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SL Adv. Part XII: Epilogue

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 will answer seven questions to share our thoughts on the Sri Lankan trip.

Q1. What is the highlight of the trip for you and why?

Shyh Jie: It’s a tough choice between Horton’s Plains NP, the town of Haputale and Yala NP. I would go for Horton’s Plains for the amazing scenery.

Kendrick: The highlight was Horton Plains and Yala national park. This is the first time that I have been so exposed to nature and is a very different experience.

Chiang: Highlight was actually just living the life of the locals… like taking bus and train… seeing the way they live… and maybe safari.

Kok Wai: Haputale, for its people and their hospitality. And Horton’s Plains for its picturesque landscape.

Lewis: Yala National Park( leopard leopard leopard! ) and the Horton’s Plains(Perfect weather and scenery for trekking)

Feijie: Haputale – I am touched by the people’s friendliness and the views at Lipton’s Seat and Horton’s Plains are superb.

Q2. What is the most surprising aspect of the trip for you and why?

Shyh Jie: The Sri Lankan people definitely. Most people whom we met were friendly and spoke good English. It is definitely nice not having to deal with the same kind of hassles that I experienced in India.

Kendrick: The safety of Sri Lanka. Expected there to be pretty dangerous but felt quite safe for the duration of the trip.

Chiang: The mosquitoes n house flies around… Just too many… and seeing how friendly the people were at Haputale.

Kok Wai: The surprisingly friendly locals we met along the way, which I didn’t come to expect from people that had just went through a civil war.

Lewis: How limited their food variety are despite having so many food sources (seafood etc)

Feijie: The most surprising aspect is the living standard of the people which is much better than I have expected.

Q3. Is there anything about the trip that you are disappointed about? Why?

Shyh Jie: Food is the biggest disappointment. Food aren’t the most inspiring due to the lack of variety and quality (in the case of seafood). Another issue is the high admission cost charged by the attractions. In fact almost 40% of what I spent in Sri Lanka were on admissions.

Kendrick: The food. Not enough variety and local restaurants.

Chiang: Disappointed seeing how cheapskate we were with the tips and stuff.

Kok Wai: Has to be food which is lacking of variety.

Lewis: Food Food Food! Although the highlights (1) made up for the disappointment in my daily meals but the seafood meal on last day was terribly below expectations, especially after traveling more than 12 hrs for them.

Feijie: I am disappointed by the food of course. Because the food choice is very limited and quality is also not good.

Q4. Is there any aspect about the trip that you wish to be done differently? Is there any part that you think can be improved on?

Shyh Jie: Hmm… tough question. I think that it was quite difficult to travel independently in such a big group due to the need for consensus before making decisions (eg accommodation). But the trip might turn out not to be as fun.

Kendrick: The return trip could have been planned better. Should have bought tickets beforehand to avoid the uncertainty experienced.

Chiang: The journey to Sri Lanka and back. Coach then coach then plane.. should have taken a straight flight there even though it will cost more.

Kok Wai: The trip to and fro. Considering the amount of traveling we had to do within Sri Lanka itself, we would be better off spending another hundred or so and booked a direct flight.

Lewis: We should probably include whale watching in the itinerary! and diving! and better seafood! NEXT TIME!

Feijie: Given enough time, I wish that we have visited the Colombo as well.

Q5. Will you recommend Sri Lanka as a travel destination to your friends?

Shyh Jie: YES! Get to Sri Lanka before the horde of tourists. It’s still relatively unspoiled by mass tourism but it may change over the next few years.

Kendrick: Definitely but not for people that wants a comfortable holiday.

Chiang: Definitely. Something different from other normal tours. To see a different way of living and how fortunate we are.

Kok Wai: Definitely. only for the adventurous though.

Lewis: Those who have not been there are definitely missing out ! But not for those who seeks to have a culinary and shopping experience.

Feijie: Yes I will recommend because of the nice sceneries and nice people.

Q6. Out of a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you rate the trip?

Shyh Jie: 7/10. Could be a nine but minus 1 for bad roads and minus 1 for food.

Kendrick: 6.5

Chiang: 6.5… Not here to enjoy but to experience and that’s what we did…

Kok Wai: 7

Lewis: 8.5 (1 from the food, 0.5 from traveller’s home). It’s definitely a fresh experience as compared to other countries that I have been before.

