Leigh - you've caught my attention. I think you are the first one on Fodors to hire Rammuni since Jeane and I visited Sri Lanka.

Keep it coming...

Yes! I want to hear all about it!

awaiting more

We arrived at Colombo at 4.15am after straightforward flights. The only event of note was going through security at Mumbai which was an absolute nightmare. All my valuables including wallet were sent through the usual type of scanner whilst I had to queue for the body scanner. All the while my possessions were out of sight. However, nothing went missing so all is well that ends well, but it was a stressful ten minutes or so.
We bought some drinks at Colombo duty free on the way out of the airport and soon found Rammuni and his driver Mano, waiting for us in the arrivals hall. We were soon loaded into the mini van and on our way to Habarana. I asked to stop at an ATM on the way to our hotel and we stopped at a bank in Dambulla where I was able to get some local currency. Next to the bank was a Food City store where we purchased some water and basic snacks for future use. We then drove just over the road to a small hotel where we all had breakfast. Suitably refreshed, we then started on the final leg of our journey to Cinnamon Lodge.
Check in was smooth as silk and we were in our room by 11.00am. Rammuni hung around to make sure there were no issues and we dismissed him for the day after agreeing to meet in the lobby the following day at 09.30 for a trip to Polonnaruwa.
After a short nap, we had some lunch and then set about exploring the vast hotel grounds. During a fairly short walk, around 2 hours, we encountered so much wild life. Countless monkeys, a pair of fish eagles, several snakes, a large water monitor, four or five iguanas, a mongoose, a chameleon and many, many spectacular birds. To name just a few. Very quickly, we fell in love with this hotel.
For dinner that evening we chose the buffet in the main restaurant. Nothing special, but a decent meal and not too pricey. They do have one little quirky thing here….there is a special cool room, in the restaurant, where all the deserts are presented. I heard one lady remark to her friend, ‘This is the dangerous room’!!! Yes, I know what she meant. A dedicated cool room just for desserts is just ……well…….cool !

Tomorrow……. Polonnaruwa.

please reserve a table for me in the cool room...

Uh-oh, on a short walk you encountered "several snakes"? I'm always on the lookout for new destinations to add to my wish list, but given my terrible snake phobia, maybe Sri Lanka's not for me. I'll be glad to follow along with your story, though. Keep it coming.

Bob, for sweet lovers the cool room is heaven. During our stay we were invited to have a walk through the kitchens. Absolutely spotless. The section where all these delicate sweets are made was fascinating. Little cakes with pieces of chocolate and various fruits being placed individually. All the sweets being hand made by this huge army dedicated and proud kitchen workers. A very,very, impressive kitchen.

althom, I'm not too keen on snakes either, but it really wasn't an issue. After the first one, which was something of a horror moment, we tended to view them with fascination, keeping as far away as possible.


We arrived at the lobby at around 9.15 and Rammuni was there waiting for us, so we got a nice early start. I think it took around an hour and a half to reach Polonnaruwa. The drive was lovely taking in some really beautiful scenery. The site is very spread out and large. Too big to walk around. Some people use bikes, but we had the mini van and used that to get from area to area. I don’t really know what I was expecting, but this place absolutely blew me away.
The ruins of this ancient city which dates from the late tenth century, stand on the east shore of a large artificial lake, the Topa Wewa Lake, or Parakrama Samudra (the Sea of Parakrama), created by King Parakramabahu I (1153-86), whose reign was Polonnaruwa's golden age. Within a rectangle of city walls, there are palace buildings and clusters of dozens of dagobas, temples and various other religious buildings.
It struck me as being sort of a cross between Angkor and Pompei. Angkor because of the way nature has kind of reclaimed bits of it and the building styles are vaguely similar. There were some examples of using large blocks here, just like you find all over Angkor. And Pompei, because it feels very much like a lived in city. We really felt that we got a sense of how everyday living would have been like here. It was easy to feel that you were walking around a lived in city and to sense how it might have been to live here.
On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at a lakeside restaurant for lunch. A buffet affair with various curries etc. They also had nice selection of fresh un-peeled fruit. We made several short stops to look at various points of interest.
Arriving back at Cinnamon Lodge around three, we made arrangements with Rammuni to visit Sigirya the next day and agreed to meet at 08.00.
So after quick showers, we headed for the pool. They have a lovely pool here and we had it pretty much to ourselves. We soon realised the importance of securing our personal belongings left on the sun beds, because inquisitive monkeys very quickly take the opportunity to explore an unattended sun bed!!
For dinner we decided to use the a la carte restaurant which is called The Verandah, and has both indoor and outdoor seating. We chose to sit outside, around a lovely Koi pond. The food was delicious. Well presented and tasty. It was also reasonably priced. After a couple of drinks in the bar we had an early night in preparation for the exertions to come at Sigirya.

