We were contemplating a family trip for quite some time but due to work and other commitments, kept delaying it. Owing to hassle-free visa and time constraints, we chose Sri Lanka, the Emerald Island, our immediate neighbour. #TravelOnAClock
My daughter did the online visa formalities and we got our air tickets booked for the 22nd November 2019 through Air India. Since we were not planning to go with any other groups, my daughter got hold of a Tour operator from Colombo through her office colleague. After bit of tweaking, we fine tuned our itinerary consisting of 7 nights and 8 days. #TravelOnAClock
As expected, we had to spend couple of extra hours at the Mumbai T-2 International Terminal due to technical snag at the counters and ended at Colombo Airport at around 3.30 am on 23rd November. After the immigration formalities at the airport, we were received by our Tour driver-cum-guide who was waiting outside the airport with my daughter’s name placard and we got into a comfortable 7 seater Toyato Van which took us to Negambo’s Hotel “Amagi Aria”, a beautiful 3-Star Hotel, facing a wonderful lagoon. Negambo is a modest fishing town and we enjoyed visiting a very famous fish market and the harbour where fishing boats were anchored off in thousands.
On 24th November, after breakfast, we proceeded to Dambulla, which is about 130 km away, taking about 4 hours from Negambo. We had our lunch on the way and thereafter checked into our wonderful hotel “Tropical Life Resort & Spa” which was tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the city in a secluded wooded area spreading over about 30 acres of land. Thereafter, we went to see the famous Sigiriya Rock, considered the 8th wonder of the world!
While wife stayed back in the hotel lounging and reading a book, my daughter and self went on to climb the imposing rocks. The entry fee for the foreigners is US$ 15/= per head. It was a climb worth remembering for rest of one’s life which I would compare only with my memorable “Char Dham Yatra” which I did in the year 2009.
We had lots of foreigners from Europe and from countries like China, South Korea and Japan who make a pilgrimage to Sri Lanka all round the year, owing to it being a Buddhist country. It is a climb which needs not only physical endurance but fitness as well. I saw many tourists, especially women abandoning the climb half way through as the last few steps were really scary and tends to suck up the energy. Both of us made it to the top along with many others and the panoramic view from the top was worth taking the trouble. After spending about 15 -20 minutes on the top, we descended which was much faster! This climb I would truly cherish for the rest of my life!
We came back to the hotel room and spent the rest of the evening resting and listening to the calls of birds, especially beautiful peacocks which were seen everywhere in big numbers. We had dinner on the first floor dining hall. While checking out next day morning, to my surprise, we had a bill for Rs.600/- for two bottles of bottled water which were kept in our room. Though I paid it off, it was rather surprising that such a big hotel of repute would charge its guests for bottled water which should have been a complimentary item. If I remember it right, any food item or water bottles that are kept outside the fridge are complimentary from the hotel and those which are kept inside the fridge are chargeable on the basis of consumption by the guests. This incident left me a little peeved!
Since our pickup van was delayed, I spent few minutes talking to the manager of the hotel. Since I had noticed that the hotel was only half full with many rooms empty, on probing, the manager informed me that Eastern bombing in the month of April had resulted in the tourism taking a big hit, with especially the hotel industry taking the brunt of it. Their hotel has been the destination for newlyweds from their own country and from many East European countries. However, as per him, the business is slowly picking up. Probably my Rs.600/= for the water bottles must be going into the beginning of their revival kitty!
Our pickup van arrived in some time and we went straight to Dambulla while there was steady and continuous rain. Our driver Prem handed over couple of umbrellas to me and my daughter whereas my wife stayed put inside the van. We started the climb to the Dambulla Cave temple which was around 600 feet high which was an easy climb compared to the Sigiriya Rock. We had to deposit our footwears at a stall before going into the caves. The cost of entering the caves was US$ 10/= However there was a catch! My daughter was wearing a short dress and was told to cover herself by wrapping a sarong, which again costed us Rs.100/-. Though the charges were not an issue, they should have put a board/notice outside the gate for the tourists to take appropriate precautions regarding right clothing before embarking on their visit to the caves! Anyway, I suppose it is one way of taking gullible tourists by surprise. Their office had enough stock of the sarongs to cover hundreds of tourists.
