Category: Sri Lanka

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.

Day 12 – 16th February 2024- Ella to Yala

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I have to admit I was quite pleased to leave The Eminence Shires Hotel. I had kept waking up hearing noises behind the back door of the room and at 3.15 am the light which shone under this door and the front doors patio lights were turned off..it all made me a bit jittery. However, our breakfast was served on the patio and was very pleasant…fried eggs on toast, waffles and fresh fruit and a decent cup of coffee. Then we lugged our overnight bags back up the metal steps squeezed into the tuk-tuk and hurtled down the 1 in 3 track to the main road…where I was eternally grateful to find Suminda waiting for us.
We set off on our journey of around 4 hours, stopping at some magnificent waterfalls just outside Ella.

On arriving at Tringa Villas near Yala at around midday we were met by a rather cross looking man. He took us to reception and booked us in. Before going to our room I asked for the Wi-Fi pass word. He told us that the Wi-Fi was only available in reception….which was a few settees around an open small room. I told him the booking information specifically said every room had Wi-Fi on and that was why we had booked this accommodation. To which his reply was “ go then” which was accompanied by dismissive hand gestures. I replied that was fine we would find somewhere else to stay because we needed Wi-Fi to blog our vacation and I showed him the previous days blog…at this point he became vaguely pleasant…obviously the fear of being badly thought of on the internet allowed him to tolerate this “pushy” English woman. He instantly said he would move the router to our room so we could have internet. I thanked him perfusion and he showed us our room and set the router up for us. As he left he asked if we required anything else my response was. “only a smile” to which he smiled and justified his ill humour by telling us he was very busy as he was the cook ….what too busy to greet your customers with a smile…ummmm!!! he also told us the owner would be back after 4…I said we’d see him after 6 as we were going on Safari.

Suminda had managed to book us a half day Safari which was in addition to the ones we’d already booked as part of the package. National Parks in Sri Lanka are not cheap. By the time you’ve added the entrance fees and the hire of the jeep and driver it’s about £100 for a half day. We met our driver and jeep at the gate and hauled ourselves into the vehicle. We were going into Yala Block 1 which was only 20 minutes from our hotel. Our driver we renamed as “Speedy Gonzales”. He set off at a cracking pace constantly getting information from other drivers and racing to the spot only to find we had “just missed” the sighting…still we saw some fabulous sights…wild boar, jackal, buffalo, elephant, white spotted deer, samba dear, iguanas and a whole array of wonderfully colourful birds including the national bird of Sri Lanka, the Jungle Fowl, storks, herons and a variety of different eagles.

Although the roads were very “shake, rattle and roll”, it was a great Safari. We returned to Tringa Villas to be met by the owner. He tried hard to explain that all rooms did have Wi-Fi but because the incoming signal was weak and the wind blew a lot the Wi-Fi wasn’t always good. I pointed out that even with the router in our room we didn’t have a strong enough signal to upload to our web site or even post pictures on Facebook…. We had to agree to differ in that I don’t think he should be advertising Wi-Fi in each room when it’s not and he believes it is but the incoming signal is too weak and that’s not his fault that’s the fault of the supplier…. Anyway he agreed we could keep the router for our 4 nights, so at least we could access emails and attempt WhatsApp calls even if we couldn’t blog….
Later that evening he came back to ask how we had found the room…it is obvious that he has spent 12 years working in the UK because he does understand what the international traveller wants and he has tried hard to provide it…the bathroom was totally functional in that the shower had reasonable power and there was plenty of hot water, white fluffy towels, space around the sink to put the wash bag. There were loads of UK plug sockets in convenient places in the room, tv (which we didn’t put on), kettle and coffee/tea and a hair dryer as well as a reasonably comfortable bed.
We had a supper of fried chicken and fried rice in their restaurant. We were still a little unsure how the cook had been so busy earlier in the day because there was only us, Suminda and two other people eating all evening.

Day 11 – 15th February 2024 – The train from Kandy to Ella.

