My first look at Asia - Sri Lanka
I have long wanted to visit an exotic country, the manager of the travel agency - ITC "Expedition" advised a last-minute tour for the May holidays to Sri Lanka. Which for the price / quality was the most optimal choice. On May 9, we flew from Kyiv with Flydubai, knowing that this is a budget company, we stocked up on sandwiches, which were very handy on a 9-hour flight, with one landing in Dubai.
Surprised that for the most part people are sociable and responsive. The atmosphere on the island is relaxing, you start to do everything slowly, relaxing and enjoying nature. Unfortunately, the weather was not always good, out of 10 days of rest it rained for a couple of days and the ocean was a little stormy, so it was impossible to swim in it. After a couple of steps, the waves begin to suck inward.
Also struck by the large number of dogs that are found everywhere. There is a lot of humidity in Ceylon, things practically do not dry. The Koggala village club 3 * hotels had a good wide beach, I have never seen such a wide beach either in Egypt, or in Turkey, or in Bulgaria. The room was large enough, to be honest I did not expect such a large room for a three star hotel. The food in the hotels was average. Behind the hotels, finding a cafe with European cuisine turned out to be a problem.
On the third day, we took excursions from local tuktukers to Yalla National Park. We drove for about three hours in an air-conditioned minibus, then transferred to a specially equipped safari jeep. The park has many lakes, trees and a huge number of animals. We were lucky and we saw a leopard from a fairly close distance, but I think that this is a rare occurrence, since our guide was also shocked and recklessly took photos with us. In the park there are elephants, wild boars, deer, mongooses, monitor lizards, monkeys, pelicans, peacocks, crocodiles, the latter are quite rare.
I was very impressed by the beautiful beach, which we stopped by to relax. There was a feeling that you were on a desert island in an ancient era. The whole trip, which took all day, cost $55 per person, there were four of us, all from Ukraine.
On a local bus we visited the neighboring city of Galle, where the old fort is located. It was nice to drink an inexpensive mango cocktail and watch the beautiful view of the ocean as the sun went down. The fortress itself is interesting, but there is nothing special, if your hotel is located nearby, then you can visit for a variety of beach everyday life.
We also visited the capital of Sri Lanka - Colombo, to be honest, the capital disappointed me, I thought that the city would be more beautiful and pompous. Instead, there was a large concentration of people and traffic jams. The only thing I liked was the Hindu temples, perhaps because I saw them for the first time.
Further, our journey continued to Kandy, the ancient capital. Expensively pretty exhausted, a decent hotel for an overnight stay was difficult to find. I liked the Temple of the Tooth Relic, the big statue of Buddha on the mountain and the beautiful lake in the center of the city. I did not like the hotel, lizards climbed around the room at night. I was surprised that there were practically no tourists, for all the time we met two or three tourists.
We also visited the tea museum, where you can buy half a kilo of good tea for $5. You should definitely take a walk on the tea plantation itself, picturesque green hills await you, with working women with large baskets for tea on their backs. You can take good photos that will not be inferior to postcards.
In general, I liked the trip, and Asia too, I would love to visit Sri Lanka again to see other attractions. Since we lived in the south of the island, it took a whole day to get to many attractions. To see the main attractions, it is better to settle in the resort of Negombo, which is an hour's drive north of Colombo.
