Sunday, June 22, 2014

Ramayana Tour, Sri Lanka.

Ramayana Tour, Sri Lanka.


As you know in the Ramayana epic, Sita Devi was taken to Sri Lanka by its ancient King Ravana using his peacock flight. As per the request of Lord Rama, Hanuman went on searching for Sita Devi and found her in Srilanka jungle under the custody of King Ravana. Then lord Hanuman came back to India and informed it to Lord Rama. Then Lord Rama made a bridge to Sri Lanka through the sea from India and came to Sri Lanka and made war against King Ravana and killed him and recaptured his wife Sita Devi.

Still there are many places in Sri Lanka that are related to Ramayana epic. For example a place is there next to the river on a mountain area which is called as Sita Eliya where history says that Sita was kept in prison in this Asoka vanam. Now there is a temple for the Sita Amman along with Lord Rama, Luxshmana, and Hanuman too. There are small and large foot imprints on the near by the rocks where people believe these were of Hanuman when he expanded his body to look bigger.

Muneswaram Sivan Temple is another important place, where Rama worshiped Shiv Linga to get rid of Brammahaththi Dosam that came on him for killing the King Ravana who was a devotee of the Lord Shiva.
Near to this Muneswaram Temple is the place Manavari Temple where Lord Rama crated his own Shiv Lingam to worship and named it as Rama Lingam. This is the one and only Ramalingam being worshiped out side of India. In India the Ramalingam is worshiped in the Rameswaram temple.

Another important place is Kelaniya Buddhist Temple, here you can see the artful details on how King Ravana's Brother Vibeeshnan was crowned as the king of Lanka.

Other important places in the Ramayana tour of Sri Lanka includes
    Manavari Shivan Temple
    Seetha Devi Temple
    Ravana Cave
    Muneshwaram
    Manavari Temple
    Kathirkamam
    Ashok Vatika
    Panchamuga Anjaneyar Temple
    Ramboda Hanuman Temple
    Inuvil Hanuman Temple.

We take much care to provide the tour to be a divine one. Participants will be provided with best Indian vegetarian food from good vegetarian restaurants. ( If you want to to have non-veg food, we are happy to provide it.)

We give enough time for you to perform your "Santhiyavanthanam" in the mornings. By all means we take much care to make this tour to be a spiritual and religious journey to fulfill your aspiring religious believes.

This tour will provide you chance to view many of the interesting place that are very popular with the foreign tourist throughout your tour here. For example when traveling from Negombo to Kandy, we will stop at the Pinnawela elephant orphanage where you can view young elephants in the transit camp. In Kandy you can visit spice garden, Gem museum and cultural show. If you like you can extend the tour with more activities like sightseeing, shopping and many more interesting activities.

Got question about this Ramayana Tour?
Write to chinthaka3624@gmail.com


Here is one Indian Family Who came Here to Enjoy The Sri Lanka Tour and The Ramayana Tour With Ceylontusker Tours.




Some images from the Ramayana Tour in Sri Lanka operated by Ceylontusker Tours.

                                                       
Nallur Murugan temple in Jaffna, Sri Lanka.


                                                  Sita Temple.
 


                                                                   Sita Temple.

                                              Sita Temple.



                                                      Sita Temple.
   


Popular Nallur Murugan temple in Jaffna ( This is the RajaGopuram on its Right side)

   




Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Scuba Diving in Sri Lanka.

 Scuba Diving Holidays  in Sri Lanka.


