Kandy perahera/ Esala perahera is one of unique symbols in Sri Lanka. It is a grand Buddhist festival of the month of August held in Sri Lanka with elegant costumes. Dalada perahara held yearly since the 3rd Century B.C. Center of it all is the ‘Dalada Maligawa’ which houses the relic of the sacred tooth of the Lord Buddha. During the Perahera, the sacred tooth relic is carried around the streets of Kandy city by nicely decorated elephants to honor it. They are adorned with lavish garments. The Esala perahera is cultured by various cultural dances like fire-dances, whip-dances, Kandian dances and etc. Diyawadana Nilame has the responsibility of organizing the perahera and it is held on dates selected by him.

Hours before the Maha Randoli Perahera, almost all the road sides, balconies, roof tops, upstairs windows and even roofs are jam-packed with spectators, both local and foreign. Kandy Perahera starting time is normally after the sunset, at around 6.30 p.m. to 7.00 p.m. in the evening. Queens Hotel, Dalada Veediya, Yatinuwara Veediya some of the best places for you to watch the Esala Perahera. This Kandy perahera festival is consist of a series of processions.

Beginning of the perahera

Kandy perahera begins with Kappa, in which a sanctified young Jackfruit tree is cut and planted in the premises of each of the four Devales. During the next five days, there are “Devala Peraheras” within the Devale premises.

Kumbal Perahera

After the Devala Peraharas, on the sixth night the Kumbal Perahera begins and continues on for five days. It is joined by the other four devale peraheras.

Randoli Perahera

After the 5 nights of Kumbal Peraheras, the Randoli Peraheras begin and continue for 5 nights. During the Maha Randoli Perahera, the sacred tooth relic is carried on a well-trained tusker elephant and both the elephant and casket in which the tooth is laid are splendidly decorated. Diyawadana Nilame also joins the pageant adding novel glamour to it.

Esala Perahera, only perahera in the world which is held for ten days.

Hopper is an authentic Sri Lankan cuisine prepared out of rice flour and coconut milk, turned out using a hopper pan. It looks somewhat like a pancake but certainly different and more exciting. Nibble into delicious, crispy egg hoppers and plain hoppers accompanied by dhal and chicken curry, so yummy it will just melt in the mouth. 

Hoppers are the ultimate Sri Lankan staple. They are usually served for breakfast but can be had in the afternoon as well. Hoppers are usually accompanied by a bowl of seeni sambol and pol sambol. 

The main ingredients in Sri Lankan hoppers are rice flour, coconut milk, eggs and a little secret ingredient that makes the edges extra crispy.To get hoppers you needed to go to the local eateries, the roti huts, and “hotels” as restaurants in Sri Lanka are often called. 

Many hotels even have a live cooking station at breakfast producing plain and egg hoppers to order.

Hoppers are cool these days and tourists seem more willing to try local food, so if you’re heading to Sri Lanka you should now have no problem finding them.

Hoppers come in many forms, standard hoppers are typical Sri Lankan bowl shaped pancakes, hoppers can be filled, you’ll see egg hoppers, vegetable hoppers and sweet hoppers.

Hoppers in their simplest form are bowl-shaped pancakes made from fermented rice flour and coconut milk. Cooked in small round pans, they tend to come out crispy round the edges, thicker at the bottom.

Egg hoppers

Egg hoppers are simply a plain hopper with an egg cracked in the bottom. Most of the times you can get these in the evening time rather than in the morning as breakfast

Filled hoppers

Hoppers can come with all sorts of fillings. Most of the times it’s vegetable fillings.This makes your breakfast tasty and nutritious at the same time

Curd & trickle hoppers

Curd is fresh buffalo yogurt, or sometimes cow.  Small road-side stores sell the curd in terracotta pots wrapped in leaves or newspaper are all over Sri Lanka. Trickle (aka treacle or honey) is coconut palm syrup, it has a lovely smokey flavour. This is most suitable as a dessert.

How to eat hoppers:-

When your dish of hoppers arrives, there will most probably be a mix of both kinds, regular hoppers and egg hoppers. The bowl-shaped hopper is perfect for topping with side dishes. The go-to add-on to any hopper is seeni sambol, a sweet and spicy caramelized onion concoction that captures the hearts of many. Another classic addition to hoppers is pol sambol, which is grated coconut mixed with chilli and lime. For more elaborate hopper meals, there will be some kind of curry. It might be fish or chicken curry in a roasted curry base and juicy coconut milk sauce.

This dining experience will certainly turnout to be one of the highlights of your Sri Lankan tour.

Vesak festival is the most sacred day to millions of Buddhists around the world. It was on the Day of Vesak two and a half millennia ago, in the year 623 B.C., that the Buddha was born. It was also on the Day of Vesak that the Buddha attained enlightenment, and it was on the Day of Vesak that the Buddha in his eightieth year passed away.

The teachings of the Buddha, and his message of compassion and peace and goodwill have moved millions. Millions around the world follow the teachings of the Buddha and on the Day of Vesak commemorate the birth, the attainment of enlightenment and the passing away of the Buddha.

Vesak is considered as both a religious and cultural festival in Sri Lanka. Many temples get filled with devotees and pilgrims all over the country to mark this great event. In temples Buddhists worship, offer flowers, light lamps, and burn incense. These traditional observances, in essence, have their value in satisfying the religious and emotional needs of the people. Buddhists generally wear a white dress and go to the temple and participate in the traditional ceremonies. Many of them spend the whole day in the temple and reaffirm their determination to follow the teachings of Buddha. On this holy day the ‘Dana’ (alms giving) plays an important role. This is a sign of sharing joy and peace with people. During the Vesak Festival week, the selling of alcohol and flesh is usually prohibited, with abattoirs also being closed.

