Sri Lanka

Welcome to Sri Lanka, an island that has been on Mr B`s bunny list forever. Of all the places we knew we may or may not visit Sri Lanka was a constant. Oddly enough though, it was the one destination of all the multitudes of You Tubes that we watched, that we researched the least. As I sit here typing this blog, more fool us....

Sigiriya

From the offset we always knew that we were going to tour Sri Lanka by rented TukTuk. Mr B made all the necessary arrangements to acquire himself a Sri Lankan Driving Permit, but unfortunately a last minute hitch occurred when he realised that his International Permit was only valid for 12 months, and had expired. The excellent company from where we hired the TukTuk (tuk-tukrentals @Negombo) aided us in acquiring a new one.

Abu -The Tuk Tuk

Day one, leaving Singapore/landing into Sri Lanka. The adventure began before we even left the airport at Singapore. A WhatsApp message came through from our first hotel, would we like a driver to pick us up at the airport and bring us to the hotel? Always a huge help, we confirmed immediately, Yes Please! ` Excellent` was the reply, followed immediately with `Do you mind doing me a favour and purchase me 4 bottles of whiskey from the duty free for my birthday next week, and I shall pay you on arrival?` Mrs Bunny always and forever suspicious was all for saying absolutely not no way, but on Mr B`s insistence that this could actually help us, we said Yes. Let me hasten to add, the Duty Free shop was through the immigration and just prior to leaving the airport on the Sri Lanka side. We duly landed into Sri Lanka which I personally found to be quite a stressful and slightly intimidating airport, purchased the whisky (@$240!!!) and judging by the numerous people doing the same, realised it was the norm, then we could not see/find our driver. Not a single sign had our name on it. Mrs Bunny asked a guard if she could leave the airport to find the driver outside, only to have a jobsworth armed security guard scream at me that I could not return back into the airport! I kept gesturing that my family was still inside, but he was quite loud and insistent, that I was moving no further. Lucky for me, Mr B and little B, wandered towards me, and I towards them, until we met in the middle and the first guard waved jobsworth away. Reunited, we walked out together and paraded the length of this most chaotic, loud, bustling, hassling airport concourse until our driver finally made an appearance. Yes he paid us for the whiskey.

Sri Lanka you are a challenge. Taxi to the Tuk Tuk office please. We booked a large car, a Mini arrived ! There are no mini`s anywhere we have travelled, yet we manage to hire one here and now. Having divided up our luggage into smaller bags in preparation for our long trip in a tuk tuk with the tiniest amount of storage space, yet also needing to transport our biggest bags for storage, this little tiny car appeared when we had nine pieces of luggage plus Little Blue (our food bag) to relocate. With everything plus ourselves squeezed into a car the approximate size of a small fridge, we consoled ourselves that at least the office was only a mile away and our discomfort wouldn`t last. Ha! We must have had the only taxi driver in Negombo who couldn`t find the office of the biggest TukTuk rental company in Sri Lanka. 30 minutes and three very hot cross bunnies later we were finally evicted from this hot box on wheels with a curt, `just down there`. Never have 3 bunnies been more grateful for a kind face and those three little words, `want a drink`?