Before entering the caves, we were told about some do’s and don’ts such as photography allowed but no selfies with Buddha or no posing and few other conditions. The caves took us to a different world altogether - Buddha statues in different poses with a Sleeping Buddha taking the centre stage. There were about 153 Buddha statues believed to have originated from 2nd century onwards! After the cave visit, we took a different route downhill, which took us to the feet of an imposing Golden Buddha statue. The entire place was teeming with tourists from Asian countries such as China, Korea and Japan. After spending time around taking snaps of the beautiful temple area, we called our driver to come around to pick us up.
On our way to Kandy, we saw stalls teamed with gold-coloured tender coconuts of different sizes known as King Coconuts. In India, we get to see and drink only the green-coloured tender coconuts where as in Sri Lanka we saw the opposite. There were hardly any green-coloured tender cocunuts to be seen in Sri Lanka. Our driver passed many stalls and eventually stopped at a stall where the tender coconuts looked big and healthy. I ordered for four which felt like a mistake. One tender coconut could quench the thirst of all 3 of us easily and it took us quite sometime to finish drinking all four! It is a total value for money!
One has to pass through a place called Matale to reach Kandy. Here is where we got ambushed, so to say. Sri Lanka has always been famous for its Spice trade and it came into notice right from the 16th century, thanks to the Portuguese who started trading in cinnamon and varieties of spices. I believe there are over 30 Spice Gardens dotted on the way which lure tourists into visiting their well-kempt gardens. Our tour operator had included the tour of these Spice Gardens in our itinerary and out of curiosity, we stepped out of our van at a place called “ Ceylon Spice & Herbal Garden”. Unlike other important places, the entry was free! And we didn’t know that it’s a trap.
We ended up at this Spice Garden and were treated to the customary “Ayubowan” welcome by the Spice Garden guide. He spoke excellent English and was very knowledgeable about the Spice garden plants. His spirit was little dampened during the tour of his well-maintained and cultivated spice garden as we could identify most of the plants which we have seen in India, especially in the state of Kerala in India which is known for its Ayurvedic products. Usually I do check out destination points and its history and carry out a dry run in the Internet but somehow I missed out doing the same during this particular trip as it never occurred to my mind that we would be suckered into buying products from these spice gardens. This guide was savvy and sleek in his talk who knew the plants, products as well as the ailments that usually haunt middle-aged families. He must have guessed it right from our appearances as to what possible ailments we could possibly be suffering from! He is someone who has the ability to sell ice to Eskimos!
After a 10-15 minutes tour of the garden, he took us to a small shed where we were served with some Herbal Tea and were offered massage which we politely declined. We saw a European couple getting free massage from another young guide. Thereafter, we were shepherded into their office-cum-shop which housed all kind of products for every kind of human ailments! When I heard the price of the products, I almost fainted! They were at least 10 times costlier than the costliest products that I have purchased in India. None of the products had their rates mentioned anywhere on the bottles and the packaging also looked very unprofessional and sub-standard. However, we were induced into buying some of the products. When I tried to wriggle out of the deal by stating that I don’t have sufficient cash in hand, he cajoled me into using the credit card. At the end of it, I got sucked into his glib marketing talk. I ended up purchasing few products which cost me quite substantially.
(Since the time I came back home in India, my family & self have been using the product hoping to derive some benefit out of it... It’s over a month now and I don’t see any miracle. You can believe in Santa but not in these products which are meant to fleece the gullible tourists. The Ayurvedic products from Kerala in India are more value for the money than these exorbitant products from Matale.
So my friends...Here is a warning. Stay away from this Spice gardens which are dotted on the way.The spice garden visits are free of charge and all the travel sgents from Sri Lanka include it in their tour itinerary as they have nexus with these gardens. You can take a free walk in these gardens but don’t open your pursestrings at all. Keep your c/cards away. These products are not worth spending on. Don’t touch them even with a barge pole!
We checked into a hotel called Earl’s Regent at Kandy which was on a high ground with a wonderful view of the Kandy city. It’s a lovely property oozing of old-world charm with manicured gardens dotted all around! After some rest in the room, we set out to visit the famous Buddha Tooth Relic Temple.
Before that, our guide took us to a Red Cross hall where the local dancers put on a show consisting of their ritual dance showcasing the ancient dance forms, with mythological character performers and drummers putting up a terrific show. The programme ended with some of the dancers walking over the fire.
Thereafter, we proceeded to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple which is the most venerated place of worship for Buddhists from all over the world. The place was attacked by LTTE during the political unrest which has led to the heightened security arrangements all over the religious monuments across Sri Lanka. After the visit, we came back to hotel, and had a wonderful dinner at the dining hall. While having our dinner, of the hotel staff came over to our table with a birthday cake and wished my daughter Happy Birthday! It being November 25th and my daughter’s birthday, her friend had called the hotel and had arranged this surprise cake for her. We had few pieces of it and asked the staff to have the rest amongst them.
