Category: Asia

Day 17 – 21st February – Marissa

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Today we woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed after a super supper and a great nights sleep…there’s nothing like listening to the waves breaking on to the beach. We had a slow start to the morning and went for a late breakfast. We were greeted like very welcome customers, smiles and pleasantries were exchanged. Our breakfast started with fresh lime juice….that made our cheeks tingle… followed by fresh fruit salad topped with granola/ muesli and buffalo curd on top, all in what we would describe as a sundae glass. This was followed by breads of all sorts even a twist with chocolate inside and a cheesy topped roll etc, jams and marmalades. A cooked breakfast was then produced, we opted for poached eggs with sausages, bacon, tomato, mushrooms and baked beans…it was all scrumptious. All this while watching surfers chase the waves and occasionally catch and ride one. The manager checked we had slept well and that our breakfast was to our satisfaction, he was a really nice kind man and genuinely wanted to make certain we were happy.

After breakfast we returned to our room and once again packed our bags ready to move to Sea World Botique Hotel. Suminda had told us our room would be ready after 12.00 as that was the checking out time. We took one more look at the fantastic view and headed for reception.

Having paid the drinks bill we bade the staff and manager a fond farewell. It was hard to believe we had only been there for a night, the friendliness of the staff was second to none….a big shout out for Beach & Bliss Mirissa…a very high recommendation if you are planning a trip around Sri Lanka.

We headed off with Suminda and as our new hotel room wasn’t ready we went in hot pursuit of a Sri Lankan t-shirt for John. The necessary item was quickly purchased …just another to add to the hundreds he already has…either we’ll have to stop travelling or we’ll have to buy another wardrobe!!!!
We arrived at Sea World Botique and our room was ready….but what a disappointment it was to learn it was on the 2nd floor….4 flights of stairs up….we had been promised by dialaflight and Jetwing Travel, only last week, that we would have a 1st floor room….not only this but the room was not sea facing in fact it overlooked the very close busy noisy road outside with all its beeping and honking from mopeds, lorrys, cars, buses, tuk-tuks etc…. I hadn’t requested Sea facing because I had incorrectly presumed they would all be and I certainly hadn’t expected a main road literally on the doorstep. The room was what in the UK we would be call bijou, a very small double or as my father would say ‘A Kylie Minogue room’…everything there, in the right place but in tiny compact proportions….So….no sound of the waves for us….such a huge disappointment but tired of arguments and tired of wasting our holiday time waiting for responses and actions to put things right which should never have gone wrong…I struggled up the 4 flights we put on our swimwear and descended the pesky stairs to enjoy a cooling dip whilst looking out at an azure blue sea with white foaming waves rolling in…followed by several hours and another dip on the sun lounger whilst still soaking up the view……The climb back up stairs to our room didn’t seem as bad after a sun soaked snooze and an overload of the wonderful view.

We got ready for supper and went downstairs. The food in the restaurant is supposed to be very good according to the reviews…..alas foiled again….the cook is off sick, so they’re not serving any food……….this is really turning out to be an episode from ‘Fawlty Towers’ !!! ….We will not be defeated !!! …so we hailed a tuk-tuk and went about a kilometre along the main road into town to a beach restaurant called ‘Salt’ although the sign looked more like ‘Solt’ …we were shown to a table just up from the waters edge on the sand…such a lovely spot…the whole beach was littered with different restaurants and tables and lights. Having been given our seats we were then taken to a table covered in fish. Our waiter suggested a large fish which he said was endemic to Sri Lanka…it looked like a white Mullet, obviously locally caught. We had it filleted and grilled and served with a few potato wedges and salad…it was divine…a really great experience.

It was quite an expensive meal by Sri Lankan standards with the fish costing about £20 and the other bits £10 but it was certainly worth it. We had asked our tuk-tuk driver to come back and pick us up …it’s amazing what a 25 pence tip will do….and he dutifully did and unlike other tuk-tuks, we’ve experienced he carefully returned us to the hotel, gaining him another 25 pence tip !!! An earliest night was required due to a very busy day of sunbathing and swimming tomorrow.

Day 16 – 20th February 2024- Yala to Mirissa

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We said farewell to Tringa Villas Yala and we were not sorry to move on. The owner was conspicuous by his absent and we only saw him the first evening, when he was concerned we might give him a poor write up. The rest of the time the place seemed to be managed by the cook who tried to do everything and was obviously so busy that raising a smile was hard work. It’s a pity the owner, who had a lot of charm didn’t spend more time growing the business particularly if he wants customers to give his setting glowing reports. We were disappointed with our choice of accommodation, the food it served and the complete lack of cleaning over our 4 night stay. What’s more they charged us for daily water… even in the cheapest of places we were given 2 bottles a day…… and they charged our driver for his food which was no more than very basic…. They also didn’t take credit card payments, luckily we had enough cash on us to pay….. Would we stay there again… No .