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We started the journey in high spirits, after all we were about to embark on one of the most scenic train journeys in the world.
We said a fond farewell to the staff at The Elegant hotel, a place we would certainly recommend, and Suminda took us to the Railway Station in Kandy. We were there at 8.15am ready and waiting for the 8.30 train.
We had tickets booked in first class and we were carriage 1B seat 41 & 42.
On arrival at the station the platforms were busy with lots of tourist all doing the same as us.
At 8.30 a train pulled in….fortunately Suminda prevented us jumping aboard as it turned out to be the one prior to ours which was running late. A lot of the platform emptied on to this train and it looked al1 ready to depart when the green light turned back to red. It appeared that our train was now coming in on platform 3 instead of platform 1 and as it’s a single track line it had to come in before the now very late one could go out. Anyway we changed platforms and at around 9.00 am we boarded our train. Our reserved seats were at the front of the carriage and had a nice little table, reclining seats and loads of legroom…we would be comfortable enough for the next 7/8 hours.


We finally departed at 9.15am. The first hour was spent rattling through the suburbs of Kandy. On leaving this large town behind we began to encounter spectacular scenery. The next few hours were spent very pleasantly looking at mountainside tiers of tea plantations, formidable waterfalls, flat rice ‘ paddy’ fields, vegetable plantations and much more. It really was fantastically scenic as the train meandered hugging the side of the mountains. On our journey we stopped at nearly 30 stations only a few people got on and off until we got to Hatton when a few more joined us and a few departed. At Nanu-oya a lot of people anlighted and even more embarked. The area is popular for visits to its tea plantations and its old colonial buildings.

We got to Ella about 4.15 pm, about an hour late. Suminda had been patiently waiting for us for about 4 hours as the trip in the car is so much quicker…but the train is a real ‘ must do’, something not to miss as it really shows the real beauty of this country. Suminda took us to the bottom of a hill and called our hotel ( perhaps I should put that in inverted commas with a few exclamation marks and a lot of laughing faces). The hotel sent a tuk-tuk down to take us up as the road was too narrow for a car. We pilled an overnight bag and a few bits into the tuk-tuk and up we went. It was very steep and after about 100m the tuk-tuk turned a sharp right and told me to get out saying “next bit one, by one”. So out I got and found myself standing in the middle of nowhere all on my own. What seemed like an eternity later it appeared again and told me to get in….after a very steep climb it pulled off on to what could only be described as the flat roof of an unfinished building. In the middle of this flat roof was a very faded sign saying Eminence Shires Hotel…. I looked around absolutely no sign of John or a hotel….beginning to panic I asked “where is the hotel?” And the driver pointed to a set of metal steps not quite as steep as a step ladder at the side of the roof leading down. As I went over to have a look John appeared at the bottom. There were 3 rooms with full length glass windows and a door, a small patio with two chairs and a table outside each door. The couple on the patio next to ours had been on the train sitting behind us. We were greeted with a welcome drink, shown our room and the “receptionist”!! Booked us a table at his recommended restaurant The White Rabbit. The view from the patio was superb, we could see a beautiful waterfall and the railway line.

At 7.30 a Tuk-tuk came and took us both down to the restaurant. The White Rabbit, it transpired, is a much sort after restaurant for the backpacking fraternity who frequent Ella. I had a Sri Lanka vegetable curry with chicken. This consisted of bean, beetroot, dhal, cabbage, okra, banana flower and carrot curry’s around a mound of rice and chicken curry in a bowl…it was divine, the best I had had so far. John had Coconut curry prawns with coconut sambal and toasted wedges of bread ..it was all very tasty…I didn’t notice until John mentioned it, that we were the oldest in the place by about 40 years!!!.

We returned to our room by tuk-tuk, the first one we hailed failed to make it up the first 100m’s after some discussion we managed to find another one to take us, once again doing the last bit one by one.
What an amazing day we had had, full of so many surprising adventures. There are lots of nice places to stay in Ella and even though The Eminence Shires was only £29 for the night B&B I don’t think we would stay there again…our preference would be somewhere in the town where you don’t risk life and limb hurtling down a 1 in 3 hillside in a tuk-tuk!