Feijie: 7

Q7. Any other comments/interesting observations about the trip that you wish to share?

Shyh Jie: I am amazed how much one can eat. Some of my travel buddies could easily eat twice my portion and probably more.

Chiang: Spending less than $800 was very worth it… though I don’t mind paying more for the direct flight… well planned and organized… should add a couple of gals or something to spice up future trips.

Kok Wai: Kendrick’s ability to sleep anytime, anywhere. Second to none.

Lewis: The company is superb! Let’s go for another one!

Feijie: I am surprised that one of my friends actually eats to live. And he keeps saying we all eat a lot though the rest of us eat about the same amount.

Written by shyhjie

July 2, 2010 at 6:59 pm

Posted in Sri Lanka

Tagged with Sri Lanka

SL Adv. Part XI: Goodbye Serendib [CMB - KUL - Singapore, 18 Jun 2010]

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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.

Early morning's Negombo Beach

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

My bed

Close-up

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.

Our autorickshaws parked in front of Jeero's GH

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.

Reaching CMB

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)

Half full cabin

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.

Asian fried rice with satay

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

Chicken rice - yummy

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.

Stripped down armrest

The flight was uneventful and we reached KUL on time.

Spotted - Air Asia's 9M-AFD

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.

The bus to Singapore

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.

Written by shyhjie

July 2, 2010 at 3:59 pm

Posted in Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka

Tagged with Bukit Jalil, CMB, Kuala Lumpur, KUL, LCCT, Malaysia, Negombo, Singapore, Sri Lanka

SL Adv. Part X: Will this journey ever end? [Tissa - Negombo, 17 Jun 2010]

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Padi fields outside our rooms

We had to set off early because of the long day of travel ahead of us.

Our used beds

To the guesthouse’s credit, the rooms were really clean and properly maintained. However the owner was in denial again when we pointed out to him that there was a hole in one of the mosquito nets.

Then we were given the bill for our stay and dinner. We were quoted 2300 LKR nett for the triples but the bill that he gave us included an additional 10% service charge. I liked to think that it was a honest mistake but the owner was too shrewd for this error. He did waive the service charge away but I couldn’t help but wonder whether he was trying to be opportunistic there.

Goodbye Travellers' Home - I doubt that I will miss you though

We decided to walk to the bus station in order to get seats for our bus. The first leg of our trip would be to Matara, approximately 106km away to the west.

The conductor told us that the bus would leave at 8:00am so half of us went to get breakfast after leaving our bags on the bus. The bus wanted to leave ahead of schedule again and those at the bakery were almost left behind at Tissa. As our backpacks were too big, we paid for additional two seats for them.

Bus prior to leaving

Route: Tissamaharama to Matara
Distance: 106km
Time taken: Approx. 3h30m
Mode: Public bus
Cost: 100 LKR per person

View Larger Map

The bus was really crowded by the time it left Tissa town.

Crush

The crush only eased at Hambantota.

The sea from Hambantota bus station

Hambantota is the electoral district of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. There have been criticism of the President favoring his home district in terms of development. The accusations aren’t groundless; Sri Lanka’s second international airport and an international port are being built within the district and the area appears to receive more aid compared to other districts affected by the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.

Ambalangoda was the next big town that we passed by. The bus would travel mostly along the coast from here onwards.

Shops in Ambalangoda bus stop

We got to chat with a local guy who boarded from Dikwella, near the famous Ho-o-maniya blowhole. We asked him about the possible places where we can get good seafood.

When he knew that we were from Singapore, he asked about Lee Kuan Yew. Like the lawyer whom we met in Haputale, he told us about the electoral promise which LKY made to Singaporeans more than 40 years ago. “If I’m elected, I will emulate Sri Lankan economic model.” The Sri Lankan politicians are now promising their voters that they can look forward to Singapore’s style of development. The irony wasn’t lost on us here.

The bus reached Matara about three and a half hours after it left Tissa. We wasted no time in finding our next bus to Galle.

Route: Matara to Galle
Distance: 45km
Time taken: Approx. 1h15m
Mode: Public bus
Cost: 43 LKR per person

View Larger Map

This bus was less crowded than the previous one and I sat on the left side for a good view of the sea. The waves were rough as it was the monsoon season along the south coast. Along the way there were abandoned structures along the coast. I believed that they were debris from the 2004 Tsunami.

