Archive for the 'Money Matters' Category

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Arugam Bay. A little less India

Published on 12/06/2010 in Blogs, Environmental, Money Matters, Traveler's Reports, front page and services. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Xin Chao, Greetings from Hanoi, Vietnam!

….. After 5 lazy days in Arugam Bay, we headed to the south coast to a town called Unawatuna.  Unawatuna is much more developed than Arugam Bay and we learned that it received much more money after the tsunami because it is closer to Colombo and therefore a more desirable tourist destination.
Unfortunately, many hotel owners ignored the regulations requiring hotels be built further away from the beach than previously.  This means that they are in danger of being damaged by erosion and another tsunami.
Unawatunawas pretty, but the water wasn’t very swimmable and the beach much smaller. We preferred the east……

Arugam Bay

When I last wrote, we were enjoying an unexpected, spontaneous week in Europe which culminated with an amazing home cooked meal by a friend of a friend in Rome!   Continue reading ‘Arugam Bay. A little less India’

Surfing the Nations. Arugam Bay Center update

Published on 11/06/2010 in Blogs, Facebook Fan Club: Arugam Surf, From our own Correspondent, Money Matters, Surf competition, Traveler's Reports, people, services and surf. 1 Comment

Sri Lanka – Surf Center

photo: taken from the Surf-the-Nations blog and web site

The vision of a Surf Center in Arugam Bay, Sir Lanka was birthed when STN sent a team to help with the tsunami of 2004.  A STN Surf Center would be an outreach center housing a permanent team with the ability to receive short term teams.
At the center, local people will be taught how to repair surfboards, will be taught English as a second language, will be able to train locals in food services by building a small restaurant on the property; will create a place to “hang out” to watch surf movies; etc, etc.
We are sending $500 of the Jedidiah donation to our team in Sri Lanka for the Surf Center work/building.
The property is secure and we have finally successful dug our well (the well was a major project taking three attempts) so we now have water on property. Buildings still need to be erected so the base can become a place where people can live and gather together.
Sri Lanka is a big surfing destination for Israeli as well as other international surfers so we’re looking forward to how this will impact them as well as the local community.
This summer there will be a 6 star surf contest event with Sri Lanka Airlines right in “our” little village, Arugam Bay.

Disbursement of the Jedidiah Donation:

Bangladesh Surf Clubhouse: $500.00
Sri Lanka Surf Center: $500.00
Wahiawa Transformation: $724.43
STN Wahiawa Headquarters: $15,519.00

Total Donation $17,243.43

For more about Surfing The Nations, head to www.surfingthenations.com

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SriLankan brings surfing to Arugam Bay

Published on 11/06/2010 in Blogs, From our own Correspondent, Historical sites, Kitesurf, Money Matters, Surf Federation News, Surf competition, front page, services, surf, the bay and wild life. 0 Comments

SriLankan Airlines is bringing one of the worlds most glamorous and highly rated surfing events to Sri Lanka, part of the airlines multi-faceted strategy to position the island as one of the worlds most sought after travel destinations.

The SriLankan Airlines Pro 2010 tournament will draw some of the top stars in the surfing world to Arugam Bay from June 18 to 24, among the 128 competitors from the United States, Australia, Spain, Portugal, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Germany and other countries.

SriLankan Airlines Pro 2010 is expected to showcase the picturesque southeast resort of Arugam Bay as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, positioning it as a destination for all types of beach lovers and not just for surfers.

It will also generate massive publicity around the world for Sri Lanka, already experiencing a continuous boom in tourism over the last 12 months.

Courtesy: DailyNews

Posted on Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 09:21:53 LKT by SaNDuN

ARUGAM BAY SURFING INTO THE FUTURE

Published on 05/06/2010 in Blogs, Environmental, Money Matters, front page, taxis and the bay. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , .

Could you tell us about the Arugam Bay Tourist Association? What is its role in promoting tourism in Arugam Bay?

Mr.M A H Rahim

Regarded as one of the best surfing destinations in the world, Arugam Bay is increasingly attracting both local and foreign visitors to its shores. Plans are now underway to develop a quaint village, located in Pottuvil in the Ampara District to offer enhanced services and facilities to the tourists. However, M H A Raheem, Chairman of the Arugam Bay Tourist Association, believes that such plans could have drastic consequences if they fail to take into account and protect the local community and the natural assets of Arugam Bay.