We spent a few days over Christmas at the Cinnamon Lodge (as a base) and I recall that cool room well! On Christmas eve when they had a huge gala buffet, that cool room was absolutely chock O' block of delicious morsels - I was told the next day that there was 60+ different desserts. ....and Santa arrived by elephant!

loving the report

Leigh, I also thought Polonnaruwa was an incredible place. Did Rammuni serve as your guide for the site or did you use a local guide? The lovely dining room at the lake by Polonnaruwa was built for Queen Elizabeth when she visited decades ago.

I'm looking forward to more!

Yes Kathie, on this one occassion Rammuni did act as our guide.

So on to day three. The plan for today was climb Sigirya in the morning and a forest trip late afternoon, hopefully to see some elephants.

But before that…a little story from my childhood. I was brought up in a small fishing town on the east coast of Scotland called Dunbar. A short walk from my home was a beautiful beach called Bellhaven. In order to reach the beach proper, it was necessary to cross a small river by bridge. The bridge had strong sturdy solid steps up to the crossing part and then it was slotted planks for the crossing which had gaps in them, meaning that as you walked over, if you looked down you could see right through to the river below. As a family we often took our pet dog Toby for walks on this beautiful expansive beach. Toby loved the beach……however……he hated the bridge. As we approached it you could always see the nervous anticipation in him. He would amble up to the steps, look at the bridge with disdain and begin the ascent. He would always get to the top and maybe two steps onto the crossing and then…….terror. As soon as he looked through the gaps he would freeze. All four legs fully stretched out stiff and rigid like some cartoon figure, and he just could not move. We would have to pick him up and carry him to the steps going down at the other side and he’d be fine. We crossed that bridge with him hundreds of times and it was always the same. The point of this story will become clear later.

Rammuni and Mano picked us up at 08.00 and we headed off for Sigirya. We left the main road and took a rough track through a forest for several miles passing all sorts of wildlife including a beautiful peacock high up in a tree. I know it’s a bird…. but I’ve only ever seen peacocks on the ground so just for a moment it felt odd seeing this huge bird in a tree. We passed lots of small communities who had been badly hit by the recent flooding, and just going through these areas, watching people going about the business of trying to rebuild their lives was very humbling.
By about 9.30, we had reached the area where the tickets for the rock are sold.
After a short comfort stop, we headed for the main car park and Rammuni introduced us to our guide for the rock. Before starting the climb we looked around a small museum for say ten minutes.
As we were approaching the first steps, our guide bent down and was poking away at the grass and encouraging us to look. At first we couldn’t see what he was getting at but then we spotted it. In amongst the grass there were clumps of a very small fern like plant. As he was poking it, the leaves clamped shut tight together. It was some sort of insect eating plant. I’ve seen the Venus flytrap type of things before, but this was much smaller, and I’m afraid I’ve no idea what it is called.

So on to the climb. Yes it’s quite a climb. Up to the start of the mirror wall, then up the spiral staircase to see the best of the frescoes. Back down the spiral staircase and onwards and upwards past the mirror wall until reaching the Lions Paws……..phew! Quite a struggle for a heavy smoker like me. And you know what? Whilst sitting down recovering from the climb the first thing I do……..is light a cigarette!!!! Totally nuts.
After fifteen minutes or so we started on the final section. This is a steel staircase bolted on to the outside of the rock. Very open and kind of rickety, not square or level and a little disconcerting. Lynda leading the way in front of me (so that I could catch her if she fell!!), up to the first dogleg round to the second with pretty much just one more section to go before the top and then it happened………Lynda had a Toby moment! She absolutely froze. I can’t do it, I can’t do she screamed. Her legs spread out and rigid and the same with her arms. Instantly I pictured Toby all these years ago, it all came flooding back. But poor Lynda couldn’t move and I certainly couldn’t carry her so we slowly made our way back down the steel staircase. Once we were back on to solid ground her determination kicked in and she flatly stated that she would not be beaten and after ten minutes to regain her composure, she wanted to try again.
So after much deep breathing, we set off again but at exactly the same point she froze again. So reluctantly we surrendered and started on our way down.
Even though we didn’t quite make it to the top, we really enjoyed our time at the rock and Lynda has stopped beating herself up about her fear of heights. She really gave it a good go. To be honest though, part of me was relieved that we turned back because I’m not in good condition and was really finding it a struggle.

Back to the hotel for a light lunch and a swim before our jeep trip later in the afternoon.

Well, you can always look at my photos to see what the view is like:

http://craigandjeane.smugmug.com/Travel/Sri-Lanka-2008/4567627_f49W7#269233900_n4nMU-A-LB

Great to read your report and that your enjoying your visit to Sri Lanka, pity you did not make it to the top because that last bit, though it looks scary is actually easier than many other places and also quite a short distance compared to the main climb up to the lions paw. I do understand the fear of heights. Tell me, how was your Sigriya Guide? Was he knowledgeable and did he speak English well enough for you to communicate and understand. We are trying to uplift the quality of guides and have an islandwide spoken English development programme and your feedback will be interesting.

