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Published: June 14th 2007
Sri Lanka wasn't originally on our itinerary but as our flight from Delhi to Bangkok was via Sri Lanka we thought that we'd may as well stop off and have a look. We only had a week and wanted to see as much as possible so we hired a driver to take us around the country for ₤ 16 per day.
Shortly after we arrived in Colombo airport our driver called Chandher picked us up and drove us to Kandy. On the way we stopped off at Pinnewala elephant orphanage. To be fair we both felt like Zombies at this point because it was 8 in the morning and due to the plane not leaving until 2am we both didn't have a wink of sleep. However we did still enjoy it. There were Elephants everywhere and we were able to get close enough to pat them. It wasn't the nicest to see them handle the elephants with sharp sticks but this is the method they've used for years and a lot of these elephants wouldn't be alive if they weren't taken in by the orphanage. We only had about an 2 hours there because it was raining heavily the
river was flowing too strong for them to take the elephants there to be washed. Oh well!
We later arrived in Kandy after a few disagreements with our driver (already) about which hotel we were to stay in as he wanted to take us to a place that costed US$70 per night which is way over our budget. Luckily we had done our research on the web and found a place that cost US$10 per night. He eventually took us to this hotel and I have to say it's probably the nicest hotels we've stayed in so far and it helped that we got free internet and breakfast.
After catching up on our beauty sleep the next morning Chandher first drove us to Sigiriya and we climbed 1202 steps up the top of Sigiriya rock. It wasn't as bad as what it first looks but it was rather steep near the end and it didn't help that it started to pour down with rain. We were forced to take cover under a tree for 15 minutes until it cleared up a bit. The view from the top was good but we couldn't take decent photos as it was
Sigiriya rock
This is the rock that we climbed- not as bad as what it looks!very hazy.
On the way down we came across a snake charmer who had one large king cobra, a small cobra and a viper. Sonny was very intrigued and had to stop, watch and take a load of photos.
We had a short lunch break and then drove to Dambulla and climbed yet more steps up to the top to see the cave temples. It was worth another climb because the temples were definitely worth seeing as they were full of golden buddha's and the view again was great.
The next day we checked out of our hotel and before driving down to Ella we stopped off at the temple of tooth which holds a tooth of Buddha. The drive to Ella was absolutely beautiful- it's so green and lush up in the hill country and there are waterfalls everywhere you look. I wanted to stop and take pictures of them all but we would never have got to Ella otherwise so we only stopped at the big ones. We checked into a hotel that was recommended by fellow travelers (not the driver!) named Tea Garden Holiday inn. It was a reasonable priced room with great views
of the hills full of tea plantations. After the long and windy drive we relaxed in Ella that evening.
The following day we were off again, this time to Yala National Park in the hope of seeing a Leopard. Chandher took us to a town nearby called Tissamaharama as it's a lot cheaper to stay here than in the national park. Well let’s just say that we had fun and games with the whole hotel situation. This time we didn't have a specific hotel that we wanted to stay in so we let our driver take us somewhere. Bad mistake because we went to about 4 different hotels that were all either dirty or/and overpriced. Sonny lost his temper because his boss told us that Chandher knows decent places at around US$15 per night including breakfast and also there seemed to be decent places in our guide book but Chandher just told us that his boss was a liar and the Lonely Planet is all wrong. Well in the end he took us to a place we found in the guide book which met our requirements. We realised that Chandher was really starting to ruin our Sri Lanka trip
when Sonny and I started to argue about him. So as we already talked to his boss on the first day which didn't achieve anything we thought we'd sit Chandher down and talk to him. However this didn't do any good though because he'd just avoid the subject and started to talk instead about how the cost of living in Sri Lanka is so high.
We put all our Chandher troubles aside that afternoon as we went on a safari. That wasn't straight forward as well because when the jeep arrived it looked like a 1950's beat-up pickup truck with a couple of bench seats on the back. Thanks to Sonny's temper and his size (the Indians and Sri Lankans seen to be amazed with his size and he's actually been compared to a WWF wrestler on a few occasions!!!) they quickly drove it away and came back with a 4 wheeled drive- not new but was alright as we were starting to wasting our safari time.
On our safari we saw loads of Crocodiles, Deers, peacocks, beautiful colorful birds and one elephant. Unfortunately we didn't see a leopard. Oh well, you win some and you lose some
I guess.
After our hectic schedule we planed the last few days to be by the sea. Again we had problems with our charming fake driver. First of all we told him we wanted to go to Unawatuna beach but he tried his luck and took us to a hotel 5km out of the main area and when we told him we didn't want to stay there he started telling us that all accommodation is dirty by the beach and also they don't provide rooms for drivers. Funny enough this didn't stop us from wanting to stay there because we new by now not to believe a word he tells us. He drove us right to the beach front and when we went to have a look at a hotel he raced in front and spoke in Sri Lankan to the people who worked there. They then turned to us with a smirk and gave us a price that was twice as expensive as stated in the guide books. Sonny at this point lost his temper as he knew that the driver was taking is for a ride. Chandher then turned to us with his fake smile and said
"what to do sir?” We told him to stay in the car and we'd sort out a room ourselves because we're staying by the beach with or without him. The first place we went to called Zimmer guest house offered us a really nice room with a balcony for 1000 rs (₤4.50) and they also had rooms for drivers- too easy! We went back to the car and told Chandher where we were staying and instead of being pleased that we'd solved the problem he raced in the hotel and spoke Sri Lankan to the owner. Chandher then turned to us and said he can't stay there as it doesn't include his food. Shall we just say that we made a big scene in front of the hotel- there were lots of shouting going on (mainly from Chandher) and phone calls to his boss- much to Chandhers annoyance. In the end his boss agreed to pay for Chandhers food.
Later on we were speaking to the owner of the hotel and she told us that Chandher said to her that she should charge us more for the room so they can split the extra money between them. As we
promised not to tell Chandher that she told us this we went back to the first hotel and there were different staff there. We asked them how much for a room and the price they gave was half the original price given. As we had evidence we confronted Chandher and there was more arguing. Of course he denied it but it gave us satisfaction that we confirmed what we knew all along- he likes ripping people off!!!!
Well we spent the next 2 days on Unawatuna beach which was really good. It is a really nice chilled out place. It was good to just relax around the beach and spend time away from Chandher. We used him the second day to take us to Galle- was a nice place with a dutch fort that saved the old part of the city from the Tsunami. Unfortunately the new part got hit hard. The Cricket ground was still being re-built just like most places on the south coast of Sri Lanka.
On our last day Chandher dropped us off in Negombo. On the way we stopped off a Turtle farm. We had a great time looking at the baby turtles
and picking up the bigger ones. Unfortanetly this place was also hit by the Tsunami and still re-building.
When we arrived in Negombo we paid Chandher we owed the company as we only paid half of the tour to start with. Unfortunately for Chandher we gave him no tip. He did follow us to our room in the guesthouse that we had pre-booked but all Sonny did was shake his hand. He must not have seriously thought he's get a tip after trying to rip us off at every chance.
Well our time in Sri Lanka is now over. We were told that tourism is down by 20% in Sri Lanka at the moment due to the problems going on but we can honestly say that we felt 100% safe and loved the country and the people (apart from Chandher).
It’s a beautiful country and I'm sure we'll be back one day.
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Laura
non-member comment
bloody hell whats that picture of me doing on the cave wall!??