It was half time for us when we arrived at Galle’s rather chaotic bus depot. It was scorching hot and we decided to have lunch near the bus station before deciding our next course of action. Our lunch was the usual fried rice, fried noodles and briyani; the seafood fried rice turned out to be quite tasty.

Galle Fort seen from the restaurant

Despite the hot weather, we decided to take a look at Galle Fort since we were already there.

Galle Cricket Stadium lies between the bus station and the fort

We had to walk pass some fishmongers on our way to the fort.

Fishmongers - tip requested after photo was taken

The hot weather forced us to take an extra break at a cafe near the main gate.

Main Gate

An elderly man on bicycle started chatting to us and asked about our accommodation. We were just passing by and immediately he offered to organize onward transportation. We assured him that we knew where to take the public buses. He wasn’t ready to give up and told us to visit some place inside the Fort. It was so hard to shake him off.

Inside the fort:

Curd delivery

Back street

City Hall

Dutch Reformed Church

The caretaker of the church was rather cranky as we disturbed him during his lunch. He said that no photography was allowed inside and told us the minimum amount to donate was 100 LKR. Oh well. I intended to put 20 LKR into the donation box but it wasn’t appreciated at all.

Running short of time we decided not to walk to the coast and headed back to the bus station instead. A volleyball tournament was taking place near the Old Gate.

Smash!

Old Gate

Fort's outer wall

Friendly boys

There were air-conditioned bus services from Galle to Colombo, 119km away. We chose them over the non air-conditioned ones to avoid the fumes and pollution but the seat pitch in these smaller vehicles was really miserable.

Route: Galle to Colombo
Distance: 119km
Time taken: Approx. 3h
Mode: Air-con bus
Cost: 215 LKR per person

View Larger Map

Like public buses, the air-con ones would pick up passengers along the route. The driver seemed mild at first but got progressively crazier as we neared Colombo. He kept weaving in and out of the traffic and even went on to the opposite lane. It was truly heart stopping stuff.

Colombo

It was already dark when we reached Colombo. Along the way we passed by well known surfing beaches such as Hikkaduwa and Bentota. Colombo’s bus station was messy and chaotic. Not somewhere to hang around for any amount of time.

Chiang wasn’t pleased when I told him that there was one more bus ride before reaching Negombo, our final destination of the day. A helpful fellow passenger from our Galle bus made sure that we got to the correct bus for Negombo. The air-con bus was too full so we just got on the next non air-conditioned one.

Route: Colombo to Negombo
Distance: 36.5km
Time taken: Approx. 1h30m
Mode: Public bus
Cost: 40 LKR per person

View Larger Map

Bus door was always open and people board and alight on the go

It was more than 12 hours since we left Tissa when we arrived at Negombo at 8:30pm. Only a short autorickshaw ride (200 LKR per autorickshaw) separated us from Jeero’s Guest House, our lodging for the night. The drivers offered to drive us to the airport the following morning for 800 LKR which we bargained down to 700 LKR.

Only two doubles were available at Jeero’s and the owner offered to put two of us at the hotel next door for the same price. Apparently both of them were under the same management. We decided to stick together and accepted the owner’s offer of placing extra bed in the room. Each triple cost 1500 LKR. The rooms were big and clean and the beach could be seen from the balcony. Too bad it was too dark by the time we reached Negombo.

Negombo beach at night - can you make out the waves?

Negombo Beach was easily the most touristy place that we visited in Sri Lanka. There are shops selling souvenirs and the restaurants cater mainly to tourists. June was clearly the low season for tourism as there were hardly any foreign visitors on the streets. We decided to splurge on our last meal in Sri Lanka and hoped to have some famed Sri Lankan crabs at their place of origin.

We chose the most likely restaurant which might serve decent seafood and ordered a crab each and some other dishes. To their credit our steamed crabs were really fresh but the other dishes were disappointing. The prawns used for the dish of garlic prawns were so small that they should only be described as shrimps. Like tea, the best selection of seafood are exported to overseas market and the local market is left with what’s unsold. An unfortunate disappointing end to a great trip.

