Category: Asia

Day 6 & 7 – 10th & 11th February 2024 – Historic sites of Sri Lanka

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We left Cloud Nine Wilpattu and headed to the former capital and Sacred City of Anuradhapura. We made a visit to Jethawanaramaya Stupa. On entering this ancient stupa we viewed some magnificent figures and a huge one of Buddha  in passing position. Suminda taught us all about the 3 stages involved with Buddhism. These are the birth, the enlightenment and the passing. There were many artefacts including the gem encrusted foot. We learnt about the various traditions, such as tying a coin in white fabric and making a wish. This wish would quite often be families wishing for the birth of a baby boy.

We visited another important stupa The but didn’t go in as it was crowded and we didn’t fancy burning our feet on the very hot ground. We walked to the royal gardens and viewed one of the ancient bathing pools. John and Suminda walked on to view the kings pool where he would watch his wives bathe. They also walked up to look at the lake. Our final stupa of the day was quite magnificent in its appearance. John and I were quite amused when we read that King Dutugemunu (161-137bc) had built as penance for eating a chilli garnished curry without first offering it to the monks.

We then continued to the Hotel 4U Salina Gardens in Anuradhapura. It’s entrance is a little difficult to find as you turn down the side of a cement factory and wonder where on earth you are going. However when you get there you are greeted by really nice people. They kindly changed our room to a downstairs one, as I am struggling with the humidity, temperatures about 31/32 degrees and I twisted my knee getting out of the Safari vehicle in Wilpattu, so down stairs rooms are preferable at the moment. Our room opened on to the swimming pool and the room was big and cool with all the necessary requirements. Our evening meal was selected from a nice menu….we had another laugh when we both selected buttered chicken and buttered prawns…something had got lost in the translation/spelling and they actually meant “battered”. It was great to overload on protein and they even had Coke Zero so I didn’t have to drink water….a really great place. 

When we checked out in the morning we had a lovely chat with the owner. He had designed and built it and had used lots of reclaimed teak from colonial times in its construction. We would definitely recommend this hotel and you could stay there to go into the main entrance of Wilpattu rather than stay where we did as we went in the back entrance.

On leaving Anuradhapura we stopped off at the Bodhi tree. It is said to have been grown from a branch of the tree Buddha was under, in India, when he was believed to have attained enlightenment. The car park was extremely busy as was the walk to the tree. Not wanting to get hot and bothered like I had on the previous day I opted to stay in the air conditioned car while ZJohn and Suminda went to view it. The tree is secured by gold supports, John said it was a really nice sight, but he also said it was crowded and the ground hot and gritty under our “delicate, western feet”.

We continued our days sightseeing and stopped and walked some some distance up Avukana Ancient Rock Temple where we viewed a 13 meter high statue of Lord Buddha carved out of solid granite, the replica of which we had seen in Colombo. It was quite an awesome sight.

Having continued our adventure we stopped at Sigiriya for a nice light lunch before proceeding to view the Rock Fortres. It was built by King Kasyapa (477-495 AD) for the purpose of protecting him from his rivals. His main rival was his brother who was the rightful heir to the throne. Today the rock is a UNESCO world heritage site, also know as the ‘ fortress in the sky’ . The climb to the top is an arduous one so we opted to view it from the bottom.

Some time later we arrived in Polonnaruwa. The city was founded in 11th century AD and was governed by many kings. King Parakarmbahu I’s reign was considered the most significant for this ancient kingdom. During his 12th century reign, this second Kingdom of Sri Lanka was known as The Golden Age of Polonnaruwa, as Parakarmbahu ruled during an era where trade and construction flourished. It is regarded by many as one of the best preserved ancient cities in the world. We looked around the many relics of the kingdom, including the royal palace and council chambers, the Satmahal Prasada – a square pyramidal tower in seven tiers, the Gal Potha- a stone book and many more. Our favourite was Gal Vihare, which is a rock shrine. It is a cluster of carved Buddha images which would have formed part of an extensive monastery on this site. The standing Buddha is 7 metres high and all the carvings are carved from a single piece of rock.

We probably didn’t do Polonnaruwa justice as we had had a bit of sightseeing overkill. On leaving the area we noticed quite a few Grey Langurs and some splendid Banyana trees.

We headed off to Wasgamuwa where we were booked into the Lavendish Wild Safari hotel. We were grateful to Suminda, Jetwing Travel and Rosie Price at DialaFlight for sorting out this change of accommodation . The previous accommodation was far too far from Wasgamuwa National Park. It was over 2 hours away and was booked when we were going to go to Minneriya Park. However, due to the heavy rains the elephants have mostly left that park and it was thought we would see more in Wasgamuwa. Our thanks go to Jetwing Travel who kindly picked up the bill for the accomodation change. Lavendish Wild Safari hotel was US $66 per night dinner, bed and breakfast.