The fun begins. Only Mr Bunny has the driving permit, (not that he would have allowed either of the other bunnies to drive anyway) and so it was Mr Bunny who was lead away to be taught how to drive a tuk tuk, by a woman whom I personally think had more knowledge of driving a toaster. Mr Bunny is a careful, considerate attentive little bunny who strives to do exactly as he is told, and whom quite clearly listened diligently to his driving instructor. After leaving the compound with the two other bunnies huddled in the back, it didn`t take Mrs BackseatBunny long to beg the question, `who taught you to drive, a woman?!!` (sorry fellow lady drivers, but in the heat of moment it was the best I could think of) I have a hunch that my lovely bunny will chuck me out of the bunny hutch tonight as I put pen to paper and say that the first few hours of a passenger in that tuk tuk where the longest in my life. Mr Bunny followed those driving instructions to the letter, as we clonked, jumped, juddered, screamed, kangarooed and darn near killed the gearbox before we had even left the city. Seated like a prim banker, a grip like a rings gymnast and the ignorance of a tone deaf pianist, my lovely bunny who can drive a car with the most exisite driving skills, proceeded to torture our poor little tuk tuk for the next three hours as he got to grips with newly learned skills. The panic was evident, the terror palpable and the scarefest was real. Launching a newly qualified tuktuk driver straight onto the streets of Sri Lanka was scarier than anyone could have imagined. Quite frankly the traffic is horrendous, with the worst culprits being the numerous coaches with drivers who are quite probably taught to drive during a demolition derby, then put on the streets with the instruction, just do the same out there and you will be fine. No lines, no traffic lights, overtaking on both sides, stop where you want, whenever you want, no indicators, bicycles, pedestrians, cows, kids and my brake lights don`t work so what? In my defence, my nerves were a little strained due to the fact that I drove a motorbike for several years, and every part of my wrists and fingers were itching to grab the gear change and change gears a lot sooner than Mr B. Hence the `who taught you to drive question`. Sticking rigidly to his script, Mr B did 10mph in first, reaching twenty change up, thirty and into third and so on. With every part of the tuktuk feeling like a motorbike, it took all my strength and a whole lot of lip biting, to refrain from yelling Change Up!! no no no, don`t change yet! and a very tense grip knowing that the tuktuk was about to lurch due to a mistimed or clumsy gear change. In defence of Mr B, the gear shift was temperamental, the ratios a little bizarre and the gearbox a snooty little madam. Several hundred kilometres later, Mr B grasped the feel of Abu (our tuktuk) and our journeys though still fraught, are at least a little smoother. Just need to address the actual width of Abu now and all will be good in the world.

The journey begins. Whilst we could not change the dates of our visit, we could change the destinations. July is monsoon season in the west of the island, and we were advised that the east coast would be far drier and nicer. We had originally planned to head straight down the west coast, then north, maybe as far as Sigiriya, then back to Negombo. This would be the most touristic route, but hey, we can adapt. Stop one was at small hotel on a lake edge. No frills, just an old colonial house, single story, used to be English owned, but now owned by the present host's grandfather. Like many of our stops around Sri Lanka, this was just a one night stay breaking up a long journey. We ate at a nearby restaurant and started our learning about the nuances of Sri Lanka. Men for instance, are everywhere, but woman are few and far between. Our entire restaurant was male, with Mrs and Little B the only females onsite. We observed our first Chipmunk. We had our second cold fried eggs for breakfast, the first we thought was our two minute tardy lateness to the table, but a second time? Day two saw us heading to the sacred area of Sigiriya, where we landed and immediately found the key to the room of our previous hotel. Groan. Aside this, what a lovely little place Sigiriya is. Little bunny learned that big scary monkeys invade balconies, whilst Mr and Mrs B had a tree house type bunny hutch with an outdoor bathroom. Showering whilst looking up at the clouds was a little odd, not to mention being observed on the loo by a friendly local bird. Our host teased us by saying elephants were known to wander in the fields just behind the tree house, but to our chagrin we couldn`t even see the nearby fence by night never mind spot an elephant. Bah! Sigiriya is a huge mountain of rock with a temple on its flat summit. It is a sacred area, and it is treated with respect. Little Bunny paid her respects by climbing to the summit up its 1200 steps, while Mr and Mrs B toasted the temple gods with glasses of cold milkshake from the bottom. We were taken on a tuktuk tour around Sigiriya with a guide who drove our little Abu, (without grinding the gears or kangaroo hops, just saying....) as only the official guides were allowed to drive onsite. It was interesting to a point, but quite frankly my practical bunny brain just wanted to rewind the clock several thousand years and say to the numpty who thought that building a temple on top of a huge rock was a good idea, `you do know you are being a bit of a pompous twit`?. Sigiriya is long gone relic of old, only stones and stories remain. The food in the town was quite pleasant, but once again, a mostly cold hotel breakfast was served. Our lesson for Sigiriya was learned far too late. The reason for all the elephant safaris? Elephants are mainly found in the north. Darn. This bunny was planning a southerly jaunt to Yala, from a coastal stay nearby but that`s a lesson for later.

East coast adventures.