Written by shyhjie

July 2, 2010 at 1:36 am

Posted in Sri Lanka

Tagged with Galle, Negombo, Sri Lanka, Tissa

SL Adv. Part IX: Leopard! Leopard! Leopard! [Haputale - Tissa, 16 Jun 2010]

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After three nights at Haputale, it was time for us to move on.

Srilakview's cozy restaurant - spent our evenings here watching World Cup

Last look from Srilakview's verandah

We settled our bill for our stay with the manager (1950 LKR per person for three nights; 1300 LKR for a double room) and headed to the bus station. While we had an enjoyable stay at Srilakview, I couldn’t help but feel that the management could spruce up the rooms and maintain them even better.

We made good our promise to the fruit seller and got his address (to send him photographs) before leaving. The 8:30am bus to Wellawaya left ahead of schedule and it meant that we had a little more time in Haputale.

Locals waiting for buses

Lewis at railway crossing

Congregation of autorickshaws

Friendly man in passing bus

While out walking in town the previous evening, the two photographers made an acquaintance with the owner of the provision shop at the bus station. He told them that he could tell they are from Singapore from their faces.

Provision shop owner

It turned out that he had worked at a factory in Singapore for seven years and is now back in his hometown running the provision shop. We stocked up some snacks from his shop and he told us that the next bus would leave at around 10:00am.

After consulting more people, we realized that we might not be able to stick to our original plan of making the afternoon safari at Yala National Park. We would need to make two transfers (at Wellawaya and Wirawila) to reach Tissamaharama, the gateway to Yala NP. Some guy came and offered us a ride with the van driver whom we had to Horton’s Plains NP.

After some friendly banter and hard bargaining, we settled on a really good price of 4800 LKR (for us of course) and set off in the van for Tissamaharama or Tissa for short.

Route: Haputale to Tissamaharama (Tissa)
Distance: 96km
Time taken: Approx. 3h
Mode: Van
Cost: 4800 LKR

View Larger Map

As the road winded down the hills, the lack of air-condition in the van became more apparent. We cooled off for a while at Diyaluma Falls, the second highest waterfall in Sri Lanka at 220m.

Sign of Diyaluma

Diyaluma Falls

It was a slippery climb from the road to the base of the waterfall; I didn’t feel that the effort was worth it since we had seen Baker’s Falls. The terrain flattened out near Wellawaya and we declined the driver’s offer to visit Buduruvagala temple in order to reach Tissa earlier.

The van driver drove us to Travellers’ Home and the owner showed us the triples available. The owner was keen to have us and offered to negotiate the rates. Srilakview’s manager had recommended Regina Inn in Tissa and we decided to take a look there as well. After viewing both places we decided to pump for Travellers’ Home whose rooms were brighter and seemed cleaner.

Some British backpackers were leaving the guesthouse as we were checking in. They were on the morning safari and told us excitedly that they managed to spot a mother leopards with her two cubs. As time was running short, we got the guesthouse owner to organize the jeep for us. He quoted 4200 LKR for each person, an offer which we accepted.

The driver was a smiley young chap and readily accepted our request for a stop to stock up on some food and water along the way. We passed by a big lake on our way to the national park.

Lake

Before reaching the park entrance, our driver drove us off the road to point out a baby crocodile nesting near the lake. It was really hard to spot. Buffaloes were all over the grassland surrounding the water body.

Jeep ahead of us

Buffaloes

More buffaloes

We reached the visitors’ center and our guide went to settle the fees while we took a look at the small museum. There were interesting exhibits and short information about the species present in the park but we were more interested to see the wildlife in flesh instead of specimens.

No. of visitors to Yala NP

Our jeep

We stopped shortly after leaving the visitors’ center. Our driver had spotted yet another crocodile.

Can you spot the crocodile too?

A world of wild animals await us beyond the checkpoint

Our driver was really sharp in spotting animals.

Pelican

Land monitor

It’s digging for something…

Wild hare

Monkey

Then we came into contact with some giants.

Elephant

Pair of elephants

The pair of elephants were actually of a bigger herd who wanted to cross the track to the water body. However, the horde of jeeps scared them and they didn’t dare to cross.

Another elephant

It put on a show for us.

We moved on and as usual our driver was on alert for moving objects.

