Month: July 2024

I wondered down after breakfast to meet with Bob to arrange him to tuk tuk us to Sigiriya – I also took the opportunity to pick up some supplies.  Not cheap!!  We chilled around the pool until midday after which Bob took us to Sigiriya (about 11km) via an ATM and a local tourist store to buy a pipe – got one that Sherlock would have been proud of.  

Took as a while to find our accomodation – Cloudz Sigiriya – as it was out in the middle of nowhere.  The place is nice – just needs some more money to bring it up to excellent.  Paying was a bit of a problem as they didn’t accept cards and so had to TT the money using a very average internet.   We then arranged to hire 3 scooters for the 4 days ($14 per scooter per day) as we needed transport to get in and of Sigiria and to visit the Lion Rock and Pidurangal Rock.  Conor and Amanda arrived around 2 so Conor and I grabbed a lift with the ‘resort’s’ owner and went and picked up the scooters.   The scooters were empty so before heading home we had to fill them up with petrol – mine ran out just before the station but I managed to bunny hop the last 1km.  Filling both scooters cost $18.  

We headed home and picked up Amanda and Deryn and headed back onto Sigiriya for lunch / early dinner.  The food was quite different to that previously eastern – the noodles had a dollop of tomato sauce on the side?  After eating we headed over to Pidurangal Rock for the climb to the summit.  A bus arrived as we arrived so we made a quick beeline for the steps to the summit in the hope of avoiding the crowds.   The going was challenging but OK until we got about 100m from the summit at which point everyone had stopped.  It was a choke point between those wanting to get up and those that wanted to get down – both groups had to funnel through a narrow gap in the rocks.  After a few minutes and no movement I got sick of it and basically barged my way through having to do a few rock climbs; whereas after 10 minutes Conor shimmied up a gap between 2 rock and received applause when he made it to the top.  The girls arrived 10 minutes later.  

It was certainly worth the effort as the summit was huge with magnificent views – including of Lion Rock in the distance.  Getting down was challenging again but less so than on the way up.   Getting home was also a bit of a challenge as by now it was dark and we ended up driving long a very narrow and bumpy dirt road before finally making it back to our accommodation.  

We had a very average breakfast at the hotel – an awful fish curry, mango honey mix and diced onions and tomatoes soaked in lemon juice.  All topped off with a fried egg and loads of coffee.  We then spent the morning waiting for Taylor to arrive.  Poor thing had had a torrid time since arriving in SL.  Firstly there was a mix up in taxis to pick her up from the airport and she ended up paying for 2 cars.  Then the hotel had no air-conditioning and her driver to Sigiriya got lost and they ended taking an hour longer to get here after travelling a long way on dirt roads.  The ultimate insult was having to wait 30 mins for her room to get ready in a hotel that only has 3 rooms in use and about 6 or 7 staff milling around.  You think they would have had the room ready knowing that she was expected at 1.

Anyway she dumped her bag, got changed and then we all headed into Sigiriya for lunch – Taylor’s scooter had been dropped off earlier.  I paid one of the staff $1 to go fill it up – seems the practice here is to return the scooter on empty. We found a chilled restaurant and spend a lovely couple of hours chilling over some curry and beers.  The kids then headed into Dambulla to visit the Cave Temple while Dits and I spent a couple more hours using the restaurant Wifi to do some organising.   Dits thought it was going to cost us $400 to get a van to drive to Ella (unfortunately the train is fully booked) but we managed to negotiate with a company we found in town to take us for $150 including a 1 hour stop in Kandy on the way. 

We headed home around 6.  The kids turned up around 730pm after being forced into a detour because of some wild elephants on the  road.  The next morning we were up at 630 to head into town early to climb Lion Rock. While dawn is meant to be perfect,  the hotel concierge told us it would be very busy because of all the locals attending on a Sunday.  

According to the ancient Sri Lankan chronicle, the local area was a large forest, then after storms and landslides it became a hill and was selected by King Kashyapa (AD 477–495) for his new capital. He built his palace on top of this rock and decorated its sides with colourful frescoes. On a small plateau about halfway up the side of this rock he built a gateway in the form of an enormous lion. The name of this place is derived from this structure; Siṃhagiri, the Lion Rock.  The capital and the royal palace were abandoned after the king’s death. It was used as a Buddhist monastery until the 14th century.  Sigiriya today is a UNESCO listed World Heritage Site. It is one of the best preserved examples of ancient urban planning.

