Great June break
So I decided to write, belatedly, but better late than never.
Before that, I want to thank everyone who left reviews on this site and helped us organize our trip, namely: Lanka-Lanochka, Zorro4ko, Christine25 and Alexey (Barad).
A lot has already been written about the sights of Sri Lanka. In my review, I will try to confirm or debunk some of our expectations or concerns. The order was: Unawatuna - Sinharaja - Yala - Ella - Nuwara Eliya - Horton Plateau - Kandy - Pinavella - Sigiriya - Trincomalee - Unawatuna. A trip on your own, a UIA + Etihad flight, an excursion was ordered from Alexei on the MyLanka website.
So, in order:
Flight UIA + Etihad - there were fears due to the fact that a very short connection (50 minutes), but everything went super (I even managed to smoke a couple of times in Abu Dhabi)).
At the Colombo airport they changed the currency (for a few American bills they got half a backpack of local currency))) the rate is 1 $ = 107 SLR, and they also bought a local SIM card Dialog ($ 10, of which $ 8 goes to the account), the calls are really ball, for two We didn't get this amount for a week, although we called both the islanders and Ukraine many times.
Weather: we flew in June, when the rainy season was in the south and west of the island, but in two weeks it rained 3 times: the first, when we were driving from the airport, dragged on for 2 hours, the next two in Unawatuna went for 5 minutes)), we even We couldn't get off the sunbeds. The ocean was a little agitated, but it was quite comfortable to swim. We stayed at the Black Beauty Guesthouse ($27 per night for a room with air conditioning and hot water). A guesthouse with a nice garden and a swimming pool, the hostess is German, the staff is very good. Meals: we ordered breakfasts and dinners in the guesthouse, and in the afternoon we dined in restaurants on the beach. We liked Happy Banana the most (at the end of the review I will write prices for some dishes).
From Unawatuna we went on short excursions: to a turtle farm, to a lake with islands (including there was an island where the family grows and sells cinnamon, they bought a decent bunch of cinnamon sticks and a bag of ground cinnamon - for all 1000 SLR or a little less than $ 10 ). We also went to Galle Fort and to Shami, this is a snake catcher and an antidote manufacturer for the whole of Sri Lanka (very impressed).
After 4 days of beach rest, we set off for a 6-day excursion program. At our disposal is an 8-seat minibus Toyota, with air conditioning. In the minibus, only my wife and I and the driver. The driver is Lel, we called him the driver-nanny))) he always tried to help when we wanted to buy something, he always checked whether the product was of high quality))).
Sinharaja is great!
We really didn’t want to run into local leeches (enough is written about them on various forums), we met only 2))) and one of them is already on my leg (it looks like it hit me when I went ashore after swimming in a waterfall), but, nevertheless, I highly recommend it, we met many different birds, snakes, insects, chameleons, and local giant squirrels (the size of a small shepherd dog) there. Conductor required! !
Yala - we expected more, we just drove off, it was very hot, and as the guide said, all the animals hid, nevertheless we met deer, wild boars, buffaloes, monkeys, crocodiles, monitor lizards, jackals, and many different birds.
Ella - there was the best hotel for the entire excursion, Ayurvedic massage, and we were very lucky that we got just on Perahera (local religious holiday), this is something similar to the Brazilian carnival, only in Sri Lankan style.
We also tried local cuisine there for the first time, curry baked in banana leaves - super, but although we asked for not spicy, I breathed fire (although I eat quite spicy food in my homeland)!
Nuwara Eliya, we went there by train (highly recommend, the views are very beautiful). Nuwara Eliya itself was not impressive, but it’s worth going there if you want to visit tea plantations (by the way, such tea is more expensive in dutik, only the one that is sold here is cheaper.
From Nuwara Eliya we drive to the Horton Plateau. I really liked it there (the main attractions are the cloud forest and 2 ends of the world). We didn’t take a guide, there the route is laid along the ring - you won’t get lost.
Kandy - it's worth going there to see the main Buddhist shrine - "Temple of the Tooth Relic". In the evening we also got to the show with folk dances, walking on coals, etc. We also visited the Peradeniya botanical garden. In the morning a flock of monkeys came to the hotel, take everything from the balconies.
Elephant nursery "Pinavella" - no comments, it's definitely worth going there. The best time to visit is from 10.00-12.00 or from 14.00-16.00. At this time, elephants are sent to the river for water procedures.
Sigiriya is very interesting and the ascent turned out to be much easier than previously thought, but it is better to visit it, of course, either before 10.00 or after 16.00, when the heat subsides. They also bought interesting boxes with a secret (bargained from $50 to $25). Then we saw similar ones on the coast, but the quality is worse there. Then there was a stop at a good hotel and in the morning riding an elephant.
Trip to Trincomalee - Pigeon Island. The road impressed me with the fact that there are many military, checkpoints, abandoned machine-gun pillboxes, etc. in the north-east of the country, the war ended there 3 years ago. Pigeon himself was very impressive, there are a lot of beautiful fish among the corals, including small sharks))) By the way, starting from June 2011, you have to pay for a visit there, because the island has been declared a national park.
We wanted to stay there for a few hours longer, but the driver said that he did not want to drive late, because wild elephants might come out onto the road (on the way back to Unawatuna, we did see them)).
And 4 more days in Unawatuna, a trip to visit the driver Lel, bellies burned in the sun and a flight home.
Here are the prices in our favorite restaurant for some dishes (for convenience, I converted everything to $):
Large grilled shrimp (500 gr. ), french fries, lettuce and rice with spicy orange-sesame sauce - 22.43;
Fried shrimp, french fries and salad with garlic butter sauce - 7.00;
Red sea bass (500 gr. ) with salad and rice (I highly recommend this dish) - 17.76;
Baked squid with salad and saffron rice - 6.54;
Baked crab and saffron rice with lemon butter sauce - 7.48;
Grilled lobster (250 gr. ), french fries, salad with garlic butter sauce - 15.42,
Curry with chicken - 4.20.
I'll be happy to answer any questions. )