Following a very straight road all the way to the coast, we landed at the town of Trincomalee and the first of many challenging stays. With Booking.com never having let us down before, I was to quickly learn that here in Sri Lanka, `fab location` means miles out of town `amazing hosts` refers to pushy but pleasant hotel owners. `Superb` means better than a tent. With each destination requiring two bunny hutches, I always aim to acquire similar with great reviews. Baby Bunny hutch number one on Trincomalee turned out to be in the very centre of town and far from anything even remotely `touristic`. The description of her hotel was tenuously accurate. Yes, it was on the beach, but a fishing boat beach. Yes, it did have a `good location`, if local shops selling new buckets or raw fish was on your wish list. Whilst non of us mind this, life is so much easier when we can at least read a menu, and perhaps even have half a chance of something a little easier on the palate. With the second bunny hutch located 3km away on the main beach, a proper tourist beach with sunbeds, little B moved closer on the second night and normal serviced resumed. As both properties had had disappointing first impressions, we very nearly moved on after just one night, but decided to stay instead and see if we liked being beach bums for a few days. Turns out we did. The beach was clean and easy, the sea was nice, the beds were free and the beach bar and its staff close and attentive. Our lesson here was to know that the grass isn`t greener down the coast.

We did tour the town a couple of times by tuktuk, I forgot to mention this. Our hosts kept suggesting we should go see the Fort, the Deer park, maybe Marble Beach or even a temple...please No! No more temples. We did visit these places, but our enthusiasm for these places was as extensive as this paragraph. Yes, thats a beach. That is a deer. Are those the walls of the Fort? (entry £12 each, lets not bother)

Pasikuda/Kalkuda

Looking forward to more of the same in the coastal town of Kalkuda, we again had two supposedly perfect new hutches, both in` excellent locations`, and again this was proven to be incorrect. Bunny hutch number one was so far out of town she would have needed to catch a taxi to reach the nearest shop and an organised tour to visit the beach. We didn`t even pause to glance inside such was the remote location and instead zoomed right past to hutch number two. This pleasant little pad was on glance so much nicer, but unfortunately full all except for the cutest little room with an amazing view over the beach and sea. (why was it empty we wondered) To cut a long story short, whilst the hotel was actually quite lovely, little B earned herself a new name, Snow White. If it moved, it paid her a visit. The chipmunk was cute, but alas everything else was less than. Possibly the reason the room was still empty on arrival? Mr Bunny was renamed Grumpy after spotting a rather large, and fortunately non poisonous snake right opposite our ground floor balcony. It took me a little while to understand why Mr B was so agitated as for quite some time the only words he uttered had 4 letters and began with F. Mr B does not approve of snakes. Beach life here was a little more challenging than at Trincomalee, the beach next to our hotel was utterly beautiful, but had zero shade and no facilities. It was refreshing to see such a beautiful long beach unspoilt by a blight of hotels, but for bunnies wanting a touch of shade and relaxation, maybe a hint of being spoilt this was not the beach for us. Grateful for having our own transport, we sought directions and found the public beach further afield. With no amenities or shade again we took a quick scoot to the left, offered the pool lifeguard a sneaky `bribe`, and secured the bunnies three comfortable sunbeds with towels and use of the pool in a rather nice, quiet hotel complex. Three days there and we were on the move again.

Arugam Bay

After driving for what felt like an eternity of nothing but tiny fishing villages, local towns and incredible landscapes, we knew we were arriving into somewhere very different when the tiny shops selling fruit, crisps and potatoes morphed into gaudy shops selling Surfboards??

Surfer dudes, board shorts, bare feet, bare chests, skinny girls in barely there bikinis, blue faces? Never quite got the blue face thing, I can only assume its a type of heavy duty sun protection, but suddenly, after driving through endless lovely little localised villages, this little town of Arugam Bay had a totally different vibe to anywhere else we had been. Gone were the amazing and wonderful beaming smiles of the delightful Sri Lankan people, and instead we were in a town of miserable faced young pale skinned people, with their know it all demeaner and bragging attitudes. (endless overheard conversations are always in the vein of been there, done that, seen, it.....at 25?) Guys, girls, seriously, you are just starting out, give it a rest! The Sri Lankan people are the friendliest people we have encountered anywhere on our travels. They beam at you with faces that light up with pure joy as you wave and shout `hello` , but tourists? Good grief people, Smile for heavens sake! Time and time again we meet the most frosty faced people, all with one thing in common. Tourist. We bunnies smile at everyone, we say Hi, we wave, we try hard to be polite and accommodating to the lovely, but occasionally pushy restaurant owners, but other tourists, most especially the younger end? Rude. Ignorant. Is it really so hard to just smile, say hello or thank you, but no thank you? Truth be known it has been the norm for most of Asia. But against a backdrop of the most wonderful friendly people, the rudeness and blatant disregard of culture and modesty is both embarrassing and shameful.