Seems you are quite facinated by the flora/fauna. Is your afternoon jeep trip to Minneriya or Kaudulla? It's not the best season for large herds of elephants but you should always see some in Minneriya park. Wilpattu park is now open and it is very very beautiful, can see leopard plus many other nice things but it would be about two hours drive from Habarana - very doable and highly reccomend if have the time and you really are into the wildlife nature thing. Perhaps combine with a morning in Anuradhapura ancient city and afternoon in Wilpattu safari. For a Jlocal jeep hire in Wilpattu contact Chaminda on 071 248 1177.

There is a lovely walk on the bund, other side of the lake behind the Cinnamon Lodge - ie where they take the Elephant Rides too - try it if you have time closer to sunset. Also the Ritigala visit and climb is beautiful.

Look out for fying squirrels at night on the large trees, back of the hotel near the waters edge. If you shine a torch you wuill see their eyes reflect back. Amazing how they "fly" from tree to tree in the dark.

Leigh, also enjoying your report and bookmarking for future trip.

Aloha!

you should have picked her up and carried her like you would have done years ago!!!

Craig, we devoured your photos for many months before our trip. They are excellent. Yes the view from the top looks wonderful. It's a shame we didn't quite make it. I also printed out your entire trip report and took that with us for reference.

Mohammed, our Sigriya Guide was wonderful. His english was very good and he was most informative. He took us down by a route that very few others were using (most seemed to go up and down the same way), and pointed out lots of interesting bits.
He was also extremely kind and understanding with Lynda when she had her 'Toby moment'.
We did walk one day right through the grounds of Cinnamon Lodge to an adjacent hotel. And yes we could see the elephant rides on the other side of the lake.
Yes we did see loads of flying sqirrels and did exactly what you mention with a torch. I had read before our visit that the grounds were not particularly well lit at night and a torch was advisable so one was in my pocket every night.
For the jeep trip we went to Hurulu Eco Park. It was just much much much more than we expected. Possibly the highlight of the whole trip for me.
But that's the next part of my report and coming soon.

Yes Bob, I should have. Must be very careful what I say here as she may read this. Think I'll just stick with yes Bob I should have!!!

Waiting to read your report on Hurulu, great writing.

I'm following along, looking forward to more!

We had arranged to meet Rammuni at the front of the hotel at four in the afternoon. Right bang on time a landrover type of jeep swept into the drive with Rammuni and the local guide/driver whose name for the moment escapes me.
We drove for maybe twenty minutes on the main road and then turned of into the forest. Hurulu Eco Park.
Almost immediately we were seeing lots of wildlife. A beautiful eagle perched in a tree less than twenty yards away, a herd of buffalo, some very large squirrels and lots and lots of unusual birds. It was great.
We weren’t really on a track though it was clear other vehicles had travelled this way before. We crossed a small river that looked to be too deep for the jeep, but we crossed without getting wet. The driver stopped the jeep, climbed onto the bonnet and surveyed all around us. When we started up again, we left the ‘track’ and drove into some fairly dense vegetation for ten minutes or so then stopped and the engine was turned off. Wonderful…..only the sounds of the forest. And then less than twenty yards away…..a lone elephant. We watched him feeding for a while completely mesmerised.
We set off again back on to the vague ‘track’. For around half an hour we were driving and seeing much wildlife but no more elephants. I was quite relaxed about it all, we had seen an elephant in the wild, loads of other stuff, we were really enjoying ourselves……..mission accomplished!
The driver stopped again, climbed onto the bonnet and did his sweep of the surrounding land. When he started driving again we headed into very dense vegetation, very rough ground with the jeep often at 45 degrees or more. Then we stopped, engine off and both Rammuni and the driver climbed in the back with us. Our driver put his finger to his lips indicating that we should be quiet and pointed to an area just fifteen yards away. Nothing but long grass and a few boulders. Then one of the big grey rocks moved….yes, it was an elephant. As it moved backwards this tiny little thing was walking by its side. A baby, not much more than a week old according to the driver. We were thrilled! As we stood watching, more and more elephants appeared. In the end maybe around ten or twelve. We had found a whole family. It was just magical, fantastic, unbelievable, an absolute thrill. A memory that will stay with me forever. Watching this family with just the sounds of the forest. The noises of the elephants ripping up the grass and munching away. I can’t find the words to describe it…….just gobsmacking!!!
After maybe half an hour the driver whispered to us ‘we must go now. Look they are trying to surround us. They don’t like us here because of the baby’. As I looked around it was clear that they were indeed starting to surround us. So we made our way back to the track speechless. Lynda and I just looking at each other hardly believing what we had just seen.
We saw another larger herd on the way out of the park. We also had a little scare when we got stuck in some heavy mud.
This was a day to remember. Whatever came after this……our trip to Sri Lanka was already a huge success.

Awesome event! And your words are perfect! I can read right thru them and picture you and Lynda, speechless, with what you were viewing.

Keep it coming.