Driving and spotting at the same time

Deers - plenty of them in the park

We were driven to the river bank and told by our driver that we could walk around the area for pictures.

Bones

They are left behind by predators.

Until now, we had pretty much seen what we expected to see except for the biggest prize: leopards.

Our driver received a phone call from a fellow guide who had news of leopard sighting and we were off in the jeep again. Our jeep was stationary at a spot in anticipation of any sighting of the big cat but no luck there.

We drove away from the jeeps into one of the deserted tracks and suddenly a leopard appeared right in front of us sitting on the side of the track. The driver was shocked as well but quickly reacted by reversing and then cutting the engine. The leopard strolled leisurely back into the vegetation again.

Blink and you may miss it

What a lucky sighting! The driver drove us to a nearby water body as he estimated that the leopard was heading to one. Alas it didn’t mean to and we left disappointed after waiting for another 10 minutes there.

Just as we thought that the highlight of the trip was behind us and were discussing the animals at the back of the jeep, Feijie suddenly let out a cry.

“Leopard! Leopard! Leopard!”

His sharp eyes had spotted a huge cat to our right as the jeep drove pass. Our driver was looking the other way and were equally surprised as the rest of us. He pulled over and reversed; our view of this big cat was finally unobstructed.

What a beauty.

Big cat in its full glory

It moved inside the vegetation after a while but our driver correctly predicted that it would cross the track behind us.

Why does leopard cross the road?

You could tell that it didn’t give a damn about the approaching vehicle at all.

Our luck didn’t run out there as we spotted an elephant with tusks walking towards us on the track minutes later.

Elephant with tusks

The driver remarked that we were really lucky; there were only a total of 35 leopards on record in the national park and the last elephant that we saw was one of the only nine with tusks. Safari was definitely money well spent.

It was getting dark as we made our way out of the park. We could tell that the place was about to come alive with all the sounds from nature.

Goodbye animals

We asked our driver if there were any good eating places in town but he was under instruction from his boss to bring us back to the guesthouse. Tissa town was quiet with most of the shops closed when we drove past.

The food at the guesthouse were more than expensive than what we were used to in Haputale. We ordered our dinner and told to return in an hour’s time. In the meantime we went back to our rooms where things were to get slightly more interesting.

The guys in the other room found two bed bugs on their beds and complained to the owner. The owner insisted that there were no bed bugs and told them, “This is Asia.” We were already irritated with his hard-sell tactics with the dinner and his response riled us even more. In the end we couldn’t do much except to stay on since it was already quite late and it was for only one night.

The dinner was forgettable and overpriced for what was served. The owner’s wife redeemed themselves a little by allowing us to watch the World Cup game between Spain and Switzerland in her living room. I observed that their own living quarter was more spartan than the rest of the guesthouse. Switzerland produced the first real upset of the tournament by winning against Spain.

And we watched it from a random living room in Tissa, Sri Lanka. How interesting.

Written by shyhjie

July 1, 2010 at 3:53 pm

Posted in Sri Lanka

Tagged with Diyaluma, Haputale, leopard, Sri Lanka, Tissa, wildlife, Yala National Park

SL Adv. Part VIII: Retracing the steps of Sir Thomas Lipton [Lipton's Seat & Tea Factory, 15 Jun 2010]

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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.

Sunrise at Lipton's Seat

More sunrise

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.

Lipton's Seat

Welcome to Lipton's Seat

View from Lipton's Seat

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.

Tea plants

Pretty flowers

Flower

Tea picker I

Tea picker II - they must have pretty strong necks

The same lady

Posing

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.

More pickers

Break for lunch

Bright smile

Another smiling picker

Working hand in hand

Mist descending in late morning

House in the midst of tea plants

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

Kok Wai posing with the family

Back view

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

School's out

Excited children

Curious

Interaction

Family posing

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.

Lewis in front of the tea factory

Various grades of tea

'The World's Most Popular Beverage'

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

Tea processing

Fermenting

Packing

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.

Risara's Bakers

Making the pastry

Lewis couldn't wait for the next round for samosas

Bakers from Risara

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).

Kids on swings

Men on street

Well-stocked shop

Men behind the shop

Show me the money

Garment shop

Unloading

Man with a pail (and a sad story)

Serving the townsfolk

Probably the most famous Chinese alive

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.