By Madhushala Senaratne | Photography by Mahesh Bandara

Lengthy Interview with Mr. M H A Rahim. Read the full text:

The tourism industry was destroyed as a result of the tsunami and the community did not know what to do. Thus, we got together and formed a small team to work with the NGOs who were coming into support Arugam Bay. For example, when the USAID Mission Director came to Arugam Bay following the tsunami, they were committed to implement any major project in the area and inquired into our needs. Although many asked for funds, the Association had the foresight to request that they build roads, bridges and water schemes. Consequently, they constructed a bridge and a water tank for the area.
When we started this Association, we had only 15 members. Gradually, it has evolved into a larger umbrella organisation for tourism in Arugam Bay. Currently, we have nearly 16 societies working together, including the Farmer’s Organisation, the women development societies, Pre-School societies and the Cattle Farm Association. In turn, we are working with all the government and local authorities, Tourism Ministry and NGOs. Continue reading ‘ARUGAM BAY SURFING INTO THE FUTURE’

Arugambay gears up for tourist influx

Published on 27/05/2010 in Money Matters, front page, hotels, people, press coverage and services. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Ishara JAYAWARDANA

Put the sand, the surf, a picturesque setting and a luxurious hotel and what do you have? The ideal tourist destination; an ideal combination that will attract tourists to the pearl of the Indian Ocean – Sri Lanka! This project was started this year and at the end of this year, December, Arugambay hopes to complete the project. The entire cost of the hotel upto now is 123 million.

A hotel with three star facilities is under construction in Arugambay at this very moment with the approval of the Sri Lankan Tourism and Development Authority. In addition to building this hotel the Arugambay Tours and Travels organization is functioning as a travel agency.

The building of a hotel is not the only plan marked by Arugambay Tours and Travels. They are planning on creating a Chamber of Tourism under the Company Act.

It is in the process now. There is no chamber of tourism up until now in Sri Lanka. Continue reading ‘Arugambay gears up for tourist influx’

“Best Pub in Sri Lanka” Award goes to Arugam Bay

Published on 23/05/2010 in Blogs, Culture, Facebook Fan Club: Arugam Surf, From our own Correspondent, Money Matters, Traveler's Reports, bars, front page, guesthouse, hotels, people, press coverage, presse-deutsch, restaurants, services, shops and weddings. 0 Comments

The Siam View Hotel (SVH) as been voted to be The Best Pub / Bar in Sri Lanka
By the Daily Telegraph, London, UK

Best Pub / Bar Award

The Siam View Hotel is now not only classed as the best Pub / Bar in Sri Lanka, but is now in with a chance of becoming the Best in the World.

continue to read the background of this nomination… Continue reading ‘“Best Pub in Sri Lanka” Award goes to Arugam Bay’

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SriLankan Airlines Pro set to go at the World Famous Arugam Bay Point

Published on 22/05/2010 in Blogs, Facebook Fan Club: Arugam Surf, From our own Correspondent, Kitesurf, Money Matters, Surf Federation News, Surf competition, front page, people, press coverage, surf and the bay. 0 Comments

Owen Wright at last year's SriLankan Airlines Pro, which was held in the Maldives. This year the event moves to Sri Lanka. Photo: ASP

….  Price pool:  $145,000 …..(see below)

Professional surfing welcomes another new, exciting and exotic event to the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Men’s Star Rated Tour with the inaugural SriLankan Airlines Pro set to kick off in perfect point waves at the famed Arugam Bay on Sri Lanka’s superb south east coastline.

It’s a concept that has been evolving over the past few years and ASP Australasia in conjunction with the main sponsor SriLankan Airlines are thrilled to announce the event will begin on Friday June 18 which is absolute prime time swell and surf season. Continue reading ‘SriLankan Airlines Pro set to go at the World Famous Arugam Bay Point’

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People’s Bank in PottuVille

Published on 17/05/2010 in Facebook Fan Club: Arugam Surf, From our own Correspondent, Money Matters, front page, people, press coverage and services. 0 Comments

Important notice to visitors and overseas tourists.

Sadly, there is no  Bank -and not even a single one ATMachine-  serving the buoyant  tourist resort of Arugam Bay.

However:  There is No need to carry cash to the East Coast!

Good News! There are now Three (3!) online Banks with ATM’s in nearby PottuVille, just 8 min. North or your famous Bay.

All International Credit cards accepted for cash advances

The nearby ‘Frontier Town’ of PottuVille is undergoing rapid face lifts.
The old, dusty road is being re-paved at lighting speed.
In addition to a new (unused!) market, across the road Sampath Bank recently opened a new branch in town.
Today the long established People’s Bank ‘shifted’ premises, again to the opposite side of the main road from their old location to a brand new building.

Respected senior Citizen Mr. Ibrahim addressing the meeting in ENGLISH

Now there are three high street banks in town.
All feature an ATM machine, with different payout limits (Bank of Ceylon 20K, People’s Bank 40K and Sampath 80K).
Here are a few impressions of today’s opening ceremony, to which arugam.info was invited.

The New People's Bank premises

The old People's Bank directly opposite

People's Bank and new ATM at PottuVille

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Arugambay is just too good to let go! Be sure you’ve been there!!