After the breakfast next day morning, we checked out of the hotel and set out to Bentota, down south, a coastal city, approximately 200 km away, about 5 hrs journey by road. Enroute Bentota, we visited “Tiesh” a government-approved Gem & Jewellery shop in Kandy. After witnessing a small video clipping of the history of Gems in Sri Lanka, we were ushered into their vast showroom which had variety of Gem stones. There were plenty of foreigners, especially Chinese who put hours bargaining for even the smallest of purchase. There would be a round of applause by the rest of the group everytime their friend struck a deal! With hardly any bargaining, we settled for a few precious gemstones and paid off without any fanfare!
We had some spicy lunch on the way to Bentota. I must confess that despite similarity in the culture and cuisine, I found the Sri Lankan curries too hot to handle! The difference being that while we use red chillies in our curry, they use pepper in their dishes which gives it a blackish look and a spicy hot aroma to their food. Maybe our taste bud couldn’t get accustomed to their recipes!
We checked into our hotel called “Coco Royal Beach Hotel” at Bentota in the afternoon. It had row houses on both sides, leading to a lovely swimming pool and velvety-grass between the row houses, making it look quite cosy and homely with a view of the blue & green sea with a vast beach stretching for miles altogether. We had plenty of squirrels around who had made the trees in the compound their home alongwith herons and egrets for company.
After dinner, I went looking for a cigarette and was shocked to find that a single cigarette cost around Rs.70/=. I also observed that Sri Lankans are habitual non-smokers and rarely found them puffing around. I believe smoking in public places is banned in Sri Lanka since a long time! Need to check that out!
Next day morning, after a walk by the beach, we had sumptuous breakfast with plenty of fruits at the dining hall. After that we set out to go to Galle, a historically famous coastal city. The road to Galle was very close to the sea which was one of the best I have seen in my life. It was greenish-blue in colour and we stopped over to walk around the beach. I picked up lots of pebbles of different shapes which caught my eye! After spending some time on the beach, we set out again towards Galle.
On the way, we stopped at a place called Kosagoda which is famous for turtle hatcheries. Our driver took us to a private hatchery run by some family. They charged us Rs.300/- per head and took us around some small cement structures filled with water. One had three small turtle babies and other had solitary turtles which were found to be deformed or injured hence not put back into the sea. The entire tour did not even last more than 10 minutes and on top of it, one of them had the cheek to ask for donation from us. We said NO to him and set out from there feeling cheated. However, one must compliment the Sri Lankan government for conserving the turtle population. The fisher folks also make sure that those turtles caught in the net are either put back into sea or given to hatcheries to nurse them back into health, if found injured. A great cause, I must say.
On our way, our driver took us to a place called Balapitiya which is famous for boat rides in the river called Madhu Ganga. Though our itinerary showed that it is Rs.4000/= per boat, the lady at the boating area told us that it is Rs.5000/= per boat which I found a bit too steep. Since my daughter and wife declined to join me, I asked the lady to allow me to join other groups and charge me per head. However, she said that the charges are per family and I can only book a boat for myself and there are no arrangements to join others. Even a foreigner who came alone was disappointed with the charges and went back. I feel authorities around could allow stray passengers to come together and hire the boat.
On our way, we could see the remainings of Tsunami-hit houses and shops which were devastated by it. Especially, this stretch of the coastal road to Galle was hit badly by the Tsunami, killing over half a lakh of people. Japanese have even built a memorial for the lost lives, and locals as well as tourists visit this memorial.
This stretch of the town is famous for wood carvings and masks. We saw stretches of the road dotting with shops selling wooden murals and masks and furniture. We reached Galle Fort that is rich with historical buildings and monuments, originally built by the Dutch in the 17th century. The city of Galle is the 4th biggest city in Sri Lanka, and the well-kept roads and the stretches around reminded me of Pondicherry, down south India, which was once ruled by the French. The sea around the fort area was crystal clean and is famous for coral scuba diving. Across the fort area is the famous Galle Cricket stadium which we could watch from the high ground area. On our way back, we had lunch at a beach front hotel which was very disappointing once again!
