Sri Lanka ... the wash up
Our flight from Colombo to KL was scheduled to depart at 12.25am - it would be a long day. Initially we thought we'd have to check out of the apartment at 10, store the bags and then amuse ourselves till somewhere around 7pm. It turned out that our apartment owners were not expecting incoming guests and we were able to organise a half-day payment and keep the apartment till 7pm. And I wanted to do some shopping - having gone with about 13kg, I had plenty of room for interesting clothing (which I love to buy overseas) and fabric!
Morning coffee on the balcony (with the horns and other peak-hour noises floating up all 22 floors) and then out about 9am to explore more of Colombo and do some shopping. We walked down Union Drive towards what we thought was a shopping centre about 1km away. Odel is a major 'department store' in Colombo - but we soon found out their idea of a department store and ours were poles apart. Strike 1 for the shopping, but we did get to see some more of Colombo's gorgeous old colonial buildings.
Down through the craziness of De Soysa Circuis (it really was) to the Marshall Plan Memorial and on into the quite lovely Viharamaha Devi gardens. The Marshall plan (todays history lesson) was an American initiative passed in 1948 to aid recovery in Western Europe following WW2. Why there was a memorial in Colombo is anyone's guess except, I do know that there were many young Sri Lankans educated in the UK, Australia & NZ as a result of funding derived from this.
The Viharaaha Devi gardens are opposite the Colombo Town Hall and are close by to a number of museums and other government buildings.
From here we jumped in a tuk tuk to Independence Square. The open air meeting hall and surrounding statues commemorate Sri Lanka's independence from Britain in 1948. Many of the carvings on the columns were very reminiscent of carvings around the temples at Angkor in Cambodia - obviously the Hindu/Buddhist mix in both places.
We'd called into the misleadingly names Arcade at Independence Shopping Mall briefly, the night before and at night it looked like a nice place to visit. It's one of those white elephants that looks lovely but has little substance. Obviously trying to cash in on the vibe of the other Dutch Hopsital presence shopping areas (Colombo and Galle) in terms of building and layout but missing the mark completely - it was virtually empty and in terms of shopping..... strike 2 - I was not interested in Hugo Boss at Hugo Sydney prices but we were both mighty impressed by the cleaning crew who were cleaning the paths with an industrial floor polisher.
Rapidly getting frustrated, and with money in my wallet and masses of space in my luggage we got a tuk tuk waaay out into the burbs. This met with marginal success - I did find a couple of things but still came home with more than half my luggage allowance unused!
Back to the apartment to pack and shower before our uber to the airport. Our flight was scheduled for 12.25am and finally got airborne sometime after 1.15am. The late departure and food service (if you can call what they served food) meant neither of us got any sleep and we landed in KL just after 7.45am local time. A quick breakfast in the Gold Lounge (because Tony had managed to get an upgrade to business class) and we were back to the gate for our flight to Sydney.
So.… the wash-up. Sri Lanka - would you or would you not?
The fantastic: … the people are lovely, super friendly and generally we encountered people with pretty good English. Our favourites were Ranjit & Moninna - our hosts in Galle. They invited us for tea - yep real tea and biscuits and we chatted about all manner of things for more than 2 hours. Galle had escaped the worst of the Boxing Day Tsunami but they had lost friends and colleagues. Moninna is a sewer, & lace maker and had made her daughters wedding sari top - so you can imagine the swapped sewing stories and wedding photos. If you use Airbnb's you'll generally get the opportunity to interact with the locals in a more personal way.
The must do: Sigiriya / Lion Rock - exhausting but oh so worth it for the sheer size of the rock itself and the magical views from the top. You also get to experience beer in a tea-pot in Sigiriya town - local liquor licences appear to be hard for small restaurants to get so this is how they find away around the problem - ingenious!