We retired early, exhausted from the day and wanting to be ‘bright eyed and bushy tailed’ for the next days 6.00am Safari.

Day 4 & 5 – February 8th & 9th 2024 – Wilpattu National Park

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We bade Brenda, and Ron at the Ayubowan Guest House a fond farewell. It was definitely a place to recommend, very clean, very convenient to restaurants in Negombo, a nice place to stay with a refreshing pool.

We headed up north for our first experience in a Sri Lankan National Park. It was about a 3 hour drive through interesting villages and countryside. We stopped to have a look at a roadside temple.

We arrived at the Cloud Nine hotel around lunchtime. It had been advertised as a luxury hotel with views of the lagoon. We think someone was using poetic verse when they wrote the description. We entered our super deluxe room to see a giant corner spa bath and a massive bed and very little else. The balcony overlooked the forest/ jungle which evidently went down to the lagoon….we would have needed a machete to actually see the lagoon. The spa bath would have been heavenly for John if the taps actually worked and when we finally got some water out of them we’d have had to wait 2 hours for it to fill up !! The evening light show in the room was unexpected, the lights dipped, flickered or went out completely when the fridge tripped in and out..but hey! It was different.

We had a quick freshen up in our room before heading off to the Wilpattu National Park. The drive to the gate was 25 minutes. On arrival you walk across a bridge not dissimilar to those used to exit the jungle on “I am a Celebrity get me out of here”. Our Safari driver met us in a very beaten up Jeep. Evidently a bull elephant had taken a dislike to him 2 days prior and it had actually lifted the front wheels off the ground with its tusks, causing quite a mess to the front of the vehicle.

Climbing aboard was not for the faint hearted. We’ve boarded hundreds of Safari vehicles before but never one quite like this one where one really needed tiny feet, long legs, and a back able to bend in all directions…phew finally in and ready to go.
Over the following day and a half, we bumped around having Sri Lankan massages, over the very rough roads, through deep water, traversing the jungle and plains. We spotted a superb assortment of wildlife and bird life. One of our first spots was wild boar quickly followed by small herds of elephant. We also saw Spotted deer, Sambar Deer, Barking deer( muntjac), iguanas, buffaloes, mongooses, crocodiles, and the much sort after sighting of a leopard.

The bird life included the most magnificent peacocks, peahens, wooly necked storks, lesser adjutant storks, Indian pond herons, Indian rollers, egrets, herons, serpent eagles, bee eaters, Bitterns, pelicans, sitting ducks, lapwings, jungle fowl (the national bird) and many, many more. A real birders paradise.

On one occasion a frog leapt from the ground and landed on my trouser leg. It was quickly dispatched to whence it had come by Suminda who was sat behind me. Thankfully Suminda was with us and translated brilliantly, as the driver’s English was very limited.

On returning to Cloud Nine each evening we were offered a choice of two set menus…both at a price of LKR 3500 each ( approx £10 each) Our first night was leek and potato soup followed by crab curry and fruit salad or ice cream for dessert. Yummy you probably think and so did we. A plate with two sets of crab crackers, picks and scoops were put on the table. Our expectations were high…even the right equipment for the job…..but alas we really were on “I am a Celebrity”, the crab was the size of an egg cup and the amount of meat we managed to extract was minuscule, not even enough to wet our whistle let alone fill our tummies… The following night we opted for tandoori chicken and the obligatory rice but once again the chicken must have died of starvation or suffered with anorexia because it’s leg had next to no meat on it….so rice and more rice was once again our main meal. We again went to bed hungry and lacking protein.

Our over all opinion of Wilpattu National Park is that it is a total delight, full of surprises, a wonderful place to start our tour of Wildlife Parks. However! It really isn’t for the faint hearted, not just because of the struggle with getting in and out of Safari vehicles but because of the high level of rock and rolling which takes place due to the state of the roads.

Day 3 – 7th February 2024- A once in a lifetime experience.

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A much better nights sleep was had by us both and we readied for the excitement of new experiences with another lovely breakfast sat on the verandah overlooking the nicely manicured garden and pool.
Suminda picked us up promptly at 10 am and we headed off to view the sites of Colombo. We saw lots of former colonial buildings, the floating market and street markets.

We also stopped and had a walk around one of the largest Hindu temples in Colombo.

We continued to see several other temples both Buddhist and Hindu and an array of churches and other religious places of worship.