Written by shyhjie

June 30, 2010 at 7:28 pm

Posted in Sri Lanka

Tagged with Dambatenne Tea Factory, Haputale, Lipton's Seat, Sri Lanka

SL Adv. Part VII: Trekking to World’s End [Horton's Plains National Park, 14 Jun 2010]

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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.

Entrance to Horton's Plains

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.

Amazing landscape

Sambar deers

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.

Sign to World's End

Cafe near the start of the trail

Map of the National Park

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

Coniferous Trees

Dead tree - the scientists are still figuring why the phenomena occurs

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

Grassland

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

Mini World's End

Iguana spotted

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.

Buzzing

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.

World's End - shortly before the mist arrived

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

Beetle

Millipede

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.

Misty I

Misty II

Misty III

River in the mist

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.

Baker's Falls

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.

Beautiful rhododendron

Scenery

Mist returned

Rapids hidden by the mist

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.

Chilies/curries to go with our food

Fellow patron enjoying his chai

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

Well-stocked alcohol shop

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.

Arrack+Apple soda =

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!

Written by shyhjie

June 29, 2010 at 9:38 pm

Posted in Sri Lanka

Tagged with Horton's Plains National Park, Sri Lanka, Trekking, World's End

SL Adv. Part VI: Into the Hills [Kandy - Haputale, 13 Jun 2010]

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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.

Used room at McLeod Inn

Cozy restaurant

So long McLeod Inn

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.

Friendly shop assistants posing

Breads on offer

What caught your attention in this picture?

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

Chaotic bus station

Kandy Railway Station

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

Fish bun

Samosa

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

More pictures from the train station:

'The Majestic Kingdom of the Hills warmly welcomes you'

Fellow passengers

Tracks

Platform

Carriages

Spotted by locals

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

Train ticket

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.

Green

More green

'Green scenery went on and on'

Tea plantations - constant fixture along the tracks

'Waterfall'

Passing through

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

Youngsters near the door

Smile I

Smile II

Emo?

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.

Misty

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.

Crowded Haputale station

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.

Srilakview Holiday Inn

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.

Separate wing

Our room - full of bugs

Cracked basin

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.

Haputale Bus Stand

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.

Prata-man in action

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

Reason why we chose to visit Haputale

Fantastic view

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

Mosque

Hindu Temple

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

Boy outside Hindu temple - He just attended the wedding held inside

Ladies on a bus

Men at bus-stop

Girl with grandma

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

Elderly lady outside her house

The elderly man gamely posed for us with his goat.

The men who stare at goats

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

Rows of tea plants

Half-drunk guys who wanted us to help set up a LTTE branch in Singapore

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.

Ashraf our friendly fixer

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.

Written by shyhjie

June 28, 2010 at 7:54 pm

Posted in Sri Lanka

Tagged with Haputale, Kandy, Sri Lanka, train

SL Adv. Part V: Temples [Dambulla - Kandy, 12 Jun 2010]

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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.

Swimming Pool: Non-hotel guests have to pay 400 LKR for use

Breakfast menu

Lunch/dinner menu

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.

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.

Entrance to the cave temples

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.

First Cave

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

Buddha statues

Recling Buddha

Standing Buddha

Sitting Buddha

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.

Devotee

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.

'It is a good quality to respect all religions irrespective of the religion.'

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

Lotus

Monkey I

Monkey II

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.

Gold Buddha

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.

Kandy: 73.5km away from the bus stop

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.

Inside public bus

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

Friendly locals posing for us

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.

Arriving in Kandy - pilgrims boarding public bus

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.

Promising eating place

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.

Fat pelican in Kandy Lake

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

Fabulous view from McLeod Inn's balcony

Tooth Relic Temple/Palace from our GH

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.

Local men sitting by the lake

Queen's Hotel

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

Stalls 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.

Temple of Sacred Tooth Relic

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

Drummers

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.

Drummers

Blurry pic of the housing of the Sacred Tooth Relic

Devotees praying

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

Crowded

Buddha

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.

Storyboard depicting the history of the temple and the relic

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.

Vendor preparing chickpeas

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.