Train to Ella - despite our frustrations with limited views and travelling backwards, this slow slow trip to Ella is wonderful and Ella is a lovely fairly compact little town to spend a few very relaxing days. Just make sure you book a seat in the 2nd class reserved carriage. The unreserved carriages are so jammed full you could be standing for 7hrs with your face in someone else's armpit. If we had ended up in this carriage, I would have got off at the first stop and found a car/driver.
Udawalawe - both the Elephant Transit Home and an Elephant Safari in the National Park are must do's and should be front and centre on any Sri Lankan itinerary - absolutely fantastic and probably the only thing we did in Sri Lanka that I would go back and do again.
The lovely: Galle - the area inside the Fort is something from another era, spotlessly clean, tourist friendly and with a decent number of restaurants & cafes to satisfy most tastes/budgets. The walk round the Ramparts is fabulous.
Negombo gets pretty poor press - you'll read ( on places like Trip Advisor) that there's not much to do - but for a 2D/3N stop at the start of a trip its perfect providing you book a small guesthouse with a pool - out in the morning to check out the sites and back for a lazy afternoon poolside with a book. You are on holidays don't forget.
The pretty good - Polonnuwara is a 2hr drive from Sigiriya so a better option would be 2 nights there and then on to Sigiriya. Its a huge site with lots of temple ruins, much less crowded than Anaradhapura (we went on a Sunday and it was stupidly crowded) has much more shade and in some respects quite similar to Ayutthaya in Thailand or Angkor in Cambodia. Worth a visit.
The fair - Kandy - the walk round the lake is a nice way to while away a couple of hours - its well shaded most of the way. Visiting a tea factory can also be done from Kandy if you have time to kill - just be wary of the tuk tuk drivers who (like in so many other parts of SEAsia) want to take you on a tour that includes places (like Gem museums) where they get a commission - be very firm - NO I do NOT want to visit any of these places (gem shop or Ayuvadic medicine garden). Unless you are planning on taking the train to Ella - our opinion was, there is little of value in Kandy
The poor: The food: on the whole we were less than impressed with Sri Lankan food - if I never see chicken curry and rice again it will be too soon. True, we had a lovely seafood meal in Negombo (another reason to visit) and one other night we had a delightful prawn curry, but that was it. We are generally pretty happy to eat local food when we travel and have rarely had to resort to things like pizza or burgers but this trip really tested our resolve. Sri Lanka is not a foodie destination.
The ugly - street dogs in Sri Lanka … oh boy! On every street in every town - a more mangey assortment of animals as you'll find anywhere - so very sad. There do appear to be initiatives underway in places like Negombo where compulsory neutering/spaying and vaccinating is happening but in more remote places like Udawalawe be prepared to be quite distressed at the condition of the 'free dogs' - mangey, injured dogs can be seen everywhere - its heartbreaking to animal lovers. One bright spark on the horizon is a small but growing group called 'Embark' who rescue, treat and find fur-ever homes for street dogs. They have lovely shops supporting their work in Kandy, Galle & Colombo and an outlet at Colombo airport. Look out for Tony some time wearing his Embark t-shirt and check them out on Facebook.
and the downright awful - Temple of the Tooth Relic 'experience' -everyone says 'go at prayer times because you can see the Tooth casket so like good little lemmings off you go, through security at the gate, pay your 1200 rp (about $9 Aus) hand over your sandals and enter the temple. Very soon (like after 5 minutes exploring the lower level) you head upstairs to where the action is going to happen and run slap bang into a line of tourists waiting patiently for things to happen - so patiently that they have all taken a seat round the edge of the room in a makeshift line. You join the line and you wait, and you wait and you strike up a conversation with the Pom sitting next to you in the line and you wait some more. Then the prayer drumming starts only you cant see anything because the hundreds of people who came upstairs after you are now filling the hall. Soon the drums are done and your line is on the move (somehow you managed to join the line that actually went past the casket first). Filing past the little window (hurry hurry, move on, move on) that gives you a glimpse of the casket ( just don't blink!) and you have had your Sacred Tooth Relic experience. Once you fight your way out of the actual temple and into the grounds its marginally calmer - only then you discover that all the other things in the temple grounds (like a museum and a royal palace) have closed for the day.
