千里之行 始于足下

Sri Lanka Adventure [10 - 18 June 2010]
Part I: Pre-Trip [Singapore, 10 Jun 2010]
Part II: The Long Shuttle [Singapore - Kuala Lumpur, 10 Jun 2010]
Part III: AK255 [KUL - CMB, 11 Jun 2010]
Part IV: A Slice of Cultural Triangle [CMB - Dambulla, 11 June 2010]
Part V: Temples [Dambulla - Kandy, 12 Jun 2010]
Part VI: Into the Hills [Kandy - Haputale, 13 Jun 2010]
Part VII: Trekking to World’s End [Horton's Plains National Park, 14 Jun 2010]
Part VIII: Retracing the steps of Sir Thomas Lipton [Lipton's Seat & Tea Factory, 15 Jun 2010]
Part IX: Leopard! Leopard! Leopard! [Haputale - Tissa, 16 Jun 2010]
Part X: Will this journey ever end? [Tissa - Negombo, 17 Jun 2010]
Part XI: Goodbye Serendib [CMB - KUL - Singapore, 18 Jun 2010]
Part XII: Epilogue

Only the two photographers were game enough to wake up at 4.45am in the morning to catch the sunrise at Lipton’s Seat. The rest of us chose to sleep in and go at a more humane timing later in the day.

Lipton’s Seat, located 18km east of Haputale, was where famous Scottish plantation owner Sir Thomas Lipton used as a lookout to survey his vast plantations. On a clear day, one could get a 360 degree view and even catch glimpses of the coast from there.

To get there from Haputale, vans or autorickshaws were available for hire. The road wasn’t in the best condition so vans would be better for the butts. The alternative will be taking the public buses to Dambatenne Tea Factory and then make the 7km trek through the tea plantation to the viewpoint.

The two early birds took an autorickshaw to the viewpoint and then walked down through the tea plantation towards the factory. Plenty of opportunities for photography along the way.

These tea pickers are mainly Indian Tamils whose ancestors were brought in by the British planters to work on the plantations since the 19th century. It was backbreaking work and the pickers had to work eight hours a day. We had differing accounts of how much a tea picker earns; the figure lies somewhere between 100 to 200 SGD per month.

The photographers were kindly invited into one of the locals’ house.

The plantation provides most of the amenities that the community needs. Schools and clinics are examples of them.

While the photographers were busy taking photographs, the rest of us had taken an autorickshaw to Lipton’s Seat, admired the view, toured Dambatenne Tea Factory and returned to Haputale. Ashraf had arranged our return trip on autorickshaw for 1500 LKR.

Dambatenne Tea Factory conducts tour for 200 LKR per person and a staff would guide us through the entire tea-making process. It would take 24 hours to turn fresh plucked leaves into the finished product that we are familiar of. The guide was quite informative and tried to answer all of our questions. We were told that the tea estate is about the size of 700 football fields and a total of 1500 tea-pickers work the land. There is 60 working in the factory and the tea is chiefly sold to the likes of Unilever (Lipton is one of Unilever’s brands). All of us bought some tea (top grade: Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings) to bring back to Singapore.

The photographers had better luck when their guide allowed them to take photographs of the process.

While waiting at Haputale for the photographers to return, we patronized the internet cafe located on the road to train station. With just three terminals, we had to take turns. The speed was still acceptable at 60 LKR/hour and I got to check my e-mails. A train passed by while I waited for others to be done with the computers.

It was mid afternoon by the time all of us regrouped back at Haputale. We then discovered the sinfully delicious samosas from Risara’s Bakers.

The photographers went around the town looking for more pictures while the rest of us stayed behind at the guesthouse for the World Cup game between New Zealand and Slovakia (1:1).

During dinner at the guesthouse, a lawyer who was in town to settle some labor disputes sat in the table across from ours. He was enthusiastic in sharing with us his favorite places in Sri Lanka (Arugram Bay, Trincomalee, etc) and we were appreciative of his helpful tips.

If his description were accurate, we might be back in Sri Lanka sooner than we thought.

Sri Lanka Adventure [10 - 18 June 2010]
Part I: Pre-Trip [Singapore, 10 Jun 2010]
Part II: The Long Shuttle [Singapore - Kuala Lumpur, 10 Jun 2010]
Part III: AK255 [KUL - CMB, 11 Jun 2010]
Part IV: A Slice of Cultural Triangle [CMB - Dambulla, 11 June 2010]
Part V: Temples [Dambulla - Kandy, 12 Jun 2010]
Part VI: Into the Hills [Kandy - Haputale, 13 Jun 2010]
Part VII: Trekking to World’s End [Horton's Plains National Park, 14 Jun 2010]
Part VIII: Retracing the steps of Sir Thomas Lipton [Lipton's Seat & Tea Factory, 15 Jun 2010]
Part IX: Leopard! Leopard! Leopard! [Haputale - Tissa, 16 Jun 2010]
Part X: Will this journey ever end? [Tissa - Negombo, 17 Jun 2010]
Part XI: Goodbye Serendib [CMB - KUL - Singapore, 18 Jun 2010]
Part XII: Epilogue

Haputale, almost 1500m above sea level, would be our base for the next days to explore Horton’s Plains National Park and other attractions near it.

The alarm clock went off at 4.45am and we were ready to go at 5:00am. However, the was no sign of either Ashraf or the sandwiches. The driver had arrived and all of us waited for a while before setting off. It wasn’t advisable to reach Horton’s Plains National Park too late as mist would obscure any of the views at World’s End by 10am.

While the van got stuck behind some truck shortly leaving Haputale town, the van driver received a phone call from Ashraf. He made an U-turn and Ashraf was waiting along the main road barefooted and shivering from the cold with our sandwiches. Exceptionally good service provided here (if we discounted his lateness).

Most of us slept the entire way through the 1h30m ride to the entrance of the National Park where we paid the park fees.

Figuring how the amount was derived required some arithmetic skills; 1700 LKR (15 USD) per person for admission, 60 LKR for the driver’s entrance, 907 LKR for the vehicle’s entrance, 250 LKR service fee and value-added tax of 1117 LKR. Thus each of us paid 2,180 LKR for the privilege of entering the park.

At the elevation of 2,100m, the National Park felt even colder than Haputale. We had to pad ourselves up with our fleeces and windbreakers.

Herds of Sri Lankan Sambar Deers greeted us when we drove through the grassland to the start of the World’s End trail. We got all excited and had to get down and take pictures.