Published on 02/05/2010 in Blogs, Facebook Fan Club: Arugam Surf, Historical sites, Money Matters, Traveler's Reports, accomodation, front page, hotels, people, press coverage, services, taxis, the bay and wild life. 0 Comments

Arugambay

…… on the East Coast of Sri Lanka used to be a laid back, dreamily indolent sort of locale where fishermen pursued their trade far from the madding bustle of urban zestfulness and commercial excess…………. It still is that way!

photo used by ATaT

But it certainly has jumped into the tourism map of the world with the outstanding holiday experience that it offers.  For one, it is ranked one of the Top 10 surfing beaches in the world. Arugambay Point, Pottuvil point, Peanut Farm, Kormari and Panama are now buzzwords (buzz places!) among the avid of surfers’ community worldwide.

However, Arugambay is a great deal more than bronzed physiques in motion raising the crystalline sand or cruising perilously over the ocean swells. Imagine the sheer joy one feels encountering Dolphins in their cheering habitat!!  For that is exactly what becomes possible to visitors in the season of September.

On shore and inward from the coast, the allure of the wild continues to delight……

For here, the inner yearning of the human spirit to know the confluence it possesses with nature’s bounty in birds in their natural space by the lagoon and to observe elephants as they roam nonchalantly in front of Crocodile Rock, finds fulfillment. Indeed, Arugambay nestles on the edge of a verdant forest reserve.

While on the subject, not far away in Uda Walawe Continue reading ‘Arugambay is just too good to let go! Be sure you’ve been there!!’

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Cerveceria Modelo to invest in Arugam Bay

Published on 01/04/2010 in Blogs, Environmental, Facebook Fan Club: Arugam Surf, From our own Correspondent, Ideas, Literature, Money Matters, Security & Safety, front page, people, press coverage, presse-deutsch, services, the bay and wild life. 0 Comments

Top selling Mexican beers to be produced in Eastern Sri Lanka

Corona (labeled Corona Extra) is a brand of pale lager owned and produced by Cerveceria Modelo in Mexico. It is the top-selling beer in Mexico and is one of the top selling beers worldwide.[2] Corona beer is available in over 150 countries.[3] All Corona beer is brewed and bottled in one of 7 Modelo Breweries in Mexico.
So far.

Corona Extra. The Mexican top selling beer

Outside of Mexico, Corona is to be slightly renamed and will be produced  in a new brewery to be constructed at Arugam Bay.  A world famous Surf spot and upcoming tourist resort situated in the deep South East of remote Sri Lanka.

To destinguish the new Sri Lanka Export product from the original Mexican label, and in recognition and celebration of local achievements following the end of the long ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka, the following brand name has been proposed:

Caruna Extra. Export to Asian markets only

For this purpose the Mexican global leaders have teamed up with the award winning, but widely unknown Arugam Bay Surfer’s Beer label under an agreement with the Sri Lanka Government and its Board of Investment Department.

Cerveceria Modelo’s chairman Senioria Condolenzza Gogonzola stated that the Company has welcomed branching out to new markets in the East. Corona is a traditional cult beer favored by young, active people and is popular with modern party people.  As world economies are shifting to India, China and Russia it makes no longer sense to ship containers of beer half way around the globe. Continue reading ‘Cerveceria Modelo to invest in Arugam Bay’

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A Business in Beach Shorts in Arugam Bay

Published on 18/03/2010 in Facebook Fan Club: Arugam Surf, Money Matters, front page, people, services and shops. 0 Comments


spotted on YouTube today.
Note:
This business is not functioning now, March, 2010

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How the world knew Arugam Bay.

Published on 13/03/2010 in Blogs, Culture, Environmental, Facebook Fan Club: Arugam Surf, From our own Correspondent, Historical sites, Kitesurf, Literature, Money Matters, Security & Safety, Traveler's Reports, front page, parties, people, press coverage, services, surf, the bay and wild life. 2 Comments

– Majority of the world, especially the West got to know about Arugam Bay, only after the 2004 tsunami.

Arugam Bay 'City' Centre and view to Main Surf Point

There was a moving episode on America’s most-popular talk show, the Oprah Winfrey Show where a tsunami survivor Nate Berkus was interviewed. The Chicago-based interior designer Nate Berkus related his story on television about his vacation going awry. He was relaxing at a beach cottage in Arugam Bay with his partner photographer Fernando Bengoechea, when the deadly tsunami struck. Even though Nate was spared, unfortunately, Fernando’s life wasn’t. Continue reading ‘How the world knew Arugam Bay.’