While you on any of the Sri Lanka tour package, can spend one or two days for scuba diving in selected areas located in the Southern part or Eastern part of Sri Lanka, depending on the season. If you are interested in Scuba Diving and Snorkeling tours here, then contact
Dayan Chinthaka of Ceylontusker.com
Email: chinthaka3624@gmail.com
Phone:
0094776685331Use the form in the right side of this Blog


In Southern Sri Lanka in the Weligama village there is a "PADI " recognized scuba diving service provider who can rent you diving equipments and can provide deep sea going boats to the diving spot. They assist beginners and expert divers to explore the under water sea around this area. For the beginners they will provide lessons and practicals through their certified instructor and will be available next to you all the time. We will make arrangements with them the days you want to go in to the sea and watch corals, sea creatures, fishes and many more interesting things. You can start your other activities and we will bring you here to start your under water experience and when you are satisfied with the experiences we will take you to continue with the tour by visiting the next destination.
Dayan Chinthaka will take you to the diving center with his private vehicle and arrange for diving equipment rentals. If you don't know scuba diving, then there are instructors available to teach you on how to do scuba diving at affordable price.
It is better to start the day early morning from the diving center to be cool as the noon time may be very hot. From the center three wheelers will be used to take you and the equipments to the beach and from shore to the deep sea by specially designed boat that will  help the divers leap in to the water easily.


If you are a professional diver and coming here on special vacation, then we will guide you to all the important places that are available as special diving locations. Some places we will need to have to get special permission to explore the sea through scuba diving and most importantly the weather must allow us to do it. There are plenty of ship wrecks too around Sri Lanka specially in the Galle harbor area. The popular one is in Batticaloa area Eastern part of Sri Lanka, where you can dive to view the British warship that was sunk by the Japanese army.

Some of the best diving sites in Sri Lanka.
Basses (Kirinda)
Batticaloa
Bentota
Beruwala
Colombo
Galle/Unawatuna
Hikkaduwa
Kalmunai
Kalpitiya
Negombo
Pasikudah/Vakarai
Weligama
Trincomalee.

All kinds of diving equipments including GoPro cameras are available here for rent.
Rental of Complete equipment, Regulator, Wet Suites, BCD and Fins from reputed diving companies can be arranged by us.

.
If you like to go on Snorkeling then we can arrange for you to rent Snorkel mask and fins too.



Sri Lanka's Western coast is suitable for diving from November to April while the Eastern coast is good from May to October.

 All you have to have a nice vacation book your tour early as possible as lot of people used to come here for scuba diving during the season.

If you like to experience Diving in Sri Lanka,
Contact Mr. Dayan Chinthaka.
Professional Tour Operator.  

Can arrange Scuba diving and lessons in any part of Sri Lanka through reputed scuba diving companies that are associated with us.
Like to experience this tour?
Mobile Phone: 0094 776 685 331

Email: chinthaka3624@gmail.com


 Sample scuba diving video. This video was captured in Weiligama, Sri Lanka by our guests of Ceylontusker Tours with the guidance of Mr. Dayan Chinthaka. Our guests used their own underwater camera too to capture their adventure down in the deep sea.




Whale Watching in Sri Lanka.













Friday, June 13, 2014

Meals while going on Sri Lanka Tour.

 Meals while traveling in Sri Lanka.




Visiting Sri Lanka to tour in a bus, car, jeep or motorbike don’t worry you can get vegetarian, vegan and non-vegetarian dishes are available all over the island at good restaurants and hotels. On the road you may come to places that serve different kind of dishes that are suitable foreign visitors. Some are star class hotels where you can expect to get full course meal (lunch or dinner) as European, Italian, Japanese, Indian, Chinese or Mongolian dishes. But in the remote areas of Sri Lanka, you must have good knowledge of the places where they serve good meals or you must follow your guide to find one for you to have god dishes. Some places serve nice Buffet style dining and European dishes while most of them provide Sri Lanka dishes which usually used to contain curry stuff that may be hot for some people. In the Sri Lanka meals, white or red rice served as main dish along with meat, chicken, fish and vegetable as curries. These curries are made basically with coconut milk and chili powder. The coconut milk when cooked perfectly, it will let out oil to make the dish tastier. In these curries, green chilies, fresh spices like pepper, coriander, Cinnamon, Clove, Ginger, Lemon grass, Nutmeg, mace, Cardamom, Turmeric and many other locally produced spices.

Mean while cities like Colombo, Jaffna, Kandy, Galle and other important ones used to offer International brand Pizzas, Burghers, Fried Chicken and other popular meals with the same European and American standard and prices.