Sambar deers moving away

The driver assured us that there would be plenty more wildlife to be seen inside the national park. Well these deers would be the largest animals that we would seen in the whole park the whole day.

We were driven to the start of the World’s End trail. The entire trail is 9km long and most people would take three hours. The park ranger checked us in and the logbook revealed that we were the second group of visitors for the day.

The elevation of this area meant that the trees are of the deciduous coniferous species.

We walked in the clockwise direction and the trail went through grassland and rain-forest before reaching Mini World’s End.

Mini World’s End was one of the two sheer precipices along the trail. The weather was gorgeous when we reached there.

Another group of visitors caught us with us at the Mini World’s End. While both groups were taking photos, a buzzing sound could be heard from far. Someone from the other group shouted “Get down!” and everyone got down to the ground immediately

The buzzing sound got louder as the swarm of bees/hornets flew over us.

Only after the last of them had flew past did we dare to get up. A possible story for an episode of “I Shouldn’t Be Alive” if anyone of us got attacked. We were really getting our money’s worth of adventure at Horton’s Plains.

More photographs at Mini World’s End before we continued to the real thing. It was shortly before 10:00am when we arrived at World’s End, a cliff which dropped more than 1,200m to the valley below. We hardly had any time to admire the view when the mist came within minutes of our arrival.

With no view to see anymore at World’s End, our attention turned to small creatures.

Check out its legs when it moved.

After finishing the sandwiches from the morning, we moved on through the trail in the mist. Despite the mist, this place has one of most beautiful sceneries that I have seen. One has to be present to feel its beauty.

There were several forks on the trail and no signs were around point us to the direction of Baker’s Falls. Fortunately Lewis, a fan of Man Vs Wild, confidently told us that following the path along the river would lead us to the waterfall.

The bristling sounds of water falling off rocks told us that the waterfall was nearby. We decided to take the steep path up a hill and finally found the sign which directed us to the waterfall.

When we reached Baker’s Falls, it was about three hours since we left the starting point of the trail. We had spent quite a long time taking photographs while walking along the trail. Our driver would call for a search party if we didn’t return soon enough.

We backtracked a little as we weren’t sure which route to take. Many of the signs and information boards had been damaged and were not adequately replaced. I hope that the Department of Wildlife Conservation could take action on them so that the visitors can have a better experience there.

The mist came and went and came back again as we walked on the trail which looped back to the starting point.

Five hours after leaving there, we were back at the starting point. Our driver must be wondering what took us so long. Tired from the trekking, most of us just slept on the journey back to Haputale.

I would say that trekking on the World’s End trail was easily the highlight of the trip. We got the opportunity to get close to nature and experience one of the best sceneries. There weren’t too many visitors in June; for most of the trek we felt that we had the entire park to ourselves. The authorities could do better by replacing the damaged information boards and erecting new signs for the benefit of the visitors.

It was 3:00pm by the time we returned to Haputale. Although the plan was to visit the tea plantations and factory in the afternoon, we decided to postpone the trip to next day and stay an additional night at Haputale. As a result of the extra time spent waiting, we paid the driver an extra 1000 LKR on top of the agreed 4000 LKR.

Lunch was pratas and chapattis at our favorite eating place.

We wandered around the town again after lunch and decided to try out some aracck, a local alcohol.

Ashraf the friendly guesthouse staff recommended mixing arrack with apple soda. We tried the mix while watching the World Cup game between Netherlands and Denmark (2:0). It didn’t taste bad at all.

In the meantime, we discovered Mayanti Langer, the super hot Indian presenter for ESPN Star Sport’s (ESS) coverage of World Cup. Despite ESS’s studios being in Singapore, the program was produced for Indian Sub-continent only. I am pretty sure that the number of subscribers to Singtel’s or Starhub’s World Cup package will increase if there are ESS’s pre and post-match shows.

We were off to town again before dinner to get fruits. The fruit stall owner was friendly and even treated us to samples. Dinner was Sri Lankan curry and rice. We over-ordered this time and couldn’t finish all the food. Desserts were the mangoes and soursops bought earlier in town. Japan recorded a shock 1-0 win over Cameroon which meant two wins out of two games for Asian teams (Australia isn’t Asian anymore after losing 0-4 to Germany).

Go Asia!

Sri Lanka Adventure [10 - 18 June 2010]
Part I: Pre-Trip [Singapore, 10 Jun 2010]
Part II: The Long Shuttle [Singapore - Kuala Lumpur, 10 Jun 2010]
Part III: AK255 [KUL - CMB, 11 Jun 2010]
Part IV: A Slice of Cultural Triangle [CMB - Dambulla, 11 June 2010]
Part V: Temples [Dambulla - Kandy, 12 Jun 2010]
Part VI: Into the Hills [Kandy - Haputale, 13 Jun 2010]
Part VII: Trekking to World’s End [Horton's Plains National Park, 14 Jun 2010]
Part VIII: Retracing the steps of Sir Thomas Lipton [Lipton's Seat & Tea Factory, 15 Jun 2010]
Part IX: Leopard! Leopard! Leopard! [Haputale - Tissa, 16 Jun 2010]
Part X: Will this journey ever end? [Tissa - Negombo, 17 Jun 2010]
Part XI: Goodbye Serendib [CMB - KUL - Singapore, 18 Jun 2010]
Part XII: Epilogue

We didn’t give Kandy much of a chance to redeem itself with our plan to take an early train out to Haputale.

The rate for a double room without view was 1500 LKR nett; rooms with view cost an additional 500 LKR.

The train would depart Kandy at 8.24am and we set off early from McLeod Inn to avoid missing it. Along the way, we stopped at a bakery for breakfast.

After passing by the chaotic Goods Shed bus station, we reached Kandy’s train station very much in time for the train.

In fact, we were too early and the ticket counter wasn’t opened yet. Hence it was time for breakfast and photos.

They tasted good albeit a little too spicy for my palate.

More pictures from the train station:

Only one first class ticket to Haputale was available so we had to settle for second class seats.

Route: Kandy – Haputale
Train name: Podi Menike (Little Maiden)
Dep: Kandy 8:24am
Arr: Haputale 2:09pm
Time taken: 5h43m
Distance traveled: 125km
Mode: Sri Lanka Railways
Cost: 210 LKR (2nd class seats)

We boarded the shuttle to Peradeniya Junction from Platform 1 before it started to rain. The train left slightly behind schedule and we had to transfer to a very crowded train across the platform at Peradeniya Junction under rather heavy rain. It was standing room only in second class carriage but some of us would get seats when the conductors came around and sent passengers with 3rd class tickets to the even crowded 3rd class carriages.