Arriving back at the hotel, time for a quick shower and off to dinner. The lure of the cool room dragged us to the main restaurant and once again a decent buffet. When we left Rammuni earlier we told him that we wanted to do nothing the next day, so he and Mano could have a day off and could they pick us up the following day for the move on to Kandy. So for our lazy day, we just wandered around the huge grounds, visited the pool on and off and generally relaxed. The hotel has a huge fruit and veg garden which was nice to walk around. They also keep bees and use the honey they provide in the restaurant. For our last night, once again we took a la carte at the Verandah restaurant.

A summary of Cinnamon Lodge………Booked through Agoda……four nights in a deluxe room cost us £487.00.
The room was lovely and spotlessly clean with a separate living area. Huge bathroom with bathtub and separate shower. Large veranda with table and chairs. Food was excellent and staff were attentive, polite and efficient. All in all…..a first class hotel.

Next stop…Kandy.

hotel sounds like a steal...

off to europe tomorrow... i hope to follow along from there

Off to Europe Bob. Are you visiting London at all?

Keep it coming. I want to hear about all the critters

You had much better luck with elephants than I did!

Femi, I'm sorry to hear you didn't hit lucky with elephants. I think we were just so so incredibly lucky, particularly with the small family that we found. And then the very large herd right at the end. Yes we were very fortunate.
I hope to have the elephant photos available by later tonight. There is also some short video footage. I wont delete any of the pics but some are not too good.

we will only be at heathrow this time as transit passengers...

What were the problems you had with the transit in India?

Great storywriting Leigh, wonderful to read of your experience. Hope you have a great time in Kandy too and if you visit the botanical gardens do make sure to see the orchid house which is just 5 mins walk from the entrance. Will you be stopping by Pinnawela enroute to kandy or will you go directly via the Matale route? Since you liked the elephants Pinnawela sounds just up your street. Spice gardens can be seen on both routes.

Pity it seems to be raining a little again, most unusual weather for Feb indeed.

Have fun and keep posting.

Femi, the problems were as follows.
Whilst wating to go through security, we were seperated into lines for women and lines for men. O.K. no problem so far.
I was compelled to place all hand baggage, my wallet and my watch in a tray for it to go through the usual type of scanner. I then had to join another line to go through the body scanner. My property was then out of view on the other side. Now feeling quite nevous....cash, credit cards, expensive watch, cameras etc. etc. completely out of sight. The mens queue was now split into two...one for nationals and one for foreigners. The nationals went through at the rate of about ten for every one of my line. It took at least ten minutes before I was re-united with my belongings and as I have previously said....nothing was missing. So it ended O.K.
However, Lyndas side had come to a stop. One poor woman was really blasting off because her purse had gone missing during this terrible process. The main security guy was very unsympathetic, insisting that she must have left it somewhere else and that she must respect his uniform and his authority !!! It was all very surreal actually. Eventually Lynda got through and off we went.
The process was very similar in Delhi, but I was able to keep a visual on my property at all times.

Mohammed,
You're one step ahead of me. Most of what you mention was on our itenary. More to come soon.

Some photos of our time at Hurulu. Not edited yet and some are pretty rough. First lot are my photos and second covering same visit are Lyndas. Link below.

http://leightravel.smugmug.com/Animals/Huluro-Eco-Park/16039218_RYbXB#1203708247_aBnnY

Yes, the security screening that you describe was the same in Bangalore, and I also remember being anxious at having my valuables out of my sight for an extended period of time.

This is the first time I've heard of Hurulu. Your pics prove it was well worth the visit, especially for elephants.

I just loved watching the bee eaters sandbathe at Yala, they seemed to revel in it. Look like the same was happening in Hurulu.

I was only able to look at a few of your photos as I'm somewhere with a sloooooow internet connection. The photos I saw look great! I'm looking forward to being able to see all of them when I get home.

On to day five heading for Kandy and the Amaya Hills Hotel.
After we had confirmed our booking with Rammuni back in 2010, he sent us a list of potential places of interest close to the hotels we had booked. Dambulla Rock Cave Temple was of course on our list and that’s where we were headed for now, enroute to Kandy. A herb and spice garden was also on our way to Amaya Hills.
Whilst we were driving we discussed the rest of our itenary. Rammuni had said all along that our plan was quite a good one covering a variety of what Sri Lanka has to offer. Great, we thought.
However, this morning he mentioned that our move from Nuwara Eliya to Galle, was going to be a very long day involving a ten hour drive! Ouch! I hadn’t seen that coming. During our planning I’d used a map in a guide book and using a pair of dividers and a ruler I was roughly calculating distances. I knew the drive from Colombo to Habarana would be around 4.5 hrs and the distance from Nuwara Eliya to Galle looked about the same, so I thought that too would be around 4.5 hrs. Oh no. I’ve learned that maps don’t always tell the whole story. More about that later.

There’s quite a climb involved in getting to the Cave Temple but after Sigiriya, it was nothing.

