2017 in SRI LANKA - The Island of tea, spicy food and many rules

Paulina
May 17, 2017
6 min read

It has been more than one month since I could breath the air of Sri lanka. It took some time for me to write about this beautiful country, because the end of our journey was not so perfect as it should be. We still do not have all our belongings back, half of it came back after 1,5 month. Very longwinded story ref. situation, but I do not want to ruin the main story - the beautiful and adventurous journey to Sri lanka.

09/03/2017 was rather cold morning in Norway. We had a long trip: Oslo-Amsterdam - Mumbai - Sri lanka. Just so you know, India and Sri lanka are absolutely different lands and we should have thought more careful by buying transit flight via India. As I mentioned, although we had a bad ending to our holiday, the start of it I remember with big smile. We bought Tequila in Amsterdam, it was in a sealed bag as duty free; so happy than ever we are in Mumbai, but.... guys, do not buy any liquids before you enter Mumbai, even if it is a transit flight, even if you are late. They just going to confiscate everything from you plus force to tip liquids down the sink. So entering Mumbai without tequila was a bit disappointing. Security told us we can not have any alcohol in India, nothing at all. I've been checked inside out down to my underwear! That minute I thought - poor people, what is even allowed in India. Entering duty free shop was shocking, you can buy such things there that sometimes you can not even find in any other country.

Well, after lot of strange situations we were at last leaving Mumbai, just couple hours and our journey starts. We met our 3 friends in Sri lanka, our guide was waiting for us too, everything as planned.

We decided to stay half of the trip in the middle of Sri lanka. The location was Polonarruwa. We have chosen old, but very beautiful hotel named "Giritale Hotel". Absolutely stunning place, by the deepest lake in Sri lanka with lost of monkeys around. Seriously, we could not leave anything in the balcony, monkeys could steal everything :) I was really surprised by the nature. Fauna and flora were amazing and blew me away. So many flowers and so green everywhere. It was raining a little bit every night, with thunders and lightening. Despite the rain, it was not very fresh in the day time. Actually it was soooo hot, that we could not stay in the sun for a long time. Hotel had a vary good variety of food to offer. It was kind of spicy in Sri lanka, but everything is very tasty and perfect. They even made special arrangements for our table with Lithuanian flag on it. It was so cozy and attentive towards us.

We have stayed there for 3 days. First day we have visited Sigirya Rock. The most popular place in that region. Sigiriya today is a UNESCO listed World Heritage Site. King Kasyapa built his palace on the top of this rock and decorated its sides with colourful frescoes. It took approximately 1 hour to reach the top. I had a very funny situation. There were even more monkeys everywhere than at our hotel. Nobody ever told me that I can´t touch them, but on the way to Lion rock one was so close and I couldn't resist my temptation to touch her and the monkey attacked me :) . Nothing serious happened, I began to scream and laugh at the same time. Actually our guide was more scared than me. The rest of the time, while we were going to the top of the rock, we have spent listening to lessons about monkeys, that they are wild and better just to admire them from the distance. But come on, they are so sweet. On the top of Sigirya Rock was an amazing view. Absolutely different between things I have seen before. My husband had a drone with him, but sadly, we were not allowed to use it there. We were very sad about this. After the trip one of the monkeys attacked our guide, but just because he wanted to scare them away with some facial grimacing :). So first day, 2 rules: do not touch monkeys, do not use drone. And believe me, it is just the start. With my curiosity we had a little bit more funny moments.

Second day we had a rest at the hotel until the afternoon. Later on we had a tour to the city shops and to eat dinner. We had a very funny driver, he was driving very fast. We could reach many places in a short period of time:)

Buffet is very popular in Sri lanka. You can pay about 8 dollars and eat as much as you want. They have a long isle with various food and you can add to you plate as much as you like, repeat and ufff.. a lot good food. Well, as much as you want to eat but for me there were just couple choices. I can´t eat very spicy food but I was still trying them, everything came with extra plate of rice. I have really tried all sorts :). I must admit, locals are not very good in desserts. There were popular European things in hotels to try though.

Third day we had a trip to Dambulla temple, Polonnaruwa ancient cities and Kaudulla national park. Dambulla and ancient cities , of course, could not be without surprises. Buddha is very important in Sri lanka. By saying Very, I am serious. By entering any place related to it we could not wear shoes. The funny fact was, they would not let us put our shoes in the bags. There was a place where we had to leave them and later on to pay for this service. Also my husband was trying to take some pictures of me with Buddha , but he could not, because in the temple, Buddhas were in every corner, and you can not take picture with Buddha when it is on one of the sides. One picture made all the security stand on their feet and of course they made us delete it. Despite this fact, we have seen many different kind of people. From school children to very old people wearing traditional clothes. We were also very lucky to see traditional wedding. First day the main colour of the wedding is white and the second day red.

* Ref. a bit more about Buddha and drones. I am not surprised now, that they are taking care of them so much and not letting people use drones in most of the places. In 2016, somebody used drone in Sri lanka and chipped the head of the Buddha.

Our journey to Kaudulla national park was not very lucky. By not lucky I mean that we didn't see an elephant close by. There are about 140 elephants in that park. They were on the other side of the lake that day. After rainy night they couldn't come closer. It was still an amazing jeep safari and wild nature. My dream was to see free living elephants, goal was accomplished. We have seen more elephants on the way back from safari just by the road. We could use our drone there.

After 3 days in the Jungle our wonderful Guide Hetti and our crazy driver helped us to reach a beautiful "Rock Side Beach Resort" right by the best beach in Sri lanka named Bentota. You could see the waves of the ocean. I have never ever seen such big waves in my life which we have enjoyed many times in a day :) I suppose you can not see the true picture of it in the photo or the video, but let me try to show you the beauty of this kind of paradise. I am in love with Indian ocean for the second time!

The rest of the stay was absolutely delightful. The resort had a fantastic service, brilliant food, maybe not so many activities, but definitely 100 % relaxation. Sun everyday, happy people, volleyball, laugh, music, friends. It was really a fantastic time that I will never forget. P.S. The dark person in the picture below is local, "security agent" of the beach area at night time. Every evening we had our own little beach party and he was taking care so we have incense from mosquitos and no dogs around (even if we loved local dogs).

We had couple of journeys with TUK TUK - very small car (if it can be called car) to the city centre :) We've tried lobsters, shark, had a boat tour to see crocodiles. We also have had a chance to hold 2 weeks old crocodile, Jesus... felt like a toy :)

Like I mentioned before, fauna and flora is just amazing. So many various birds, snakes, reptiles, large lizards (varans). We've stopped in a village were women showed us how different kind of coconuts are used in a simple mode of life. They are making so many things: dishes, kitchen tools, mats, ropes and of course magnets. We have bought some as a reminder of this great place.

Sri lanka, like most of such countries, has the tourism business on the highest level in the people´s economy. They will show unforgettable things, you just need to have some money. Tourists are very important and they are expected to tip in every step :). Suggestion is to read about this country a lot before you travel. People are so different.

What can I say, some of the countries are just... strange :) But that is why it is so interesting to travel, right?! I definitely want to see more of this vibrant world!