In many less developed parts of the world, the concept of personal space differed quite sharply from what I was used to. The local Sri Lankans didn’t seem to really mind body contact in crowded situations as in the train carriages. Despite the crowded conditions on the train, the scenery was wonderful outside the windows.

Despite being stuck in close proximity with strangers, the locals almost always smiled for our photographers.

The guy was a really friendly chap and even helped a fellow passenger to take care of her kid while she was busy. From time to time, there were vendors who sold peanuts and vaadai coming on board the carriages. We even had a busker for a while as well.

The mist began to descend as we neared Haputale.

We were only around half an hour late arriving at Haputale. Six hours was really a long time to cover a relatively short distance of around 125km.

Learning from our lesson at Dambulla, we had pre-booked our accommodation at both Kandy and Haputale through phone. Someone from our guesthouse, Srilakvieww Holiday Inn, picked us up from the train station. The walk from the train station took around ten minutes.

We had requested for two triple rooms and were shown those in a separate building detached from the main wing. They seemed unused for quite some time already and the staff were busy cleaning them up when we arrived. Feeling tired from the traveling, we decided to take the rooms despite apprehension about number of bugs in the building.

After settling down, we headed out to town to search for lunch. While walking around the small place, we discovered that this town was really charming and full of friendly locals.

We decided to have lunch at a place which served rottis, chapattis and pratas. It would become our favorite haunt for the rest of our time at Haputale.

By the end of our lunch the mist engulfing the town and the surrounding valleys had cleared up.

We would take a long walk around the town and back to our guesthouse through the tea plantation.

The locals were unbelievably friendly and genuinely interested in talking to us. Many of them happily posed for the photographers when prompted.

We made a faux pas with the grandma by greeting her “ayubowan”. She smiled and told us that she’s Tamil, not Sinhalese.

The elderly man gamely posed for us with his goat.

We got up close with the tea plants while walking through the plantation.

We just laughed off the suggestion and walked away in the direction of our guesthouse. Ashraf, the friendly guesthouse staff, approached us about dinner. The chef took a long time to prepare and we would need to order at least an hour in advance.

While some of us decided what to eat, the rest of us engaged Ashraf in some friendly banter. We got him to give us some recommendations of places to go around Haputale and he promised to fix transportation arrangement for us.

He noticed about our worry about the problem of mosquitoes in our rooms and offered to check whether there were other alternatives. He then showed us three twin rooms in the main building which were in better condition. We took them without hesitation and spent the time until dinner moving our stuff over to our new rooms.

This was the first place in Sri Lanka where we didn’t feel that we were the only guests of the establishment. A French lady who was on the same train from Kandy with us also stayed at Srilakview as well. The restaurant was packed with European tourists during dinner time and we had our dinner over the World Cup game between Serbia and Ghana (0-1).

Ashraf arranged our following day’s transportation to Horton’s Plains National Park, leaving at 5:00am. It would turn out to be the highlight of the trip.

Sri Lanka Adventure [10 - 18 June 2010]
Part I: Pre-Trip [Singapore, 10 Jun 2010]
Part II: The Long Shuttle [Singapore - Kuala Lumpur, 10 Jun 2010]
Part III: AK255 [KUL - CMB, 11 Jun 2010]
Part IV: A Slice of Cultural Triangle [CMB - Dambulla, 11 June 2010]
Part V: Temples [Dambulla - Kandy, 12 Jun 2010]
Part VI: Into the Hills [Kandy - Haputale, 13 Jun 2010]
Part VII: Trekking to World’s End [Horton's Plains National Park, 14 Jun 2010]
Part VIII: Retracing the steps of Sir Thomas Lipton [Lipton's Seat & Tea Factory, 15 Jun 2010]
Part IX: Leopard! Leopard! Leopard! [Haputale - Tissa, 16 Jun 2010]
Part X: Will this journey ever end? [Tissa - Negombo, 17 Jun 2010]
Part XI: Goodbye Serendib [CMB - KUL - Singapore, 18 Jun 2010]
Part XII: Epilogue

Despite the hotel being ‘full’, we hadn’t got a chance to meet any fellow guests. Our suspicions were further aroused during breakfast where we were the only ones in the restaurant. Where were they? Either the manager was lying the day before or the other guests were simply too elusive.

Only our tables was set up but we requested to be placed near the swimming pool instead.

I went for the Sri Lankan breakfast and was amazed by the amount of food being served. The only picture which I remembered to take was one of the bread and jam spread.

After the heavy breakfast, Dambulla Cave Temple was next on our agenda. Unlike in India where autorickshaw drivers swarmed tourists with ride offers, we had to approach a stationary autorickshaw to get a ride. The driver got another friend over in order to ferry the six of us to the temple and we managed to bargain the cost down to 100 LKR per autorickshaw.

It began to drizzle on our way there and the skies opened up while we were paying for our tickets at the counter hidden in a rather obscure corner. Another expensive outlay at 10 USD or 1150 LKR.

After the rain stopped, we went up a rather steep flights of steps before reaching the entrance of the complex. Interestingly, a sign which stated that foreign visitors without tickets would not be allowed to enter the temples was only erected midway through the climb. I was pretty sure that there would be tourists who missed the ticket counter and walked up the steps first instead．

We left our shoes with the minders at the entrance to the cave temples (25 LKR per pair) and entered the complex barefooted.

Like Sigiriya, we didn’t provide any business to the unsolicited guides and wandered around on our own. The complex consists of five temples of varying sizes with some grander and having more Buddha statues than the others.

Inside the temples, statues and frescoes of Buddha in various poses could be seen.

The complex still functions as places of worship for the locals and in fact a Hindu ceremony was taking place in the cave nearest to the entrance while we were there.

Although photography was allowed, we were warned by a local guide not to pose for photographs with the statues. Several years ago, a female tourist was caught sitting on one of the statues’ lap posing for a photograph. Hence signs could be seen around the complex requesting the visitors to respect the religion.

Outside the caves, there was a pond with lotus flowers in bloom. Monkeys could be seen playing around the complex as well.

After the rain had cleared, vendors started to peddle the wares along the route which we climbed up earlier. We bought some really sweet mangoes (25 LKR each) and some of us tried out local ice-cream. We didn’t leave until we took the picture of the Golden Temple located at the foot of the cave temple complex.

