Budget Travels by Divya

Kandy is a major town located in central Sri Lanka. It is famous for the Tooth Relic Temple and Perendeniya Botanical Garden. We arrived in Kandy from Dambulla by a bus. We reached at around 12 noon. We checked into a hotel booked on the spot through booking.com We freshened up and went to the Tooth Temple on road. It was a 10 minutes walk from the hotel. The Tooth Temple is a very sacred temple for Buddhists, which is believed to house an ancient tooth relic of Lord Buddha. This is housed inside the royal palace and the lake complex. There is an entry ticket for foreign tourists. The Royal Palace and temple complex On the Temple grounds! We did not visit Perendeniya Botanical Garden, since it was in the outskirts, and we strolled around the central railway station area. There were lot of food joints and bakeries in Kandy! We bought packets of Plum cakes and fruits cakes (by kilos!), and savored them in the evening. We started for Nuwara Eliya from Kandy, by road. The...

Anuradhapura is an ancient town in Central Lanka. It is a part of the Cultural Triangle of Sri Lanka, Sigiriya & Polonoruwa being the other two edges of the triangle. We did a day trip from Dambulla. We took a bus from Dambulla clock tower to Anuradhapura. The two towns are 65kms apart. It took us 1.5Hrs to reach Anuradhapura, at around 10.30AM. It was a very hot day, and we hired an auto-rickshaw (Tuk-tuk). He agreed for 1000LKR for showing us 8 spots in Anuradhapura. Around 10Kms from Anuradhapura is Mihintale, which is also a place worth visiting, but due to paucity of time, we skipped it. Listing the must visit places, in the order we visited them: 1. Isurumuniya Temple: This was the temple where the ruling king had built a home for few high-caste children who were ordained by the king. There is a wish pond in the lake, and a lovely temple. Entry fees is charged for foreign tourists here. The Temple in the back-drop 2. Ruwanweliseya Dagoba : This is a huge hemi-...

Hi Folks, I will be talking about my 10 day trip to the island country of Sri Lanka in South Asia in this post. This was a couple trip from Delhi (India) to Colombo and back. The itinerary we followed is below: Day 1:  Start from Delhi, and reach Colmbo. Transfer to Dambulla Day 2: Day trip to   Sigiriya & Pidurangula (20Kms from Dambulla) Day 3:  Day trip to Trincomalee Day 4:  Day trip to Anuradhapura Day 5:  Transfer to Kandy Day 6:  Transfer to Nuwara Eliya Day 7:  Transfer to Ella Day 8:  Transfer to Galle Day 9: Galle local sight seeing Day 10: Transfer to Colombo and return journey Places we missed, but are worth visiting: Jaffna in northern Lanka, Polonuruwa which is a part of the cultural triangle, Mirissa, Bentota, and the capital city - Colombo! Few pointers to keep in mind: Sri Lankan currency is Lankan Rupee (LKR). It is a closed currency, which means you will mostly need to exchange currency after you land...

Hi Folks, I will talk about my weekend jaunt to Nainital. Nainital is a small hill station in the Kumaon part of Uttaranchal. It is named after the Lake Naina, which separates this small beautiful town. This was a solo trip I did in May, 2017. May-June is the best(albeit crowded) time to visit this place, when the rest of the country is blazing under the relentless scorching Sun! 3 Day Itinerary: Day 1: Reach Nainital in the morning by overnight bus from Delhi. Naini Lake boating, Naina Devi Temple, Mall Road, Tibetan Market shopping Day 2: Snow-View Point, Eco Cave Garden, Sadiatal Cascade, GB Pant Zoo Day 3: China Peak Trek, and return to Delhi Trip in Detail: I took the UT Govt bus(I took the Volvo one. There are other budget options as well) from ISBT in Delhi. I reached Haldwani by this bus at 5AM in the morning. From Haldwani, Nainital is 40Kms, and there are frequent buses every ten minutes. I took a local bus and reached Nainital at around 6.30-7AM. There are p...

Hi Folks, I will be talking about our 3-Day Trip to Rishikesh from Delhi. Rishikesh is destination that caters to tourists of different kinds.It is an amalgamation of being a very holy destination for Hindus, with the Ganges flowing right though it, and being THE destination for best white-water rafting in India. The other reason why Rishikesh is very famous is the great Yoga destination it is turning out to be. There are a lot of places offering 1/2/3/10 Day courses in Yoga. It is a very hippie place with a lot of Israeli tourists, and great cafes filled with Israeli food.  We went on this trip from 27th Feb - 2nd Mar, 2018. We went in our self-driven car from Delhi.  All prices mentioned below are in INR(Indian Rupees), for 2 adults. I'm sharing a suggested itinerary for people who are planning this trip below. Suggested Itinerary: Day 1: Start from Delhi to Rishikesh. Reach Rishikesh in 6 hours. (250Kms from Gurgaon. Good roads to drive). Visit Har ki Pauri in Harid...