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Arugam. Tourism diversifies

Published on 03/03/2010 in Money Matters, front page, press coverage and services. 1 Comment
Coastal tourism, a main attraction among overseas tourists

Tourism industry diversified for rural uplift

Ariya Rubasinghe

Sri Lanka is popular for attracting foreigners since ancient times. Marco Polo described Sri Lanka as “the finest island for its size in all the world”. Tourism has become the most vibrant sector of Sri Lanka following the end of war. Tourist arrivals have increased immensely providing a huge boost to the country’s economic growth. Following the end of the war upto January end, nearly 400,000 tourists have visited Sri Lanka. It is targeted to attract 1.5 million tourists by the end of this year and the year 2011 has been declared “Visit Sri Lanka Year”.

The Government’s vision is to make Sri Lanka the foremost leisure destination in the South Asian region. Sri Lanka is planning to promote its attractions during the 2011 World Cup scheduled to be held in February and March 2011. Continue reading ‘Arugam. Tourism diversifies’

Classic Dox – Adrift in Sri Lanka On air: 5 February 2010 13:20 – 1 March 2010 13:20

Published on 01/03/2010 in Blogs, Environmental, Facebook Fan Club: Arugam Surf, From our own Correspondent, Money Matters, Security & Safety, Traveler's Reports, accomodation, bars, books, cabanas, front page, guesthouse, hotels, people, press coverage, presse-deutsch, restaurants and services. 0 Comments

Producer Marijke van der Meer was holidaying in Sri Lanka when disaster struck in December 2004. Her personal report from one of the country’s devastated towns told of the harrowing situation there and the desperate need for aid.

Award winning (Re-) Broadcast on 1st March, 2010
In the southeastern Sri Lankan coastal town of Pottovil – a town with an ethnic mix of Singhalese and Tamils, Muslims and Buddhists – a golden statue of Buddha stares serenely over Arugam Bay. The bay was a Mecca for surfers, who stayed in guesthouses with names such as Chill Space Surf, Hideaway, Aloha and even the Tsunami Beach Hotel. The statue of Buddha is one of the few fully intact constructions in this demolished town where a thick layer of muddy dirt covers the ground.

Destruction and death

Arugam Bay after Tsunami 2004

Soldiers look on as bulldozers shove aside trees and bricks from destroyed dwellings. The bodies of some 1,000 people – killed within a few seconds of the tsunami – have been recovered. But there are many others missing and many families who have no roofs over their heads and are in so-called ‘collection centres’.

The medical situation is critical in this isolated district, where several people are saying that they feel neglected by the authorities because Continue reading ‘Classic Dox – Adrift in Sri Lanka On air: 5 February 2010 13:20 – 1 March 2010 13:20′

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‘Scribblings from the Surf’ – : Surfers Saving the World

Published on 01/03/2010 in Blogs, Money Matters, people, press coverage and the bay. 0 Comments

The nineth in a series entitled ‘Scribblings from the Surf’ for Devon Life. To read the article see the text below or click to enlarge the pictures of the original article below that. To see the whole series, click here.

SURFERS SAVING THE WORLD

Barrister and writer Tim Kevan meets two surfers helping to save the world.

Many people might have the impression of the standard surfer as a flaky, spaced out Californian dude who doesn’t actually get much done other than stare out to sea and catch the odd wave. But that image couldn’t be further from the truth when it comes to those who surf the English waters since you’ve got to have just a modicum of fortitude just to paddle out in freezing mid-Winter swell. Such strength of character also comes through in the activities that many surfers get up to out of the water as well. Two such surfers who are inspiring others are aid worker Tim Tanton and environmentalist Mikey Corker.

Paddle4Relief UK

Tim Tanton: The Aid Worker
When the terrible tsunami hit on Boxing Day 2004 the world mourned. But for Braunton’s Tim Tanton who had been surfing in Sri Lanka since the mid-1990s the tragedy was closer to home as he had friends out there who lost family members, homes and businesses. He visited three times in the following year in an effort to help the local community next to one of the area’s famous surf spots of Arugam Bay. During the same year Tim and local paramedic and surfer Paul Martin conceived the idea of Paddle4Relief (www.paddle4relief.co.uk), a fundraising body which would provide a bridge between English surfers wanting to help in some way and the disaster’s victims. Continue reading ‘‘Scribblings from the Surf’ – : Surfers Saving the World’

Arugam Bay Developments

Published on 29/01/2010 in From our own Correspondent, Ideas, Money Matters, accomodation, front page, guesthouse, hotels and restaurants. 0 Comments

A new project is under construction near PottuVille Point.

PottuVille Point is being developed

It seems that a new hotel/restaurant is being build on this beautiful coconut estate.
Overlooking the Indian Ocean, facing the Bay of Arugam.
According to local contractors and workers, #01 Stardust owners are branching out to this new location. Other say, an English family are behind this development.
Great spot! Where else on this island could such a fine, unspoiled location be found?