Sri Lanka: the first country to which I’d love to return for an extended visit!

5/28/15
It didn’t take long to realize that Sri Lanka was my favorite country so far of the trip; and it was the fifth (not including England), for those who weren’t counting.  The people exude an immediate pleasant demeanor and friendliness, and the country - an island off the southern tip of India - is absolutely lush with foliage throughout.  I’m told there is good diving, especially off the eastern coast, which is rich with shipwrecks and sea life.  But we stuck to the inland center of the island, in fact in one place.  Although we arrived into the airport of the capital city of Columbo, we hopped on a coach straight away, and the welcome sign - featuring their new president - was about all we saw:

The ride was not long, as we were headed for the air force base immediately adjacent to the airport.  After clearing some interesting military security (started with very thorough checks of everyone’s bag and passport, but after about ten of us, they just started waiving everyone through...), we scurried across their own tarmac to our awaiting military helicopters:

A unique boarding pass was issued to us, and surrendered upon embarkation:

And we hit the air!  The flight was a beautiful 45 minutes of green countryside, enormous Buddha statues, and sharp mountain peaks.  But nary a clear photo was to be had, as the tiny windows of the aircraft were absolutely fogged to the max.

After landing in a cricket field on the Heritance Kandalama resort property, we boarded another set of coaches the 800 meters to the main entrance.  There we were greeted by a dancing and drumming group of costumed clad gents:

And a beautiful elephant (aliya in Singalese) named Monica!

We were then presented with a tray of pineapples, which seemed a kind gesture, but I did imagine the mess in our room as we butchered it for consumption!  Thankfully, it was actually not for us, but rather to feed to Monica, which I readily did.  She snatched it up with her trunk, proudly displayed it overhead, and gobbled it up whole, stalks and all!

Before taking off, Jack posed with her, and I snapped a quick (but blurry) selfie:

The hotels boasts that it is the longest hotel in the world, at one kilometer (yeah, all these countries use the metric system).  The lobby is in the center, and the two wings branch out in both directions from there.  Our room was at the very end of the Sigiriya wing.  I will use this opportunity to say that this hotel is truly fantastic!  The location is extremely remote, fairly close to the micro town of Dambulla, and not near very much civilization at all.  But the setting is downright majestic.  It’s not near a jungle, but rather IN one!  And I mean right in one.  If there is one link I’d encourage you to check, it’s the one for the hotel (Click here to learn more).

Our suite was amply sized, luxuriously appointed, and very comfortable in its furnishings and fixtures.  The bathroom was huge, and featured not only a large jacuzzi tub, but an enormous shower with one wall of glass looking out onto the jungle and reservoir.  Wow!  Seriously, the best shower ever.  And the joy of showering in it was only compounded by the fact that WILD MONKEYS come right up to the window to watch you bathe!!  OMG!

I knew this was my favorite hotel, favorite country, and favorite place so far, when a family of monkeys came up to our balcony and engaged with us right from the get-go.  And these primates are beyond cute, both in appearance and personality.  Of course they would love a candy bar, a banana, or the sugar packets from the coffee service from the room (was told a story from a fellow traveler about one darting into their room through a momentarily open sliding glass door and stealing them), but I would give them nothing but freshly picked leaves off the trees that fed them naturally.  The photos don’t require much explanation:

And the ugly monkey award goes to:

Of course I wouldn’t miss the monkey-juxtaposed-against-the-do-not-feed-the-monkeys-sticker shot!

And no WAY would I miss a chance to shoot and share a little MONKEY PORN!!!  (cause that’s not weird at all)

And just when we thought we were spoiled by the special little creatures, and that was the end of the story, we discovered the black-faced gang on the other side of the hotel:

They were even bolder, and roamed the actual guest corridors of the hotel itself:

Wow!  Mind-blowing good stuff.  Really made the trip, I must say.  For the nature freak, this is truly an opportunity to live among it.

We did take a few excursions from the jungle, and the first was the Buddhist cave temples carved into a rock hill in Dambulla.  And like all Buddhist temples we visited, no exposed knees are allowed.  So Jack donned his requisite sarong:

Once inside, we were amazed by the hundreds of Buddha statues, and perhaps even more impressive, the painted Buddhas on the walls and ceilings:

And an enormous lying Buddha:

Just before we got busted for taking a photo with Jack’s back to the Buddha, I managed to snap one decent one:

And back to more Buddhas:

Outside, there was a pond that featured the national flower of Sri Lanka, a purple water lily:

Monkeys seem to be everywhere here, at least where we went, and this temple was no exception.  Some just sit around:

And some steal water bottles!

Although I didn’t get any photos of him doing so, he went up in a tree with it, bit a hole in the bottom, and sucked the water out!  Silly monkey...