We returned to our hotel the same way as we arrived. The autorickshaw drivers offered to drive us to Kandy for 25 USD per vehicle but we wanted to try out Sri Lanka’s public transportation system. While settling the charges of our night’s stay at the lobby, we learned a couple of Sinhala words from the manager.

Hello: Ayubowan
Thank you: Istudi
Goodbye: Cheerio

There terms were good enough to last us a week in Sri Lanka.

A persistent van owner followed us from the hotel to the bus stop in the hope of getting our business but we had to disappoint him. This was one of the hassles of traveling independently in less developed parts of the world and we had no choice but to bear with them.

Some locals pointed us the direction to the bus stop and it was nothing but a gathering of people by the roadside. Technically the public buses in Sri Lanka would stop anywhere along the road when being flagged down.

Route: Dambulla to Kandy
Distance: 73.5km
Time taken: Approx. 2h30m
Mode: Public bus
Cost: 73 LKR per person

View Larger Map

The first bus was too crowded to be boarded but the second one arrived almost immediately after. We were lucky to get seats and the ride was an affordable 73 LKR. One rupee for every kilometer traveled.

We got to talk to some locals on the local buses.

One of the passengers happened to be a rugby coach who had been to Singapore before and was on his way to referee a match. He kindly told us to alight at Queen’s Hotel (nearer to our guesthouse) instead of Goods’ Shed bus station.

Kandy is the religious capital of Sri Lanka and center of Sinhalese culture. Its main claim to its status was due to Temple of Sacred Tooth Relic being located in the city. We would visit the temple later in the evening.

It was already mid afternoon when we arrived and we were all starving. An eating place near the bus stop where we alighted promised an extensive menu which prompted us to walk in.

Despite the nice sign outside, only fried rice and noodles were available. We had our third meal of fried rice in less than two days in Sri Lanka. The food wasn’t exactly bad but we all had enough of fried rice. It really made us wonder about what the locals usually eat at home.

Our guest house, McLeod Inn, was within walking distance across Kandy Lake but it involved climbing up a hill. According to Lonely Planet, it boasted the highest view of Kandy Lake. We were glad to reach the clean and well-ran place after some serious walking.

After settling down, we treated ourselves with fabulous views from McLeod Inn’s balcony.

The friendly guesthouse owner told us that there would be some religious ceremony going on at Temple of Sacred Tooth Relic around 6.30pm and we could try catching World Cup matches at restaurants in the vicinity. It meant walking down the hill, around the lake and back to where we alighted from the bus earlier in the day.

We weren’t sure where the entrance to the temple was and went into a side street full of streets selling incense and flowers.

After consulting a local, we knew where the entrance to the temple (one which we kept passing by) was. As a result of a deadly suicide attack by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 1998, visitors have to go through two rounds of security check before being allowed into the compound. A ticket to the temple is 1000 LKR for foreigners with a CD given; there were two different counters to deposit shoes: one for locals and another for suckers foreigners.

The performance which the guesthouse owner was referring to was just some men beating the drums. It was kinda underwhelming in my experience.

We joined the queue and headed upstairs to have a peek of the sacred tooth relic (actually in a housing). It wasn’t a short queue and one would only have barely a few seconds to take a look at the housing through a window.

There were other parts of the temple which were equally crowded.

A part of the temple was dedicated to the history of the Sacred Tooth Relic and the temple (complete with drawings and explanations). It was kinda hard (for me at least) to understand the story though.

While retrieving the shoes, the shoe minder was not happy with the amount that we tipped (100 LKR) and wanted 2 USD. Although we paid up, this added to the poor experience at the Temple of Sacred Tooth Relic. While it was no exorbitant amount, the amount of tips should be decided by the tipper. If there were more transparency with the fee expected were made known from the start, this incident could have been avoided.

Most of the shops were closed by 8pm on a Saturday night and we had some difficulties locating places to eat. We managed to spot a South Indian restaurant but decided to walk around to see if there were other alternatives.

We came across a stall selling chickpeas and bought some to try. Our cameras made us mini-celebrities among the locals.

Even though some of us were tempted to eat at Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), we continued to walk and were rewarded just a few shopfronts down the road. A restaurant which served both Chinese and Indian cuisines was beaming the World Cup game between Nigeria and Argentina there and the choice was easy for us. No fried rice for us finally and what we ordered were essentially Chinese. Although they seemed forever to come, the food turned out to be quite good and the bill was still affordable at about 500 LKR each.

After the match ended (1-0 to Argentina), we went to the supermarket (Cargill Food City again) to stock up on our supplies of fruits and water. Some of us (I wondered how they did it) managed to find enough room in their stomach for another meal next door at KFC.

It began to rain when we decided to return; an autorickshaw driver agreed to take us up to our guest house for 150 LKR, 50 LKR lower than his initial asking price. He got his another friend in order to ferry all of us. The rain got heavier as we went up the dark mountain roads. The other driver weren’t too pleased when we paid the agreed price (his friend didn’t inform him beforehand) but nevertheless wished us goodnight after talking to his friend.

We chilled out at the balcony, chatting and eating our fruits. At almost 500m above sea level, night in Kandy could get kinda chilly. Before bed, I was lucky to shower first because the hot water ran out for Lewis later. I wasn’t masochist enough to shower with cold water at such a low temperature.

Sri Lanka Adventure [10 - 18 June 2010]
Part I: Pre-Trip [Singapore, 10 Jun 2010]
Part II: The Long Shuttle [Singapore - Kuala Lumpur, 10 Jun 2010]
Part III: AK255 [KUL - CMB, 11 Jun 2010]
Part IV: A Slice of Cultural Triangle [CMB - Dambulla, 11 June 2010]
Part V: Temples [Dambulla - Kandy, 12 Jun 2010]
Part VI: Into the Hills [Kandy - Haputale, 13 Jun 2010]
Part VII: Trekking to World’s End [Horton's Plains National Park, 14 Jun 2010]
Part VIII: Retracing the steps of Sir Thomas Lipton [Lipton's Seat & Tea Factory, 15 Jun 2010]
Part IX: Leopard! Leopard! Leopard! [Haputale - Tissa, 16 Jun 2010]
Part X: Will this journey ever end? [Tissa - Negombo, 17 Jun 2010]
Part XI: Goodbye Serendib [CMB - KUL - Singapore, 18 Jun 2010]
Part XII: Epilogue

Our vehicle took some time to arrive; we had to reject the first one sent to us as it was too small for six and didn’t have air-con. The second van was alright and after the driver stopped by at his house to collect his gear (in case we took up the week’s worth of rental), we were finally on our way at 9am, almost two hours after we landed.

