SL –forever!
SRI LANKA is one heck of a fun place and we just about had the entire experience of it-from the soldiers and check-posts to the vast greenery and wild elephants and traditional food and culture. A little more than a month back the 6 of us-Siddhu, Adhi, Vinay, JD and Nickhil FINALLY made it there after years in the planning. It was one heck of blast- in, out and throughout. It was one complete total holiday experience-even better than Europe in some ways. And lol the best part -FAR cheaper. (got to love the fact that its so close by to Chennai and that one Indian rupee is 2 Sri lankan) Due credit to Siddhu for putting it together and pulling it off despite the unpredictable gang of us he had to do that with.
LONG in the planning and after a LOT of uncertainties it finally happened, and it was more than worth its wait, exceeding by milestones all expectations of it. It was by far one of the best trips Ever and I am sure the 6 of us are NEVER going to forget it. It had everything in the right proportion-fun, adventure, insanity, tension, bonding, disappointments (Reebok in particular, eh guys?) and even an emotional teary moment. It was hence Complete.
The trip started on the 9th of Jan with the bunch of us reporting at the airport quickly getting rid of the parents. hehe! Right after checking in, we were back out to grab a bite. We reached late night and had our first taste of local Srilankan food on the way to the apartment which was our base at Colombo for the trip-Sid’s dads place. Checked in there and he had arranged a Toyota Hiace van to take us around and believe me we needed every sq inch of those 9 days.
The first excitement (apart from the daily after dinner entertainments witnessed in the apartment-lol) was white water rafting at Kithulgala in the rapids and the rain provided the perfect ambience to make it all the more thrilling. The second phase of our trip consisted of an elephant sanctuary visit and getting close to the wild beasts. Kandy was the stopover for the night-that I didn’t get to see much of but the guys had a nice time watching the cultural extravaganza show they went to. The third part of our trip lead us across winding mountainous roads, taking diversions in the routes due to landslips (thankfully) that led us to Ella through picturesque Neurallia and we spent quite a bit of time there freezing ourselves and playing around in the spot where they shot Khaaka Khaaka.. When we finally arrived tired and starved at Ella Adventure park we were welcomed by a black snake that crossed right by our path! We crashed into the hotel in the very beautiful tree houses and log cabins. In the morn, we took the jeep to the mountain and trekked all the way down the mountain to the campsite crossing the rope bridge and settled into our room- which was more of a tree house right by the gushing river. It was one hell of an experience staying in the wilderness so close to nature. After a morning of super fun adventure sports we settled in for a nap only to be awaken by Nickhil screaming for us to join him for a dip in the icy chilly freezing river filled wit stones and rapids! It was just heaven lying there in the river with the water rushing at that speed. In the night we chilled with a campfire dinner and watched the fire die out.The next day Siddhu finally took the wheel of the Hiace, giving Karu (our dear driver) some rest and drove us all the way to Bentotta beach resort-the last part of our trip. We checked into the resort and headed for the beach. We swam far into the sea and the water was shallow for like 200metres. The next day we had a blast of a time doing what we had been eagerly awaiting for- the watersports. We put to good use the jet-ski’s, bananana boat and ring ride and Nickhil insisted on trying water skiing-which by the way is a very difficult thing to do! We headed back to the hotel and packed up to leave back to Columbo all of us feeling the trip ending and the thought of headed back home to our hectic paced life. We spent that evening as well as the next day morning rushing around Colombo to get all our overdue shopping finished and just about managed to leave to the airport before rush hour traffic began and had time to check out the airport duty free before catching the quick flight back home .We landed and each bid adieu dreaming of when our next trip would be.
Cheap Shopping. Lots of food and buffet dinners, the very many mokkai’s and more kalai’s are just some of the many things we will remember Sri Lanka for. We even managed to have discussions on a few intellectual interesting topics. Despite many painful moments and a whole lot of travel sickness care of the long drives Sri Lanka will forever be remembered as one of my most favorite memorable trips.The hugest of thanks to Sid’s dad , Nada uncle, Veena aunty and Prabhu uncle and their family for their amazing hospitality and sparing the time to make arrangements, come with us and making the trip possible! Lots of pictures and videos taken are going to help hang on to those ever memorable moments.