You may find yellow rice which is made by adding colors. Also you can find Buriyani, fried rice and red steamed rice which is little hard to eat although it is accepted by Sri Lanka people for its nutritional value.

Guides like Dayan Chinthaka (chinthaka3624@gmail.com) knows each and every corner of the country and as per his experience he knows nearly all the hot spots that are serving delicious nutritional dishes 24 hours a day. Official website: www.ceylontusker.com

In larger towns you can find many hotels that are offering Buffet, BBQ and baked foods. Pizza Hut, Domino, McDonald and KFC can be found near to big malls and inside of the malls. You can buy cool mineral water in plastic bottles, Coca Cola, Pepsi and local bottled soft drinks in any place. Popular local soft drink is Ginger-beer that used to be consumed by the people along with their lunch or dinner. Nearly all the small shops used to sell fresh young king coconut with full of sweet water that can reduce your thirsty. They will cut the top part and provide it with a straw to drink it. If you find white color coating in side of it - after drinking it, give it to the vendor who will cut it in to two pieces, you can eat that young coconut flesh which is also very tasty. No extra charge for that service.

If you are vegetarian Sri Lanka is the ideal place for your meals. There are varieties of fresh vegetables available that can be served as salad and cooked dishes. As a tropical island there are lot of local fresh fruits available in the market along with imported Apple, Orange, Grapes, Pears, and other fruits that you may like to eat. You can find nearly 16 varieties of banana's including the red banana. Popular seasonal fruits are Mangoes, Rambutan, Mangosteen, watermelon, Jack fruit, Dragon fruit and Annanas.

There are many liquor shops, bars, hotels and restaurants that provide local and foreign brands. Beer can be purchased in glass bottles (local brew) and canned ones that are local and imported ones.
Watch out consuming alcohol in public places and near to religious places are legally prohibited one.
Every month there falls a Buddhist Holy day which is called as "POYA DAY" and on this day no one will not sale or serve meat products and alcohol and it is prohibited by the local law. Don't visit any religious shrines under the influence of liquor.

The best food you can have in the evening is hoppers. In Sinhala Aappa and in Tamil Appam. This can be served hot on roadside restaurants.Hoppers can be ordered as plain (just the ingredients only - rice flour and coconut milk) with "Kata sambol" where this sambol is very hot as it is made with red chilies, salt and onions.Always insist to make new ones for you while you are watching.
 In any shop you can order hoppers with egg, or coconut milk or sweet kitul jaggery placed in the center. Some of these hoppers are enough to go as dinner.

Food prices are not expensive here in Sri Lanka when compared to European countries.
Of course one of the top 10 Most Expensive Dessert is available in Sri Lanka.
The Fortress Stilt Fisherman Indulgence priced at US $14,500
http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-most-expensive-desserts.php

See some of the dishes that are available during your tour in the remote areas.



Spicy Chicken Dish.


Below image.
Local favorite dish "Koththu Rotti" It consists of rotti with egg, carrot, leaks, onion. You can request to add roasted chicken or curry chicken or beef or cheese in it. These ingredients will be placed on a thick hot plate and will be chopped to get them all to be mixed together. You can request for vegetable, fish or cheese only to be included in the koththu dish.


Koththu rotti in another restaurant.
 


 Sri Lankan Fried Rice with egg, chicken or meat as the main ingredient in it.


Every where they provide fork and knife for you to have your meals. Also you can eat with your fingers like the locals after thoroughly washing your hands with soap. Important use your right hand fingers to have your food.
                                                One foreign Tourist trying the method.



Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Why Dayan Chinthaka?

Why Dayan Chinthaka?


Mr.Dayan Chinthaka, is one of the leading tour operator in Sri Lanka. Every year he serves hundreds of  tour groups to enjoy their vacation in Sri Lanka. His previous guests are recommending him through the internet as one of the best tour operator in Sri Lanka with vehicle tours. If you are going on a motorcycle tour on a Honda Baja 250CC motorcycle or by a car or Jeep, he will guide you how to select the destinations and how many days to spend there. Most of the routes are familiar for him. He knows where is the next location for filling your gasoline tank. Where to stop for short rest, dinning and sleeping. Even in remote area he got lot of friends who are wiling to provide assistance when they see his tour group.



