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!!
