Colombo

Three things remain constant in Sri Lanka wherever your visit takes you - 'Ayu Bowan', 'never pose for a photo with your back facing the temple/statue', and 'smooth roads'.

Rest is filled with diversities - from temples and places reflecting cultural diversities to spices and tea gardens in their natural forms and adoption of traditional gem mining methods to the tall buildings and buzzing casinos, and the beautiful beaches, the small island nation has everything to offer visitors.

It all began with the air hostess at the Sri Lankan Airlines greeting 'Ayu Bowan' on June 6 afternoon as the familiarisation trip team set their foot inside the aircraft for the flight to Colombo from Kathmandu.

It means 'may you love long' clarified the team's guide Sampath Mayadunne on the second day of reaching Sri Lanka, after we came across the customary greeting in almost every other place of our visit.

Heading straight to Dambulla after landing at the Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo, we experienced a smooth road travel. During about 1,000 km of journey across the nation, sometimes climbing up serpentine roads, passing through fast tracks, trailing along the beaches, or making way through the bustling capital of Colombo, the roads never disappointed. They are so easy to travel on because of the smoothness, almost zero road rage, and surrounded by greenery in the clean atmosphere.

The beautiful roads take the visitors to many beautiful places - in their natural and pristine form that have maintained their original essence.

Take for instance, the spices garden at Matale - the herb garden has many different types of plants used for medicinal and other purposes. What's interesting is that there are people employed to immerse visitors in the entire process - showcasing what they have grown, how they are grown, what's their uses and demonstrations of how these actually work.

One of the facilitators in a spice garden in Matale took our team around, while demonstrating different kinds of massage using products made from those herbs. And the final destination - their store where one could buy oil, creams and more made from those herbs.

What a brilliant way of promoting the traditional way of using herbs and species while trying to make this a sustainable business.

This is just one example of Sri Lanka promoting their resources which are intricately associated with tourism. Another significant example of this is a tea factory - Damro Labookellie Tea Factory - in Nuwara Eliya, one of the oldest tea centres in Sri Lanka. The lush tea plantation area has a tea factory where they demonstrate the process of making tea on their factory tour. The tour ends with delicious tea tasting at their lounge, all free of cost. Next is you can buy your favourite flavour of tea, if you wish to.

For those searching for one of the finest moonstones in the world, Galle is the place to be - you can explore the mines on a guided tour while also learning the process of how these moonstones are excavated and mined in the traditional manner. Following the tour, you are once again guided to their stores, a haven for those looking to get the authentic pieces.

Completely opposite to these places is Colombo - the bustling Capital filled with tall buildings, towers including the famous 'Lotus Tower', shopping centres, and of course the casinos.

Out visit took us to the Bally's Casino where people from different parts of the world were indulged in making some of the best bets of their life time. In between these stops and visits, our tour reached different religious and cultural heritages along with the beautiful beaches, to be explored in future articles.

Nonetheless, what was common in all these sites was that the visitors were not allowed to pose with their back facing the temple or statue, you had to stand sideways, and everyone seemed to respect that sentiment whole heartedly. It seemed like a gesture showing respect, intricately connected to the sentiments of the people.

A beautiful nation filled with peaceful ambience, clean and rich environment and ever-smiling people, Sri Lanka is a place for everyone to visit once in their lifetime.