He can provide star class hotels, motels, bungalows and guest houses for your comfortable night stop or for some days of rest at good resorts at affordable price.

When going on motorcycle tour, his backup vehicle is filled with all the essential items, tools, gadgets and a top notch motorcycle mechanic. While on a tour if the people like to run in sand, streams, mud, hill climbing or treks he will adjust the tour to fulfill their needs without showing any diapproval.

While going through remote areas he knows where to get tasty hygienic food that everyone will like. For example he knows where the egg hoppers available, which are made hygienically and won't upset the foreign riders stomachs. The price, used to be very low and those riders pay extra cash for the boutique owner as they feel that he had charged them very low price. One time he asked the shop man to serve "coconut rotti" with out adding chillies ( Normaly it is added.) along with baked fish, potatoes, tomatoes and delicious soup.

When the cook was cooking the food Chinthaka used to act as an assistant cook to prepare those dishes. When the bill came the foreign tourist used to say why the food price are so cheap, is something wrong with the calculation? Chinthaka insisted that the price is correct and he said this is rural part of Srilanka and not Colombo city, where people used to get expensive bills for their dinner or lunch.

Most of the time he used to take his party members to stay in 3 star hotels if they can afford it and if they want it. Other wise he can provide them with best guest houses with twin sharing beds for checp price.

If such places are not available in that area, then he will take them to lodges where rooms are available with attached bathrooms and beds fitted with mosquito nets and you can't expect A/C but will have ceiling fan that is enough to cool the night to have a good sleep.


When they stop for night time rest, some place are really exciting ones as the guests can listen to far away night birds and sounds of animals from the forests that are located far away. In the morning they can go to a near by water fall to bath or to jump in to the small rivers while the locals are admiring them. Many villagers like to take photographs with the foreigners.


Once every thing is over riders go for breakfast during the motorbike tours. But Dayan and the mechanic will go to the motorbikes to check each of them to see whether they are in good running condition. Fill with lubricant oil, if the sump tank needs it. If there was any complaint by the rider on the time of the arrival in the guest house, Dayan will look after it to adjust the brake, clutch, tightening of chain, checking the air pressure and to fill it and so on. Then they go for a quick breakfast and continue with the journey without any breakdown.

At beaches some of the participants wants to go on scuba diving while some others wants to go on surfing or whale watching. Chinthaka won't be confused, with the help of the mobile phone and with his friends in the area, within minutes all will be arranged as per each person's wish. Early morning the whale watching group will board the boat while the group that wants to go for scuba diving and surfing will be taken care by the sports center owners. Mean while Chinthaka will run to arrange lunch for all the people when they come back at noon.

These are some of Dayan Chinthaka's routine while going on adventure ride or going on round tours between towns.

To contact him chinthaka3624@gmail.com
His web : www.ceylontusker.com
Phone: 0094 -776685331

Official Website: Ceylontuskertours

TourHQ.com 
youtube.com  
Tripadvisor.com


FIND US ON GOOGLE MAPS.
(THANKS TO GOOGLE MAPS FOR THEIR VALUABLE SERVICE.)

 

Monday, June 9, 2014

Negombo Tour. Sri Lanka.

 Negombo is the starting point for many tourists as this place is beach a destination and it is very close to the Colombo airport. So people directly come over to Negombo hotels to rest and to start their tours from here. There are lot of hotels available here at affordable prices. Some are with beach front where tourists can water sports activities and many other features.

Negombo Tour. (3 - 14 Days Tours)
Negombo is the most popular tourist destination in Sri Lanka as you can see it is located as the gateway for tourists who are arriving here in flights at the Colombo Airport. Another reason is that Negombo city was used to be mentioned in articles, books, travel magazines through pout the world for years by foreign tourists. Visiting here from the airport and reaching the airport back are very easy from this town where hundreds of hotels are available for the visitors short and long time stay.