LONG in the planning and after a LOT of uncertainties it finally happened, and it was more than worth its wait, exceeding by milestones all expectations of it. It was by far one of the best trips Ever and I am sure the 6 of us are NEVER going to forget it. It had everything in the right proportion-fun, adventure, insanity, tension, bonding, disappointments (Reebok in particular, eh guys?) and even an emotional teary moment. It was hence Complete.
The trip started on the 9th of Jan with the bunch of us reporting at the airport quickly getting rid of the parents. hehe! Right after checking in, we were back out to grab a bite. We reached late night and had our first taste of local Srilankan food on the way to the apartment which was our base at Colombo for the trip-Sid’s dads place. Checked in there and he had arranged a Toyota Hiace van to take us around and believe me we needed every sq inch of those 9 days.
The first excitement (apart from the daily after dinner entertainments witnessed in the apartment-lol) was white water rafting at Kithulgala in the rapids and the rain provided the perfect ambience to make it all the more thrilling. The second phase of our trip consisted of an elephant sanctuary visit and getting close to the wild beasts. Kandy was the stopover for the night-that I didn’t get to see much of but the guys had a nice time watching the cultural extravaganza show they went to. The third part of our trip lead us across winding mountainous roads, taking diversions in the routes due to landslips (thankfully) that led us to Ella through picturesque Neurallia and we spent quite a bit of time there freezing ourselves and playing around in the spot where they shot Khaaka Khaaka.. When we finally arrived tired and starved at Ella Adventure park we were welcomed by a black snake that crossed right by our path! We crashed into the hotel in the very beautiful tree houses and log cabins. In the morn, we took the jeep to the mountain and trekked all the way down the mountain to the campsite crossing the rope bridge and settled into our room- which was more of a tree house right by the gushing river. It was one hell of an experience staying in the wilderness so close to nature. After a morning of super fun adventure sports we settled in for a nap only to be awaken by Nickhil screaming for us to join him for a dip in the icy chilly freezing river filled wit stones and rapids! It was just heaven lying there in the river with the water rushing at that speed. In the night we chilled with a campfire dinner and watched the fire die out.The next day Siddhu finally took the wheel of the Hiace, giving Karu (our dear driver) some rest and drove us all the way to Bentotta beach resort-the last part of our trip. We checked into the resort and headed for the beach. We swam far into the sea and the water was shallow for like 200metres. The next day we had a blast of a time doing what we had been eagerly awaiting for- the watersports. We put to good use the jet-ski’s, bananana boat and ring ride and Nickhil insisted on trying water skiing-which by the way is a very difficult thing to do! We headed back to the hotel and packed up to leave back to Columbo all of us feeling the trip ending and the thought of headed back home to our hectic paced life. We spent that evening as well as the next day morning rushing around Colombo to get all our overdue shopping finished and just about managed to leave to the airport before rush hour traffic began and had time to check out the airport duty free before catching the quick flight back home .We landed and each bid adieu dreaming of when our next trip would be.
Cheap Shopping. Lots of food and buffet dinners, the very many mokkai’s and more kalai’s are just some of the many things we will remember Sri Lanka for. We even managed to have discussions on a few intellectual interesting topics. Despite many painful moments and a whole lot of travel sickness care of the long drives Sri Lanka will forever be remembered as one of my most favorite memorable trips.The hugest of thanks to Sid’s dad , Nada uncle, Veena aunty and Prabhu uncle and their family for their amazing hospitality and sparing the time to make arrangements, come with us and making the trip possible! Lots of pictures and videos taken are going to help hang on to those ever memorable moments.
posted by c at 2:48 AM
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The little tropical island is blessed with a great variety of beautiful landscapes. Ella, (meaning water fall in Sinhalese) aptly named in the backdrop of numerous waterfalls, small & large, which crash, gush or trickle down the mountainous terrain, is a beguiling village sitting tight & pretty at the southern ridge of the central highlands of salubrious climate. Such is the natural beauty of the village, Ambiente Guest House therein carries a piece of graffiti saying that the village is a possible experiment by the God prior to his creation. Shot! The sole tourist attraction of the village is its natural beauty. The small, sedate (pretty cool too, with apologies to my nieces, I try to pick up their vocabulary) village is nestled in a magnificent valley peering straight through the opening amongst an idyllic green mountain ranges, right down to the coastal plain nearly 1000m below, & over to the coast. On a clear night, you can view the Kirinda lighthouse. As the crow flies (the direct distance) that is 77 km far.The Ella Gap. An attractive scatter of pretty little cottages & bungalows with their flower filled gardens in this vantage point with perfect climate soothes your mind & rest your day to day anxieties.