Arugam Bay is a long singular street catering purely for tourism, not too many t.s shops I was glad to note, but many many restaurants and drinking establishments interspersed with accommodations, hotels and hostels of every kind. The food wasn`t particularly exciting, mostly simple offerings, but we managed. Nutella was available everywhere, not that we partook of any. We spent most days at the pool of a local hotel, paying them for the privilege. The beach was tried once to ease the financial burden of overpriced drinks and cold food offerings, but we quickly came to the conclusion that it was better to pay pool prices, than be swarmed by the aggressive crows that haunted the beach areas.

Yala National Park. A lesson learned too late. Yala was a long, long way away. It was expensive, and the chance of seeing wild elephants was slim. Our host informed us that we could go to Yala and maybe see the Water Buffalo (of which we have seen plenty) birds..(not our thing) maybe leopards (possible, maybe) but his enthusiasm for us seeing the wild elephant was meh. We chose to decline in the hope of seeing elephants, as per a friends personal video sent to us during our time there, on the way to Ella, our next destination, our next lesson to learn the hard way.

After 14 days enjoying the wonderful east coast with its lovely weather, endless sunny days and blue skies, it was time to start our journey across country back to the west coast. Remember I said that I didn`t do a lot of research? And that lessons were learned? Turns out not appreciating the geography of Sri Lanka was also a big mistake. On the map we had earmarked endless waterfalls, and scenic places., and had plans to visit as many as possible. First stop Ella. Yet another booking.com failure. Let down again. 9,1 rating? how can we have possibly arrived Mr B? This is a run down roadside restaurant, empty fridges, piled up chairs, no visible food, halfway up one heck of a steep mountain road. Yep, that`s the place.

Two days we spent driving up and down that very beautifully scenic road, but no matter how nice the views, it was a road driven by crazy bus drivers, too many lorries, endless tuk tuks, and was incredibly stressful. If we wanted to eat, we had to drive. The `restaurant` owner offered to cook, but having spent 15 minutes of our arrival time looking straight into the `kitchen` whilst waiting for the room to be prepped, was enough for a polite but firm refusal.

Ella. The town itself came as a big surprise. It was a lot bigger than we were expecting, and clearly a long established tourist town. A very multi cultural and mixed age town, quite unlike the young surfer type of Arugam Bay. A singular long winding uphill street filled with a multitude of all things tourist. The whole area of Ella centres around one thing, and one thing only, the stunning 9 Arches Bridge. Surprisingly easy to reach by tuk tuk, we set off very early on morning two to catch the passing of the 9.45 train as it crossed the bridge. We could if so wanted, have caught the train, and the rental company would have relocated the tuk tuk for us, but the train prices were a little steep, and insider info informed that the road criss crossed the railway taking virtually the same route, at least for a few miles. I think for a little while yet, the paths to view the train crossing will remain cute, rustic and challenging, but I predict that the rapid growth of tourism will spoil the charm as more and more people visit, demanding better roads, parking, ts shops and viewpoint restaurants. The trend is already there, but for the moment they are mostly unobtrusive.

