Sri Lanka - tropical paradise with spiders (Sri Lanka)

Member Name: depurple2

Product:	Sri Lanka
Date:	10/10/06 (1875 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tropical climate, lots of historical sites, not too expensive

Disadvantages: Long flight, lots of creepy crawlies, bit rain storms

Sri Lanka is an island located off the South East coast of India. Sri Lanka was ruled by the British until 1948, and before them, the Dutch and the Portuguese, but now it is an independent republic. There are 2 groups of people - the Sinhalese, who live in most of the country, and the Tamil, who live in the North. Fighting often breaks out between the 2 groups, but a lot of this is political - when we arrived a state of emergency had just been declared in the country, but we didn't come across any problems that affected our holiday. The locals said it was just all to do with the government and they ignored it.
The currency in Sri Lanka is the rupee - 100 rupees is about 50p. The languages spoken are Sinhalese and Tamil - both are quite difficult to learn - Sinhala has about 50 letters and they are all curly like circles.

How to get there
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We flew with Monarch Airlines from Gatwick. It was 12 hour flight, but we had a couple of hours stopover in the Maldives after about 11 hours, then flew for another hour to Columbo in Sri Lanka. The flight back was a direct 12 hour flight from Columbo to Gatwick. Monarch fly to Sri Lanka once a week.


Where to stay
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We stayed at Club Hotel Dolphin, in Waikkal. I have reviewed this separately. We also spent a night at The Oasis in the south of the island - the room was very comfortable and breakfast was good, but we didn't use any of the facilities as we were only there for a brief stopover. You can find reasonable hotel rooms (2*) from about $50 per night.
If you stay in a hotel with a pool, be careful you don't spend too much time out in the sun, as the tropical sun burns you really quickly.


How to get around
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We took the option of hiring a car and driver. There are buses, but we had no idea where they went! We could get to Columbo, about 1.5 hours away for around £10, which is quite reasonable. There are taxi drivers waiting outside all of the main hotels.
You can also take tuktuks, which are like little motorised rickshaws. These are cheaper, but the drivers are a maniacs, so we steered clear. Apparently there is a special ward at the hospital just for tuktuk drivers.
WARNING - if you have a nervous disposition, do not get in a car in Sri Lanka. The don't seem to have a highway code - they drive on whichever side of the road suits them, go far too fast, and as for roundabouts - you just close your eyes and pray!
They do have an interesting view on insurance though - if you crash, you call your insurer, he comes out to the accident and looks at the damage, then writes a check out for you. No claim forms at all!


What to eat
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Sri Lankans seem to live on curry and rice. We had curry for every meal, even breakfast. If you are by the sea though, there is a good selection of fresh fish available, including the biggest prawns you will ever see. There is also an abundance of fresh fruit, much of it sold from stands at the side of the road. Pineapple is grown as a cash crop in Sri Lanka, but there are also large numbers of banana trees, including red bananas, which I've never seen before or since - they taste much nicer than the yellow ones.
The water isn't always that good in Sri Lanka, so I would recommend only drinking mineral water, and being careful about what salad and fruit you eat.


Places to visit
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The most famous temple on the island is the Temple of the Tooth, in Kandy. It is said to contain the tooth of Buddha, which was rescued after he was cremated. It is actually quite a large complex, with many buildings. You can see the story of the tooth told in pictures, and there is also a giant gold buddha which is quite spectacular.
TIP - if you go here, take some tissues or wet wipes with you as you will need to take your shoes and socks off to go in the temple, and your feet can get quite grubby.

If you want to see elephants, a visit to Pinnawela Elephant sanctuary is a must. You are able to get quite close to the elephants - there are no fences between you and them, but there are guides to make sure you stay safe. One of the elephants there has only one leg. You can also see the baby elephants being fed milk - they also come over to see the visitors if they are feeling nosy.

There are several National Parks in Sri Lanka - we visited Yala and Bundala, which are both in the South. Yala is the largest National Park, and you must hire a guide, driver and jeep to go around it. If you are lucky, you will see leopards, elephants, monkeys, buffaloes and a variety of birds. The road to Yala is atrocious though - even 4x4s were getting stuck. We did get overtaken by a tuktuk though - they get everywhere!
Bundala is primarily a bird sanctuary, although the first thing we saw was an elephant - it had been vandalising the flower planters outside the visitor centre. Bundala is on the coast - we ate breakfast next to the sea, with a crocodile about 10 feet away - no way we were getting out of the jeep!

We also went on an elephant ride round the countryside - the elephant kept stopping for a snack.
We looked around a spice farm, and saw the plants that all the spices come from. The salesmen were a bit pushy here.
We learned how tea is made at a tea plantation. We saw everything from how the tea was grown, to how it was picked, dried and processed.

We visited the Sea turtle sanctuary near Galle. The owner was lovely, and we were able to hold the baby turtles. Galle itself has a wonderful old Dutch fort. You can walk all round it, and there are lots of shops selling tourist souvenirs.

Our biggest disappointment was our visit to Columbo itself. England were playing Sri Lanka at cricket, and we thought we would go and watch. They didn't play at all though, as it was a bit damp, and as there was no communication over the PA system at all, we wasted a whole day waiting.

There are also lots of places that we didn't visit - I would still like to see the rock fortress at Sigiriya, and the caves at Dambulla.

If you want to visit places around the island, I would definitely recommend hiring a guide - this is what we did, and it was often possible to fit several sights into each excursion. We found that the tour company we used had better vehicles available than the taxis on the street as well. A word of warning for the ladies - loos are difficult to find, and if you find one it is probably a bit manky - take tissues and wet wipes at all times! Also look out for the spiders as they are huge...

Summary: Sri Lanka is a beautiful country with lots of things to see and do.