So we headed to the fast toll road and whizzed along to Mirissa. We were quite excited about our 4 night stay at The Sea World Botique ( their spelling!). It was more expensive than a lot of our accommodation so we had high hopes of a wonderful relaxing couple of days……

Alas …. The Sea World Botique didn’t have us booked in until 21st February for 3 nights and they were fully booked….you can imagine I was not amused…we had specifically booked this boutique hotel because it was small, more personal and more upmarket. Suminda our trusty guide and driver had several discussions with Jetwing travel and the lady in charge of our booking. She apologised and admitted it was her mistake but this didn’t really sooth my annoyance. She gave us one option for the night, which she said was a better hotel ( it was nice but at first sight it didn’t seem as nice as our original booking). This was Beach & Bliss hotel. When we got there they only had a second floor room which meant doing about 50 steps…I said “ no way”  I’d have to go down to the pool, beach, restaurant etc and back up again to change, rest etc…so several hundred steps which I just can’t manage. They were very kind and said they would serve our meals in our room. But I didn’t want to be a prisoner in the room because of a booking mistake. I asked Suminda to request that his Jetwing lady to give us other options…this went on for a considerable length of time with no other options being offered apart from we could have half board at Beach & Bliss….considering it was a cheaper hotel ( according to booking.com) this didn’t really cut it with us. The manager at Beach and Bliss was very kind and  altered all his bookings around to give us a 1st floor room, which we had no choice but to accept. It took a while for me to stop feeling cross because not only  didn’t we get to stay in the hotel we had selected and thought we had booked but we were going to have to give up a half day to change hotel again.
Having said all that Beach & Bliss is a lovely hotel, the food is superb, the manager and waiters very caring and attentive and they have been extremely kind. The pool, deck area overlooking the sea and the restaurant looking at surfers is sublime….it could well be nicer than the hotel we’ve booked…we don’t know because we haven’t seen our room there or eaten there…..we can definitely recommend Beach & Bliss.  Lovely room overlooking the sea with balcony, good air-con etc.. We had a well needed swim in the pool a relax on the sun-lounger then retired to our room to make use of the speedy WiFi.

We decided to eat off the half board menu and for our evening meal we had – spring roll followed by pumpkin soup and assorted breads followed by pineapple sorbet. I chose grilled tuna steak for my main course and John elected to have pork chops. For dessert I had “grape sausage’ with ice cream which was pancakes with a lovely sauce and John had fruit salad and ice cream. The meal was sublime… the best we’ve had in Sri Lanka by a long way.

We went to bed to the sound of the sea… although the day had a big hiccup, we ended up in a lovely place.

Day 15 – 19th February 2024- Udawalawe National Park Full day Safari.

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We hadn’t realised that Udawalawa was about an hour and three quarters away from our hotel, otherwise we would have changed hotels…..We awoke with stiff tired bodies, collected our takeaway breakfasts from the cook, who now greeted us with a smile ( proof that when you beam at someone constantly, they have to smile back…it had been a struggle but we got there!!!). Suminda drove us in the air-conditioned car and we enjoyed the, now usual, rural scenes along the way…….dogs lying asleep in the road, cows causing a road block, bicycles wobbling along, mopeds swerving all over the place, buses driving up your tail and peeping loudly as they push you off the road, school children in their white uniforms walking to the days lessons, teachers in saris greeting them at the gates of schools, roadside vendors selling an array of fruit/veg/buffalo curds. etc and so the daily life of Sri Lanka passes by our windows.
Just before the National park we saw a big tusker behind the electric fence. He was evidently re-known for standing there opposite a sweetcorn vender because people buy the corn and throw it over the fence to him. The Government warns against this as it makes the elephants dependant on this food and when they don’t get it they can turn aggressive, like the fruit searching bull elephant in Yala.

On arriving at Udawalawe we met up with our jeep and its driver – a nice, smartly dressed young man who spoke little or no English. We bought some snack lunch items, samosa, plain roti and stuffed roti from a small cafe by the gate for a light lunch. I also bought a nice cap with the Park on it…a gift for my dad…which was put to use straight away by his younger daughter!! So only slightly second hand!!. With the preparation for the day completed we set off into the park. We heaved a sigh of relief, the roads were much better condition than in Yala, they were well maintained and our driver was a considerate driver who took a great deal of care when going over bumps and potholes.
Udawaiawe National Park is known for its herds of elephants and bird life. It certainly did not disappoint.