Onwards and upwards, quite literally to Nuwara Eliya. Lots of lessons learned the hard way again as we made our way to the town. We climbed the mountain, and climbed some more. We didn`t stop climbing until we reached an altitude of almost 1800metres asl. As we climbed these extremely steep roads, higher and higher, we started to notice trousers...a hat...a coat..a fleecy jumper....and still we climbed. These three unprepared bunnies, shivered our bunny butts off as we started to venture into the clouds. Did we know that the centre of Sri Lanka has mountainous regions? Did we heck! When we finally arrived at the town of Nuwara Eliya, we were frozen and attracting some very strange looks, sat huddled in the back of a tuk tuk in our shorts and t shirts. Sunscreen at 10am, furry blankets by 3. We wish we could have spent more time in this town, because as we drove through it, we may just as well have been in the Lake District (Cumbria, UK). Large stone built hotels, boating lake, pony rides, cafes, many English place names, eg The Blackpool Hotel, Langdale, Edinburgh, it was surreal, even had the correct weather! But we were frozen, ill prepared, and with zero warm clothing. Naturally little cold fish bunny had brought leggings and a fleece, but the two older bunnies had nothing. We parked at our out of town hotel, begged some blankets, and retired to our beds with hot tea and netflix. We left the next day, still wet, still foggy, still cold, and headed next to a hotel that from the day I first booked it, i was so excited to be staying at. Please. Please booking dot com, please let it live up to the expectations. Located at Hatton, which thankfully was at a lot lower altitude and just a touch warmer, this hotel was pure joy. Situated at the top of a valley, looking across at the tea plantations, this superb hotel was everything we could have hoped for. (Tea Hills Bungalow) The two bunnies had the most wonderful room with two double four poster beds with duvets, real cosy duvets, furniture (let me elaborate, we had a dressing table with stool, a larger table with mirror, a chaise lounge with the squishiest mattress topper, so comfortable, a mirrored glasses cabinet, three high stools, a couple of other smaller tables for baggage and a wardrobe.) The bathroom had a shower cubicle with mat, and a fluffy foot mat, a separate sink, and joy, a bath! A real bath, with hot water a plenty. Huge wrap around towels, and scented toiletries, oh wow, such a contrast to our previous rooms of late, and barely any more expensive. If that sounds good, well little B had it better! She really did win the room this time. On a higher floor, little B got a little palace room, with a single four poster bed, gold drapes, beautiful wooden furniture, stunning view, and a bathroom made for a queen. Standalone roll top bath, with gold free standing taps. Cue, one soggy bunny for the next 4 hours as she revelled in not just one hot bath, but treated herself to a second later that evening. Such was her enjoyment of said bath, she didn`t even mind when I knocked on her door, getting out of said bath, to accept the chocolate that I had been carrying, and which had finally hardened. Oh what we would have given for a second night here. We did try, but alas our little Abu had to be back in his own bed much too soon. Waving goodbye to a perfect hotel after just one night, we continued down the mountain, until we finally reached sea level once more, and the town of Kitugala . Bye bye nice cosy duvets, hello again you miserable single flappy sheet and air con. Talk about down to earth with a bump! The hotel served a purpose, and was clearly a local favourite, despite the fact that we were the only guests for the night, The entire reception area and restaurant, was very smartly decorated for a wedding party they were expecting the following morning, and the bustle of arriving caterers, food preparations and flowers kept the staff busy. We debated about staying and seeing the bridal party, but in the end the pull of the road and the need to get going made us leave prior to their arrival.

Negombo. Our final destination for Sri Lanka. We dropped off Abu, reunited with our big bags and set off for our last hotel. I cannot comment about the town of Negombo as to be quite honest the batteries of these three tired bunnies are very, very flat. The hotel serves a base. We have no plans to go anywhere, or do anything. Catch up with You Tube, Blog and sleep. Play cards and just stop to catch our breath. Sri Lanka has been amazing. Challenging, but amazing.

Elephants. We never did get to see a proper wild, free elephant. Our hearts did a jump in Sigirya as we spotted one walking towards us. With a fat tourist sat on top. I decline to comment, but said tourist got the gist of my anger, and I hope they felt guilt or fell off, I care not. Elephants are not tourist playthings. Our second elephant stood patiently in some ones garden. Tied to a stake. No friends. No herd. Wrong on every level. Was he rescued at birth and lovingly restored to health? I know not his story, but tied to a post? So sad.

We next saw two elephants walking through a town. We were so excited until we realised the elephant number one had chains around his feet. Elephant number two was made to bow in front of the temple. His feet were free, but he had rows of massive chains around his neck. Again, without knowledge or understanding, we were saddened. Why are elephants so revered, they feature in all the temples, but are then bound in chains? Our last host gave us some insight, and partially renewed our faith that at least some elephants do live a free type of life. He explained that the elephant is so special, and where an elephant is required to participate in a festival, he is kept in a free roaming area until he is required to parade. The parade can be stressful, and to prevent the elephant getting angry and frustrated, he is chained for safety, and the weights slow his movements. We cannot deny that the atmosphere in that village was electric. They clearly loved that elephant, chained or not. It is not our culture or religion, we have to respect that. We were all glad to hear some evidence from a local, just how special the elephant is.

These are not the Elephants paraded around for tourists money as per Thailand. Here it is just a little different.

Dogs. There is a dog factory in Sri Lanka, somewhere. There has to be! Dogs, one size only are everywhere! You cannot move or drive anywhere without seeing Muttley walking, sleeping, lying, dodging traffic, sat on scooters, pavements, doorsteps and hotels. He is everywhere. They come in every colour, but only one shape and size. We never got to see the dog factory, but I swear its out there somewhere!

Our time in this beautiful country has come to an end. Sri Lanka, you have the most amazing people, never before have we come across a nation of people who have made us feel more welcome. Thank you so much for your kind hospitality. One day, in the right season, we shall return. (with a jumper just in case....)