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STAy Working Holiday with United Holidays; Sri Lanka
Saturday night and I’m scrabbling around Terminal 4 Heathrow seeking STA agents who’s mug shots I didn’t possess, mobile phone tingling every now and again to touch base with who was stuck in what tube or elevator, groaning at the site of the queues developing, excitement pains growing in the pit of my stomach…… and there I found them all – in front of Costa Coffee.
With tickets issued, bags away, perfume sampling in full swing, monies exchanged and randomly bumping into Andy on his way to Rio; myself and the others were through the gate and onto Colombo with only a few minutes to spare.10.5 hours later, three epic long films and the first of many oriental dishes to come – we landed in a muggy mid-afternoon. Was bliss to pile into an air-conditioned mini bus and head off to our accommodation for the night.
Our cool automobile – who later turned out to be named Rosa – landed us in Negombo at the basic Catamaran Hotel. Suitcases were discarded, flip-flops donned and the group divided itself between Lion Lagers on room doorsteps and hitting the beach minutes before a monsoonal downpour. That evening we were met by Maxi, our United Holidays’ tour guide for the week, and were soon whisked off to another hotel/restaurant a few doors down for dinner. Being the first night as strangers to one another, 20 questions ensued and by bed-time, the idea of sharing a room and mosquito net with less strange folk seemed aye-okay.
Day 2 and at 6.30 in the morning Rosa had us whistling through village roads and on our way to Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage. The drive was fairly long but with Maxi’s wealth of knowledge and the scenery being all so new to us, the hours flew by and on arrival we were ushered in to catch the beginnings of feeding time. The orphanage was larger than first anticipated and the highlight was definitely watching the herd wallow in their small lake and play fight in the slippery mud. Watching a few ellies munch on lunch prompted our own stomach juices and our trusty Maxi found us a super restaurant climbing into the hillside. With fantastic views of the countryside and an entire table full of various curry dishes, our feeding hour drifted by pleasantly.
Mid afternoon brought us to the city of Kandy – a beautiful mountain resort with remnants of its Portuguese and British occupation. We had time to mooch by ourselves, explore the bazaars and spice markets, bargain for tid-bits and eventually make our way up one seriously steep road to Highest View; our accommodation for the night. With stern warnings to bar windows from all pilfering macaques, the group made it into town for an evening of traditional dance, fire-walking and taking in ceremony hour at the famed Temple of the Tooth – home to one of Buddah’s teeth (apparently). The grounds are enormous and incredibly peaceful.Dinner was, funnily enough, rice and curry and our night passed by with the help of bottles of Lion, stories of each others’ travel experiences and a moment with a rather large and hairy spider.
Morning of Day 3 broke with scrambled eggs over-looking the city’s lake and we were soon on our way to a tea factory. Amazing to see the process from picking a leaf to seeing the end result in the bottom of our teacups. By lunchtime we hit the bustling city of Colombo. Rush hour (which is really the hours between 08:00 and 23:00) prevented us heading straight to the City Hotel so Maxi took us on a speed tour of the area presenting everything from shopping centre to temple to fish vendor to mosque to largest pothole in the road to finally the hotel. Highly impressed with the property and location and the afternoon split our group in 2: one lot taking on the markets and street stalls; and the others flying down rain-slicked roads in the back of a tuk tuk in search of the perfect beach/sea to bob around on. Night gave us little preparation for the hours that were to follow. The local lads from United met us all at the Sinhalese Sports Club and we had a full on time karaoking, boogying and getting to know one another just that little bit better. Heads only hit pillows close to day break.
A struggle it was to rise an hour later but before we knew it we’d left the hustle and bustle of the capital and found ourselves being tutored in the ways of creating traditional Batiks. Have to admit the “stewing pots” were pretty much on par with the same aromas encountered the day before during Maxi’s whirlwind tour of fish vendor and friends. With batik purchases made and various “loos” sought, our morning drifted into a couple of site inspections in Bentota and then checking into Susanthas Beach Hotel by lunchtime. The property was immediately a favourite with the group. The beach is a few seconds away, the area is quiet and chilled – perfect for a lazy beach holiday!
Our afternoon was to be spent flailing around on a board, clutching at sails and generally spending most of if flat on our faces in water…but everyone was delighted to find out Bentota didn’t have enough instructors to go around for the organised wind surfing lessons, so ambling up and down the river in canoes was an absolutely fine substitute! Some folk managed to spot monitor lizards along the way, Russell was convinced every rustle in the branches above was some manic serpent ready to leap out at him, Jane P and Angelika caught a ride back up the river by latching on to the back of a powered boat; Jane M was kind enough to let her local canoe partner do all the work and I spent my “canoeing time” parked out in a reclining chair on the bank of the river ogling 2 times champion Mr Sri Lanka – the would be wind surfing instructor! Who needs a canoe when you have the serenity and scenery as I had?(It turned out to be the highlight of everyone’s trip).
As a result of little sleep since arriving in the country, everybody’s heads hit the sack once bellies were topped up with rice and curry. We were all however, awoken at 5am when a train belted past our doors and announced it’s passing with a fog horn! Nearest public transport to and from hotel?..look no further than your Susantha bedroom door!
Our 5th day was spent ambling the fort in Galle, cracking lobster for lunch and, for some, sifting through petrol-fume-infused rice (?). Driving back up to the coastal area known as Hikkaduwa really revealed to us how much damage the Tsunami caused. Two years on and there are still skeleton buildings left, much reconstruction and so many graves and memorials to those lost. We arrived in the Koh Phangan of the country - Hikkaduwa - by late afternoon and the hours ticked by fooling around on the beach. A few tanning rays were caught, Russell exhausted himself surfing, Steph and Jane M chatted amicably with a local pooch and her fleas and Jane P managed to cream all hapless fools who had their legs in the way of her incoming uncontrollable surfboard! Rice and Curry followed later much later on and as did a night with local beach boys and the odd lost Australian.
We awoke to the most sweltering morning! Most of us managed to get half way down the road in the search of terrible touristy purchases but before long we were forced back to our hotel – The Imperial – to collapse in a heap. Wills were mustered and before long we were checking out a few more of the STAy properties down the road. All of us were really impressed with the quality for money and the speediness in which things have been rebuilt since the devastation two years ago. Maxi and his side kick Harinda had the brilliant idea of a lunch that wasn’t rice and curry and all it involved was moving a couple of doors down to the Roti shop.
Boy did we indulge!The remainder of the day was aboard Rosa, battling rush hour in Colombo in our attempts to reach Negombo. We dozed, I-spied, munched on cashews, watched life fly past our windows, inwardly cursed at those drivers who felt leaning on their vehicle horns would help traffic move; and thanked our lucky stars that we were in Rosa rather than on a bike in the monsoon outside. Negombo was eerily silent during the evening and we passed our last night together in a randomly discovered bar, swatting at mosquitoes and lamenting the fact that our week together had shot by so fast.
Sri Lanka was “cut down” thanks to the Tsunami and our time there revealed to us how eager the locals are to rebuild, redevelop and attract tourists back. Definitely a country worth revisiting and for a longer period of time!
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