Our stops:
Negombo - we liked Negombo, its a great starting point and a good introduction to Sri Lanka. It deserves a couple of days because there's plenty to see and has some lovely food choices. Its hot, so make sure your hotel/guesthouse has a pool.
Sigiriya & the Ancient Cities - we had 4 nights in Sigiriya and did day trips to Anaradhapura and Polonnuwara as well as climbing Lion Rock in Sigiriya. Better to stay 2 nights in Polonnuwara and then 2 in Sigiriya and save yourself 4hrs of driving to/from Polonnuwara.
Kandy - unless you are catching the train to Ella - no need to even stop in our opinion.
Ella - lovely high country town, so much cooler (temperature wise) than everywhere else we went - and very welcomely so too! I needed jeans, a long sleeved top and cardigan when we went out for dinner. Walk along the train tracks to the 9 arches bridge. Take a book, organise a guesthouse with fab views (like Master Point where we stayed) and chill for a couple of days if you are not into hiking.
Galle Fort - cool little part of Galle city, lots of history, cool shops, restaurants and several small museums - another place to spend some down time. Just don't expect a pool - there are only 2 hotels inside the fort with pools and both are upper end and expensive.
Colombo - we both generally like cities but we're still undecided as to whether we liked it or not. Sri Lanka is getting a name as a HOT tourist destination but there's something missing. Accommodation choices are fine (for pretty much all budgets) there are a few 'sites' to see but the rest of the city hasn't hit the mark in terms of tourism.
Sri Lanka in general - True, they have spent a lot of money in the last 14years recovering from the tsunami and this has put new infrastructure very much on the back-burner. Roads across the country are pretty poor, and their drivers on the whole are even worse (crack-head maniac was a comment we made often) Sri Lanka is a beautiful country, the people are lovely but for now its got some serious work to do before international tourists are catered for in a manner that will develop return tourism as opposed to those like us who are curious and having already visited many of the other major destinations in SEAsia are looking for somewhere new.
Glad we went? - yes, would I go back? no, probably not.
Morning coffee on the balcony (with the horns and other peak-hour noises floating up all 22 floors) and then out about 9am to explore more of Colombo and do some shopping. We walked down Union Drive towards what we thought was a shopping centre about 1km away. Odel is a major 'department store' in Colombo - but we soon found out their idea of a department store and ours were poles apart. Strike 1 for the shopping, but we did get to see some more of Colombo's gorgeous old colonial buildings.
Down through the craziness of De Soysa Circuis (it really was) to the Marshall Plan Memorial and on into the quite lovely Viharamaha Devi gardens. The Marshall plan (todays history lesson) was an American initiative passed in 1948 to aid recovery in Western Europe following WW2. Why there was a memorial in Colombo is anyone's guess except, I do know that there were many young Sri Lankans educated in the UK, Australia & NZ as a result of funding derived from this.
The Viharaaha Devi gardens are opposite the Colombo Town Hall and are close by to a number of museums and other government buildings.
From here we jumped in a tuk tuk to Independence Square. The open air meeting hall and surrounding statues commemorate Sri Lanka's independence from Britain in 1948. Many of the carvings on the columns were very reminiscent of carvings around the temples at Angkor in Cambodia - obviously the Hindu/Buddhist mix in both places.
We'd called into the misleadingly names Arcade at Independence Shopping Mall briefly, the night before and at night it looked like a nice place to visit. It's one of those white elephants that looks lovely but has little substance. Obviously trying to cash in on the vibe of the other Dutch Hopsital presence shopping areas (Colombo and Galle) in terms of building and layout but missing the mark completely - it was virtually empty and in terms of shopping..... strike 2 - I was not interested in Hugo Boss at Hugo Sydney prices but we were both mighty impressed by the cleaning crew who were cleaning the paths with an industrial floor polisher.