Before talking about the temple just a quick word about beggars.
Some years ago during a trip to Marrakech, where we hired a driver for many of our days out, something made a big impression on me. There are lots of people begging in and around Marrakech, but I noticed that our driver always gave something to nearly every beggar he encountered. Eventually I asked him about it. Do you always give to beggars? And he replied yes. Only a very small amount but yes, always something. It’s little to me, and if many people give a little to these people it makes a big difference to them. Somehow this made a big impact on me, and since then, when I’m travelling, I rarely pass by without making a small gift to anyone who appears genuinely to be in difficulty. We didn’t encounter many beggars in Sri Lanka, but recalling the Cave Temple, I’m reminded of a couple of people we passed on the steps who were clearly very needy. So rather than buying flowers or other offerings to take to the temple, we provided some assistance to these people.

Shoes need to be removed before entering the temple and there is a stall just at the entrance where there they will look after them for a nominal fee. Socks are allowed and if it’s a very hot day…..they are quite useful. We took a local guide to show us around who was very informative and provided us with much information. This was a very worthwhile visit which we really enjoyed.

Back to the mini-van, next stop herb and spice garden.
At this point I should say that we don’t do factory shops etc. etc.
Don’t know what we were expecting but this garden was a rather tatty affair with an attempted hard sell at the end. And to be quite honest, the staff were rather rude to us when we didn’t buy anything. We did look in their shop; nothing was priced up and when we asked for a price, back would come some exorbitant figure which was immediately reduced to half when we said no thank you. We couldn’t wait to get out of the place.

After this, we just wanted to get on to our hotel at Kandy.
During our planning time, we really struggled to find a hotel that jumped out at us for Kandy. You know, one that said ‘come and stay here’. But in the end we settled for Amaya Hills. Check in was fine and we were soon in our second floor room. Nice size, great balcony with a wonderful view…..all seemed fine. I started unpacking the essentials and Lynda went to take a shower. She emerged from the bathroom clutching a towel and said look at this. The towel was blood- stained….fresh…unwashed, blood stained. Only this one towel is like this she said. All the rest are fine.
So we let it go and thought no more of it. We shouldn’t have….it was a warning!!!

Whilst Lynda was showering, I sat on the balcony, having a glass of whiskey and a cigarette. There was a large bush just a few yards away with loads of large trumpet like yellow flowers. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted what at first I thought was a large dragonfly, but no, it was a Humming Bird. Beautiful! I watched it going from flower to flower, hovering at each one, drinking the nectar. It was amazing. The variety and abundance of wildlife in this country is quite staggering.
As I went to get my camera, my cell phone started ringing. I looked at the screen…..oh shit…..it’s work.
I’m employed as a maintenance engineer for a manufacturing company. It was the works manager. A particularly crucial piece of plant had broken down and they were unable to find the fault. Could I provide instructions for faultfinding this particular machine. I spent the next hour writing out a faultfinding guide for work which I later faxed to the factory. My Humming Bird photo opportunity had of course passed. I never saw it again.
Dinner was buffet style here, with several live cooking stations. We had a very nice meal and after a lovely walk around the grounds, we headed off to bed.
As Lynda pulled back the sheets, she flatly stated ‘I’m not sleeping in this!!’
It was clear that the sheets were not fresh and had been slept in.
Tired and ready for a sleep, I really could have done without this.
I trudged off down to reception and requested the manager who appeared within a couple of minutes. We both then went off to the room. He appeared to be quite horrified when he saw the sheets. We also showed him the stained towel and some other issues in the bathroom which Lynda had spotted earlier but had kept to herself.
He immediately offered to move us to another room and to upgrade us to a suite, but Lynda said no. Please just have all the bedding changed so that we can get to bed. A small army of staff very quickly appeared and with pleasant smiles on there faces changed all the bedding and the towels whilst checking other aspects of the room. A satisfactory outcome.
More than that. The following day we were out from early till around 6.00p.m., and when we returned, the room had had a super clean and makeover. There were fresh flowers, a bowl of fruit, a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates. All complimentary. A very nice touch, good customer service.

So getting back, once the bed had been sorted out we hit the sack knowing that we had a very full day ahead of us.
Coming up next, Pinnawela, Kandy City centre, the culture show and Temple Of Tooth.

We wisely gave the spice garden a miss and your experience confirms why we did. We sure could have used socks at Dambulla - that rock that you walk on outside the caves is very hot!

the joys of travel..

We had a similar spice garden experience. I told our driver we wanted to buy some vanilla beans, so he called ahead to several spice gardens and found one that said they had vanilla beans. It turned out they did not. They had a single vanilla vine. We didn't like the hard sell either, and they did get rude when we didn't buy. Our driver was very unhappy with them and told them so.