Galle fort is one of the best places to relaxing your mindset which full of wind and colonial atmosphere. Galle Fort is in the southwest coast of Sri Lanka and it was built first in 1588 by the Portuguese. The Galle Fort is attributed to the Dutch in 1640 and in 17^th century, this original stricter was almost entirely destroyed and rebuilt by them. Then it called as a Dutch Fort. The Dutch used the fort as their main base and improved it until capture by the English in 1796. It was constructed by the Dutch with two portcullises with massive walls of granite and coral with 14 bastions which had interesting names such as sun, moon, aurora, star etc. The fort to this day occupies a land area of 130 acres and it has been transformed into a place of history, romance and beauty where travelers are warmly welcomed to dive head first into the exotic stories and be a part of this heritage site.

   If there is a tour to Sri Lanka, reasonably you must visit the city Galle. A city synonymous with the country’s utterly fascinating colonial era history. Tourist can marvel at and buy antiques at the Historical Mansion Museum. Today, the Galle Fort area is unlike any other place, we have found in Sri Lanka. It is full of boutiques, cafes and hotels begin to restore the white washed Dutch colonial buildings back to their former glory. Mother nature streaks the sky all kind of shades of blue, orange, pink and purple. Watching a sunset from Galle Fort will be one of your favorite experience Sri Lanka. And keep mind to look out the cliff jumpers at flag rock too.

Tourist get attracted to this place specially because of the resources that the nature has endowed to it. And also, there are manspecial tourist places running from the Galle Fort. Mirissa Beach, Marting Wickramasinghe Museum, Habaraduwa Kasba preservative center, Galle International Cricket Stadium, Hikkaduwa coral reefs, Thalpe beach are some of them. It has a beneficial effect on attracting tourists to Galle Fort. 

There are many attractive hotels near this place for the convenience of tourists like fortress, Light House, Koggala Long Beach Hotel, Dasa Villa, Bay Marriot etc. At these places, transactions can be done using both local and foreign currencies. They make local and foreign visitors enjoy the beauty of the nature by providing accommodation facilities, is very attractive way.

This interesting article is about pickles (Achcharu) a Sinhala Hela dish. Pickle (Achcharu) is a very popular Hela dish in Sri Lanka. Specially during the April New year season and during special functions. Also, pickles have medicinal properties. Pickles or achcharu as it’s known in Sinhala is a staple of Sri Lankan cuisine with its often-intense flavor being the perfect accompaniment for most meals. However, over the year’s pickles have evolved into something more than just another side dish with fruit-based pickles being some of the most loved street food in Sri Lanka. Also, these delightful pickles add the perfect flavors of spices and tang to our rice and curry dishes and is still relished all over the island by the old and young alike.

Pickles are basically fruiting or vegetables that have been fermented in either an acidic or salt solution where fermentation takes place to create an environment that discourages bacterial growth, making it last longer. Throughout antiquity, pickles have been a staple of many cultures due to its simplicity and effectiveness.

Even though we don’t have to rely on the science behind pickles for survival, us Sri Lankans still love its tangy and spicy flavor. On a day celebrating pickles (November 14th is World Pickle Day) let’s take a moment to take a look at some of our favorite pickles.

Sinhala Achcharu

This is the  most popular achcharu in the country and most probably the first thing that comes into your mind when you think of achcharu.

While most Fruits and vegetables can be pickled accordingly, the pickling spice mix depend on each one’s personal preference or on a traditional recipe which has been pass down through generations. The Sinhala Achcharu spice mix is usually a combination of mustard seeds, vinegar and garlic which is boiled well and added to the vegetables. This is not sweet at all but adds that much needed tanginess to your main meal.

Malay Pickle

Yala National Park is one of the largest national park and most famous wild life park, located in the south eastern region in Sri Lanka, with an area of nearly 378 sq miles and covers over two provinces of Hambantota district in southern province and Monaragala district in Uva province. The park is divided into 5 blocks and there are four gates to enter the park that is Palatupana, Katagamuwa, covering Blocks 1 & 2 and two gates at Galge on Buttala- Kataragama road, covering 3 & 5 blocks.

Wild Life

The park consists of light forests, grasslands, scrubs, tanks and lagoons. It is home to 44 varieties of mammal as well as 215 bird specifies. Among its, more famous wildlife residents of Yala, are the world’s biggest concentration of Leopards (Panthera Pardus Kotiya), Elephants, Sloth Bears, Jackals, Sambars, spotted dear, Crocodiles and Peacocks. Yala is one of the best places in the world for seeing Leopards and there are 40- 50 leopards. Sri Lankan Leopards mostly can be seen in block 1, on the western side of the park from January to July. Elephants can be seen when travelling on the Buttala-Kataragama road. Some elephants have a habit of soliciting fruits from motorists by standing across the road.

Among bird species Lesser Flamingo, Spoonbill, Painted Stork, Rare Black Necked Stork, Pelican, Grey Heron, Purple Heron and Night Heron water birds can be seen near the lagoons and thousands of migrating birds such as Garganey, Pintail, Whimbrel and Eurasian Curlew attract to the lagoons. And also, Yala forest is home to birds such as Hornbills, Flycatchers, Barbets and Orange Breasted Green Pigeon. Yala is also home to variety of reptiles like Mugger Crocodiles, Cobra, Russel’s Viper, Olive Ridly and Leatherback.

Best Time to Visit

The best time to visit Yala is in the dry season between February and July because water levels of the park are quite low during these months and bringing animals into the open. Normally the park closes in the month of September every year for maintenance. During the monsoon season Yala is in a hot, semi-arid environment and it gets most of its rainfall in North east monsoon, from September to December.