Rapidly getting frustrated, and with money in my wallet and masses of space in my luggage we got a tuk tuk waaay out into the burbs. This met with marginal success - I did find a couple of things but still came home with more than half my luggage allowance unused!
Back to the apartment to pack and shower before our uber to the airport. Our flight was scheduled for 12.25am and finally got airborne sometime after 1.15am. The late departure and food service (if you can call what they served food) meant neither of us got any sleep and we landed in KL just after 7.45am local time. A quick breakfast in the Gold Lounge (because Tony had managed to get an upgrade to business class) and we were back to the gate for our flight to Sydney.
So.… the wash-up. Sri Lanka - would you or would you not?
The fantastic: … the people are lovely, super friendly and generally we encountered people with pretty good English. Our favourites were Ranjit & Moninna - our hosts in Galle. They invited us for tea - yep real tea and biscuits and we chatted about all manner of things for more than 2 hours. Galle had escaped the worst of the Boxing Day Tsunami but they had lost friends and colleagues. Moninna is a sewer, & lace maker and had made her daughters wedding sari top - so you can imagine the swapped sewing stories and wedding photos. If you use Airbnb's you'll generally get the opportunity to interact with the locals in a more personal way.
The must do: Sigiriya / Lion Rock - exhausting but oh so worth it for the sheer size of the rock itself and the magical views from the top. You also get to experience beer in a tea-pot in Sigiriya town - local liquor licences appear to be hard for small restaurants to get so this is how they find away around the problem - ingenious!
Train to Ella - despite our frustrations with limited views and travelling backwards, this slow slow trip to Ella is wonderful and Ella is a lovely fairly compact little town to spend a few very relaxing days. Just make sure you book a seat in the 2nd class reserved carriage. The unreserved carriages are so jammed full you could be standing for 7hrs with your face in someone else's armpit. If we had ended up in this carriage, I would have got off at the first stop and found a car/driver.
Udawalawe - both the Elephant Transit Home and an Elephant Safari in the National Park are must do's and should be front and centre on any Sri Lankan itinerary - absolutely fantastic and probably the only thing we did in Sri Lanka that I would go back and do again.
The lovely: Galle - the area inside the Fort is something from another era, spotlessly clean, tourist friendly and with a decent number of restaurants & cafes to satisfy most tastes/budgets. The walk round the Ramparts is fabulous.
Negombo gets pretty poor press - you'll read ( on places like Trip Advisor) that there's not much to do - but for a 2D/3N stop at the start of a trip its perfect providing you book a small guesthouse with a pool - out in the morning to check out the sites and back for a lazy afternoon poolside with a book. You are on holidays don't forget.
The pretty good - Polonnuwara is a 2hr drive from Sigiriya so a better option would be 2 nights there and then on to Sigiriya. Its a huge site with lots of temple ruins, much less crowded than Anaradhapura (we went on a Sunday and it was stupidly crowded) has much more shade and in some respects quite similar to Ayutthaya in Thailand or Angkor in Cambodia. Worth a visit.
The fair - Kandy - the walk round the lake is a nice way to while away a couple of hours - its well shaded most of the way. Visiting a tea factory can also be done from Kandy if you have time to kill - just be wary of the tuk tuk drivers who (like in so many other parts of SEAsia) want to take you on a tour that includes places (like Gem museums) where they get a commission - be very firm - NO I do NOT want to visit any of these places (gem shop or Ayuvadic medicine garden). Unless you are planning on taking the train to Ella - our opinion was, there is little of value in Kandy
The poor: The food: on the whole we were less than impressed with Sri Lankan food - if I never see chicken curry and rice again it will be too soon. True, we had a lovely seafood meal in Negombo (another reason to visit) and one other night we had a delightful prawn curry, but that was it. We are generally pretty happy to eat local food when we travel and have rarely had to resort to things like pizza or burgers but this trip really tested our resolve. Sri Lanka is not a foodie destination.