Day 10 – 14th February 2024 Kandy.

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We woke after a good nights sleep and went for breakfast…a feast fit for the King….after which we needed a lie down!!! With fresh laundry and a lovely ambience the Hotel Elegant was certainly relaxing. Although we have to admit on going for a swim we hadn’t expected the water to be quite so cold!!

At 3pm Suminda collect us and we drove through Kandy to The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. The temple is built near the ancient royal palace. The left canine tooth of Buddha is enshrined here and it is this that draws thousand of local and foreign devotees and tourists. A lot of flower sellers outside of the Temple do a roaring trade as locals make gifts of flowers to Buddha. This artefact serves as a significant symbol of Sinhalese identity and pride. Annually in August during the Esia Perahera procession the relic casket is paraded through the streets atop a male elephant. The 10 day festival is one of the largest Buddhist festivals in the world. The rest of the time the relic casket can not be viewed, it is kept in a chamber hidden securely behind closed doors.

The site contains a museum portraying the history of the tooth. There is also the building where the Kandyan Convention was signed in 1815 with the British Government. The last king of Kandy, Sri Vikrama Ragasinha was so disliked that the people were pleased when he was deposed and the British took over the ruling of the Island.

On our way out we passed some beautiful murals of the Esia Perahera procession and the buildings looked even more majestic from another angle.

On retrieving our shoes we walked a short distance to a theatre to watch a cultural show of music, singing, dancing, fire dancing and acrobatics. It was very entertaining.

As if this wasn’t enough we then went into Kandy and met a lady who took us around 3 different street “cafes” for us to try 6 different Sri Lankan street food dishes. They were all very tasty, although a little too much egg in virtually everything for my liking…..we did however get to try battered mushrooms which were my favourites….we swilled it down with some ginger beer….Finally back to the hotel with full to overflowing tummies.

Day 9 – 13th February 2024 Wasgamuwa to Kandy.

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We set off from Wasgamuwa and headed south towards Kandy. Our first stop was Dambulla and the Cave Temple. I had already decided not to attempt the 364 steps, the bruising behind by knee had spread down my calf and that many steps were totally out of the question. So I stayed in the comfort of the air conditioned car whilst John and Suminda embarked on viewing what is a superb temple. The Cave Temple is often referred to as the Golden Temple, it has been the site off sacred pilgrimages for 22 centuries. It consists of five sanctuaries and is the largest best preserved cave temple in Sri Lanka. Each of the sanctuaries contains statues and paintings which relate to Buddha and his life. The murals cover the walls and ceilings and there are around 153 Buddha statues.

The arduous climb up to is rewarded by superb views of the surrounding area. During the climb up and back it rained lightly on and off making it a little less hot.

On returning to the car John was a little tired and very hot and sweaty, whilst Suminda looked as if he had had a walk in the park. We continued our journey heading down to Kandy, stopping off at a wood carvers. Here we learnt about all the different types of wood and what they are used for. We were given a demonstration as to how the natural paints are produced and we watched some carvers at work. Before leaving we bought a Christmas bubble to add to our international collection and John bought me a small ebony elephant for Valentine’s Day, the following day.

Our next stop was a spice garden. The guide took us around and explained about all the spices. It’s amazing how many we automatically use in everyday cooking and we knew about most of them. We didn’t wish to make a purchase but we did have some lunch in their restaurant.

We were then going to go to a gem stone cutting display but I took pity on John whose t-shirt had still not dried out from his earlier exertions. So I asked Suminda to take us straight to our hotel. This meant going through Kandy to the other side. We saw a variety of beautiful sights including an ornate Hindu temple.

We turned up a rather steep, badly maintained road and headed for the hotel….wow! We’re we pleasantly surprised when The Elegant Hotel lived up to its name. We were met by bow-tied gentlemen and after a welcome drink we were soon making ourselves very comfortable in our absolutely delightful room. We had supper in the restaurant – grilled seafood and vegetables whilst being serenaded by two guitarists and singers….what a wonderful way to round off the day.