It was pretty busy when we arrived at Lion Rock but after purchasing our tickets (USD35 each!) we joined the troops making the journey to the summit.  Thankfully there were quite a few 2-way sections which meant the crowds were not too much of a problem.  It took about 30 sweaty minutes (certainly cooled a bit by the occasional wind gusts) to reach the summit.  It reminded Dits and me of a slightly less impressive Machu Picchu.  We spent about 20 minutes on the summit before Taylor’s stomach insisted that we head into town a find a restaurant for breakfast.

We found a lovely restaurant on the main roads back to Cloudz that served western food and had an espresso machine.  6 omelettes and 8 coffees later we headed back to our hotel for some R&R by the pool.  

We were picked up at 610am for our elephant safari in the Minneriya National Park.  When we stopped to fill up with petrol, our guide asked if we had the 62k rupees for the park entrance fee.  Deryn said it wasn’t necessary as we had paid it as part of our tour ticket.  So off we drove.   After a bit more investigation we discovered that we in fact had not paid the park entrance fee.  Thankfully Amanda had a chunk of change plus the guide chipped in 12k which was enough to get us over the line.  

While we only saw elephants over the 2 hours; we got to see a lot and some of them really up close.  There was a bit of debate whether the A$100 per head was value for money but Deryn pointed out it was putting valuable money back into the local economy.  The rest of the day was spent as per usual – eating in Sigiriya and relaxing around the pool at Cloudz. 

There was a bit of drama going on in the background as it was taking a while for the funds I transferred using OzForex to get into the hotel owner’s account.  He could not understand that it wasn’t coming from my account directly but via OzForex (when we checked in they could not accept credit cards – cash only – and we did not have enough cash so he suggested TT).  He wasn’t going to let us leave until the money cleared until the local hotel manager (Leel) agreed to act as guarantor.   What a lovely man. 

There was a bit of drama going on in the background as it was taking a while for the funds I transferred using OzForex to get into the hotel owner’s account.  He could not understand that it wasn’t coming from my account directly but via OzForex (when we checked in they could not accept credit cards – cash only – and we did not have enough cash so he suggested TT).  He wasn’t going to let us leave until the money cleared until the local hotel manager (Leel) agreed to act as guarantor.   What a lovely man. 

We decided on a Sri Lankan holiday as it was literally half-way between Aus and Sweden (where Conor now lives).  Like Conor (and Amanda), Taylor is also joining us for the second and third week of our holiday leaving Dits and I some time to travel alone.  

We arrived in Negombo on 24 July midnight (430am NZ time) after a pretty tough 11 & 1/2 hour flight. I’m still getting used to turning right when we get on the plane.  Deryn had thankfully organised a car so after grabbing some E-sims (USD10 for 125G) we headed to Mama’s Boutique Beach Hotel, about 20 mins from the airport.   

The 4.5 hour time difference meant we were up pretty early.  Had a swim and then breakfast in the hotel before walking into town to sort accomodation and our onward travel.  We really struggled with the heat (33 degs), probably made worse by the jet lag. A couple of first impressions was that it was relatively quiet (Sunday?); there were a lot of half finished abandoned hotels / houses – a legacy of the Covid crisis and a fair bit of rubbish.  And did I mention the heat – makes sense that the peak tourist season is November to April. 

We stopped for lunch and had our first authentic Sri-Lankan meal.  Similar to Indian but different – hoppers instead of rice, very hard nan bread (more like biscuits) and the curries are less creamy.  And probably the spice level is a bit higher and daal comes with everything.  We walked home for a swim and an afternoon kip before heading out for an evening walk and a feed. Lovely to be back in the hustle and bustle of an emerging economy.  

Our driver picked us up at 10am for our 3 hour drive to Anuradhapura.  We were both surprised at how long it took for us to get out into the “country”.  Colombo has a population of 650k out of a total country population of 22m – quite amazing how dispersed the population is.  We got a bit nervous an hour out when the driver kept changing gears (it was an automatic) and even one stage slammed it into park so the car stopped suddenly in the middle of the road. We made it eventually. It took us a bit of a mission to find the Emerald Homestay – it was on a dirt lane between a truck tire shop and a timber yard.  The owners were very welcoming and the room comfortable.  They had only opened the homestay earlier in the year, with the husband recently retiring from a successful career in banking.  Our room was lovely although we both agreed that a pool was a future requirement of any accommodation.