Route: Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB) to Gimanhala Transit Hotel, Dambulla
Distance: 144km
Time taken: Approx. 4h
Mode: Air-con van

View Larger Map

Driving through Sri Lankan countryside:

We requested for a pee stop and was taken to a restaurant overlooking a reservoir/lake located after Kurunegala.

Like the northern neighbor, motor vehicles in Sri Lanka have to share the roads with other users: pedestrians, bicycles, animals, etc. However, driving is significantly less hectic due to lower number road users and our van was doing a respectable average speed of 50 km/h for the journey.

Based on good reviews from the web and Lonely Planet, we got our driver to drive to Gimanhala Transit Hotel in Dambulla. Apparently it’s a well-known place and quite easy to find.

The reception told us that there were no rooms available for the night; this development forced us to consider our options. I had downloaded a list of accommodation in Dambulla from the website of Association for Dambulla Sigirya Tourism Promotion and we put our recently acquired SIM cards to use at the hotel lobby.

While waiting for the other guesthouses/hotels to revert to us, the hotel manager came and informed us that he had rooms available for the night. We asked about the rates and was shown the price list. A triple room cost a whopping 5400 LKR plus additional 10% service charge (breakfast included). We requested to see the rooms before deciding.

Since the other guesthouses (those we called) offered similar rates and we were all tired from the lengthy journey, we agreed to take the rooms. Furthermore, Cricket Asia Cup was taking place in Dambulla from the weekend onwards and the manager reminded us that it could be difficult to get rooms during this period.

After resting a while, we had to debate among ourselves regarding the van rental. As mentioned earlier, we would like to try out the trains and public buses in Sri Lanka and would not require the van for the entire journey. We thought that the quote of 55 USD per day was still valid and wanted to retain the van and driver for additional day; the driver told us that the rate was only available for longer rental and wanted something like 16,000 LKR for two days.

After more haggling, we settled the amount with the driver: an additional excursion to Sigiriya in the afternoon together with the trip between the airport and Dambulla would cost us the ‘best price’ of 9,750 LKR. The driver seemed a nice and honest chap but by then we could tell that he was a little disappointed that the potential week-long assignment with us would not be materialized.

The lunch menu at Gimanhala was way beyond our budget and we got our driver to drive us out to town for lunch. He wasn’t helpful at all with the recommendations; we drove past several unappealing food places (the interiors looked dark and dingy from the outside) before deciding to stop at a random place by the road.

It turned out to be a real gem.

Do not be fooled by the facade; this place serves probably the meanest fried rice in Sri Lanka.

I’m no food critic so my descriptions would never be good enough to whet any appetites. What I could only say that the fried rice was really delicious and the chili superb; in fact it was so good that we ordered more and one of us even declared it ‘five-star’.

After the satisfying meal which cost only 170 LKR per person, we would visit Sigiriya, an ancient rock fortress built in the 5th century. Although Sigiriya is less than 20km from Dambulla, the poor roads took us almost 45min.

When we were dropped at the entrance, a man was quick to attach himself to us and showed us the way to the ticket office. Admission cost a hefty 25 USD worth of rupees (2,875 LKR) for foreigners while it is probably free for the Sri Lankans. The state of Sri Lanka probably subsidized the locals’ admissions but I remain no fan of such price discrimination.

In order to prevent any unhappiness, we asked the man who attached himself to us what was the expected tip at the end of the tour. 5 USD per person was the amount he quoted; the price was kinda steep and I didn’t find myself particularly interested in the history. We declined him several times before he gave up and allowed us to roam around on our own.

It was quite a steep climb up to the top and anyone who has acrophobia may not find the trek up pleasant at all.

It was really windy while we walked up the steps and we were really afraid that we might be blown off by the strong winds. In return we were rewarded by pretty nice views.

Mid-way through our climb we got to see some interesting frescoes (of very well-endowed ladies). A guide would probably be useful in explaining the stories behind them here.

After seeing the frescoes, we tackled the gusty winds again in our bid to reach the summit.

We had to pass through the infamous hornets’ nests at the last section. There were reports of tourists being attacked earlier in the year and the attraction was closed for a while as a result. We were told to keep quiet by one local man and he would attach himself to us uninvited on the summit.

Finally, after climbing forever, we reached the summit.

I didn’t really care about the stories from the guide and just wandered around the summit on my own.

We spent enough time at the summit and even spoke to some of the monks. One of them told Lewis that they usually remain as monks for their entire lives, unlike many of the monks in Thailand who only enter monk-hood for a short period of time.

The guide did his job by pointing out to us the ‘final step’ at the summit. Apparently it was the 1150th step that one would take on the way up to the summit but its position seemed kinda awkward to us. All tourists were taking photos with it though. The guide didn’t disappoint us at the end when he requested baksheesh for his service; I couldn’t recall the amount that Lewis gave him but he seemed satisfied enough. His service was unsolicited though and I wouldn’t want to pay for something that I didn’t request for.

The walk down was much faster than the climb up and we were among the last ones leaving the place. The driver drove us back to the hotel where we settled the amount owned to him. After leaving us, he would have a long 4-hour drive home in the darkness of the night.

Without private transportation, we felt kinda handicapped but we didn’t let it deter us from getting dinner. We walked out towards Dambulla’s town center and settled for a bright-looking eating place which has no menu. An overly-friendly waiter insisted that we sat down at the table even though we wanted to look at what was on offer. In the end, we got some fried rice, fried noodles and pratas.

Unlike restaurants in Singapore where food is prepared and served after order is taken, Sri Lankan eating places utilize a slightly different modus operandi. The waiters will put a variety of food on the table (for example ten pieces of pratas) and then charge the customers for the items consumed. The leftover items will be recycled and served to the next customers. Likewise for curry too; the waiter told us that gravy was free but we would be charged for the curry if we ate the vegetables inside. We wondered how many spoons had been through the gravy and thus chose to give it a wide berth.

At the dinner, we all agreed that Rangiri’s fried rice was superior. The waiter was friendly with a motive; our tip didn’t make his expectation though and he didn’t seem pleased in the end. Oh well.

After dinner we went to the supermarket Cargill Food City for some fruits and water. Outside it, an employee was grilling sausages and chicken wings for sale. Some of us couldn’t resist them and bought some back to the hotel for the opening FIFA World Cup game between South Africa and Mexico.

