Sri Lanka: The Island Where Dreams Live…

Hello guys, I hope you’re good and this nice time helps you to get through this working week so easily. There is still a little time left to the weekend, so the countdown can start now slowly! I think this is a perfect time to start a new series of posts and to discover all the beauties of a little paradise island country. Let me introduce you to one of the  most beautiful island – Sri Lanka!

When I received a mail from Sri Lanka’s tourism board, I couldn’t have read it all because of the excitement which I felt in that moment! The only thing I read was a sentence that I repeated in my head for a few minutes until I have finally come to myself and realized that I have the chance to visit such an exotic country: “Mark, are you ready for an adventure? Sri Lanka is calling you!”.

For a moment, I thought it was some early brilliant prank for April Fools’ Day, because the start of the trip was planned on April 1st and I just didn’t give up some importance. Of course, as always I just can’t sit like that so I checked with my colleagues bloggers.  I realized that it was time for the little Marko to visit Sri Lanka! My happiness in that moment I just can’t describe with the right words, there were tears of joy, my mom wanted to go with me, and there was a real mini drama in the house for a couple of days… After few days my mother, who as you know is my photographer, she forgave that I wouldn’t take her with me on the Sri Lanka’s trip.

The days have passed, the time for the journey was getting closer and closer, and I was secretly hoping that it was not a prank and I would really go to one such trip like that…

Three days before the trip I got my flight tickets and of course again you can just imagine me how I’m running through the house and screaming with joy, because that was the sign which I was waiting for…

The first day of the April, the unusual morning crowd in the downtown of Belgrade I hardly managed to get out and with a couple minutes of delay I checked on my flight and finally I’ve started my new adventure. That day I will remember, that is for sure! I didn’t feel the tiredness of the previous trip or the cry of frightened babies. I just couldn’t have missed reading of “professional travel literature” – Guide: How to survive Sri Lanka and some old issue of Hello magazine…

Well, landing in Doha it didn’t get to be scary as I was in India recently, so I acted like a true “professional” traveler and I went straight to the boarding gate for the Colombo.

After 11 hours of reading some “interesting” literature, few naps and 2 movies, Little Marko arrived to Colombo. First Impression: “I will die, here it has almost 37 degrees outside and it’s 4 am… God what’s waiting for me all those days!” I must admit they have very interesting airport. You wouldn’t expected to find a nice house technique at the airport itself! My mom still can’t forgive me when I told her how cheap the washing machine is. She has almost a heart attack because of sadness why I didn’t buy her a new Candy washing machine… of course it’s a joke! She was very happy when she saw a new pair of earrings, like any other woman! ?

The flight from Doha to Colombo was very interesting, although it was early in the morning and there was a lot of light there, so there was no feeling of how much hours you really traveled…

Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, is a real pearl of the Indian Ocean. The next day was interesting, together with my colleagues instagrammers and youtubers  I had the opportunity to enjoy in the magic of the Colombo. Just imagine walk the coast of the Indian Ocean and the temperature 37-degree, believe me it’s a real adventure. I was pretending that I’m hero just for two hours. I must admit that walking was worth because I’ve got a nice tan. 🙂

Sigiriya… The city of kings, a city that intrigues visitors with its history. Whether you are a lover of history or art, Sigiriya is the perfect place for you. And even if you just want to see more on Sri Lanka, Sigiriya for sure will stay in your memory for a long time.

Sigiriya or “Lion Rock” as a term or word is not widely known to people, but when someone shows the image of Sigiriya everything is changing. Almost everyone knows about the existence of this geological formation that the mighty Kings of Sri Lanka have turned into a fortress. Sigiriya is often called by people an eighth world miracle. Whether or not we will leave it to someone else to decide but it is certain that this natural formation and building is one of the main reasons for traveling to Sri Lanka. I would like to take the opportunity to say big thank you to Sigiriya Hotel for hospitality and kindness.  It’s a warm recommendation from the heart! On the picture below you can see that amazing Lion Rock from the Sigiriya hotel, isn’t it just wonderful?

The “Lion Rock” is a volcanic origin. It emerged as a hardened magma of long ago active volcano, which in the course of time has gained the shape that we now have the opportunity to see. Due to its position and natural shelters, the Lion Rock was inhabited since the prehistoric times. People who lived on and around, they left their stamp by building many caves and shelters. Since the end of the 20th century Sigiriya (Lion Rock) is on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Since Sigiriya has no epithet of a religious building, you do not have to worry about dressing. It is very important that you know that when you visit religious buildings on Sri Lanka, regardless of the temperature for men it is important that they have to wear long trousers, they are allowed to be made of linen or some other light material for summer. Women are allowed to wear skirts or trousers just below the knee.