Negombo Tour (14 Days).
Day 1 Airport Pickup - Welcome to Negombo
Day 2 Negombo Beach
Day 3Anuradhapura (Ancient Kingdom.)
Day 4 Habarana.  Polonnaruwa
Day 5 Habarana.  Sigiriya
Day 6 Minneriya Wildlife Sancturay. .
Day 7 Dambulla Cave Temple. Kandy through Knuckles Mountains
Day 8  Kandy to Adams Peak.
Day 9  Yala National Park
Day 10 Tangalle, Mirrissa, Bentota or Hikkaduwa Beach
Day 11 Tangalle, Mirrissa, Bentota or Hikkaduwa Beach
Day 12 Hikkaduwa Beach.
Day 13 Negombo
Day 14 Tour ends in Negombo, Drop you in Airport.

Transport: Japanese A/C Car or  Japanese A/C Van.(Depending the number of tourist)
Private Driver/English speaking Guide (Also German, Italian and other language guides are available.)
Total distance 1200 km
Tour can be adjusted according to your wish. Jeep also available for transport.( 5 passengers)
Price:
2 - 3  Guests. US$ 65/Day
     4   Guests. US$ 70/Day
5 - 12 Guests. US$ 80/Day

Book your hotels from 5 - 3 stars. (If you like we can book for you at best rate.)
Typical Guest house Twin Share with Bed and Breakfast available with us for US$ 45 (2 Guests).
During the tour we will guide you to best dining restaurants. (European Dishes or Sri Lanka Dishes at your expenses.)
Some Tourist attractions may charge Entrance tickets. Be prepared to pay them.

Book your Negombo Tour now.
Mr.Dayan Chinthaka.
Ceylontusker Tours, (www.ceylontusker.com)
Negombo,
Sri Lanka.

Email: chinthaka3624@gmail.com
Phone: 0094776685331




Negombo tour is good idea, if you are looking for short vacation or longer ones in Sri Lanka. If you are going to stay here for nearly one month, it will be a great idea, as you can get in to may activities during your vacation here. There are many tour packages available from us and you can select any of the Negombo tour with the number of days you want to spend here. The city is located near to the Colombo International air port. We can pick you up from there in an air conditioned vehicle and drop you right away in your Negombo hotel located near the city's famous Indian Ocean beach. There are lot of star class hotels available here and you can select the one that suits you and we will make all the arrangements for your stay there.

You can spend your days in the beach sipping your drink under a beach umbrella. If you had bought your skin lotions, then you can go on sun bath to get tanned in few days.
This popular beach is nearly 3 Km long and offers best atmosphere for you to relax during your holidays. The area is clean and lot of people used to be here in the morning and in the evening. Usually they used to go on their way of life and don't bother you. If you like you can talk with them, if you can understand their English. Most of them speak English but in local accent.

Some time you may want to check your office activities? No problem, here you can find 4G LTE network for faster internet service at low price. For banking activities, all the banks are connected with the network and foreign banks, so that is too a easy one for you to handle your financial activities very easily. If it is a big deal, hire a car from us we will take you to Colombo and will wait for you till you are ready to return back to your hotel in Negombo.

Dining.
Here you can get all kinds of international dishes along with local dishes. There are lot of Chefs who are well educated , trained  and with broad experience can surely provide tasty dishes from any popular kitchen. Negombo is  a place for the ocean going fishermen where they will bring fresh catches from the deep sea. So you can enjoy fresh sea food at its best over here.Poultry and meat products too are fresh ones used in for preparing the dishes. Or you can arrange your own BBQ party through the hotel staff in the vicinity of the hotel.

Nearly all the hotels provide bars. In Negombo you can find clubs, and Disco bars where you can sip cocktails.Local and International drinks including kinds of International beer are available at affordable price.