We take the one & only street of the village and stroll meanderingly along the gentle downhill, while passing hotels, guest houses, cafés, and restaurants. We finally reach the escarpment. The Ella Gap. Right down is treacherous sheer sided downhill highway of Wallawaya, all the way down to Hambantota (274 km) of the southern coast.
As if the magnificent view through Ella Gap wouldn’t do, Ella provides enchanting trekking opportunities with spectacular sceneries among the tea plantations, temples, pine forests & waterfalls. Ella is an excellent base for keen trekkers to explore & discover the surrounding countryside. Owners of all guesthouses & hotels provide you with loads of information on walks in the countryside. The largest mountain of the mountain range, Little Adam’s Peak can be reached through a tea estate. We can also visit Uva Halpewaththa Tea Factory. We will stroll down the Ella Gap along the railway track & close to an iron bridge is Rawana Ella Falls. (90m) which plunge magnificently down a series of rock faces. We can even climb over the rocks up the falls escorted by monkeys scampering up & down the rocks. A path close to the safe bathing area tempts you to trekking in that direction too. Still more, tour operators organize paragliding, canoeing, abseiling, camping & rock climbing.
The most famous rock climber ever in Ella was Lord Hanuman. In search of Sita, consort of Lord Rama, the general of the non-human Vanara tribe combed the central highlands of Lanka, dodging the showers of fire arrows by courtesy of King Rawana’s sentry posts. His tail was set on fire. But no fire would set him back: he found Sita, carried the message to Lord Rama;built a floating bridge over the seas from Rameswaram to Dhanushkody; brought a whole mountainside from Himalayas to Lanka in his search for a herb that would heal Lord Laksmana wounded in the battle; spearheaded the front lines by the side of Lord Rama & Lakshmana & won. That’s what you call a friend. But then Rama was an incarnation of God Vishnu; an epitome of virtue. Superior characters will have superior friends.
Off the road & on a steep & slippery track is a small temple & at the end in a cleft in the mountain that rises to Ella Rock is the cave where King Rawana held Lord Rama’s consort, Sita. The Indian epic Ramayana is now memorialized in the names of various guest houses as well as in the Rawana Ella Falls. The guest houses Rawana Holiday Resort & Rawana Heights. are perched on hill above the village.
For your long trekking, at the top of the rock, you’ll be rewarded with a stunning view. Excavations at cave unearthed prehistoric remains of human skeletons & tools dating from 8000 to 2500 BC. The skeletons belong to Homo sapiens Balangodensis.
We can get onto a train at Ella railway station & enjoy the ride to Demodara where the railway track performs a complete loop right around hillside & tunnels under itself at a level 30m lower.
Our numerous (you lose count) tunnels are not lit & you will be in dark for half a minute. So your partner would be kissing you. This is part of the 200km Colombo (sea level) – Badulla (680m-in Central highlands) winding twisting, & ever ascending railway track that runs along spectacular sceneries. Diesel trains, not electric trains, ours is a poor country, remember….??
Most of the hotels & guesthouses in Ella provide excellent views & some are located where we could enjoy the magnificent view of “The Ella Gap”. Ambiente, Hill top Guest House, Grand Ella Motel, Rock view Guest House,Tea garden Hotel Inn are among those. Not the least of Ella’s attractions is guest houses & hotels. Front lawns, grass mattings, Leafy gardens, leafy verandahs & leafy balconies with superb views. Home grown coffee is served in all hotels some of which has its own spice gardens. All the guest houses serve authentic Sri Lankan home cooking. Traditional Rice & curry as well as Malay-Dutch Lampreis, rice & curry wrapped & cooked in a banana leaf. The finest home cooked Sri Lanka dishes in the island is served in these small guesthouses. Home grown coffee is served in all guesthouses some of which has its own spice gardens & vegetable patches. Once again the finest dessert of the world: Curd,a kind of yogurt made of coagulated Buffalo milk served with generous lashings of Kitul Palm honey. Aha! Can I have some more please?
