crellston

Fascinating report and interesting to read a different perspective on Sri Lanka.
For me, climbing Adams peak was a highlight of our time in the country and, apart from the expected dire toilet facilities, half way up, did not encounter any issues with rubbish etc. We hiked part of the way up with a group of young ex soldiers and had a great time chatting with them along the way.

Spent a few days in Galle wandering around the old city and markets etc and encountered no problems with touts, guides etc. bought lots of spices there at ridiculously low prices. The only time we felt conned their was when we asked the man whose private villa we rented to arrange a car to Negombo and were surprised to find his wife in the passenger seat. He had neglected to mention that included in the price was a lift for his wife!
I don't know if you are off to Columbo but the place seemed to have some sort of con man on every street corner. Also, if walking around, every other car seems to be a taxi and will either stop and ask if you want a ride or sound their horns. Gets VERY wearing after a while.

Mohammed

Gallery cafe is an excellent choice sort of more western Italian fusion food, bit of an arty place former residence of famed Sri Lankan architect Geoffery Bawa - try the chocolate nemesis (sinfully delicious)!

chichichicago

Crellston- dying to ask you a couple things. When did you do the Adams Peak hike? I started to wonder- after the fact...if maybe the garbage was due to when we did it? This is pilgrimage season...and my driver told us a lot of Sri Lankans made Saturday- Wednesday a long holiday weekend since only Monday was a workday. There was some Hindu holiday on Tuesday - and Wednesday was full moon Poya day. I guess the full moon days are the holiest days to do the hike during pilgrimage season. LP said to avoid...it can take as long as 9 hours to do the hike on those days due to crowds. Well we did the hike Friday...so maybe they had not had time to clean up the garbage? There seemed to be some attempts to clean it up as we were headed back down- other than the guy at the top emptying the garbage up there.
I actually took pictures of the garbage a couple times because I had never seen anything like it. I was bummed - we love a good hike but the garbage was nasty.

Renting a villa sounds fun- hilarious that you got company on the ride.

My husband and I sort of stick out in this part of the world- we are both quite tall...and I have blond hair- so we seem to be a magnet for those who want to pester a tourist. I appreciate the warning on Columbo- we are headed there as I write. Our driver is going to take us a couple spots then to dinner. I know enough French to be dangerous- I find when I speak that in SE Asia they don't really know what to do with it. I don't really have to say anything coherent - I can say the shirt is blue or what is your name.... And do a lot of shrugging. Unfortunately in Galle we spoke English and said we were from US. There was no shaking those guys.

Thursdaysd- we have not been to India...and based on your comments which are consistent with some things I have read- probably not for us. I would like to see the tigers up north- and the taj - but not sure those two things are enough to lure me.

thursdaysd

The Taj is magical. From what I hear your chances of seeing tigers are not great.

Aside from the dirt and the hassles there is another consideration when deciding to visit India - see the gang rape thread on this board.

Kathie

We avoided Columbo, so I'll be interested to read what your experience is.

annhig

interesting to get your take on Galle, chichi. We really liked it, but fortunately did not have the same experience with being hassled. However, on the way back from a morning at the beach at the FP's sister hotel, the tuk tuk driver dropped us off by his "friend's" spice shop, and somehow we found ourselves in there being subject to the hard sell. in the end we bought some vanilla pods and left, but only after some hard bargaining, to get our own back.

Otherwise we had no problems, and had some interesting interactions with locals, the owner of a tea shop showing us his Tsunami photos for example, and the man who told us the legend about Sri Lanka being the home of the Gods [or something like that].

Colombo we did not like very much, but we may not have given it the best chance as we only got to explore it on our last night. I'll be interested to read your view on it.

chichichicago

Just flew Columbo-Singapore-Hong Kong...hoping to finish most of this up.

Columbo- ok I was prepared to hate it...but the few hours we were there I was ok with it. Took the highway from Galle to Columbo- wasn't thinking about Friday rush hour....we left at 3 and got to Galle Face hotel at 5:30. Traffic was a bear once we got to Columbo. We were planning on 1.5-2 hours..so was getting antsy that it took longer.