Go on boating.
You can hire boat on hourly basis and can sail through the Kalu River where you can find beautiful bird where some of them are migrant birds, water monitors and monkeys in the mangrove. The best time to start this trip is by morning as the mid day may become very hot in this fishing land.

You can go on boat riding in the Dutch canal where you can see the local people's way of life Its total length is around 60 miles long. Once it was a great water way to transport goods and now it became as a tourist spot.

Rent a Motorbike in Negombo.

You can rent your 250 CC motorbike in Negombo from Mr.Dayan Chinthka on daily rental basis. Just top up your bike with petrol, wear your helmet and ride through wherever you want to go. No mileage limitation. Ride and ride as much you want.

What are the other activities available here in Beaches?
Scuba diving. Don't know scuba diving then try snorkeling that will give some of the under water view.
Surfing
Wake-boarding,
Water skiing,
Barefoot water skiing,
Jet skiing.
Sail boats.
Sight Seeing with Boat.
Deep sea Fishing.

When you are ready to leave the island give us a call, we will pick you from the airport on your arrival or will drop you back at the Colombo airport to take your flight back home after the pleasant holiday here.

For more information: chinthaka3624@gmail.com





Video: Sri Lanka Beach.




Like to go on self driven car? We can arrange you any type of car to suit your budget and will assist you to obtain the local driving permits. We have petrol and diesel operated vehicles for hire on daily rental basis. Sorry we don't have Solar powered car.
Negombo Car Rental

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Sri Lanka 4 X 4 Jeep Tours.

Sri Lanka Jeep Tour, offered as budget Tour Packages.


Touring Sri Lanka with a Jeep provides fun and enjoyable time along with the facility to ride on any terrains and it makes you to reach destinations faster in comfort. They offer more visibility of the touring areas and offer advantage in operating your video cameras and to capture remarkable photos through your digital cameras as you can stand up with the gadget along with good viewing. Many professional photographers used to travel in Sri Lanka by Jeep when they want to capture wildlife through their devices. Each Jeeps can accommodate 5 passengers comfortably, during your tour..

Our experienced English speaking Guides/Driver knows each and every roads and paths in all the districts and they got very good knowledge of the places to look for wild animals, birds and butterflies. Further more they know the locations of good restaurants and stopovers in any area for you to relax while you are going on any of the Sri Lanka tour. Select your tour package and modify it according to your needs and available days.
The driver/guide are very helpful to the passengers like whenever you ask them to stop for some photography session they will obey to it.

Night stops can be arranged: in 3 star hotels or you can select your own Boutique Hotel, Bungalow, Villa, guest house or serviced apartment. If you want we can provide nice guest houses for US$ 45/day with twin sharing.

Food: European cuisine. If not available Sri Lanka dishes (most of them are made with coconut milk) from popular restaurants on the route.
Mineral water is freely available every where at affordable price as cooled or uncool-ed.


Tour Duration (Optional).
4 Nights / 5 Days Tour
5 Nights / 6 Days
6 Nights / 7 Days.


   
5 Nights / 6 Days
    Day 1. Colombo Airport to Galle.(With A/C) Car or Van
    Day 2. Galle Fort then to Udawalawe Elephant watch.
    Day 3. Belihul Oya Visit ancient cave. Drive hill country.
    Day 4. Visit Devil’s Stair Case and 32 Hair Pin Bend drive.
    Day 5. Belihuloya to National Park in Horton Plains and Bambarakanda Waterfalls .Then to Nuwaraeliya British vacation resort.
    Day 6. Nuwara Eliya to Airport.

Need assistance to plan your Jeep Tour in Sri Lanka?
 How to contact Mr. Dayan Chinthaka to book this Budget Wildlife Tour?
1. Use the form in the right side of this Blog.
2. Contact Email: chinthaka3624@gmail.com
3. Call: 0094776685331


Dayan Chinthaka with a group of travelers.




Tea Plantation in the Hill country.


Driving through Rubber Plantations.


Driving by the Lake




Photo Courtesy: Mr.Alex.