We reached back to our hotel at Bentota and relaxed there in the evening. During dinner, we had a quartet of musicians from India singing Hindi songs from the bygone era playing tabla, harmonium and sitar! Some of the Indian guests even started dancing to the songs, celebrating one of their friend’s birthday as well! Most of the foreign guests found the dancing by Indians rather amusing.
Next day morning, after a hearty breakfast, we set out to Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka.
The city of Colombo is the gateway port for Sri Lankan trade dating back to 1700 century, right from Portuguese, Dutch and thereafter British at the beginning of the 18th century.
We checked into Hotel Berjaya at Colombo, very close to the Colombo beach, separated only by the local train track. There is a connecting bridge from the hotel premises leading to the beach. The hotel had a lovely swimming pool but the dining hall was rather tacky, if I may say so. And the food was equally bad.
We spent the evening walking on the beach which is known for its beauty and very popular with tourists from European countries. We saw the ruins of sea erosion and many trees uprooted by the onslaught of the sea, resulting in the abandoning of houses and beach hotels. At one end of the beach was the famous Mount Lavinia, a posh hotel from the British era which has 275 rooms. It looked terrific from a distance during the night with twinkling lights!
Next day morning, the breakfast was somewhat passable with just about a dozen guests for company!
Since my family did not want to visit the beach, I took a walk through the beach and ended up watching a group of local fisherfolks catching fish using “Rampani” nets. This form of fishing was very famous during my childhood days at my native place and I have seen the same at Konkan, the coastal belt of Maharashtra during my holiday visits. The fisherfolks threw back some of the fishes such as Puff fish and some sea snakes as there are no takers for it in the market!
Thereafter, I went for a swim in the ocean but kept close to the beach as I was afraid of leg cramps!
I spent over an hour in the sea, and went back to hotel. I took a couple of laps in the swimming pool and had a nice bath at the hotel room. We had lunch at a close by hotel which was again a big let down!
In the afternoon, we went around the shops in the main street and did some dress shopping, which was very productive. Since our flight back to Mumbai was past midnight, we checked out in the afternoon and our driver picked us up for a tour of the Colombo city. We were longing for some South Indian fare which we managed to find close to a bridge. We had wada and dosa which managed to satiate our taste buds! We visited many monuments and visited a shopping centre in the evening to buy some T-shirts, key chains and fridge magnets to gift our friends back home. At the shopping centre, I dropped a jewellery stone box which resulted in a small damage to it and I had no option but to buy it. It was one jarring moment otherwise a good outing. We had dinner at a South Indian restaurant before heading towards airport.
Here is a small secret... I am an avid gardener and during my tour, I visited a small nursery selling various kinds of plants and I fell in love with a plant called “Queens Wreath” which yields beautiful flowers that resemble a wreath and they are just too beautiful to describe! I purchased its small plant from this nursery before heading out. The nursery owner has warned me that I need to pack it minus soil as it is not legal to carry any soil out of the country!! Close to the airport, our driver made sure that the plant is denude of soil. In my carry bag, I selected few pebbles as well. At the airport, I gifted a watch to the driver and gave him some money for taking care of us during our stay in Sri Lanka.
At the airport, we were told that the flight is delayed for one hour, which eventually stretched to over two hours! Meanwhile, I purchased couple of bottles of Grey Goose and a bottle of Bacardi for a friend back home. For self, I had purchased 3 bottles of Sri Lankan Arrack bottles from one of the supermarkets.. I am yet to open them and hope they are worth the money! Eventually after what I think was an eternity, we caught our flight at around 0430 am from Colombo. At the security check, the scanning revealed the pebbles and my bag was sent to a Sr. Inspector sitting little away from the scanning machine. After few sniffs, he waved off and cleared the bag! We landed at Mumbai Airport around 0630 am to a cooler breeze. The Uber brought us home round 9 am, bringing the tour of the Emerald Island to an end.
Few takeaways from the tour:
• Sri Lanka culture is similar to India, hence we get a feeling of bonding
• The country is much cleaner than most parts of India
• With just 24 million people in the entire island, we don’t get to see many people like in India on the streets
• People are much more friendlier than Indians and they don’t stare at foreigners like Indians do all the time!
• They know that tourism is one of their top foreign exchange earner, hence they treat all the tourists with utmost care!
• There are more bakery shops than any other shops in Sri Lanka. It could be the legacy left by Portuguese, Dutch and British
To wrap up, I must say that my Sri Lanka tour has been every bit value for money and I don’t mind paying one more visit to see the rest of the places which I could not visit on this trip. Hope that happens soon. #TravelOnAClock