So day six, first stop Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage.
An elephant orphanage? Yes I know…..we visited one in Thailand years ago and were not over impressed. Lynda had been keen to visit Pinnawela so I just went along with it. But during the drive there, Rammuni was talking about it and I realised that this was a place I had seen in a BBC programme some time ago. Their write up for it spoke about it being the only town in the world, where the main street is closed twice a day, to allow a herd of elephants access to a river and I remembered being enthralled watching the programme. All of a sudden, I was rather looking forward to this visit, and I wasn’t disappointed.
We arrived there about ten and made our way straight to the area where the elephants spend most of their time. A huge park area. 24 acres. Now I know that this place divides opinion, but from what we saw, the animals appeared healthy and happy and generally well cared for. We spent around three hours here including our lunchtime in the restaurant overlooking the river with the elephants bathing. Rammuni somehow managed to get us the best table in the house.
Our photos from Pinnewala are at link below

http://leightravel.smugmug.com/Animals/Pinnewala/16060001_ui7G5#1205278031_yUYc9

Pinnewela was definetly a highlight for me. Especially since it was the only place I got to see lots of elephants together.

Leaving Pinnawela, we headed off to Kandy. We walked around the city which although it was very busy, it was much quieter than normal as today was Poya Day, (full Moon Day). A public holiday. It’s not possible to purchase alcohol on Poya Days. The Queens Hotel, an old British colonial style place was interesting to look around. Rather faded but still somehow grand. We walked all round the lake in front of the Temple of Tooth, and made our way to watch the culture show.
We don’t normally bother with this type of thing, but we had read many reports of praise for what you see in Kandy. Personally, I wish we hadn’t bothered. On the way out, there was some fire walking etc.

With the light fading we started to make our way to the Temple of Tooth. Very atmospheric. Monks chanting over loudspeakers and loads and loads of people. Maybe more than normal because of it being Poya Day.
This was a very worthwhile visit. I would like to visit again someday.
To-morrow, it’s tea country time.

Day seven and time to leave Amaya Hills and head for the Heritage Tea Factory hotel at Nuwara Elya.
But first, before leaving Kandy, we wanted to look around the Botanical Gardens.
This was a treat! Beautiful gardens. We spent nearly two hours walking round here. We saw a huge colony of fruit bats…too many to count….probably hundreds. We saw a scorpion. One of the gardeners had been sweeping with a traditional broom and had a scorpion sitting on the brush head. Lots of unusual birds and a very nice orchid house.
Definitely worth a visit when visiting Kandy.
Back to the minivan for the three hour drive to Nuwara Elya. At this point Rammuni had arranged to leave us as he had to go to Colombo to meet some new clients who were going to be driven by another of his drivers. He said he would rejoin us the following day, somewhere on our drive to Galle. We were left in the safe hands of Mano, the driver. Now Mano, apart from being a wonderful driver is just such a lovely guy. Wonderful personality and a smile that would light up the darkest place.
He made lots of short stops, pointing things of interest, and providing photo opportunities. It was a lovely drive, clearly going up and up and up.
At last we stopped by a sign proclaiming that we had reached Nuwara. 6,187ft above sea level. It was then that Mano said we still have more than an hour to go, before we reach your hotel, nearly another 1000 feet to climb and the road is ‘’lumpy,bumpy’’.
Lumpybumpy it certainly was, but a really interesting drive. At last we reached the Hethersett tea plantation and the Tea Factory hotel.
Stepping out of the minivan the peace and quiet was deafening. The air crisp and fresh. It was beautiful.

We definitely recommend a stay at the Tea Factory, which stands over 6,800 feet above sea level, just six degrees from the equator, in the lush green misty mountains of Kandapola. Built in the days of British Raj as a factory for tea processing, it has been sympathetically converted into a five star hotel so that much of its original style and machinery remains. The reception area is where the factory's leaf drying process was carried out, the tea packing room is now the hotel bar and the grading and sifting area is the restaurant and as you can imagine, the views from the Tea Factory are breathtaking.
After a traditional welcome and smooth check-in we took in the views from our fourth floor room and then headed for the bar.

We took our drinks outside to a lovely little garden. After a short time, we were approached by a man wearing an odd uniform.
‘’Good afternoon Madam, Sir, I am the train driver.’’
Ahh, the strange uniform.
‘’We are not yet fully booked for this evening. Would you like to take dinner on board the train?’’
Lynda and I looked at each other….puzzled…..what train!
Seeing our puzzlement, the train driver smiled and said ‘’If you come with me I will show you my train’’
Leaving our drinks on the garden table we followed him round to the rear of the hotel and there was a very old railway carriage, which had been converted into a restaurant. He showed us around inside…..it was delightful. In fact this guy was the head waiter for this little restaurant. After looking at the menu, we declined to book for dinner mainly because the food was all European dishes and tonight we wanted local cuisine. Also because the main restaurant opened much earlier and tomorrow is the long drive to Galle so we wanted to have an early night. I wish we had booked two nights here we would certainly have tried it then.

Dinner was a buffet affair and very high quality. There was nice live music quietly in the background. All in all a very satisfactory meal.

Just once more……..we loved this place.