Despite splashing a big amount on the room, the TV reception was less than satisfactory. Nevertheless we finished watching the match which ended 1-1. I was in bed by 10pm, knocked out by all the traveling and sightseeing from the day.

Sri Lanka Adventure [10 - 18 June 2010]
Part I: Pre-Trip [Singapore, 10 Jun 2010]
Part II: The Long Shuttle [Singapore - Kuala Lumpur, 10 Jun 2010]
Part III: AK255 [KUL - CMB, 11 Jun 2010]
Part IV: A Slice of Cultural Triangle [CMB - Dambulla, 11 June 2010]
Part V: Temples [Dambulla - Kandy, 12 Jun 2010]
Part VI: Into the Hills [Kandy - Haputale, 13 Jun 2010]
Part VII: Trekking to World’s End [Horton's Plains National Park, 14 Jun 2010]
Part VIII: Retracing the steps of Sir Thomas Lipton [Lipton's Seat & Tea Factory, 15 Jun 2010]
Part IX: Leopard! Leopard! Leopard! [Haputale - Tissa, 16 Jun 2010]
Part X: Will this journey ever end? [Tissa - Negombo, 17 Jun 2010]
Part XI: Goodbye Serendib [CMB - KUL - Singapore, 18 Jun 2010]
Part XII: Epilogue

Whoever who came up with the idea of placing a country’s main international airport 70km away from the city center of its capital must be a genius and way ahead of his/her time. For most our shuttle bus journey, the scenery alternated between darkness and oil palm plantations. I was pretty sure that an alternative site nearer to KL could be found but as in any mega-projects in this country, plenty of behind-the-scenes shenanigans would ensure all the right palms were greased and anyone with the right connections get his/her fair share of contracts while the public were made to shoulder the costs and bear with the inconveniences.

KLIA has three terminals: Main, Satellite and Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT). No prize for guessing which terminal we would be using. Apparently KUL is the first airport in the world which has separate facilities for normal and low cost carriers; Singapore’s SIN had since came up with a Budget Terminal (BT) as well. Unlike SIN which provided free shuttle service between its T2 and BT, one would need to pay 1.50 MYR for the luxury of being transported from KUL Main Terminal to LCCT and vice versa.

Despite being in operation only since 2006, LCCT was decidedly less attractive compared to KUL’s two other terminals. It felt more like a bus station than a real airport. On the land side, I noticed that there were several fast food chains (McDonald’s, KFC, Marrybrown) and cafes (Coffee Bean) as well as a bank where one could change currencies. Couldn’t comment on whether the rates were competitive as I wasn’t familiar with Malaysian Ringgits’ rates with other currencies.

The early hours didn’t see any decrease in the number of people in the terminal and the place was bustling with travelers catching early flights out of KUL like us.

From the departure board, it was obvious that Air Asia dominates LCCT. Air Asia Malaysia (AK), Thai Air Asia (FD), Indonesia Air Asia (QZ) and their long-haul cousin Air Asia X (D7) all used the terminal. The only other airlines sharing the facilities at LCCT were Tiger Airways (TR) and Cebu Pacific (5J), two of Air Asia’s low cost competitors in the region.

The layout of the terminal wasn’t the best in my opinion but most probably I am spoiled by the various terminals of SIN. Before we could check in, we had to put our bags through the X-ray machines. It wasn’t much of an issue locating Counter R46, the only one used for our 6:15am flight to CMB.

By then, a rather long line had assembled in front of the counter.

Like all low cost carriers, there are no dedicated lines for premium travelers. The only way to beat the queue is to perform self check-in using either web, mobile phone or kiosks located in the airport. We weren’t aware of the option then but unlike Ryan Bingham we didn’t really mind waiting in line for about 20 minutes.

The lady serving us took some time to sort out our boarding passes but she remained smiley and helpful throughout. We had pre-purchased 15kg of checked baggage at 20 MYR per segment and mine was probably half of that. No complaints though as my bag contained liquids which I could not bring on board the aircraft.

*RANT START* I can’t stand those inconsiderate people who left their trolleys at the check-in counters once their bags are checked in. The abandoned trolleys block the paths to the counters and slow the check-in process for subsequent passengers. The trolleys usually keep adding up until the airport staffs clear them away. Is it so difficult for one to push the trolleys to somewhere where they do not pose any obstruction? I just don’t get it! *RANT OVER*

With plenty of time left till boarding, some of the lads wanted to try out Marrybrown, a local fast food chain.

I didn’t partake in that exercise and chose to take picture of my cheap-looking boarding pass instead.

We were stamped out of Malaysia less than eight hours after we were stamped in. I didn’t really take notice of the shops on the air-side as I started to suffer from the effects of sleep deprivation.

We proceeded to Gate 16 and shared the holding area with Yogyakarta-bound passengers of AK594.

We would walk to our aircraft parked roughly 150m away and no photography was allowed on the tarmac. As it was still quite dark during boarding, I didn’t manage to spot the plane’s registration. My seat would be 24A after I convinced Kok Wai to swap places with me.

Route: KUL – CMB
Flight no.: Air Asia AK 255
Dep: KUL 6:15am
Arr: CMB 7:15am
Time taken: 3h30m
Distance traveled: 2470km (1535miles)
Cost: 282 MYR (incl in-flight meal & 15kg checked luggage)

The load was pretty high and I didn’t spot any empty seats. Most of the passengers seemed to be of Indian/Sri Lankan origin and there was a sprinkle of European and Asian travelers as well.

Our plane was a Airbus A320-216, one of the 74 currently in service across the various Air Asia’s brands. With 180 seats cramped onto the aircraft, I expected a tight seat pitch.

I wasn’t to be disappointed.

More photos:

Shortly after take-off, one of the cabin crews made the announcement that meal service would commence an hour into the flight. We weren’t too pleased to hear that as we wanted it to be over quickly in order for us to get more much-needed rest.

The cabin crew made two runs of meal service. Passengers who pre-booked their meals while purchasing the air tickets were served in the first run; the second run was conducted for those who wished to buy on the spot. There were a choice of eight different meals for pre-booking with each priced between 6 to 8 MYR, a ringgit cheaper than purchasing on board.

We had to get our boarding pass ready and the cabin crew would check against their manifest before serving us the meals.

After seeing the cabin crew made a marking against the code “NLML”, I understood that it meant Nasi Lemak Meal.

I lifted up the cover expectantly…

OK the nasi lemak didn’t taste as bad as it looked. In fact it was decent and the sambal chili was good. If only Air Asia’s caterers could work on the presentation.

