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Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo
A nice South African Chenin Blanc by the pool Hi everyone
We have just spent 2 wonderful weeks in Sri Lanka. For a small island it sure packs a big punch - palm fringed beaches, luxuriant rain forest, misty mountains and tea plantations. There's also a superb array of wildlife and amazing collection of Buddhist monuments dating back over 2,000 years.
Due to our limited time here we chose to explore the central highlands (hill country) and enjoy a few days at one of the southern beach resorts.
We arrived into Colombo, the capital, on 10 November and spent 2 nights there. It's a sprawling city stretching for 50km along the western seaboard and is home to around 3 million people. The fast pace, noise and traffic pollution felt like being back in London, however, it's an interesting place and worth a day or 2 on even the shortest trip. We visited the excellent National Museum containing a large and absorbing collection of Sri Lankan artefacts from prehistoric times to the colonial era and enjoyed wandering around the leafy area of Cinnamon Garden, Viharamahadevi Park and Fort area (the heart of the old colonial city). On our first night we ended
Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo
Waiter, more Lion beer my good man up at Galle Face Green where we strolled along the seafront promenade and decided, that as a complete contrast to India, to say "what the f*ck" and treated ourselves to drinks and dinner at the Kingsbury Hotel, a 5 star deluxe venue. On our second night we were trapped in the historic Galle Face Hotel bar (a much less than 5 star establishment) by the mother of all downpours - can think of many worse places to be stuck.
We then caught the train to KANDY, cultural capital of Sri Lanka. We'd bought tickets for the viewing carriage understanding it would have air-con ...wrong so it turned out to be a rather sweaty 2.5 hour journey but the fabulous scenery sure made up for any discomfort. On arrival we were met by a car and driver we'd organised for the next 6 days enabling us to see much of the central highlands area. We visited the following:
- Temple of the Tooth, right in the city centre and is Sri Lanka's most important Buddhist shrine. It houses the legendary Buddha's tooth which arrived here in the 16th century after being housed in various places around India
Cinnamon Garden, Colombo
An oasis of peace in a bustling city and Sri Lanka.
- Peradeniya Botanical Gardens, 6km southwest of Kandy and covering almost 150 acres. The park was created during the 18th century by the then King to serve as a pleasure garden for the Kandyan royalty. It was transformed into a botanical garden by the British in 1827 and contains a huge variety of local and foreign tree and plant species.
- Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage, situated due west of Kandy in the rolling hills around Ma Oya River (largest river in Sri Lanka). It was first set up in 1975 to care for 5 baby orphaned elephants but its population has grown to nearly 100. We timed our visit to coincide with one of the 3 daily feeding sessions, followed by bath time in the river. We sat for hours just watching them having fun.
- NUWARA ELIYA, 68kms from Kandy and is Sri Lanka's highest town at nearly 2000m above sea level - the journey by road took 2 hours. Here we enjoyed a tour of the factory at Mackwoods Ladbookelie Tea Estate followed by a complimentary cuppa - so good we bought a pack. We'd no idea the production of tea was so
Botanical Gardens, Kandy
For some reason they called this Palm Avenue quick and easy - the factory produces 40 sacks of between 52-58 kg every day - the leaves are hand-picked, dried, etc in less than a day. The factory guide mentioned that Prince Charles visited at a similar time last year to open their new museum - it was closed as soon as he left and hasn't been open since. His visit lasted all of 15 minutes at a great cost to the factory which had to be closed for the day and there were over 3,000 soldiers securing the area - we're sure that through the publicity they'll be enjoying the financial benefits for many years.
- ELLA, a lively little village 2 hours by train from Nuwara Eliya. Although we had the services of a driver we caught the train as Ella is set amid the tea plantations on the edge of the hill country and the journey by train is wonderfully scenic. While here we hiked up Little Adams Peak (2 hours), a pyramid shaped rock standing opposite the much largher Ella rock which we didn't hike up (7 hours!).
- RAWANA ELLA FALLS which plunge magnificently for some 90m over a series of rocks
Botanical Gardens, Kandy
If only I had green fingers faces 6km below Ella.
- YALA NATIONAL PARK, said to be SL's most visited and most rewarding wildlife reserve - it was fantastic! Covering an area of 1,260 sq kms although 80% has been designated a strict national reserve and closed to visitors. We hired a jeep and driver for the afternoon plus compulsory park guide. We were told it has the highest density of leopards in the world and were delighted when we spotted one sleeping in a tree. We did have more sightings of others but they moved to quick to catch on camera. We saw so many other wild aninmals including water buffalo, wild boar, elephants, crocodiles, deer, mongoose, monkeys, snakes and many wonderful birds.
Our driver left us in Unawatuna, a fabulous semicircular beach on the south coast (although he insisted on stopping en route at Mirissa Beach for us to see as it's his favourite beach resort in SL and where he and his family holiday every year). We enjoyed 5 days in Unawatuna; 2 just chilling on the beach, 2 days scuba diving and a day in GALLE, 5kms away, strolling around the old Dutch quarter known as Fort. This
is SL's most time warped area, low rise streets lined with Dutch period villas and dotted with a number of imposing churches and other colonial landmarks.
We spent our last night in Negombo as its close to the main airport. We travelled there by train from Galle and arrived around 4pm, dumped our bags and flagged down a tuk tuk to whizz us down to the old town so we could see a couple of landmarks before sunset.
Being just before the high season we were very lucky to enjoy the wonderful hospitality of the Sri Lankan people in a relaxed and laid back atmosphere. Ideally we should have planned to spend 3 weeks here as then we could have fitted in so much more. Verity is desperate to return to buy some jewellery as Sri Lanka is well known for its precious stones and the bargains to be had were amazing.
On the food and drink front, Trev did his utmost to increase the sales of the local brew, Lion Beer, and we both enjoyed the local tipple made from coconuts called Arrack - very nice with coke & ice.
The seafood was excellent and the fresh fruit & veg were fab (sweet juicy pineapples, papayas, melons & bananas plus lovely tasty pumpkins, okra etc. We embraced the local dishes of kottu rotty, hopppers, rice + curry - not the healthiest of diets but darn tasty and satisfying!
We're now in Bangkok staying on the Khao San road (cliche or what!) and will be reliving our youth with excessive amounts of Chang beer and Sang Som rum.
Lots of love to all
Trev & Verity xxx
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Mugsy
non-member comment
Great blogginigininginging - yes but can you talk to the animals !!
Great blogging, guys. Seems you like your getting the hang on this speed travelling. Judith Chalmers watch out. Unawatuna - Trev on the beach after Scuba diving ?? LOOKING GOOD - don't forget the jaccuzzi mission. However, its a tad unfair to imply that Trevor is a Buddhist monument dating back over 2,000 years - but then again he has been around quite a long time. PS How's the red EYES? I haven't seen eyes like that since tour in Morcambe. Anyway, Onwards and upwards keep up the good work.