I thought I'd share my Sri Lanka itinerary for this December in case anyone wants to have it for future reference. All feedback welcomed.
To all those who rang in, especially Kathie and Craig, you helped prevent me from reinventing the wheel.
Dec 18 fly LAX, Hong Kong, Colombo -Cathay Pacific
w/ ff bus class O/N Villa Araliya, Negembo
3 nights Yil Uyana - 3 days ancient cities touring
2 nights Kandy House (Peacock Suite)
4 nights Ceylon Tea Trails, Tate, Castlereagh
2 nights Yala, Leopard Tented Safari
2 nights Galle, Galle Fort Hotel (Library Suite)
3 nights Bentota, Taru Villas
We are using Journey Lanka Tours (Prema is our contact). He was most responsive: he booked Villa Araliya & Vil Uyana for us. We'll have Roy as drive throughout (all his references checked out very well).
Craig, I contacted your guy but he was away from email for days at a time (on tour). Since I was booking small properties for Christmas I needed to nail down reservations fast.

Robbie, it sounds fabulous! I'll have to look up Yil Uyana, it's the only one I don't know.

Ah, yes, I remember driving by that place. I'll be interested to hear how you like it.

Looks great: I've stayed at 4 of your places ['cept Yil Uyana and Yala] - wise choices Robbie. You won't be disappointed in ANY of them.
I'll be very interested 'tho in your travel time from Tea Trails to Yala.

There'll be two ways to go: back West to the coast, along the coast road down thru Galle to Yala - which will take a very long time [at least 8 - 9 hours - on a good day - I think more]

OR the back way down thru Butalla and Kataragama - which took me 12 bum-numbing hours. The latter looks shorter, but was plagued with tiny weeny windy little roads out of tea country, then massive road works. Assuming the construction is over it'll still take you [I think] about 6. But the scenery is great.

I've done both routes.

Make SURE you take a packed lunch from Tea Trails if you go the back way.

Sounds great, perfectly researched as always. Looking forward to hearing all about it but a bit jealous that you are able to do the tented safari at Yala...

Glad my gurus approve. Let's hope the Tamils don't mess with my plans. Dogster, I was planning on the second route you mentioned. Also, I chose Vil Uyana because it seemed smaller,more intimate and I'm not a fan of severe minimalist architecture (although I'd like to stop by Kandalama to see it).

My wife and I visited Sri Lanka in Sept. 2007. In general, it was a worthwhile experience, even with the very heavy military presence and multiple military checkpoints. Our land accommodations were made by Red Dot Tours, who also provided our driver/guide. In Colombo, we stayed at the Cinnamon Grande Hotel, which was excellent. In Kandy, we stayed at the Tamarind Lodge, which is located on the grounds of the Victoria Golf & Country Club. The acommodations were quite picturesque, but remote; the staff was extremely hospitable.

Hopefully, you will have an excellent experience in Sri Lanka. One small word of caution. In Kandy, our Red Dot driver/guide took us to Taprobarts Ltd., a woodcrafts and furniture shop, which had a medium-sized factory and showroom. They did not appear to be insubstantial, and our Red Dot driver/guide recommended them. We purchased a piece of furniture, which they agreed to make and send to us in the USA. We paid in full (incl. shipping costs). Here it is 9 mos. later and we haven't received either the furniture or a refund. While we have pursued a refund thru our credit card company, reimbursement (if Taprobarts Ltd. is still in buiness) will be somewhat problematic. You may consider our error if and when you make any purchases in Sri Lanka for future delivery.

jrruff, have you communicated directly with the company about whther the item is complete and whether it has been shipped? Nine months for a custom made item to be made and delivered is not outside the expectable range of time, in my experience (from other SE Asia countries). If you do not know hoe to contact them directly, ask the tour company to intervene on your behalf.