We spent a very enjoyable day, driving on over grown but good condition roads, stopping by a river for breakfast and a lake for lunch, seeing a whole array of wonderful wildlife.

A baby elephant of less than a month old was exploring life while keeping its mum close by, another youngster drank greedily then chucked loads of water around to cool off. The elephants were not alarmed by vehicles, who showed respect and quietly gave them space. These giants were quite happy wandering across the dirt roads, in pursuit of tasty leaves and grasses. On one occasion an elephant brushed between a jeep and a bush, giving both a gentle nudge to make way for its bulk.

On our way out of the park we saw our first terrapin, of this trip, gracefully slide into the water. We left the park very happy, at about 4pm so Suminda didn’t have to drive the rather long journey back to Tringa Villas in the dark and also to give ourselves a shorter day. We had enjoyed seeing a wide variety of wildlife whilst in the capable hands of a careful driver.

That evening Suminda dropped us at the end of the road at The Aqua House Seafood Restaurant. It was only a 100 yards from Tringa Villas but as the road had a crocodile in it on our first night and evidently often has elephants wandering about, we all decided not to risk the walk. Aqua House is also a hotel and would probably be our choice if we were recommending to anyone…it had super high speed Wi-Fi, nice smiling waiters, quick service, cheaper food and rooms, a lovely clean swimming pool and an extensive menu. Having said that it didn’t have any prawns they were ..”finished”… so we made do with grilled fish and chips..no dry rice for us..what a treat… the fish was tuna and it all tasted great. It was also a lot cheaper than we had been paying at Tringa Villas. The only downside is that like Tringa Villas they don’t take credit card it all has to be cash. Suminda returned to collect us and we were soon asleep dreaming of our last Sri Lankan Safari, with our tummies full of nice tasty food.

Day 14- 18th February 2024 – Full Day Safari Yala Block 4 & 5

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We were picked up at 7.00 am by a different driver today, because we were going to an area of Yala about 1 hour 15 minutes away. The area is known as block 4 & 5 ( incidentally Block 2 & 3 are not accessible to tourist jeeps). Our driver was a scruffy barefooted elderly man who spent the whole day chewing beetle ( it makes you high, evidently) and he had no interaction with us at all. Once again he provided the lunch which came from the same place as the lunch the day before. We took a packed breakfast from the hotel, their cheese and tomato sandwiches were very pleasant as was their fruit platter.
During our morning Safari we saw the peacock perform its mating dance, a splendid sight, lots of Bee-eaters, buffalo’s, grey Langer monkeys, a selection of herons, storks and eagles, some very young white spotted deer and elephants to name but a few.


During the Safari we went alongside the Weheragala Reservoir and viewed the massive sluice gates. A picture of these appear on the back of the Sri Lanka 5000 Rupee note….On the non-reservoir side of the sluice is a small river. We were amazed to see 3 jeep loads of local people bathing in this river in the middle of the national park. Apparently this is a normal activity for a Sunday.

We stopped for our curry lunch by the same waters edge where we had had breakfast. Suminda is becoming an expert on serving curry from the back seat of the jeep…because unless we go to another designated picnic area you are not allowed to alight from the jeep. Our guide reiterated this to us when we asked to stop there for lunch….the 3 of us promised not to get down. On arriving at the area our guide told us he had recently seen leopard there and then promptly descended from the vehicle and went to the waters edge to wash his hands, face and feet !!!!


After lunch things went from rather uncomfortable to an endurance test…fortunately John Suminda and I passed the test ..just….
Having had at least one beetle too many the driver set off on some mission to see how many side roads he could take us down…these were not rock and roll, or even tango side roads more like tsunami wow, wow, wow….. let me tell you holding on for grime life is futile and actually only rips muscles as you are tossed and turned in unexpected directions. It’s better to put your arms out sideways to try and balance and ride the storm on your coccyx, hips and buttocks and just pray that your spine is still attached when you make flat land…ready for the next .. We got badly stuck in the mud twice. The first time Suminda shouted at him where to turn the wheel…the second time we sort of hit a brick wall, crashing our knees into the seat infront and jolting every bone in your body ..we were almost on our left side with the mud over the back wheel and almost into the jeep at the front…he kept going back and forwards in the same place spinning the wheels and showering everything with mud…eventually Suminda instructed him where to turn the wheel and when to accelerate…. At this point John and I decided to call it quits and Suminda told him to take us home… at one point I looked over my shoulder at Suminda and he was holding on with both arms up to the roll bars on the roof and swinging…he looked at me and we both burst out laughing… he shouted over the roar of the engine “I bet I look like a monkey” my reply was “ I Thought you were in the gym doing pull-ups” Even on the dryer roads the ruts were atrocious.