Meanwhile outside the window:

From the in-flight magazine:

During the second round of meal service, we bought a bottle of Ice Lemon Tea (10 MYR) to share among ourselves. While the cabin crew were clearing the trash, the island of Sri Lanka came into view in my window.

Our flight landed in Colombo on time. As Sri Lanka is 2h30m behind Singapore/Malaysia, it was only 7:15am when we arrived. After a short taxi, the plane was parked at Gate 7 and we had to wait for the aerobridge to be connected before disembarking the plane.

For around 120 SGD, this flight segment was pretty good value. The aircraft was fairly new with comfortable seats but sitting in the tight 29″ seat pitch for 3h30m wasn’t the most pleasant. The only things which I remembered about the cabin crew were their lovely bright red uniforms and the amount of fake eyelashes that they used. While they did nothing really exceptional, all of them were professional enough. Another downside would be departing from KUL instead of SIN. The added time spent and hassles on transportation was a turn-off and the next cheapest alternative on Emirates cost only 485 SGD return. On hindsight, the trip would probably be a more pleasant one if we flew direct from Singapore instead.

As soon as we disembarked from the plane, we experienced our first instance of cultural shock in Sri Lanka. The friendly cleaners were quick to offer us paper towels in the washroom but we didn’t realize that they expected tips from us. Travelers used to tipping wouldn’t have similar issues though.

First impression of Sri Lanka was a good one though; the airport is modern and smart.

After going through immigration and collecting our checked bags, we got out to an arrival hall equipped with currency exchange bureaus and travel agents. With most of us gotten our Sri Lankan Rupees (LKR) in Singapore, only Kendrick and Lewis needed to get LKR at the rate of 78.09 per SGD. It meant that they were almost two rupees worse off per SGD exchanged. It might not seem much but the 10 SGD worth of rupees could go a long way on the island.

While two of them were checking out the exchange rates, the rest of us were talking to the representatives of the various mobile phone operators in Sri Lanka. We got three Mobitel SIM cards (200 LKR each + any top-up amount) amongst the six of us. The calling rates here were unbelievably affordable; calling Singapore (6 LKR/min) was even cheaper than local calls in Singapore. Their 3G data plan was even more affordable at 75 LKR for 500mb; these prices made us wonder whether we were overcharged by Singapore’s telcos.

Organizing onwards transport was slightly more tricky than buying SIM cards. Tackling Sri Lanka’s public transportation system fresh off the boat plane was a little bit too much to bear for our weary bodies. Hence we decided to opt for a softer landing through hiring a air-conditioned van to Dambulla.

The initial amount quoted was lower than what I had researched on the internet; Kok Wai utilized his bargaining skill to bring it down further to 7000 LKR. The agent offered us an option: we could keep the vehicle for the entire trip for 55 USD per day for the rest of our trip. The option wasn’t taken up immediately as we wanted to try out trains and buses on the island. However, we used it to our advantage as we promised to consider if a good van and driver were provided.

After agreeing on the price, we walked out to the pick-up point.

Our Sri Lankan adventure officially began!

Sri Lanka Adventure [10 - 18 June 2010]
Part I: Pre-Trip [Singapore, 10 Jun 2010]
Part II: The Long Shuttle [Singapore - Kuala Lumpur, 10 Jun 2010]
Part III: AK255 [KUL - CMB, 11 Jun 2010]
Part IV: A Slice of Cultural Triangle [CMB - Dambulla, 11 June 2010]
Part V: Temples [Dambulla - Kandy, 12 Jun 2010]
Part VI: Into the Hills [Kandy - Haputale, 13 Jun 2010]
Part VII: Trekking to World’s End [Horton's Plains National Park, 14 Jun 2010]
Part VIII: Retracing the steps of Sir Thomas Lipton [Lipton's Seat & Tea Factory, 15 Jun 2010]
Part IX: Leopard! Leopard! Leopard! [Haputale - Tissa, 16 Jun 2010]
Part X: Will this journey ever end? [Tissa - Negombo, 17 Jun 2010]
Part XI: Goodbye Serendib [CMB - KUL - Singapore, 18 Jun 2010]
Part XII: Epilogue

Members of the traveling contingent were to meet outside the Coffee Bean at Novena Square at 8pm sharp. Despite holding the bus tickets, Lewis was the last guy to arrive at 8.15pm.

By then, our First Coach bus, scheduled to depart at 8.30pm, was already waiting for us.

Route: Singapore – Kuala Lumpur
Mode: First Coach
Dep: Novena Square, Singapore 8:30pm
Arr: Bangsar LRT, Kuala Lumpur 1:30am (Next day)
Time taken: Five hours
Distance traveled: Approx. 370km
Cost: S$33.00

View Larger Map

We could have chosen other alternatives but decided on this service based on the timing and the drop-off location. Like most coaches to Malaysia, the bus has a 2-1 seating plan. However, it has only nine rows or 27 seats in total compared to the Standard Express buses which can hold 40 passengers. There are even more luxurious services which employ buses with 16 seats equipped with LCD TVs, lounge and mini-fridges!

Crossing both sets of customs were easy enough except that the security at the Singaporean side spotted me taking some photographs at the entrance of the Immigration building and made me delete them. They were polite enough but I reminded myself not to pull the same stunt over at the Malaysian side.

Once into Malaysian territory, the on-board entertainment could be utilized.

Too bad mine kept hanging on me and I gave up after several restarts. Not much an issue for me as I preferred to have some shuteye for the long night ahead.

An hour on the Malaysian expressway was followed by a stop at Machap‘s Rest & Service Area (RSA). There were already someone amongst us who was getting hungry and had to picked up some food there.

After an approximate twenty-five minutes stop, the bus resumed the journey to Kuala Lumpur. I went back to sleep but woke up about an hour outside KL. Since my on-board entertainment wasn’t working, I decided to watch Top Gear‘s Vietnam Special uploaded on my iPod Touch. Those guys never fail to crack me up with their humor and antics.

The bus pulled into Bangsar LRT Station at around 1:30am. By then public transportation had ceased and we had to make the 1km trek to KL Sentral on foot. Touts greeted us at the deserted KL Sentral but we had no use for them. We had purchased the tickets to Skybus‘s shuttle service and our plan was to catch its first departure to Kuala Lumpur International Airport‘s Low Cost Carriers’ Terminal at 3:00am .