Bentota, Sri Lanka, 64 km down from Colombo, the second tourist resort following Beruwala. Beruwala, 55 km down from Colombo by the same highway, (so we passed it few minutes ago) is the gateway to 140 km (86mile) stretch of tropical beaches from Beruwala in western coast to Tangalla in the southern coast. The outstandingly beautiful stretch of road is one of the most scenic routes in the island.
We just passed the raucous fish market of busy vendors with helpless crabs & lobsters, among a huge variety of fish at Aluthgama. We passed Toddy bars too. Toddy is a creamy white bubbling thick & smooth drink of liquor made of coconut sap (tapped from the flower of coconut) fermented in large clay pots- low percentage alcoholic beverage faintly reminiscent of cider No hurry, we can have gallons of Toddy later today, at our leisure. Toddy galore in these towns. Cheap too. This is the border between the Western & Southern Provinces.
Bridge over the River Bentota
We cross the bridge over the River Bentota by car. The railway track of Diesel engine powered trains shares the same bridge. Over the bridge, over the waters of river Bentota, all of a sudden it is calm now. Did we miss something? We try to have a glance behind the car. We travelled from north to south over the bridge & now unlike us, the River Bentota that was running from east to west while we crossed the bridge suddenly changes its mind & takes a ninety degree turn. Now, the river flows north right from the very location of the bridge itself, parallel to the coast, for a few hundred meters, separated by the sea only by a narrow tongue of land. Sea from the west, sea from the north-the choppy breakers of the Indian Ocean, & calm waters of the river Bentota from East. The narrow spit of land is beautifully sandwiched & shaded with palm trees on both the seaward & river sides. It can be reached either from the beach or by boat across the river: the paradise island.
The Beach
Sprawling under an endless canopy of palm trees, the beaches continue several kilometres south from Bentota. The attractive southern end of Bentota beach, i.e. south of the railway station, comprises a wide & tranquil swathe of sand that’s home to one of the island’s finest clusters of top-end hotels, tastefully located & set at decent intervals from one another down the coast. Some of the hotels herein provide quality Ayurvedic healing centers. Some of the most sumptuous places to stay in the entire island are located in these beaches from the resort Bentota to village Induruwa. Induruwa too has a small cluster of places to stay on a lovely, quiet length of beach.
It was the British colonialists who first made use of the beach to build a rest house for their officers en route form Colombo to Galle. Today the 100 acre National Resort Complex herein is built entirely for the foreign tourists. A gentle, leafy sprawl of hotels & guest houses along the coast provide a full range of water sports–wind surfing, water-skiing, deep sea fishing, diving. The beautiful calm waters of River Bentota too offers itself ready year round for your merry making in all sorts of water sports along with interesting boat trips up the river. All major hotels provide diving outfits & services.
Diving the Snake, Paradise Island, Bentota (Swiss management) offers full range of PADI & CMAS courses, plus a wide range of one-off dives at various sites along the west coast.
Club Inter Sport of Bentota beach Hotel (PADI-registered dive instructor) offers water skating, jetskiing, windsurfing, speed boating, deep sea fishing
Confifi Marina offers full range of dives & courses, snorkelling trips, waterskiing, jet skiing, windsurfing, boat trips, tube-riding & canoeing
Sunshine Water Sports Centre, Aluthgama offers full range of water sports & particularly good for windsurfing & waterskiing, with training from former Sri Lanka champions. Jet skiing, snorkelling trips, deep-sea fishing & Bentota river cruises.
Ypsylon Dive School offers the usual range of single dives, PADI courses, night dives, introductory “discovery’ dives & wreck dives
River Bentota
Boat trips along the River Bentota are quite popular. The Bentota lagoon is the last section of the broad River Bentota, a popular spot for boat safaris. Starting at the Bentota bridge & cruising inland soon we will be another lagoon dotted with tiny islands fringed with tangled mangrove swamps. Among aquatic birds-herons, cormorants & colourful kingfishers –as well as water monitors & crocodiles, the boatmen ferry us right in the thick of mangroves. The sight is mysterious & beautiful at once, as we cruise through shaded waters beneath huge roots. The longer the cruise, the further upriver we cruise, the more unspoilt the scenery becomes. Longer excursion includes side trip to coconut factories & handicraft shops. Most trips cruise for three hours while the Dinner Cruise last 5 hours. Grilled prawns with garlic butter, steaks, rice & curry & of course, the top dessert, curd with Kitul palm honey.