One the way out of the National Park we did see some absolutely amazing Malabar Pied Hornbills, a fantastic sight and some Indian Rollers. Needless to say when we got back to Tringa Villas our driver only got a tiny tip.


During supper that evening the 3 of us couldn’t stop laughing..I think it was the relief of being alive and in one piece as we talked over the days activities and adventures. Our supper was once again not good…if you like dry rice and over fried chicken leg it would be fine, but we don’t. Suminda very kindly took pity on us and offered to drive us to a nearby restaurant the following evening. We all had an early night as our bodies were very sore from the bumping, crashing, bouncing around. I have an extra tip for any ladies who may be stupid enough to do a Safari like this …….put a rolled up pair of socks down the middle of your bra to stop your boobs crashing into each other…… we Safari a lot but this one beats the lot 10x over when it comes to rough roads.

Day 13- 17th February 2024 – Full Day Safari Yala Block 1

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We had decided to go in to Yala main entrance, block 1, a little later than the opening at 6.00am because the queues would be twice as bad as they had been the previous afternoon, and we prefer not to be in a long convoy of safari vehicles all eating each others dust. So we left Tringa Villas at 7.00am armed with a packed breakfast of cheese and tomato sandwiches and fresh fruit. This time “Speedy Gonzales” picked us up from our hotel. He had also provided the lunch for the day.
It was much better and quieter entering the park after “rush hour” and we didn’t start racing around for some time. The roads in the park are not good at all, many partially washed away by the recent heavy rains, lots of really waterlogged roads with thick mud requiring 4×4 driving….but Speedy navigated them well even though he sometimes had little regard for his fellow passengers and we rocked and rolled, bumped and bruised ourselves as he occasionally tossed us around. Unfortunately he seemed to think that if we had seen a type of bird or mammal the previous day we wouldn’t want to stop and watch it again…he soon learnt the error of his ways…..Once again we had several near misses of seeing leopard or bear, but lovely sightings of many other creatures both big and small, a jackal took us by surprise on the way into the park…the good start got better and better. The scenery was magnificent with a clear view of the infamous “Elephant Rock”.

The park has some fairly strict rules, in the fact that if you are doing a whole day Safari you must stop between 12 noon and 2pm so the drivers can rest in the heat of the day. They also don’t let visitors in the park between these hours…morning Safari’s must be out by 12 and afternoon safari’s can’t enter before 2 pm. So at 12.00 we arrived at a newly built visitors centre on the coast of The Indian Ocean. It was amazing to know that there was no land in front of us until you reach the Antarctic. The visitors centre is built on the remains of an old guest house. This got destroyed in the 2004 Tsunami. Unfortunately the 12 Japanese who were staying there also lost their lives. We had never really heard of it affecting Sri Lanka because the focus was on Indonesia and Thailand. In Sri Lanka over 30,000 people died, almost a million were displaced and around 150,000 people lost their main source of livelihood. The new centre, where we stopped for our rather scrumpy lunch of chicken curry, dhal, potato curry and beans provides some seating and a washroom block.

We dutifully waited our two hours watching a fair few drivers sleeping, and enjoying conversations with Suminda before we set off on our afternoon “rallying in the jungle”!!!! However, it was a fruitful afternoon. Lots of vehicles were hanging around a certain area because a bear had been seen on previous days in the area. We were very fortunate to suddenly spot a baby bear …before we had managed to take many photos our driver was shouting to the other drivers as to his find…we then had trouble jostling for a decent position to see the mama bear who was deeper in the jungle. The shouting and yelling between drivers was unreal, there were over 30 vehicles all trying to see the bears, who actually seemed to take no notice of the furore they were causing amongst the jeep fraternity. We soon tired of this unethical, unnatural situation, but not before taking a good few shots, and moved on….our next commotion was a huge bull elephant, who had taken to attacking vehicles if he could smell fruit, walking down the road. We very quickly put all our bags in the front cab and shut the windows. The driver was obviously scared of this notoriously angry fruit lover and put his foot down speeding past until he was at a distance of safety.

It had been an eventful day and we returned back to the hotel, hot, sweaty, dusty but contented.
Our evening meal was Kottu a sort of chopped bread with vegetables in spices with chopped chicken and egg…however this one arrived with the fried egg laid across the top rather than chopped into it. I had asked the cook not to make it too dry so he served it with some rather tasteless dhal. We had loved this dish in Kandy but this was one of the most unsavoury meals we had, had during our time in Sri Lanka. Dry and tasteless we ended up leaving more than we had eaten. With such a limiting menu of only 3 fixed meals and Kottu we were a little at a loss for choice….not even a Sri Lankan curry on offer…or in fact any curry…We once again ended up going to bed a bit on the hungry side.