With slightly more than an hour to kill, we went for supper at the 24-hour McDonald’s inside the building. The air-con of the buildings was switched off by then and the air was kinda stuffy. I believed that most of the other customers were waiting for the first shuttle service to KLIA as well. One lovely staff got us some seats near the fan but it hardly helped. Some of us managed to discover that Malaysian McD’s served pretty mean fried chickens and were already making plans of getting more on the way back.

We boarded the shuttle bus from the basement of KL Sentral a few minutes before 3:00am. To my surprise, the bus was almost full. Another operator Aerobus also provides service on this route. If we were to buy the shuttle tickets on board the buses, Aerobus would be a ringgit cheaper than Skybus at 8 MYR. However, purchasing the return Skybus shuttle tickets together with the air tickets only cost a total of 13 MYR for each passenger.

Route: KL Sentral to KUL LCCT
Mode: Skybus
Dep: KL Sentral 3:00am
Arr: KUL LCCT 4:15am
Time taken: 1h15m
Distance traveled: Approx. 70km
Cost: 6.50 MYR

View Larger Map

To the dismay of our co-passengers, some of us were awake after supper and chatted all the way during the 1h15m bus journey. We reached KUL LCCT just as our flight to CMB, AK255, was open for check-in.

Sri Lanka Adventure [10 - 18 June 2010]
Part I: Pre-Trip [Singapore, 10 Jun 2010]
Part II: The Long Shuttle [Singapore - Kuala Lumpur, 10 Jun 2010]
Part III: AK255 [KUL - CMB, 11 Jun 2010]
Part IV: A Slice of Cultural Triangle [CMB - Dambulla, 11 June 2010]
Part V: Temples [Dambulla - Kandy, 12 Jun 2010]
Part VI: Into the Hills [Kandy - Haputale, 13 Jun 2010]
Part VII: Trekking to World’s End [Horton's Plains National Park, 14 Jun 2010]
Part VIII: Retracing the steps of Sir Thomas Lipton [Lipton's Seat & Tea Factory, 15 Jun 2010]
Part IX: Leopard! Leopard! Leopard! [Haputale - Tissa, 16 Jun 2010]
Part X: Will this journey ever end? [Tissa - Negombo, 17 Jun 2010]
Part XI: Goodbye Serendib [CMB - KUL - Singapore, 18 Jun 2010]
Part XII: Epilogue

Four weeks before the trip, Air Asia was running one of their usual offers on their website. I noticed the cheap fare between KUL and CMB (about S$200 in total inclusive of taxes, on-board food and checked in luggage fees) and recalled the New York Times article earlier this year.

Emerging from the long and bloody civil war, Sri Lanka was named as the head honcho in the 31 Places to Go in 2010. Lionel Beehner wrote:

For a quarter century, Sri Lanka seems to have been plagued by misfortune, including a brutal civil war between the Sinhalese-dominated government and a separatist Tamil group. But the conflict finally ended last May, ushering in a more peaceful era for this teardrop-shaped island off India’s coast, rich in natural beauty and cultural splendors.

The island, with a population of just 20 million, feels like one big tropical zoo: elephants roam freely, water buffaloes idle in paddy fields and monkeys swing from trees. And then there’s the pristine coastline. The miles of sugary white sand flanked by bamboo groves that were off-limits to most visitors until recently are a happy, if unintended byproduct of the war.

Among the most scenic, if difficult stretches to reach, is Nilaveli Beach in the Tamil north. While a few military checkpoints remain, vacationers can lounge on poolside hammocks under palm trees or snorkel in its crystal-clear waters. Or they can order cocktails at the Nilaveli Beach Hotel (www.tangerinehotels.com/nilavelibeach), a collection of recently renovated bungalows with private terraces.

An international airport in Matara, on the island’s southern shore, is under construction, which will make the gorgeous beaches near the seaside village of Galle easier to get to. Decimated by the tsunami in 2004, the surrounding coastline is now teeming with stylish guesthouses and boutique hotels.

Unawatuna, a crescent-shaped beach a few miles south of Galle, may be furthest along. Higher-end hotels there include Thambapanni Retreat (www.thambapanni.biz), which features four-poster beds, yoga and an ayurvedic spa. The Sun House (www.thesunhouse.com), in Galle, looks like a place where the Queen of England might stay, with its mango courtyard and colonial décor. One stylish place tucked within Galle’s city walls is the Galle Fort Hotel (www.galleforthotel.com), a refurbished gem merchant’s house run by a couple of Aussies.

Over some casual Burger King dinner after a football session with the lads, I brought up the topic of visiting Sri Lanka. There was some interest but obviously I didn’t really feel that it would culminate into a real trip. The development over the next one week or so surprised me; five brave souls (or fools) signed up with me for a week in Sri Lanka. The offer was gone by then but the return air ticket for each only added up to a reasonable S$260.

Over yet another dinner, I told them about some of my experiences in India. Being the only person who had some experience traveling on the sub-continent, I realized how unprepared those guys might be and what they are about to encounter in Sri Lanka could be really far off from their expectations. One guy was even considering to pull out after hearing my warnings. A meeting was in order and I tried to my best to prepare them. Itinerary and logistics were also discussed and decided during the meeting and we were almost ready to go.

Our itinerary for the trip was a modified one based on the two trip reports that I read on Sgbikes.com’s forum. While both trips were done on motorcycles instead of public transportation, trip reports from belgarathc and FB666Y provided me with a rough idea of where to go. Trawling through a Chinese backpacking website allowed me to discover a valuable trip report by Mr Bubu. He and his traveling partners used public transportation to get around Sri Lanka and his report provided us with really valuable and up-to-date information.

Our seven days in Sri Lanka would have the following itinerary: CMB – Dambulla – Kandy – Haputale – Tissa – Galle – Negombo – CMB. We intended to have a little of everything in our short trip: cultural sights/temples in Dambulla and Kandy, trekking and visiting tea plantations near Haputale, animals-watching at Yala National Park outside Tissa and beaches at Galle and Negombo.

The day before the trip, we went to Mustafa Centre to do some shopping for the trip. Despite remembering clearly that I owned a type D adapter (the one used in Sri Lanka), it went missing on me and I had to get a new one. The exchange rate at Mustafa (80 LKR/SGD) is better compared to what the Sri Lankan banks are offering on their websites (79.6 LKR/SGD). Rather marginal though.

Packing, as usual, wasn’t too difficult for me.

The bus to KL will leave from Novena MRT at 8.30pm tonight. Hopefully a detailed report will follow after the trip.