The ugly - street dogs in Sri Lanka … oh boy! On every street in every town - a more mangey assortment of animals as you'll find anywhere - so very sad. There do appear to be initiatives underway in places like Negombo where compulsory neutering/spaying and vaccinating is happening but in more remote places like Udawalawe be prepared to be quite distressed at the condition of the 'free dogs' - mangey, injured dogs can be seen everywhere - its heartbreaking to animal lovers. One bright spark on the horizon is a small but growing group called 'Embark' who rescue, treat and find fur-ever homes for street dogs. They have lovely shops supporting their work in Kandy, Galle & Colombo and an outlet at Colombo airport. Look out for Tony some time wearing his Embark t-shirt and check them out on Facebook.
and the downright awful - Temple of the Tooth Relic 'experience' -everyone says 'go at prayer times because you can see the Tooth casket so like good little lemmings off you go, through security at the gate, pay your 1200 rp (about $9 Aus) hand over your sandals and enter the temple. Very soon (like after 5 minutes exploring the lower level) you head upstairs to where the action is going to happen and run slap bang into a line of tourists waiting patiently for things to happen - so patiently that they have all taken a seat round the edge of the room in a makeshift line. You join the line and you wait, and you wait and you strike up a conversation with the Pom sitting next to you in the line and you wait some more. Then the prayer drumming starts only you cant see anything because the hundreds of people who came upstairs after you are now filling the hall. Soon the drums are done and your line is on the move (somehow you managed to join the line that actually went past the casket first). Filing past the little window (hurry hurry, move on, move on) that gives you a glimpse of the casket ( just don't blink!) and you have had your Sacred Tooth Relic experience. Once you fight your way out of the actual temple and into the grounds its marginally calmer - only then you discover that all the other things in the temple grounds (like a museum and a royal palace) have closed for the day.
Our stops:
Negombo - we liked Negombo, its a great starting point and a good introduction to Sri Lanka. It deserves a couple of days because there's plenty to see and has some lovely food choices. Its hot, so make sure your hotel/guesthouse has a pool.
Sigiriya & the Ancient Cities - we had 4 nights in Sigiriya and did day trips to Anaradhapura and Polonnuwara as well as climbing Lion Rock in Sigiriya. Better to stay 2 nights in Polonnuwara and then 2 in Sigiriya and save yourself 4hrs of driving to/from Polonnuwara.
Kandy - unless you are catching the train to Ella - no need to even stop in our opinion.
Ella - lovely high country town, so much cooler (temperature wise) than everywhere else we went - and very welcomely so too! I needed jeans, a long sleeved top and cardigan when we went out for dinner. Walk along the train tracks to the 9 arches bridge. Take a book, organise a guesthouse with fab views (like Master Point where we stayed) and chill for a couple of days if you are not into hiking.
Galle Fort - cool little part of Galle city, lots of history, cool shops, restaurants and several small museums - another place to spend some down time. Just don't expect a pool - there are only 2 hotels inside the fort with pools and both are upper end and expensive.
Colombo - we both generally like cities but we're still undecided as to whether we liked it or not. Sri Lanka is getting a name as a HOT tourist destination but there's something missing. Accommodation choices are fine (for pretty much all budgets) there are a few 'sites' to see but the rest of the city hasn't hit the mark in terms of tourism.
Sri Lanka in general - True, they have spent a lot of money in the last 14years recovering from the tsunami and this has put new infrastructure very much on the back-burner. Roads across the country are pretty poor, and their drivers on the whole are even worse (crack-head maniac was a comment we made often) Sri Lanka is a beautiful country, the people are lovely but for now its got some serious work to do before international tourists are catered for in a manner that will develop return tourism as opposed to those like us who are curious and having already visited many of the other major destinations in SEAsia are looking for somewhere new.
Glad we went? - yes, would I go back? no, probably not.
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