We were up early next day, nice breakfast, then check out. We had arranged to meet Mano at 08.00, but were ready by 07.40, and he was there waiting for us.
Great, a nice early start, ten hour drive ahead of us, should be in our hotel at Galle by 6.00pm, little did I know!!
The drive back down to Nuwara Elya took a little over an hour, then after a short time in the town, we took the Hatton Road, A7, I think. This really is a magnificent drive. The road snaking downhill for mile after mile, all the time passing tea fields filled with workers. Really very lovely. We stopped at a viewpoint for some shots of St Clair Falls and again, when we reached Devon Falls. Very, very spectacular scenery.
After maybe four hours or so, I glanced over at Lynda and she had turned as white as a ghost. With her head in her hands, she said I need to stop. Motion sickness. After a ten minute break we set off again only to stop again very soon and poor Lynda was violently sick. We carried on like this for around an hour, stopping every ten minutes or so. Mano was wonderful. Very supportive, patient and kind. I was getting quite concerned. More than six hours to go…..she’s never going to make it. We hadn’t passed a hotel for miles. I would have booked a room just to let her have a couple of hours rest and a nap. We rounded a bend and there was a sign saying air con rooms and restaurant. We pulled in to check it out. The restaurant/bar area was open air with a tin roof. We ordered some drinks and considered our options. Then the heavens opened. The first rain since we arrived. And boy did it rain. The noise on the roof made it nearly impossible to have a conversation. But after half an hour, it stopped as suddenly as it had started. After visiting the restroom Lynda stated flatly, I’m not sleeping in a room here. She wasn’t impressed.
So we set off again. Pretty soon it was the same routine. Stopping every ten minutes or so for Lynda to throw up!! Starting to get more worried, thinking we will never get to Galle today.
Eventually we reached Kitulgala, and stopped at a small hotel which was our original plan for lunch. I asked Mano to try to get us a room so that Lynda could have a rest, but they were full up. However, they directed us to a lounge area and pushed together some sofas and said that she could lie there for as long as she wanted. They set up fans to keep her cool, fixed her up with pillows, water, and cold flannels. They were just great.
This is where the film Bridge on The River Kwai was filmed and we had intended to visit the spot. Alas, sightseeing was not in my mind at this time.

After a couple of hours rest, Lynda declared herself fit to continue and off we went with her sitting in the front with Mano. Bolt upright and totally focussed on the road ahead she managed to overcome the motion sickness at last.
We started to make good progress, passing through many towns and villages, eventually hitting the coast road to Galle. We picked up Rammuni somewhere around Bentota and he sat in the back with me, whilst Lynda continued trancelike in the front seat not saying a word. Rammuni was very sympathetic pointing out that many people have suffered similarly travelling on that route.
Finally we hit Galle, pulling in to the Lighthouse Hotel just a little after 9.00pm. It had taken nearly fourteen hours.
At reception, I pointed out that my wife was unwell and could they please make check-in as fast as possible. They duly did and we were heading for our room within five minutes. And wow!!! What a room. Huge and with awesome mood lighting. Lynda just wanted to take a bath and get to bed. I opened the doors to the bathroom and again…..wow! Massive bathroom with walk-in shower and huge spa type bathtub. Candles burning and various spa treatment potions available. It was just what she needed. After pouring myself a large glass of finest malt, I opened the shutters and glass doors to explore the balcony, and another wow. We were less than twenty yards from the ocean, the balcony was very big with a table and chairs, the view was just stunning…..perfect.
Suitably refreshed, Lynda emerged from the bathroom declaring…’I’m hungry!’
So we ordered a room service dinner and it was great. I knew we were going to like this hotel.

I have found ginger works wonders with motion sickness in various concoctions. Hot ginger tea in Cambodia, ginger beer in Sri Lanka...

how is L feeling now?

Poor Lynda!

It sounds like you found a gem of a place to stay in Galle.

Where is the Lighthouse Hotel situated? We stayed just around teh corner from the lighthouse irtself but I don't recall this hotel.
Femi- we became addicted to the Sri Lankan ginger beer especially the EGB (Elephant Gincer Beer brand

Beautiful Leigh, wish I could have joined you to share that malt! Rammuni seems to be doing a really good job taking care of everything to near perfect efficiency (except the 14 hours ofcourse). Hope Lynda recovered fast.

BTW Lighthouse is located just 2km outside the town of Galle on the road to Colombo. If you have time go visit Roomassala Hill and the Japanese Peace Pagoda, nice views, and later find you way down to the secluded jungle beach with just a towel and swimsuit (take water).

The EGB brand of ginger beer became a fast favorite of mine. I wondered what the acronym stood for

The "E" is for "Elephant" and its full name is Elephant Ginger Beer made by the famolus Elephant House which is a very very old company and has the largest market share for soft drinks in Sri Lanka - yep even bigger that coke/pepsi.