We drove by the Cinnamon Gardens ( I think that was the name - guidebook is packed). It looked very pretty- I think that is the posh area of town? I think it would be pretty to walk around. Anyway - we went to the Galle Face Hotel for a sunset cocktail. Ok there are some spots that are so touristy they irritate me - but for some reason this didn't bug me. The hotel is old - half is closed and undergoing renovation. The lobby is pretty and bright - but def old world. They have a lovely terrace overlooking the water to watch the sunset. It was a picture perfect night...clear sky..perfect temp...light breeze. Most of the tables were full- but people were coming and going- nice big rectangular out door bar..good crowd but you would have been able to get a seat. Sort of like the United Nations there- every nationality represented. Everyone just seemed happy - the mood was infectious. We ordered a couple drinks - and given the setting of (what I assume) is a 5 star hotel with a 5 star view and setting- they were not wildly expensive. I think it was $11 for a beer and a glass of wine. We ordered a dish of the spiced cashews ($5)- which honestly we saw a similiar sized bag at the grocery store for that price. Those are expensive given they grow them here. Our service was very good - had a second round- then headed out around 7.

Went to the Gallery Cafe- they had a lovely store. Bought a set of 6 small hors d'oeuvres plates with elephants on them and a set of elephant coasters for $25. That is supposed to be a gift for an elephant lioving friend...but I may decide to keep. Would have bought more but we have to carry etc. also bought a $12 bottle of aloe gel ( trying to use up rupees ) and forgot it would not go through security. They did not catch in Columbo but they did at transfer security point in Singapore.

Dinner at Gallery Cafe was excellent. They have an outdoor courtyard- lite with small bee lights. The entry to the restaurant is an art gallery of sorts - with a small reflecting pool. The crowd seemed a mix of business, some pairs ( not groups) of tourists. We split a Mediterranean salad, prawn curry and spicy that beef curry. All were quite good. They are apparently known for pork curry with black rice- but they had just run out (at 745!). Dessert was a scoop of coconut ice cream and a scoop of amazing cinnamon ice cream. The meal was really good. I was a little leery since NY Times had written it up recently- and I think their reviews/suggestions are very inconsistent anymore.

So- if you are passing through Columbo on your way to the midnight flight- I would recommend the aforementioned.

No one seems to like Columbo...so on a return trip- I might commit to come in in the morning and make a day of it. If I stayed overnight I would pick the Galle Face because I loved the setting. One thing I read in LP is that they sell one day passes if you want to use their pool ( which is adjacent to the grassy patio where we had drinks)

annhig

If I stayed overnight I would pick the Galle Face because I loved the setting.>>

we stayed two nights at the Galle Face and we were loving it til a small fire broke out in the then un-renovated part of the hotel and we were evacuated from our room in the middle of the night due to smoke coming over into our renovated side. Fire evacuation procedures were sadly lacking and if there had been a big fire, I'm not convinced that it would have had a happy outcome.

Before that we'd been enjoying the hotel including the pool and outdoor bar area and would agree that food and drink were not over expensive. We ate in the hotel one night, and the other we ate at the nearby Cinnamon hotel which was excellent.

chichichicago

Boutique Sri Lanka- I had written a long review and neglected to hit the submit button. Got on the plane and it has disappeared. So- now I am too lazy to rewrite the whole thing- but will just give a brief recap. The punchline is that if I were to return to SL- I would consider alternatives to BSL, but I guess I wouldn't object to using them again. I would give them 5 stars for reservations and driver, I would give them 3 stars for responsiveness and follow up.

The driver - Daya- supplied by BSL was excellent. He was great - drove safely and obeyed the rules of the road, but he did not drive so conservatively as to slow things down.

The hotels were all reserved as requested - we had no problems.

BSL was very responsive when we were working out the itinerary - and up until we sent deposit. After that - and when we were in SL- I found them very slow to respond. They never responded to my first email on any topic. I had to email two or three times...with the tag line in the subject line " second request" or " please confirm receipt of this email". It wasn't like I was badgering them- I had a visa question before we left. Had a couple issues when we were in SL. Frankly - had Kathie not used them I think I would have been concerned before we even left for the trip.

Smeagol

Great report and really useful info for our planned trip later in the year.

annhig

chichi - sorry you lost your post. it happens to all of us but that doesn't make it any less frustrating.

we had no previous experience of using an agent like BSL so we didn't know what to expect, and on the whole, they were ok. our driver was good as was his vehicle, and at the end of our first day, they phoned to make sure that we were happy with him. [not sure what they'd have done if we weren't mind you!] I was happy to think that if there was a big problem, there would be someone on the ground to whom we could turn and that any commissions that had been paid to them were staying in SL, not going abroad.

