Две недели блаженства Two weeks of bliss

So let's start in order. We flew at night from Kiev - the plane of the Rose of the Winds. The flight went well and at 12 noon we were at the Colombo airport. We passed passport control, exchanged money (the rate is really the most acceptable), bought a Dialog card (it was enough for us for 14 days), we found our guide. We were provided with a driver and we were rushed to the Hill Top City Hotel (Aitken) in an excellent sedan with a leather interior and air conditioning. There our guide Senya was waiting for us, after a "welcome" cocktail we went to the room. After a little rest, together with the guide we went to watch folk dances, and then to the Temple of the Tooth Relic. Despite the fatigue, we quickly ran after our guide and listened to the whole history of this island. In temples, they go barefoot, so put on socks so that you don’t have to get your feet dirty.
The next day we visited Dambula and Sigiriya - the beauty of these places fascinates and remains in memory as a beautiful picture. When climbing Sigiriya, refuse the "assistant", because in addition to $ 10, the guide will have to pay another 10 for his services (give a hand, bring a bag).
The third day was filled with a visit to the spice garden (prices are unreasonably high), the botanical garden, the elephant nursery - a nice place and there are very good prices for bags, as it turned out later, a tea factory (good choice and prices). In the evening we were taken to our beach hotel.

Settlement passed quickly, we were treated to a cocktail, filled out all the papers ourselves and we went to our room. The hotel went through renovation in May and, despite natural wear and tear, it looks good.
Rooms - at first we had 211 rooms, then 502 (we asked for a room with a double bed). The rooms are clean, large, with all amenities - shower, sink, all accessories, safe, large wardrobe, mini bar, coffee, plasma, sofa, armchairs, dressing table, beautiful balcony overlooking the ocean. Cleaned twice a day and everything was enough (water was given 2 bottles for free).
We only had breakfasts and they were enough for us, as we had a hearty breakfast, we didn’t feel like eating during the day, but in the evening we ate fruit. If you wish, you can visit the restaurants located nearby - the choice is large and the prices are reasonable.
The hotel has free WiFi, you just need to take the password from the reception.
There is one large pool with a jacuzzi on the territory of the hotel. The ocean is, of course, a separate issue, since you can talk about its power forever (I was blown away by a wave of sunglasses, and a local boy was rescued, carried away by a wave, escaped with a broken arm). There were enough beds for everyone. Palm squirrels (chipmunks) living on the territory did not leave anyone indifferent (for them I carried a suitcase of seeds). I also saw a monitor lizard on the beach, a lot of crabs, and on the last day a 1.2 m snake crawled under our sunbeds.
We traveled on our own by bus to Kalutara (0.60 UAH fare) and Colombo (2.2 UAH by train), since with beach-boys it was more expensive by tuk-tuk, and the prices with them turned out to be higher up to 50%. They are reluctant to trade there (except for the Petah market in Colombo), but with good perseverance, you can drop 50%. We bought a lot of things, oils, of course red rum (a cool thing, considering that I don’t like alcohol at all) and a sapphire ring.
You can talk about this hotel and especially about Sri Lanka for hours - if you have any questions, I will be happy to answer, because we have studied a lot ourselves (which I am glad about) and I can share this with others.

I can definitely say that it is NECESSARY to visit SHL, as it is a different world, different traditions and emotions. The openness and good nature of the Sri Lankans must also be imbibed by our compatriots. And nature, the ocean, fresh air and numerous temples will leave pleasant memories in our memory.
The road back exhausted us, as the plane broke down, we got stuck in Dubai and after a sleepless night flew away on another plane that arrived for us from Kyiv. But despite this, the holiday was SUCCESSFUL.