Written by shyhjie

June 26, 2010 at 4:30 pm

Posted in Sri Lanka

Tagged with cave temple, Dambulla, Kandy, mcleod inn, Sri Lanka, Temple of the sacred tooth relic

SL Adv. Part IV: A Slice of Cultural Triangle [CMB - Dambulla, 11 June 2010]

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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:

One of the Sri Lankan towns that we passed through

Buses on the road - Less colorful than Indian ones

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

Lewis posing with our transport

Reservoir - a Buddha statue spotted on the hill

Cobra man - small tip in exchange for posing with the snakes

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.

Gimanhala Transit Hotel

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.

Expensive room

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.

Rangiri Chinese Restaurant

The unassuming menu

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

Delicious fried rice in the most unexpected place

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.

Sigirya's moat

Sigirya

Students on excursion

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

Beware of hornets

Steps that we climbed

More steep stairs

Walking along the wall

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.

Everything looked small

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.

Frescoes

Topless

Flower girl

Blurry

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

Giant feet - Entrance to the last part

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.

Hornets' nests

Finally, after climbing forever, we reached the summit.

Light rays diffused through the clouds seen from the summit

King's swimming pool?

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

Sharing the summit with local monks

Three monks

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.

Dinner

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.

Waiter explaining

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.

Written by shyhjie

June 25, 2010 at 8:11 pm

Posted in Sri Lanka

Tagged with CMB, Dambulla, Sigirya, Sri Lanka

SL Adv. Part III: AK255 [KUL - CMB, 11 Jun 2010]

with one comment

4.15am arrival at KUL

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.

Inside LCCT

Low cost feel

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.

Departure Board - my flight was the third one out of KUL LCCT for the day

I prefer the old school mechanical departure boards used in SIN though

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.

Check-in for the various early morning flights

Our counter

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

Queue for CMB

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.

Marrybrown

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

My boarding pass - I couldn't figure out the codes 'BXDA' and 'NLML'

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.

Shops on the air-side

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

Gate 16

Gate Agent

Boarding

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.

View from my seat

Another cabin shot

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.

29 inch seat pitch

More photos:

Plane-spotting: 9M-AFS was parked right besides us

Safety information - in Malay, English and Chinese

Reverse side

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.

Shortly before the meal service

Taken from the back

Sun's rising

I like the color of the clouds

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.

Attendants on their round

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

Boarding pass ready

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

My meal - Kinda excited about what's beneath the cover

Complimentary 100ml of mineral water

I lifted up the cover expectantly…

...DISAPPOINTMENT!

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:

Sea of clouds

From the in-flight magazine:

Air Asia's Seoul-bound

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.

Flying over Sri Lanka

The only word which came to my mind was 'GREEN'

Hills

Descending

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.

Sri Lankan A320 (4R-ABH) spotted

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.

Bright and airy CMB

Mahinda Rajapaksa welcoming us

Ayubowan

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.

Booth where we got our vehicle

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.

Pick-up point

Bollywood stars were in CMB the week before

Our Sri Lankan adventure officially began!

Written by shyhjie

June 22, 2010 at 12:19 am

Posted in Malaysia, Sri Lanka

Tagged with Air Asia, CMB, KUL, LCCT, Sri Lanka

千里之行始于足下

Posts Tagged ‘Sri Lanka’

SL Adv. Part XII: Epilogue

SL Adv. Part XI: Goodbye Serendib [CMB - KUL - Singapore, 18 Jun 2010]

SL Adv. Part X: Will this journey ever end? [Tissa - Negombo, 17 Jun 2010]

SL Adv. Part IX: Leopard! Leopard! Leopard! [Haputale - Tissa, 16 Jun 2010]

SL Adv. Part VIII: Retracing the steps of Sir Thomas Lipton [Lipton's Seat & Tea Factory, 15 Jun 2010]

SL Adv. Part VII: Trekking to World’s End [Horton's Plains National Park, 14 Jun 2010]

SL Adv. Part VI: Into the Hills [Kandy - Haputale, 13 Jun 2010]

SL Adv. Part V: Temples [Dambulla - Kandy, 12 Jun 2010]

SL Adv. Part IV: A Slice of Cultural Triangle [CMB - Dambulla, 11 June 2010]

SL Adv. Part III: AK255 [KUL - CMB, 11 Jun 2010]

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