After much sightseeing Suminda headed for his home in the small town Kesbewa. We picked up a small bunch of flowers and I had selected a gift from the presents I had brought from home which on arrival I gifted to Disna, Suminda’s wife. It was so wonderful to meet his family- Methika whose birthday it was today is 19 years old, Minuka is 16, and Senithi is 10 years old. We were also joined by Stanley and Grace, Disna’s parents, who are on either end of the middle group picture. Suminda also introduced us to his mother.

We tried hard to get the formalities of greeting each other correct, hopefully we succeeded without causing any offence. We were given a drink, then asked to touch a plate with a drink on it which Disna held out to us. This is a traditional invitation to eat some food. Wow, wow, wow …Disna and her mother Grace had prepared a feast for us. We sat down with Suminda to a real feast of plain and pilau rice, jackfruit curry, jackfruit seed curry, chicken curry, Dahl, potato curry, bean curry and a grated coconut and onion sambal it was absolutely delicious. We had never tasted some of the dishes before and they were fantastic, spicy and flavoursome without being chilli hot. We have to admit to being totally overwhelmed by this magnificent spread and the effort which had been put into its preparation. This was followed by us tasting buffalo curds for the first time…very similar to thick yogurt …delicious, and Sri Lankan cherries, pomegranate seeds and an array of fruit…

After lunch we stood around Methika and sung happy birthday whilst he cut his cake. He then took a piece to each member of his family to take a bit from and we were included in this wonderful celebratory tradition. As we were leaving Disna gifted us a very useful notebook and a wonderful carving of an elephant which we will treasure for a very long time.

What a wonderful experience we have had meeting Suminda’s family and enjoying the feast they prepared for us and celebrating Methika’s 19th birthday…what a privilege and an honour thank you so much Suminda.
For those of you reading this and thinking of visiting Sri Lanka, we can thoroughly recommend Suminda as a driver and guide..a true gentleman.. Suminda Dissanayake can be contacted at Suminda711@gmail.com. or what’s app/ phone number is + 94772279050

Our drive back to the Ayubowan Guest House was about a 1.5 hours drive Suminda told us it was the first time his family had met foreigners in their home, we felt doubly privileged.

Arriving back we decided a dip in the pool was required to cool off before what has become an habitual and necessary siesta/ rest.
What a truly wonderful day.

Day 2 – Tuesday 6th February – Another Great day in Sri Lanka.

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Today was our day of rest to get over the flight…however, after another sleepless night I needed a slow day …I think my body clock is up the creek, finally nodded off at 5.30 and got up at 7.30….I guess 2 hours sleep is better than none. We had selected a British breakfast rather than a Sri Lankan one because Brenda had told us the later was very spicy 🌶 🌶🌶…….They call it spicy here rather than hot, where as we tend to say spicy is flavoursome…so now we have to say ‘ not too chilli spicy’… So we had a large bowl of fruit followed by scrambled eggs on toast with bacon, sausage and tomato…all rounded off with toast and marmalade and washed down with some rather nice Italian coffee….a great start to the morning. We went back to the room and packed up because the Ayubowan Guest House had kindly agreed to move us downstairs to a room which was en-suite and didn’t involve me climbing Mount Everest 🤣🤣🤣.

10.30 am prompt Suminda picked us up and we headed off to the Muthurajawela Visitor Center on the mangrove canals. Today Suminda had suggest that we took an additional boat trip along the canal, around the mangroves of the Muthurajawels sanctuary and on to the Negombo Lagoon. This is an important area for migratory bird life. After a brief introduction about the sanctuary by the guide we paid our US$80 and made a rather inelegant boarding of the boat. Suminda was cheap as we didn’t have to pay for him as well!! and he was still allowed to accompany us.

it was a thoroughly pleasant way to spend 3 hours meandering along the canal and into the lagoon. We were fortunate enough to see, lapwings, bitterns, water monitor lizards, egrets, herons, migratory terns and swallows from India and many more. There were other intriguing sights such as net fishing and fishermen punting their boats.

All of this was topped off with a real treat seeing the trees moving first with a colony of fruit bats and then again later, only this time with shy Macaque Monkeys…. Our patience paid off as a couple came along the waterside and took no notice of us as the foraged for food.

Having returned to the very welcomed air conditioned car Suminda took us on a sightseeing trip on the way back. We stopped off at the fish market, where they were drying fish in a similar way to that which I’ve seen in Malawi. The remnants of the mornings catch was still on sale by some ever hopeful stallholders. The only customers seemed to be some beady eyed egrets…

Evidently there would have been a lot of fruit and veg on the market much earlier in the day. It was interesting to see Jack fruit in its entirety as well as what it looks like when mature and ripened. We eat a lot of Jack Fruit at home, it comes as young fruit in a tin and we use it as substitute meat, it tastes a little like pulled pork and is supposedly good for lowering blood sugars for diabetics.

