March 2006 Sri Lanka Trip

Sri Lanka Trip - March 2006

Sri Lanka turned out to be a nice mixture of old Colonial times, beach, the wild and a bit like India.

We flew into Colombo on Cathay Pacific and arrived about midnight. We managed to get some money from an ATM and followed the flow of people leaving the airport building. Once outside, we soon realized that taxis were somehow arranged elsewhere. Trying to get back into the building, I was stopped by security whom allowed me back in once I proved that I just arrived. I took the opportunity to ask for help. I went to talk to the travel agents about arranging a taxi. I was told one price, but knew it was too much based on research so I went elsewhere. I got a price closer to what I expected to pay and was whisked back outside. There, somehow we made it to the curb and into the taxi. ..Don't people know that welcoming people into their country by giving them the taxi price test is not a fun thing for tired travelers? I guess most people just pay the price, but I try to research and get a fair price! ..

Negombo-view from Brown's Beach Hotel

We arrived at the Brown's Beach Hotel in Negombo without incident.

Our reservation and room were fine. It took a little while to calm down from the excitement of the unknown, but then we finally fell asleep....

In the morning, we pulled back the shades and awoke to this....

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The staff at Brown's Beach Hotel were very friendly. The choices for breakfast were very good, from rolls to curry. A lot of the guests were from the United Kingdom. Most were quite cheerful and it seemed like they had been at the hotel relaxing for some time.

After having some trouble trying to call the tour guide from the hotel, we found an Internet shop across the way. The young lady gave us the costs for Internet and the phone. Just to make sure, she called her sister in and we made the call. We asked for a recommendation for a restaurant and she thought of one right away. King Coconut was set off from the street, but we eventually found it. (After asking several people! And they all knew the place. We both ordered curry plates. Mmmmmmm.. It was good and so was the local beer. Anyway, highly recommended by the locals and us!

Lucky, our excellent guide, was concerned about our itinerary after seeing our hotel reservations. We must go to Kandy! He proposed fitting it in on the way back to Colombo, but it'll cost us a little extra. We said that would be okay!

Seeing some of Sri Lanka's Cultural Triangle was our loose goal. Our base was in Harbarana. From here, we visited the Sigiriya Rock Fortress and the Dambulla Rock Cave Temple.

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The Sigiriya Rock pictures:

• Left - Looking up at the Sigiriya Rock Fortress
  
• Below left - The way up (needed to take several stops to catch a breath!)
• Below right - The way down (needed not to look because it was pretty steep!)

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Don't let the sign on the right discourage you from climbing up!

There is a nice view at the top and frescos in a cave.

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Our hotel reservations were at the Lodge in Habarana. It was a great place to stay. There were several hotel buildings (with a maximum of 2 stories high) spread out around the hotel grounds. As we were being shown to our room, we were treated with a show from a couple of monkeys chasing each other and swinging on the trees. Little did we know that we would also be treated to a troop of monkeys, several birds and a large monitor lizard! It was really a nice place to stay and we recommend it!

The drive from Habarana to Nuwara Eliya was very green and lush. Along the way, we stopped at an herb farm and tea plantation.

It was really interesting hearing about and seeing the machines used in tea processing. Only women are hired to pick the leaves. The land in that area was covered with tea plants. Everywhere you turned there were tea plants.

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In Nuwara Eliya, we ate in town. We didn't know what we were doing, but people helped us along. We ate biriyani. It was really cheap! The hotel we stayed at was the Galway Lodge. We had a lot of trouble getting a reservation in this area so settled for this. The hotel was okay, but it was a bit far from town and there didn't seem to be much around. In other words, you are a captive for dinner!

On the way to Columbo, we stopped in Kandy. It was a holiday so it was very, very crowded at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic of Buddha. There is a holiday about once a month for Buddha Day, I think. I would recommend avoiding going to the temple on that day. In Columbo, Lucky left us at the Grand Oriental. We went to walk around, but since it was a holiday there wasn't much activity to see. We ate at the hotel which was good and relaxed until our late night flight out (3am).

The parts of Sri Lanka we saw were very nice. There are other areas to visit, but with our limited time, we did okay! Well, there's always next time.

CNX Pub: 2017-Jan-13 14:00 Sri Lanka 2006: Old Travel Notes because the Chandra Dal post reminded me of this
CNX Pub: 2017-Jan-13 14:00 Colombo-Grand Oriental, Negombo-Brown's Beach Hotel, *Habarana-Lodge,
CNX Pub: 2017-Jan-13 14:00 Nuwara Eliya-Galway Lodge, Beach, Monkeys, Monitor Lizard
CNX Pub: 2017-Jan-13 14:00 Sigiriya Rock Fortress, Dambulla Rock Cave Temple, Tea Plantation