Adventure Sports in Sri Lanka 2

Kayaking is an excellent way to observe some of Sri Lanka's beautiful sites that are along the rivers. For jungle river kayaking or canoeing, the journey from the Sinharaja Forest Reserve to the coastal town of Kalutara is ideal. It doesn't matter if one has never canoed before, this is the ideal way to experience the wilderness. To make journeys all the more interesting small jungle tours and riverbank camping are also available on the Bopath Ella waterfalls to Kaluganga. For some calm kayaking or canoeing the Bentota lagoon is the place to be.

Adventure Sports in Sri Lanka

As it is surrounded by the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka has some of the best diving spots in the world. Seawater temperatures remain around 27 degrees Celsius and underwater visibility during the high season, which is from November through April on the southern and western coasts, is between 15m to 40m. Some of the best diving spots are found from Beruwela to the beach resort of Unawatuna on the south coast. There are many coral reefs, submerged shipwrecks and exotic fish that the ocean offers all divers.

Waterfalls in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is known for its many tourist destinations and also its beautiful beaches but there is also a side of Sri Lanka that offers those who appreciate the great outdoors a spectacular display of nature.

Waterfalls are one of Sri Lanka’s most treasured parts of nature. Sri Lanka boasts of almost 400 waterfalls scattered all over the island. Breathtaking waterfalls cascading down mountain slopes enhance the beauty of the hill country. The geographical formation of the island, with the central highland sloping down to the coastal plains, has resulted in several rivers and streams starting from the central region flowing down the hilly slopes in a radial pattern, creating these wonders of nature in several places throughout the hill country. This section will take you through some of the most famous of them.

nature

Being a naturalist I have a firm believe that new opportunities will boost your knowledge and experience in this field. Having an opportunity to play the role of a naturalist for the Sri Lanka’s latest aquatic adventure tours organized by the Walkers Tours in collaboration with Ceylon fishery harbours corporation, was privileged to gain this new experience of observing the giant whales and the dolphins roaming in our tropical waters. Surely, this allowed me to read a lot about whales, their migration patterns, and surface characteristics on how to identify them and lot more.

On 11th of April another tour of whales watching with 12 guests came under my purview, which we started sailing around 07.20, am from Mirissa harhour with gloomy weather conditions. Continued roaming around Matara in search of whales till 09.30, am but no sign of a whale other than the few bottlenose dolphins we observed. Everybody seemed disappointed but I had a strong feeling that we will be successful before we end the journey. In fact Mr. Phil Sheldrake, a Project Manager from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds of United Kingdom with his two daughters seemed to be very anxious of seeing a whale. Suddenly our sailor, Thuduwage saw a blow of a blue whale and we were able observe our first blue whale with a distance of about 100 meters before it raised the fluke and take a deep dive. Quenching the thirst of seeing whales eight blue whales came in our presence allowing us to observe all the surface characteristics including few exhales, dorsal fin before raised their flukes and take a deep dive. Everybody of the boat was thrilled with this lifetime aquatic adventure experience they cumulated before we end our journey around 11.15 am to the Mirissa harbour.

The same journey but with different set of clients on 12th April almost on the same time but with better sunny weather conditions. Almost the repeated story of the previous day, roamed till 10.00 am in search of whales up to Dondra point but no sign of a whale other than a herd of bottlenose dolphins and some spinner dolphins. Repeating the previous day’s story a blue whale came in our presence but with quite a distance without leaving much space for us to observe. Without satisfying the observation of the first whale we were looking forward to see another one or two whales before we start proceeding to the destination again a blue whale came in our presence to observe all the surface characteristics with a safe distance before it raise the fluke and take the deep dive as usual. Before we end up the journey around 11.45 we spotted another blue whale and a humpback whale. To mention, the return journey to the harbour was not smooth as previous day due to the rough sea conditions. Everybody were compelled to have a nice bath with sea water because of the sea spray blowing through the boat due to heavy waves kissing in front of the boat.

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It's no stretch to say there are plenty of parents out there who haven't the faintest grasp on how to fix their screwed up credit ratings or get their car back from the repo man.

So why should they be the ones teaching kids to handle their finances?The states of Indiana and Kansas are now considering laws that would make personal finance a required part of the curriculum - from kindergarten up through high school.

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Some Women ARE Born to Be Skinny....

It turns out that for some women it is just in their genes. At least according to the research done by one group of British researchers who are claiming that anorexia nervosa is actually genetic. In today's Daily Mail, it has been reported that neurological development in the womb is the reason why most sufferers of the disease develop the condition.

The study found that in women suffering from anorexia in treatment centers in the US, UK and Norway more than 70% had suffered damage to key neurotransmitters that caused them to become anorexic. These neurological changes can be detected as early as age eight, say the researchers.

These findings could revolutionize the way we both conceptualize the disease and how it is treated around the world. Such a finding doesn't just effect our understanding of etiology, but how these women understand themselves in the world and how they can interact with others--from their families, their friends.

