Отдых в сказке) Rest in a fairy tale)

We stayed at the hotel in August. Everyone was happy, including the weather. Although we went out of season, and a long rain caught us only once, the rest of the time there were rains, but very short ones, they ended as quickly as they began.
The hotel is good, clean and comfortable. The only impression was that instead of the ordered triple room, we were settled in a double room with an extra bed. Although this did not overshadow the rest, since we returned to the room exclusively to spend the night. For placement we put 5-.
The hotel area is small, but also very clean. There is a pool, although we very rarely swam in it, the waves in the ocean did not bother us at all. Chipmunks were especially pleased, of which there are a great many. And they not only eat from their hands, they also ran after me for nuts : )) And in a three-minute walk from the hotel we saw a family of wild monkeys, right in the courtyard of a residential building : ))

The hotel staff is very smiling, helpful, always asked if everything was fine with us. Any request was immediately fulfilled. Well cleaned in the room every day, bedding changed. As soon as they saw that we were going to the beach, they immediately ran with towels. In addition, many are trying to learn Russian and it was quite possible to communicate with them, well, the hotel staff is trying to please everyone. So for the service - definitely 5.
Animation is really rather weak, not for incendiary youth recreation. Every day they offered to play volleyball, basketball, tennis. Often invited to aerobics / aqua aerobics. Every evening at dinner and after live music played, sometimes national dances. This, of course, is not a super discos, however, there was something to do in the evenings. Best for a relaxing family holiday.
The food is excellent too. We took breakfast + dinner. And if the breakfasts were really not very diverse (very much like standard English breakfasts), then the dinners were very even. And, for every taste. Some dishes seemed unusually spicy to us, but there was always plenty to choose from. There was also a lot of the most varied sweets, very rarely something was repeated. Fruit was eaten every day, both for breakfast and dinner. A solid five for food.
We went on excursions with Lasha! It is very easy to recognize him by the longest hair. An excellent, nice guy, very honest, modest and unobtrusive, which is a very big plus, especially against the background of the rest of the country's population)) He speaks Russian very well, he learns the language himself and constantly improves it. Lasha, of course, is not a guide, but he will definitely tell and show everything that he knows, the main thing - do not hesitate to ask. If you are interested in the history of the country, it is better to buy a guidebook: it is written there much more than they can tell you on excursions, and if something is suddenly forgotten, you can always refresh your memory. We did just that and have never regretted it. We went on four excursions with Lasha: in Colombo (we looked at temples + shopping), in Kandy (we watched how rubber, tea, pineapples grow, we went to the botanical garden and spice garden, the elephant nursery and the temple of the tooth of the Buddha), in Galle (we stopped at the factory precious stones, a turtle farm, walked around the fort itself, swam in the lagoon, rode along the river) and on a short tour of the outskirts of Kalutara (we watched a very beautiful waterfall, rice fields and some temples in the city itself). The impressions from the excursions are the most wonderful. A huge plus of traveling with Lasha is that you do not depend on the group in any way, you can go somewhere, not somewhere, walk as much as you want, stop where you want, take pictures as much as you like. And all this in a warm company and with the conveniences: a comfortable car with air conditioning. And see everything to the maximum, because to see the same tea plantations, it is not at all necessary to go to Nuwara Eliya. And the prices, of course, are lower than in travel agencies. They also went to the city on a tut-tuk with him, he always suggested where to buy something, helped to choose fruits and souvenirs. If suddenly something was needed, he himself went to the city, bought everything he needed, returned change to the last rupee, and even refused to take money. He treated us to fruit, shrimp (he cooked it himself! ), showed us how to catch crabs. In general, if you want to see to the maximum, to feel the country "from the inside", then go to Lasha and don't even think about it.

I don’t know about the rest of the scourge fights, but I’ll say for sure - beware of the so-called. Dima (we introduced ourselves the way you introduce yourself - it is not known). He has a cafe not far from the hotel (if you need to eat somewhere, it’s better to ask Lasha to take him to his uncle’s restaurant, he’s a little further, but the prices are lower and certainly won’t be deceived), 5 minutes walk to the left side. On the first day, we went to the city to skimp, we wanted to buy red rum, he drove us to a stall fenced with a net, where locals crowded, very eager to drink. Dima took the money, bought it himself, we got a bottle of rum for 2500 rupees. And when we went with Lasha, he took us inside, everyone chose it themselves and it turned out that the rum costs 1300 rupees. So Dima “shod” us for ten bucks and didn’t even wince, he also brought all sorts of oils to some friends to buy, they barely got rid of them. This "Dima" and excursions, of course, offered us, showed excellent reviews, said that he was not beach-boys. As a result, they also turned out to be 20-30 dollars more expensive than Lasha's. I highly recommend not dealing with this person.
As for souvenirs, tea, spices, it is better to buy all this in the same Kalutara or in Colombo. Do not rely on duty free, this was perhaps the biggest disappointment! Prices are much more expensive for absolutely everything, including alcohol! and if you decide to take local rum home, buy only in Sri Lanka itself, it is not available in duty free at all!
Well, when you get ready to go, do not forget to take our vodka and chocolate with you, the locals love them very much)) if you smoke, then stock up on more cigarettes: you won’t have to pay for them at the airport, and the locals are very fond of “shooting”. Yes, they have expensive cigarettes.
Happy holidays everyone!