Ho Robbie,

I think you have a great itinerary, hope it all works out well. You may like to see this very encouraging article from tis sundays newspaper in Sri Lanka avaulable online at http://www.sundaytimes.lk/080608/Plus/plus000015.html

jrruff - Please can you give me a bit more infor on this company and I will gladly investigate ot for you from this end. Since your tour guide took you there would it not be reasonable to press yur tour company on it a bit?

to jrruff, thanks for the heads up and I hope you get a satisfactory resolution to your situation.
Mohammed, thanks a bunch for that article. I've printed it out and will check out the author's book. In
Botswana I sat in a jeep under a sleeping leopard and watched her for hours. Next day we came back and got a glimpse of her cub. So I can't wait to go to Yala.
BTW do any of you have recommended reading on Sri Lanka. I devour fiction, biography, historical accounts.

Robbie, there are some excellent Sri Lankan writers of varius genre's. To head the list would be Michael Ondaatjie of "The English Patients" fame. Michael has several other books some more contemporary and some which write about life in old Ceylon. Also look for the following writers...

Carl Muller
Romesh Gunaskera
Nihal De Silva
Christopher Ondaatjie - (Michaels brother has some nice ones on leopards etc)
Yasmin Gooneratne

When you are in Sri Lanka do visit the Barefoot gallery book shop - there is a small one right next to the Galle Fort Hotel, has a nice selection of Asian writers. The bigger Barefoot in Colombo is much better though.

Robbie, one of the many delights at Tea Trails is the fabulous collection of books they have on Sri Lanka. Both Cheryl and I read a couple of their books. We brought back a list of books we intended to order... I'll see if I can find the list.

We visited a couple of bookstores along the way, there are several excellent bookstores in Kandy. We found a number of books on Buddhism and Buddhist artrs that are unavailable in the US. Oh, yes, there is a great boookstore at the museum ot Polowarnua. We don't miss the excellent book published by Unesco.

Robbie,

With ref to your tented safari in Yala have you booked for camping inside the park? I just heard today that no camping inside the park is permitted at the moment and the operators are setting up the camps outside the park.

I'll be following along pretty closely. Wish you were going earlier so I could have your feedback before I make any bookings.

Femi, I guess I'll be getting your report on the lodgings before I go. When do you go? Mohammed, thanks for the reading info. I enjoyed both The English Patient and Running in the Family by Ondaatje some years back. I've just ordered a book by Michael's brother Christopher and one by Muller.
Yes, I have booked a tented camp inside Yala with Leopard Safaris, been dealing with Noel Rodrigo. Maybe I should be alarmed but my impression is that Yala opens and closes (every few months) based on current security risk assessments. Am I being too casual about this? I will write to Noel and find out what their plan B is. Thanks for the heads up.

Sorry, I meant that I'll be following your report closely, not the following after you (I wish!), I planning for August next year, but hope to have my bookings complete by this fall.

Ya I misread your post Femi, skimmed too fast. So I will keep you posted.

To Kathie: We are not quite as unsophisticated as your post of 6/9/2008 suggests. Yes, we have contacted the merchant (Taprobarts Ltd.), both by e-mail ([email protected]) and by phone (from the USA - 011-94-81-2235373). Currently, they do not respond to my e-mails. And, yes, 9 mos. is not within the time parameters, since the item initially was promised w/in 4 mos. (and in the phone calls, w/in 2 more mos.).

To Mohammed and Kathie: Yes, I did write to the tour company (Red Dot Tours), but they have not responded. For all I know, Red Dot Tours is still guiding visitors to Taprobarts (or similar), and that was one of the reasons for my warning.

Enough about my error - for which I will take the financial penalty (unless VISA is able to rescue me). I have only offered a word of warning to future visitors, who should otherwise thoroughly enjoy themselves.

Jruff, I'm glad you've done all of the appropriate follow-up. I find it quite shocking that the tour company, Red Dot, has not responded to you.

By no means did I intend my response to you to imply that you are unsophisticated, I just wanted to make sure you had done all possible follow-up. I asked about the time frame, as we had a poster on the board who had ordered something from Thailand and had not received in in many months. The emails the traveler sent to the company went unanswered. With the help of fellow Fodorites, the person contacted the driver they used that day who followed up with the company and found that the item ordered was not yet complete. The email address of the company had changed, so the emails sent by the traveler never reached the company. The traveler posted back once they received the ordered item (but it did take longer than the company initially estimated).

Do let us know the outcome of this.