Guys, my advice for you is to go as early as possible on an excursion, there is a possibility that you will stay out of the crowd for a long time and the temperatures can be very high. Also the information you should know before you go on a trip is that there are more than 1200 steps on the Lion Stone, so whoever plans to climb to the very top should be in very good condition. I’ve reached the top, I really don’t even know how I did it. I thought of myself as a Rambo with that famous music from the movie, but I think I looked like a fallen mountain hiker who got lucky to get to the top! I’m honest at least! 🙂

At almost all of our excursions we met a lot of pupils from elementary schools, there were even pre-school children who always greeted me with the smile and with the famous question: “Where are you from?”. Very kind and nice children, they were really cute, even they were in a better shape than me! Whatever I am proud of myself, I have managed to climb this tall rock! 🙂

The view from the top was unbelievable, but I was most delighted when we got back to our van! ? The Lion’s rock is a real challenge for alpinists and for people who just love hiking, this was a great success for me and as I’m writing this post now, I just feel the same muscle pain which I had during this adventure. The blogging crew continues their journey and the next destination was the Kaudulla National Park. It’s time for safari guys!

Safari in Kaudulla National Park is the best activity on Sri Lanka that you shouldn’t miss. This is a unique opportunity to see the wild Asian elephants in live. This is the only place in the world where you can come this close to these wonderful animals. You can see their daily activities like eating, drinking water and swimming. Believe me it’s very interesting place.

It is very exciting when you have the chance to see elephants in their natural environment and at least feel the wild life of nature for a moment. Elephants move freely, we had a chance to see their mating…

I think they wanted to have a public! I thought for a moment to watch some reality TV show! But here the main actors are animals! ?

Third day on Sri Lanka’s adventure was slowly approaching to the end, a blogger crew came back to the hotel. Some people from the crew still had more energy to spend so they made a party. But for little Marko this day was too much and he went to sleep a little… I know, sometimes I’m very boring person!

Rise and shine sunshine! New day is up, little Marko has filled the batteries, and he has also prepared the batteries of cameras, so everything is ready for the action! Or maybe not ?! Maybe I’ll just chill a little and take another nap!

Finally, it was time for the beach! The east coast on Sri Lanka was not explored so much and we were the first group of international online media, which was visited this part of Sri Lanka. That was a great honour for us and this way I would like to thank the Sri Lankan tourism board on this amazing journey.

This was a very exciting trip, very fun when you have a good company everything is different! I was in the crew with the famous youtuber! He is well known in Canada, America and the Philippines, and he has millions of subscribers because he has multiple channels on the You Tube. His name is Mikey Bustos.

He is a very positive person, even I became a fan of vlogging now (Vlog – is making the videos of daily activities that would be interesting to the audience, a lot of bloggers and youtubers are doing that).  You can see me in his vlogs. It was so fun to make videos with him and Raquel and RJ (Romeo). Raquel and I just found out on this trip that we are real soulmates, why? We both have many interesting thing in common and both of us love photography.

Mikey, Raquel and Romeo were my companion with whom I spent most of my time in Sri Lanka. I can’t wait to see them again! Maybe we will catch up on my trip to the Philippines. Beside us, there were also professional photographers from Turkey and I aslo learned a lot of useful tricks! Thanks guys! ?

The ocean, the sun, but there is no more time to rest. Our break on the beach are interrupted by our guides and they remind us that it’s time to go on tour of the Hindu temple dedicated to the God of Shiva.

This is also one of the largest Hindu temples in Sri Lanka. It is dedicated to the Shiva, a god whose role is to destroy the Universe at the end of the existence of the world. The symbol of the Shiva is a phallus, which is an indicator of the male role in fertility and birth. Shiva is also a god of good and evil at the same time. It is easy to calm him down and at the same time it is very dangerous and very easily reveals its wrath…

The temple is very interesting and on the walls of the temple you can see God Siva in various situations. It was not allowed to take the photos in the temple, but you have the opportunity to see the diversity of colors on the photo above. I hope I have shown you this beauty and the vividness that this temple has.

After visiting the temple, we had the free time to explore the area and after that we were tired, but very happy and we returned to the hotel to charge our batteries for the new day.

Guys, we have come to the end of this first post from this series of posts about my adventures from Sri Lanka. I sincerely hope that you enjoyed and I would love to hear your opinion. Have you been in Sri Lanka? Are you planning to visit this tropical paradise? We’ll see next week what Sri Lanka has to offer us and we continue this amazing adventure! ?

If you have any questions, comments, suggestion or message for me you can write me down in the comments. Of course, as you know, you can always contact me via mail or social media, and you can find it on the CONTACT page.

Best,

Mr.M

I would like to thank Sri Lanka Tourism Board for this amazing adventure, as well I would like to say big thank you to hotels: Movenpick, Sigiriya Hotel and Nilaveli Beach Hotel.

This post is sponsored by Sri Lanka Tourism Board and Sony. This photos are made with the little help of Sony Alpha 7r and Sony RX100 Mark V.