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

Negombo’s mosquitoes didn’t help to provide me with a good night’s sleep. When I finally fall asleep, Kendrick knocked on our room’s door to return me my book.

And luckily he did. The occupants in my room didn’t realize that it was already 5:25am and we had arranged transport to pick us up at 5:45am. Our military instinct kicked in and the three of us managed to wash up and got ready within the short time. In fact we even had the time to take photographs from the rooftop.

When we were about to leave, I realized that there were blood stains on my pillow.

Some poor mosquitoes must have been squashed by me.

When we returned from dinner the previous night, the guesthouse owner offered to arrange a van to the airport for 1000 LKR. Nevertheless we decided to honor our agreement with the autorickshaw drivers.

Despite being early morning, our autorickshaw driver was chatty and asked us about our trip. He lamented that our trip was too short and told us to visit Sri Lanka soon. Like most Sri Lankans whom we met on the trip, he was friendly and genuine.

The ride from Negombo Beach to CMB took around 25 minutes and the autorickshaws had to pass through cursory security check before being allowed to enter the airport.

Air passengers had to show the security guards their flight itineraries before being allowed to enter the terminal building. The security officer was satisfied with our flight itinerary being displayed on an iPhone but it would be easier if we had a physical copy.

There were several moneychangers which changed LKR into hard currencies such as USD or Euros. None of them stocked SGD so I exchanged my remaining rupees for USD at a pretty poor rate (1140 LKR for 9 USD). Some of us did some last minute shopping at the souvenir shop before checking in. There were no money exchange facilities beyond the check in counters and each individual is only allowed to bring a maximum of 1000 LKR out of Sri Lanka.

There wasn’t much of a queue at the check in and we were almost served immediately. An indication of a light load? Immigration was hassle-free as well.

In the most unlikeliest of places, we ran into Ian Wright, the host of Globetrekker series who was leaving CMB around the same time as us. He agreed readily to a photograph with us and told us to look out for his latest travel program which features Singapore.

Our plane was waiting for us at Gate 7 and I could see its registration clearly (9M-AHY). It is Air Asia’s newest aircraft and was only delivered on 20th April 2010. I got a middle seat of 21E but it wasn’t much of a problem. The load was light and there were plenty of empty rows for passengers to spread out.

Route: CMB – KUL
Flight no.: Air Asia AK 256
Dep: KUL 8:15am
Arr: CMB 2:20pm
Time taken: 3h35m
Distance traveled: 2470km (1535miles)
Cost: 322 MYR (incl in-flight meal & 15kg checked luggage)

Goodbye Serendib!

The meal service commenced pretty soon after the plane reached cruising altitude. To my horror, I realized that I ordered Asian fried rice for my pre-booked meal. Bad mistake since I had fried rice for almost every meal in Sri Lanka. Luckily it turned out to be quite good.

Chiang was smarter with his choice of chicken rice. The rice was particularly flavorful.

Despite its short time in service, wear and tear were apparent on the plane. One of the washrooms was out of order and Chiang’s left armrest had a piece missing.

The flight was uneventful and we reached KUL on time.

Malaysian immigration cards weren’t stocked on the plane and the Singaporeans could only fill up the cards at the terminal. Despite being held up, we still had to wait a while before our checked bags appeared on the baggage carousel.

Some of us were contemplating flying home instead of taking a coach. The multiple transfers on the previous day had taken its toll and we weren’t particularly looking forward to more transfers. However, the poor schedule and rather expensive prices scuppered the plan.

Kok Wai managed to get his cousin to give us a lift from KUL to the temporary bus station at Bukit Jalil. Cheers to him. If it wasn’t for his kind lift, we would not be able to catch the coach leaving for Singapore at 5:00pm.

The temporary bus station looked as if it was constructed overnight at one of the Bukit Jalil Stadium’s car-parks. It was filled with both travelers and touts looking for seat-fillers. A pretty chaotic scene and I was glad to get out of there in less than 20 minutes.

Route: Kuala Lumpur to Singapore
Mode: Coach (Forgot the name of the operator)
Dep: Bukit Jalil, KL 5:00pm
Arr: Beach Road, Singapore 10:30pm
Time taken: 5h30m
Distance traveled: Approx. 355km
Cost: 39 MYR

View Larger Map

We were the last ones to get on the bus and it left shortly after. Despite the lower price of 39 MYR, this bus had more comfortable seats than First Coach. No on board entertainment was available though so I watched Monga on my iPod instead.

After the Sri Lankan roads, Malaysian expressways seemed a blessing. The good roads enabled us to cover 350km in half the time that we took to cover 300km in Sri Lanka the previous day. It will be part of history soon though. The Southern Expressway linking Colombo and Matara will cut traveling time significantly when it is completed.

At Yong Peng where the coach stopped for dinner, Singapore-bound passengers had to transfer to another bus. There wasn’t much of a traffic heading into Singapore on a Friday evening. Our Sri Lankan adventure came to an end with our 10:30pm arrival at Beach Road.

Seven days wasn’t a long time but we managed to cover quite a bit of Sri Lanka. The epilogue post will sum up our thoughts on 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

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!