Yet, it raises another key question: screening eight-year-olds to determine whether or not they are at risk for becoming anorexic seems like a pretty dangerous proposition to me. In fact, I would argue that it should not be done. Parents testing their children for the "anorexic brain" could go one of two very dangerous ways:

1) Katie's potentially anorexic brain and lithe frame makes her an ideal candidate to become a supermodel if she's coached in just the right way and pushed just a little, but not too hard or

2) Hannah's possibly anorexic brain makes her parents terrified of her future anorexia such that they are constantly asking her "Honey, want another cookie?", resulting in her becoming an overweight teenager who then resorts to bulimia nervosa to keep the weight off, or

3) you simply have constantly nervous parents who are wondering what will happen to their daughter now that they have the knowledge about their daughter's potentially "anorexic brain".

The research is interesting for sure. But testing children to find out if they will have anorexia seems like a horribly bad idea to me. Let's try instead to control the images they see in the media and teach our children through the examples they see at home and the lessons they hear that they are beautiful no matter what weight or shape or size they are.

Garden History

In 1948, The Garden Club of Virginia offered to restore the Pavilion Gardens. Alden Hopkins, Landscape Architect for Williamsburg, was chosen as landscape architect. Hopkins drew plans for the gardens and supervised the restoration of the West Gardens. After Hopkins's death, Donald H. Parker, his assistant, finished the work in the East Gardens. The West and the East Gardens are quite different from one another in part because there were two designers. The topography also plays a large role as the West Gardens are relatively flat while the East Gardens are terraced into the hillside. The West Gardens were dedicated in 1952 and the East Gardens in 1964. The Garden Club of Virginia continues to guide the care and maintenance of the gardens.

The restored garden designs reflect Jefferson's gardens at Monticello as well as landscape plans in Jefferson's collection of books. Other colonial gardens, such as those at Mount Vernon and Williamsburg, also provided inspiration. The plants were chosen from those known to Jefferson, many having been cultivated at Monticello. The garden walls were reconstructed from evidence provided by Peter Maverick's engravings of the academical village in the 1820s, archaeological studies, and standing pieces. Their graceful serpentine form helps to stabilize the walls, which are only one brick thick. The Maverick engravings also showed how Jefferson's spacing of the pavilions created gardens behind Pavilions I and II which are 90 feet wide while those behind Pavilions IX and X are 150 feet wide.

"Necessary houses" or "privies" were also reconstructed in six of the gardens and now serve as garden sheds. In the East Gardens, where they are not reconstructed, the foundations are outlined in brick. The gardens are each numbered in accordance with the corresponding pavilions.

Six gardens are divided in half by serpentine walls. The upper gardens are called Pavilion Gardens and are more formal and contemplative. The lower gardens are called Hotel Gardens as they correspond to the former dining halls on the range, called hotels, and are interpreted as utilitarian gardens and orchards for kitchen use.

In 1987, the University of Virginia Grounds were named a World Heritage Site on UNESCO's prestigious World Heritage list, which includes the Taj Mahal, Versailles, and the Great Wall of China. While professors and their families continue to reside in the pavilions, the gardens are open to the public. We welcome you to visit any of the gardens and experience a part of Jefferson's academical village.

Jefferson As Gardener

As naturalist, gardener, farmer, and scientist, Jefferson kept meticulous notes in his Garden Book. The first entry was in 1766, when, at the age of twenty-three, he noted "the Purple hyacinth begins to bloom." His last entry, at the age of eighty-one, was a kitchen garden calendar of planting times, locations, and harvest dates. Jefferson's interests ranged from the amount of seasonal rainfall, to the best tasting bean, to the preferred method of grafting peach trees. Following his own belief that "the greatest service which can be rendered by any country is to add a useful plant to its culture," Jefferson cultivated plants from England, France, and the Lewis and Clark American exploration, as well as from expeditions to Africa and China. He bought two Egyptian Acacias (Mimosa nilotica), which he called "the most delicious flowering shrub in the world." He also collected and encouraged the cultivation of Virginia's native plants. "Not a sprig of grass that shoots uninteresting to me," he said. Jeffersonia diphylla, or twinleaf, was named after Thomas Jefferson in honor of his extensive knowledge of botany.

At Monticello, his home, Jefferson developed his extensive landscape into a series of spaces, each defined by its primary purpose, each reflecting his scientific mind and aesthetic sensibilities. The flower roundabout seems an informal garden, with a serpentine walk edged by colorful flowers, yet the flowers were planted in ten-foot, numbered beds allowing Jefferson to keep notes on each. The 1,000-foot-long vegetable and herb garden is both eminently practical and wonderfully enjoyable, especially when viewed from under the bean arbor or from within the garden pavilion.

