Как это было How it was

A month ago we returned from SHL, it's HORRIBLE, it's terrifying how I didn't want to leave, my wife has tears in her eyes, and I almost shed a tear myself, the country, people, ocean, nature, everything is unique and beautiful. And now in order. I bought a tour through an agency for 12 months (Kyiv, hem), operator NewsTravel, flew through Sharjah (change to Colombo), Airarabia airline, they don’t feed on board, departure and arrival are all on schedule and without delays, transfer in Sharjah for an hour and a half, you will have time to buy to eat, drink and visit the duty free, by the way about the duty free, buy either in Kyiv or in Colombo, in Sharjah it is very small and there is no choice, when you arrive in Colombo you will go through the duty free there buy whatever you need. Money was changed at the airport, but as it turned out, the rate there is no higher than in Hikkaduwa where we rested. I arranged visas back in Kyiv through a tour operator, although it is possible upon arrival at the airport, I just wanted to save time. We bought a local SIM card Dialog (calls to Russia 12 rupees a minute to Ukraine are a bit more expensive, but I can’t tell you the exact cost, it costs 12 bucks on the account 700 rupees and free 3G, we had enough to talk around the country and make calls home). The transfer to the Citrus hotel took three and a half hours, there were 6 of us in the bus, and only my wife and I went to Citrus. The hotel is not bad, the rooms are not great, but we had a standard, they say in the deluxe suites I haven’t seen a fresher repair, I don’t know. In principle, the room is compact, comfortable, and the view of the ocean, in the right wing (if you look at the ocean), it’s better not to settle there; arguing with the noise, we were moved to the left wing overlooking the ocean without any problems and surcharges. Meals at the hotel - we had breakfast dinner, we ate from the belly, but maybe a little monotonous but everything is edible and tasty, once in 12 days everything was really spicy for dinner and we ate almost nothing. On Saturday, locals come to the coast to relax and stay in hotels, maybe on Saturdays they give tiger shrimp, squid, grilled fish, etc. , although it might just be because it’s Saturday. In short, everything is good and tasty, the hotel has both local and Sri Lankan cuisine, you can try some of their dishes with a twinkle. On excursions. On the first day of our arrival on the beach, we met a married couple of 40-45 years old and they offered us an excursion to Kandy, met another young couple from Samara and the whole camp went to Kandy with a local guide Rohan, we highly recommend him, a decent and responsible person , I’ll tell you about it later, so I liked the excursion to Kandy, everything was super, all the tickets were included in the price of 50 bucks per person, plus there was a buffet for lunch in some hotel for 2000 rupees per person, everything was ok. The tour included a small pineapple plantation with a view of the jungle, elephants, bathed in short, a lot of interesting things, a spice garden informative but useless, a small tea plantation, a tea factory, too, and a chic royal botanical garden, then a Buddha statue, monkeys and home, just the excursion from 5 am to 10 pm, Rohan called the hotel and arranged to wait for us for dinner. Excursion to the Laguna and turtle farm - I recommend, interesting, beautiful, and not long, from 9 am to 15.00, on the excursion, a massage with fish (it’s a ticklish nightmare, but my wife was happy, it costs 200 rupees per person for 20 minutes, I was offered to climb everything for 500, I didn’t want to), we saw monitor lizards, monkeys, etc. At the turtle farm, everything is also quite informative and interesting. We were going to go by public transport to Fort Gale, but Rohan offered to take his tuk-tuk for $ 15 for two, for this money we got a personal driver from 9 am to 7 pm, a tour of the fort, jungle beach, lay on the beach and swim with beer in Unawatuna (by the way, in Hikkaduwa it is much better as the beach and the entrance to the water seemed to us), fishermen at the sea food and fruit market in Gale, and drove half of the southern coast. Once we visited Rohan, we got raw shrimp, crabs, and giant shrimp, tuna, cooking, salads and hospitality, we looked at how the Sri Lankans live, in short, everything went fine too, drank beer, talked, very hospitable people Eating outside hotel. We ate at J. L. H. You won’t pass if you go from Citrus towards Chayatrans, there is a rocker next to the entrance. The portions are big and everything is delicious. . We also ate in Dolphin, this is a pink building at the end of the lagoon, there is a little less portion and but a little cheaper, it may not be so civilized, but after ordering a meal you can go swimming when it’s ready either you will be called or you yourself will see what is served, the menu Dolphin pictures. Once we went into the vaunted refresh, we didn’t like it and went to J. L. H. Pro Rohan standing through the wall. This is a very decent, honest and punctual person, 50-60 years old, we recommend him without the slightest fear, he always fulfilled the agreed conditions, everything was on time and not expensive, according to him he has been doing excursions for 25 years, English, German is excellent, Russian is bad but understandable, and he also spoke some languages ​ ​ but I don't remember. He has his own house with four rooms, rents for 600 bucks a month, minibus, car, tuktuk. We were introduced to him by the above-mentioned couple of 45 years, we, in turn, passed him on to the people of Kiev from Citrus. Upon arrival, everyone will pester and offer excursions, read reviews and draw the right conclusions, compare prices and bargain. It's impossible to convey everything, we miss Sri Lanka very much! Have a good rest in this wonderful country! Someone can say that everything is bad there, someone didn’t like anything and everyone was deceived everywhere, someone was lucky how we met good people and were accepted as the closest relatives, how many people have so many opinions, but everyone will remember the indescribable power and beauty of the ocean, beautiful nature and empty beaches SHL. Huge greetings to Samara friends Anya and Sasha!