As our tummies were rumbling Suminda took us to Koko Beach club for lunch. We each had Coke Zero. John and I shared a beef and cheese rotti, which was chilli spicy and a plate of French fries, whilst Suminda had a chicken curry and rice. It was nice sitting looking at the sea and the beach whilst under a ceiling fan!! Lunch cost us £12, it turns out Suminda is a cheap gentleman to take for lunch as his was free!!!
Then it was back to Ayubowan Guest House. Brenda had kindly had our bags brought downstairs to our new room and we were quickly into the air conditioning and under the crisp cool sheets for a siesta.

After a refreshing snooze we readied ourselves for Desmond and his tuk-tuk chariot and off we went onto the high street to try a different restaurant for our evening meal. This time we tried another recommended Seafood establishment The Sea View. A little ironic as it has a view of the Main Street and unless you had X-ray vision you have no chance of seeing the sea! It’s a lively, bright place which has a really buzzing ambience.
We took the last table and quickly ordered seafood noddles for me and sweet & sour chicken for John.

We followed it with John having his usual ice cream and I had banana fritters…all very tasty for about £16 including the normal coke zeros…..we’ve found the food to be reasonably priced and so far all the restaurant’s we’ve eaten I have accepted MasterCard so that’s a thumbs up. Desmond Tuk Tuk was waiting for us and soon returned us to our Guest House. Tomorrow Suminda is taking us sightseeing in Colombo and then to his home to meet his wife and she is going to cook us a Sri Lankan curry for lunch. We were very touched when he invited us and we are very much looking forward to the day, so more about that tomorrow..

Day 1 – 5th February – The start of our Sri Lanka adventure.

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Our adventure really started yesterday when we boarded Air Sri Lanka an hour late…..however after an uneventful flight with good food and on-board entertainment we landed just a few minutes after our scheduled time. It was hot and sticky waiting for 30 minutes to disembark the plane, but we eventually made it into the arrivals lounge. I should have filled the arrivals form in on line but no problem, John got 2 good old fashioned paper copies which we dutifully filled out and patiently waited in a relatively short queue to go through immigration. By the time we arrived in the baggage reclaim area one of our cases was already there and waiting for us and the second one came fairly shortly after it….time from entering arrivals to leaving it was less than 45 minutes – puts Heathrow to shame. Immediately outside the customs are foreign exchange booths. We had read up on the Sri Lankan Tourist Facebook site that these give you the best rate so we quickly exchanged some US$ although contrary to previous information they also exchange sterling £.
We then went in search of our driver who was stood immediately in front of the arrivals funnel with JACKSON on a board. We greeted each other and stopped on the way to the vehicle to buy 60gb of data for US$13…. Very reasonable and the vendor put it in our router and checked it was working…great service. During this transaction I asked the driver if he was with us for the full 23 days, he looked a bit bemused and whilst I was buying the gb he told John he was just taking us to a hotel in Columbo…….”hey!! We’re not going to Columbo, our hotel is in Negombo” was Johns reply …..as it soon became clear that there must have been 2 Jackson’s on the flight and he was meeting someone else…. John quickly went back to the meet and greet area and reappeared with Suminda, our driver and guide for our complete holiday..phew…. He greeted us with such a welcoming smile and a garland of orchids each, before taking over the trolly and our airport departure.

Suminda chatted happily whilst driving us the 30 minutes to the guest house we were booked into. We explained that we had been recommended Ayubowan guest house by a blogger, as we wanted to submerge ourselves in the Sri Lankan culture. We were thus a little surprised when Brenda and Ron welcomed us…if I’d investigated further I’d have known it was an English run Guest House….absolutely charming and a very warm welcome from our hosts. We made a plan for the next couple of days with Suminda and said goodbye until tomorrow.

We welcomed our cool room and had an afternoon’s siesta. Brenda recommended some local restaurants and at 7 pm she kindly called us a tuk tuk…Desmond our driver took us to The White House restaurant, known for its seafood curries. It lived up to its reputation. John had a King Prawn Sri Lankan curry whilst I had grilled swordfish. We had 3 Coke zeros and John had ice cream as desert and the whole lot came to £14.

Desmond returned to take us back to our Guest House. We probably should of haggled the price with him but at £1.20 each way it didn’t seem worth the effort.

A Great first day to start our adventure…more tomorrow.