While living in Paris, Jefferson visited and studied the gardens and buildings of the area. During a 1786 trip to England, he and John Adams followed Thomas Whately's guide to English gardens, Observations on Modern Gardening. Jefferson wrote that "my inquiries were directed chiefly to such practical things as might enable me to estimate the expense of making and maintaining a garden in that style." It can be seen among the wild flowers growing in the lower garden of Pavilion VI. His passion for gardens and their particulars was an integral part of the development of his academical village.

CANADA

Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia - 55 acres of spectacular views and exquisite displays - four gardens: sunken, Japanese, rose and Italian. The Sunken Garden began as an ugly limestone pit in 1904. It is now a National Historic Site, attracting over 1 million garden visitors each year.
Scenes of the Butchart Gardens

SINGAPORE

The Tropical Botanical Instituation in Tanglin was founded in 1859. The 52-ha garden is known for it's National Orchid Garden which boasts 20,000 plants, more than 1,000 species and 2,000 hybrids, the largest display of orchids in the world. The Herbarium Collection houses about 650,000 specimens concentrating on the Malaysian region.

Gardens

The Government House grounds embrace 14.6 hectares (36 acres), including 8.9 hectares (22 acres) of a rare Garry Oak ecosystem, and 5.7 hectares (14 acres) of formal gardens. All formal garden areas are wheelchair accessible thanks to the efforts of the Government House Foundation, the Province of British Columbia and private donations. For information on the individual gardens, visit the Government House Gardens page.

The site is a popular attraction for Victoria residents, visitors, and tourists alike. Thanks to the time and expertise of dedicated volunteers, The Friends of Government House Gardens Society, the grounds are a well-utilized, much-treasured greenbelt for the community. With occasional exceptions, the grounds are open daily to the public from dawn to dusk, free of charge

girls

There are fans, and there are fanatics. And then there are followers. Leo claims them by the planeload. Some follow the followers. Shimomura Mami, 36, writes an Internet column for Flix, a Japanese magazine. She has journeyed to Thailand with Leo-watchers Satoyoshi Noriko and Kimura Rie. Ostensibly, Shimomura is on assignment to write a book, Followers of Leo, set for rush-release in April. Yet the only followers she has spoken to have been Satoyoshi and Kimura. The trio met last year on a Leo chatline. "We already know so many Leo fans from the Internet," Shimomura says. "For this book, we'll mainly write about our experiences in Thailand. It will be like our diary."

Don't expect a page-turner. None has visited Thailand before. They are here a week. The main action so far? A trip to Phi Phi Don, an isle near Phi Phi Leh. They hired boats to stake out Leo dockside, twice daily. Sightings are scant, as the filming takes place inland. "We don't swim, we only watch him come and go," says Shimomura. "It's quite exciting." Now, they stay at the Cape Panwa Hotel, paying almost $200 a night for the privilege of sleeping in the general proximity of Leo. The high point of their trip came the previous Sunday, the film crew's day off, when they actually visited Maya Bay. On a bed in the hotel room, they spill out their precious souvenirs: sand, shells and coral collected from the protected island.

beach 2

CONTROVERSY ASIDE, "The Beach" most certainly will lure many more backpackers to Thailand, and Asia, for the same thrills Garland parodies in his book. "That would worry me," he admits. "But it's all speculation until the movie comes out. I don't see Leo fans jumping on planes and coming to Thailand." But that is the hope of Thai officials, who are already looking far beyond the estimated $13-million-plus in direct spending the film has injected into the economy. "Movies have always played a major role in promoting destinations," says tourism chief Seree. "In spite of controversies regarding portrayal of facts or fiction, movies create images that stay in people's minds."

The Beach is already proving its drawing power. It lured the Japanese Leo followers, Maya, and countless more here, just like the paparazzi and me. We came for the hype. The buzz. Leo. Later, others will follow the plot-line of the book, of the movie. Looking for the ultimate beach. Maya is already home in Ko Samui, where she works as a healer. In the end she passed Leo's crystal to a minor member of the cast. "It was supposed to reach Him," she says. Shimomura is banging out her book, and the Thai students are busy updating their website. Leo will soon leave and move on to other projects, different fans, more hysteria

beach

Backpackers aren't to blame, says Joe Cummings, who wrote Lonely Planet's Thailand guide. He says industrial pollution, overfishing and a long history of rampant logging, legal and illegal, have done the real damage to the environment. Cummings' guidebook even warns tourists to steer clear of the Phi Phi islands. "The park administrators have allowed development on Phi Phi Don to continue unchecked," he writes. "I'm all for boycotting travel to Phi Phi Don until the national park comes to terms with greedy developers." In recent years, the park has been overrun by group tours from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. They hired jet skis and rode glass-bottom boats to see bird-nesting sites at Phi Phi Leh. "PPI is trashed," says Noah Shepherd, a British environmental tourism consultant in Phuket. He cites lack of water treatment, sewage and planning, and says the film-makers will likely leave the island in better condition than before they arrived. "Besides," he adds, "this isn't a sanctuary, and we're not talking endangered species here."