Of course, now that we were finished visiting the temple, Jack was at liberty to remove his skirt...  I mean sarong...

Just before heading out to dinner that evening at the hotel (where all of our Sri Lankan breakfasts, lunches and dinners were consumed), a serene sunset could be viewed from our window:

And speaking of those meals, Chamara de Silva - one of the sous chefs - and the team, did an amazing job with the culinary productions.  Every meal was a lavish buffet complete with: salad bar, bread station, a multitude of entrees, live food preparation stations, and an expansive fruit and dessert bar.  Woah!  Definitely a serious danger of weight gain going on there.  I had some nice talks with Chamara, during which he shared much insight about the various food preparation methods, local ingredients, and of course his desire to come to the U.S.!

I assured him he would be spoiled very quickly if he was so lucky.  Turns out the staff live in Columbo, drive five hours to this place, stay in employee housing during their work week, and, at least in his case, work from 6am to 11pm each day!!  Have they no labor laws in this country???

Many people hate bugs.  I am not much different; especially when they bite, sting or suck (like the Oingo Boingo song says).  The plentiful lizards climbing around helped to curb the general bug population around the resort.  But sometimes, they are fascinating, and once-in-a-while downright cute.  This grasshopper on the wall seemed a fine specimen.

One of the activities at the resort was to ride an elephant out into the reservoir.  We couldn’t pass that up!  It was amazing how deeply they went into the water.  And towards the end, I even got to climb into “the driver’s seat”.

The view out on the water was great.  The first shot shows Sigiriya (Click here to learn more) off in the distance.  In the second shot, you can see the huge Heron we spotted.  And the third is a great shot of the resort, nestled into the rocky mountain and ensconced in nothing but pure jungle.

As a half-day trip, we were treated to some elephant viewing out in the wild, in what they call an ECO National Park.

But the wildlife didn’t stop there.  As in Myanmar, cows roam all over the streets in Sri Lanka.  And they always have the right of way!

Just as a reminder how ubiquitous Coke is the world over, here just one of a thousand examples in Sri Lanka of a small village hotel boasting their soda offerings:

No McDonalds, no Subway, no Starbucks; just Coke (and an occasional Pepsi sign)!

And this is what a local fruit stand looks like near Dambulla.  Not too different from in the States:

On our second to last night at the Kandalama, we were treated to a very special Sri Lankan gala event.  It started with passed canapés, cocktails and a parade lit up by fire and elephants with lights!

After the initial festivities, we strolled into another field that was set-up with some local craftspeople creating and selling their wares, as well as an elegantly set banquet with fancy linens, silver chargers, crystal stemware, etc.  They even had a full blown stage with an excellent live band, flown in from Columbo.  They had a vast repertoire of popular music through the last five decades, professionally performed and lit with multiple colored lights.  Quite a production; and got a decent crowd to work the dance floor!  Although I didn’t get photos of the dinner or band, I managed to snap a shot of the wood carver performing his craft.  I also took a picture of the hand-carved cobra before I bought it!

There was no way I could exclude the infinity pool overlooking the reservoir

And if you can forgive me the impossible shot to view, just to the right and below the light is one of the many BATS whooshing by that could be seen every night flying in and out of the property.  Like I said, this is the jungle.

Most impressive was the display of sand created exclusively for us. Yes, SAND!

Our three days at the Kandalama near Dambulla came to an end all too soon.  And we were back on the helicopters bound for Columbo.  Since there were only two choppers and enough people in our group to fill four, we had a couple of hours to kill while the second group was retrieved from back in the jungle.  During that time, we visited a small fishing village called Negombo (Click here to learn more).  This is the canal full of local fishing boats that leads out to the Indian Ocean:

Making friendly with the local fishermen:

Car hors scare the fish; the sign says it all:

In case anyone wondered how pineapples are transported in Sri Lanka:

One of the colorful Hindu temples in Negombo:

And Jesus is alive, well, and coexisting as well:

As is the current pope, in billboard no less:

My new friend, the tea and spice vendor:

I thought it would be interesting to include a few screen shots from my iPhone displaying the GPS blue dot of Google maps:

And lastly, I’ll leave you with the Google screen from Sri Lanka, written in their own language.

Since we had a 6.5 hour flight from Columbo to Addis Ababa, I used the opportunity for selecting, sequencing, and processing the shots from this picturesque country, as well as writing this text.  

As a bonus, my friend Donald just gave me this photo he shot up on the tower in Bagan, Myanmar:

If the internet connection is sufficient, I’ll be posting this blog entry in Ethiopia, and on to the next one from there.  Stay tuned for more exciting travel with us...  E.R.  ;-)