I don't recall them being difficult to get hold of before we left [perhaps we didn't have anything to ask!] and the one time that we needed them during the trip when we wanted to change hotels, they were helpful enough, if a little surprised by what we were doing.

if i wanted a fully booked holiday in SL I would use them again, but having done it once, i think that I would probably just use them to book a driver and car, and a hotel for the first night or two, then strike off by ourselves.

Kathie

The biggest reason I encourage people to use an agent in Sri Lanka is for the car and driver - and back-up as needed. Ann, I can tell you what they would have done if you weren't happy with your driver - they would send a new one. Or is there was something unsatisfactory with the car - they would send a new one.

chichi, I'm sorry BSL wasn't as responsive as you would have liked. I was surprised when you mentioned asking BSL to get dinner reservations for you. That's something I would have done myself or had the concierge or front desk people at the hotel do it for me.

Smeagol

I think I will make contact with BSL and the driver sounds amazing and I will see their rates for hotels.

annhig

smeagol - i can tell you that BSL are responsive to people's requirements. on the lead up to our trip, i e-mailed them to say that we were particularly interested in birds, and not in some of the other things that had sneaked onto our itinerary. [probably because they are standard sights that they put on everyone's itineraries].

in reply, they offered us a different driver who happened to have a bigger car [actually what they call a van, which was more a mini-van then anything else] because that driver spoke very good english and knew a lot about birds.

Hence we ended up with our driver Ajith. His english was good, and he knew not only about local birds but flora and fauna as well.

Smeagol - BSL won't I think book just a driver and vehicle. but if you book the odd hotel with them, that should not be a problem. There are quite a lot of SL hotels that you can now book on line in the normal way.

chichichicago

On BSl- here are a couple examples -

1. We applied for visa online. It said within 24 hours we receive a response- and we had supplied an email address. I assumed we would get an email. I didn't hear anything - a week or so later i went online...input our "confirmation" number. It said we were approved - but it also said " this form contains no signatures or stamps". So - I thought it was an unofficial visa- and that I needed an official email. I emailed BSL- over the course of a week- 3 times explaining the aforementioned. No response. Finally my husband called Sri Lanka - and confirmed we were fine. After that - we got an email from BSL asking for our confirmation number. We told them it was taken care of.

2. BSL released our driver once we got to Amanweela. Arranged for us to be picked up 5 nights later in Galle. They explained it would be cheaper to release the driver and " take a transfer to Galle". Fine. I assumed they would arrange the transfer. When we arrived at Amanwella- I emailed BSL to ask how we were getting to Galle. Also explained that we would like a reservation for dinner at Fort Printers the night we arrived. I further explained that I would make the res myself- but I could not get on the FP website on my iPad. Otherwise i would have made it myself. (FP website requires adobe flash which iPad doesn't support) No response for 24 hours. Resent email. No response for 24 hours. Finally asked Amanwella if they knew anything. They called BSL- who told Amanwella to get us to Galle. Fine. I then emailed BSL to disregard our previous emails. To which they respond that Amanwella would take us to Galle, and that they had gotten us a reservation at FP- but that we should reconfirm the reservation when we got to Galle. I thought that was weird. I mentioned to my husband - who instantly commented- they have their commission and they didn't make the reservation. When we got to the hotel - Deco 44- asked hem to reconfirm. I over heard the call- I was standing there. There was no reservation.

Again- the car and hotel reservations were fine...but I just don't think it is that complicated to respond to emails in a timely fashion.

annhig

chichi - clearly that was not acceptable. i agree that they should answer e-mails promptly. When we wanted to change a reservation I phoned them on our driver's phone which seemed to work ok but of course you had "lost" your driver by the time you wanted him.

I do think that we have to remember that despite some appearances, SL is not a first, or even 2nd world country. Sometimes things go wrong, people don't react as we would hope [that happened to us in Australia, and I'm disputing it with the credit card company]. I'm not suggesting that we should adopt an entirely fatalistic approach but sometimes, it helps!

I've reread your trip report and can't work out where you stayed your 2nd night in Galle. did you stay on at Deco 44 or move to the FP? if you stayed there, what did you think about it?

chichichicago

Totally agree annhig - the most important thing was the driver and the reservations ...it was just frustrating to have to pester them for responses to pretty simple questions. As I said above - I would consider using them again..
We stayed at Deco 44 both nights...in the Moon suite.