We optimistically headed out into the heat to explode the area.  The main street of the new town was a hive of commerce – a lot of banks, mechanics and Singer stores.  We walked around one of the many lakes in the area before trying to find a bike rental shop. Both shops shown on google no longer existed (again a covid casualty?) I was starting to get a bit grumpy so calm Dits took control and found another bike shop and magically a tuk tuk appeared to carry us to our mission.   The bike shop (Sun Cycles) was brilliant.  In no time we had hired bikes for 24 hours (plus a sarong for me) for USD20.  We then rode through the free part of the old town and visited a few of the many stupas in the areas (a sepulchral monument or burial building).  Certainly very impressive.  You are required to remove your shoes (and you have to leave them outside in a designated area and not allowed to carry in your backpack), caps and have your legs covered (hence the sarong).  Some of the religious areas are huge so after 3 weeks here we are going to have toughened soles (and softer souls!)

We spent about 90 minutes cycling around the free area of the old town before deciding to head home and grab some food.  We were returning the next morning to explore the ticketed part of the old town.  We found an air conditioned restaurant on the way home and grabbed some fish curry.  A mistake as the fish tasted way too fishy – a note to ourselves – only eat fish on the coast. Still it was only A$16 for dinner and drinks.  

We started the day with a hearty Sri Lankan breakfast.  Seriously it could have fed 6 of us. We then cycled back to the old town to explore the ticketed part of the site.  Anuradhapura was the capital of Sri Lanka from about 400BC until around 1000AD. Its also a major Buddhist pilgrimage site with many religious sites.  We sent the first hour exploring the ruins on foot before getting on our bikes for the remaining couple of hours.  It was all very chilled and as we were doing it relatively early in the morning, deserted.  We encountered a few tourists – mainly German and Dutch. Locals kept asking if we were German – German Turks perhaps?

We headed back to our room to chill for a few hours at which point decided that there was no point spending another day in  Anuradhapura as we had seen all we wanted to see.   Lovely.  We booked a couple of nights at a ‘luxury’ lodge in Dambulla – USD50 per night but with a POOL!  As a treat we walked into town for a pizza from PizzaHut.  At 4 we headed back to Sun Cycles to drop off the bikes.  We arranged for the hubby to take us to Mihintale – another sacred site on top of a hill with amazing views of the surrounds.  On the way we stopped off at an incredible tree covered in vines – over 1000 years old according to our driver.  

Mihintale was very cool.  I would hate to be there with lots of tourists (a benefit of being here in the hot season) as getting up and down the little peak would be a nightmare. The views were definitely worth the climb. We also had our first up close and personal encounter with the local monkeys (tufted grey langur) when one tried to get into our open bag.  Very cute. 

We got picked up the next morning at 9am. Deryn found that Booking.com had the ability to book taxis. $40 for a 90 minute ride to Dambulla. Things were progressing smoothly until about 20 minutes out when a motorbike turned unexpectedly into the side of our car. It took about 45 mins of quiet talking and some money changing hands before we were on our way.

The Sunduras Resort and Spa was everything we had hoped for with a lovely big pool and plenty of recliners. It even had a bar with seats in the pool. We relaxed for a couple of hours and then around 4 headed to the nearby Dambulla Royal Cave Temple and Golden Temple. The caves and their drawings are another national treasure and when viewed you can completely understand why. We explored the big golden Buddha at the base of the hill (covered in actual gold) before climbing the hill to reach the Cave Temple at the top. On the way we passed the usual assortment of flower sellers (to leave at alters in the temples); mango and drink stalls. We saw a few more tourists than we had encountered previously.

The caves were impressive – although again we were glad we were not there in peak season as some of the caves would have been very claustrophobic (and sweaty) with a lot of people in them. The views were also lovely – as was the cool breeze although Deryn and I both noted that we were becoming a lot more acclimatised to the heat.

On the way to the summit we passed a local who as per standard asked where we were from. As soon as we said NZ, cricket came up. He then told us that the Sri Lankan women’s team were playing Thailand that night at the intentional Dambulla CG. It was free as well. So after making our way down the hill through throngs of monkeys (they have very large incisors when growling!!!) we jumped into a Tuk Tuk and headed to the cricket. It was lovely and really impressive to see so many young girls in the crowd. Sri Lanka smashed Thailand although we left after 10 overs. It was a fun night.

We spent the next day basically chilling by the pool with a brief sortie back up mounting to enjoy the view before heading to The Uprising for a local meal. It was a Rasta themed outdoor restaurant that looked pretty run down but the food was really good. Given the theme of the restaurant it was hardly surprising the owner was named Bob. His family had lived on the property for over 100 years and just recently had to fight off an attempted acquisition by the local monks. We agreed that he would tuktuk us to Sigiria the next day to meet morning to meet up with Conor and Amanda!!