka: Rare Shots of Leopards in Fornication

A letter (reproduced today…….. https://thuppahis.com/2022/11/13/aussie-tourists-give-thumbs-up-for-tourist-scene-in-sri-lanka-today/#more-67980) from an Australian couple presents a Warm Thumbs-up for the Sri Lankan tourist industry today. …. Yes, TODAY. It should perhaps be evaluated in conjunction with a ground-breaking documentary on Sri Lankan leopards by the highly qualified Thivanka Rukshan Perera which is being aired by National Geographic at present (November 2022). This type of encounter, of course, is hard to come by – but Thivanka himself will be envious of the local tourist who watched and snapped a couple of leopards coupling in the wide-open spaces of a wild-life track.

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Aussie Tourists give Thumbs-up for Tourist Scene in Sri Lanka Today

Letter from Ray & Chris Czajko of Kensington, Victoria (November 2022)

The Czajkos would have been even happier, or become ecstatic, if they had accompanied Thivanka Perera on his leoaprd filming ‘safaris; or chanced upon leopards in fornication in the full ‘glare’ of a jungle track  (which Thuppahi is pleased to present in another item today).    This is the Circular Note sent by Thivanka:

Dear Family & Friends,

Despite all the negative reports we get every day in the press and on TV, it was heartening to read this letter from recently returned Aussie tourists to SL. It augurs well for the poor tour operators and hotels that seem to be struggling because of the lack of tourists from all the bad press.

I thought it worth sharing this with you. I hope you like it.”                                                    Continue reading

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