Turtle hatcheries
At the north end of Induruwa is one of the turtle hatcheries set up to protect turtle eggs till they hatch. Turtle eggs, which would otherwise be eaten, are bought for a few rupees each from local fishermen & re-buried along the beach. Once hatched, the baby turtles are kept in holding tanks. Small tanks contain hundreds of one to three-day old turtles, as well as larger one, including an albino, kept for the collection. In the night, you can release a three-day-old turtle into the Indian Ocean to fend off itself. The beauty of the operation is the beaches are guaranteed the female baby turtles released herein will find their way back, sans GPS, in the depths of seven seas to their natal beach ten years later to lay their own eggs. The wonders & mysteries of our planet are endless. Let’s protect it from the poachers, marauders & mass murderers. Five of the world’s seven species of marine turtle visit Sri Lanka’s beaches to nest, a rare ecological blessing. The government support for the conservation is a far cry from an ideal conservation project that could turn the island into the world’s prime turtle-watching destination. In buying a baby turtle (from privately run turtle hatcheries) so that it could be released to the ocean, your wallet would loose a couple of dollars (let me put it this way: after all, keepers of the hatcheries too spent money buying the eggs from the fishermen, don’t they?) to an eminently worthy cause. You would loose A Few Dollars More buying tortoise-shell ware (see, still we aren’t saving all of the turtles, still not in the ideal situation), drums, masks & handmade lace. Lace of Portuguese origin, even 15th century Portuguese style ladies jackets made of white lace: Kabakorottu. That’s what since15th century coastal belt generation to the generation as recent as that of my grandmother’s (all, all of them Sinhalese in our western & south western coastal belt) wore in their times.
Brief Garden
Ten kilometers north from Bentota is pretty Brief Garden. It used to be the home of landscape artist, sculptor & bon-vivant Bevis Bawa, older brother of illustrious Geoffrey Bawa, one of the twentieth century’s foremost Asian architects whose work includes the new Parliament, Ruhunu University & renowned top-end eco-friendly hotels, Kandalama Hotel, Bentota Beach Hotel etc. of the island. In 1929 Major Bevis Bawa of British Army in Ceylon began landscaping the 5 acre garden his father had purchased following a succsseseful legal brief. Having cleared the Rubber plantation, Bawa set to work creating a verdant romantic folly of inviting alcoves, nooks & bowers & garden sculpture. Bawa continued his masterpiece to his death in 1992. In the backdrop of undulating landscape of paddy fields & scattered villages on a hillside, Bawa designed a delightful series of cool shady terraces of wonderfully composed views, designed in various moods with references to European & Japanese style gardens, which tumble luxuriantly down the hillside below the house. And then there are wide lawns, ponds & a hilltop lookout too. The house itself wouldn’t take a backseat to the garden. The artwork on display is eclectic, ranging form homoerotic sculpture to a wonderful mural of Sri Lankan life in the style of Marc Chagall. Some of the artwork was done by Bawa himself. The mural was created by the Australian artist Donald Friend, who hadn’t intended to stay more than six days but ended up staying in Ceylon (then name of Sri Lanka) for six years. The fascinating collection of photographs includes a photograph of Bevis Bawa posing with house guests Vivien Leigh (Gone with the Wind) & Laurence Olivier (Oh! Ah!) during their filming of our Christine Wilson’s famous novel “Elephant Walk” in 1953. And Emperor Edward V111 to boot.
Bawa himself appear in avatars: here in the form no other than God Bacchus himself, holding a birdbath shaped as a giant clam-shell, there in the shape of water-spouting gargoyle with wild hair & blue marble eyes. Bawa, himself was an imposing character, intellectually, socially as well as physically. He was 6 feet 7 inches tall. That is as tall as South African born former captain of England, Tony Greg, the most colourful commentator in Cricket today. And impartial too, as is the champion of champions, Illustrious Ravi Shastri of India.
Hotel Serendib
The hotel is designed by Illustrious Geoffrey Bawa to resemble a Dutch sea side village with rooms opening onto covered courtyards & balconies, a restaurant that spill onto the lawn & a poolside café that is a masterpiece of sophistication
huh ok no idea who that is or how they found my blog but thats as detail as detail can get!
wierd ..i meant that comment lol
woahhhhhhhh dats some action packed adventure man!!!!
me hoping to have dat much fun in my board hols ...lol
okies keep 'em coming
tc
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