We were up early next morning and had finished breakfast by 08.00. We spotted Rammuni wandering in to the restaurant. He’d come to check on Lynda and to see if we wanted to do anything to-day.
We opted to visit Galle Fort and not much else, agreeing to meet again at 9.30.
We spent a fair time wandering around this 16th century walled town within a town. Passing by Flag Rock, where daredevil locals, throw themselves from 30 or 40 feet into incredibly shallow water. The Maritime museum and the British gunpowder store were also interesting visits.
After visiting the Anglican All Saints Church and the Dutch Reformed Church, we checked out the Amangalla Hotel. The English manageress was more than happy to show us around. This is a very plush hotel, possibly the best in Galle, but rather expensive.
Then we took a drive round the coast hoping to see some stilt fishermen. We stopped at a small beach where we could see lots of stilts in the sea. We parked up and went to take a look. For a fee, some fishermen were prepared to climb onto their stilts and do some fishing! Just a tad too contrived for us so we declined. Didn’t actually get to see this activity going on. I wonder if they still do it for real.

Back to the Lighthouse, where we just chilled out for the rest of the day. Swimming in the sea, in the two pools available, and wandering around the grounds.
The next day, we did our own thing, just enjoying the hotel and walking along the surrounding beaches. We also wandered around a little village that we found about half a mile from our hotel.

Hi Leigh, I'm back home and am now able to take a good look at your photos. I really enjoyed your photos of elephants - it made me go back and look again at ours! Thanks for sharing.

We very much enjoyed our time in Galle, particularly the Lighthouse Hotel, but I’m not sure that it was really worth all the travelling time it took.

Next day we headed off to Colombo for our last night in Sri Lanka. The drive up the coast road was pleasant. We stopped off briefly to photograph two monuments for the 2004 Tsunami which hit Galle very badly. The first one we came to was the Peraliya Buddha Statue, which was built with donations from Japan. Rather poignant, writing this today. The next one just a mile or so further on depicts the terrible event with the train disaster.
Heading on into Colombo, we arrived at the Galle Face Hotel, where we had booked a deluxe room in the Classic wing. We knew that facilities would be better in the modern wing but wanted to experience the old colonial feel that this hotel offers. Our room was huge, overlooking Galle Face Green. This grand old hotel is certainly worth staying at.

At this point it was time to settle up with Rammuni and to say goodbye to him and Mano. I have to say that the service provided by Rammuni was first class in every way. Faultless, and I have no hesitation in giving him the highest recommendation.

We weren’t over impressed with Colombo. We set out to walk from the hotel to the Barefoot store but abandoned the walk after around an hour. Walking along that road is an obstacle course indeed. Never seen footpaths in such disrepair. And the constant bombardment from touts and tuk tuk drivers was, well, just tiresome. It was incessant. We found a bookshop called Meekone, I think, and were able to purchase the books we were after.

This trip far exceeded our expectations, and we hope to return again some day.

We were indeed……Captivated, By Beautiful Sri Lanka !

Very nice report. Sri Lanka is on my "maybe" list for next winter along with southern India or Burma. In retrospect, is there anything you would have done differently? Based on your experience, I think we will skip Galle, or at least drive to it in 2 days. My DH is not good on windy, mountain roads.

Thanks for your report, Leugh. As you know we plan to return to Sri Lanka in the next couple of years, and your report has been helpful in my thinking about that trip. The consensus from the Fodorites who have been to Sri Lanka this year seems to be "no" to Columbo and "maybe not" to Galle. That will make my planning easier.

Shelly,
We would have spent more time at Cinnamon Lodge....we would have skipped Kandy, as a stopover.
Galle was very nice, and worth the effort but......Not a must.

Kathie,
For us Colombo was an experience, but not one we want to repeat.
Galle is interesting and rewarding .......just tooooooo far out of the way.....if you have time constraints.

Could you please give me the email contact for Ramunni. You said on another thread that you wished you had involved him more when planning your trip as it would have been more efficient. Could you elaborate on that.

Hi Shelley, you can find contact details and reviews for Rammuni on the following link.

http://www.leightravelclub.com/rammunitours.htm

We underestimated some of the traveling time. Judging it from looking at a map just doesn't work. Had we asked for his advice during planning he could have helped with that.
We wanted to take a train journey, but to get seats in the observation cars you need to book at least ten days in advance. We should have discussed this with him and asked him to book for us according to our itinerary.

Of course, before we made this trip, I didn't know Rammuni, and I wanted to do what WE wanted and not what our guide wanted. A little bit arrogant I know, but after a bad experience in China, I vowed never to let a tour guide dominate our traveling again.
I needn't have worried because with Rammuni and his driver, you are completely in control.
Basically, you have a guide, Rammuni, a driver, Mano, and their little air-con mini-van at your disposal to do pretty much as you wish.......but with input of advice and suggestions from an expert.

Very highly recommended and if you do go for Rammuni, or any other guide, communicate with him during the planning stages. I'm sure that will pay big rewards.

Hope that helps.

Thanks so much for the information.

Thank you, Leigh, for your wonderful trip report. I am in the very early stages of planning for a possible trip to Sri Lanka at the end of the this year, and your report has given a load of insights.

I am also planning a trip to Sri Lanka this year and have really enjoyed your report. It really helps to read about your experiences, so thank you. If we only have time for 2 spots other than Colombo, where would you recommend we go?