Мои впечатления от Sri Lanka и от отеля My impressions of Sri Lanka and the hotel

Good afternoon everyone!
I want to share my impressions of the rest in Sri Lanka:
- the hotel is a good hotel. The road from the airport to the hotel takes 3 hours. Solid four. No complaints. The rooms suited us all (we took 3 rooms). Good service, excellent food, well maintained beach. Two bottles of mineral water are given free of charge every day. We took breakfast and dinner - everything turned out very normal. There were guys with us who took All Inclusive and we came to the conclusion that this does not make sense. The surcharge for All Inclusive is much more than if you buy it all on the spot. Although if you drink from morning to evening and do not leave the hotel, then this is your option. There were not many vacationers. There were no problems with the beds. Sea places. Lots of Ukrainians. We met the guys from the info tour, so they told us that in 4 days this is the most normal hotel they have seen. Minus - there is no Russian TV channel, plus - Wi-Fi in every room and near the pool. This is rare for SL. The pool is big and good.

There were weddings every day. Locals come to take photos. 2-3 weddings per day. They do not strain, as they are very shy of us.
On Wednesdays, the hotel management makes a cocktail party, communicate with vacationers, learn about impressions. Very nice. So - well done.
There are a lot of chipmunks on the territory of the hotel, very funny. Do not leave the rooms open during the day, they climb in and look for food. There are crows. Basically, they didn't interfere. But crows are better than bats the size of a cat in palm trees  . This happened to some of our tourists. In the evening, parrots flew to us for the night. It was interesting. There is a railway road in front of the entrance. But there was no discomfort or noise.
- it is better to change dollars at the airport. On October 15.2012, the rate was 126 rupees for 1 dollar. When they left, they bought dollars at 131 rupees. When you change on arrival, be sure to keep the receipt. It will come in handy when you buy dollars back. Inside the country, it is almost impossible to change dollars at a more or less normal rate. For 4 people, 1.5 thousand dollars was enough for me, including excursions.
- it is also better to buy a SIM card of a local telephone operator at the airport. For 1000 rupees, I bought a SIM card and 40 minutes of calls with Ukraine.
- rum and fruit bought outside the hotel. I paid 200 rupees to a tuk tuker, he took me to the bazaar and to the wine store. At the bazaar, cut prices by 2 times (the local population has a national sport - fool the tourist : ) Rum costs 1350 rupees a bottle of 0.7 liters. Mango - no more than 300 rupees per kilo. Do not pay more - if the price is higher, then they are fooling. Although the hotel with fruit is ok. We only bought mangoes. Painfully they are noble there.

- The food at the hotel is excellent. For those who do not know English, I recommend learning basic words like: chicken, beef and fish  And most importantly, remember - if the name of the dish is written in red, then the dish is spicy, VERY SPICY. Also, we went to restaurants near the hotel, the average price of a check for 1 person is $ 20. These are normal king prawns (0.5 kg), salad, fries, cola. To the left along the beach from the hotel at a distance of 200 meters there are two restaurants. The first one is pretty bad.
- tuk-tukers - used the services of Osanka. No complaints. He's in charge there. The guy is 30 years old, all in tattoos. But I recommend bargaining. So, on an excursion to Galle, with an initial price of $ 180 for 6 people, one minibus, we lowered the price to $ 120. We liked the tour: river safari, turtle farm, mask museum, Gale.
- Excursions: went on a 2-day trip to Kandy, Sigiriya and Polannaruwa. Liked. But keep in mind, climbing Sigiriya is not easy. Like 3 times walking to the 20th floor. But it's worth it. This tour is better to take from your operator, so that there is a Russian guide. Also note that due to the road and their traffic, they are a bit tiring. If you are not afraid to ride buses for 5-7 hours in a row, then go ahead! We were at the Colombo Zoo. Also interesting. I advise you to go to the elephant show. It is every day at 4:00 pm. We went to Colombo through Osanka. Although in general - excursions are miserable.
- The population is poor beggars. Ask always and wherever possible. And under any pretext. Take Styrilium. So the outside of the hotel is quite dirty.
- country - for a beach holiday in the first place
- the weather - we went in October, it rained every day from 13-00 until the evening. Didn't bother sunbathing. But he strained. Take sunscreen. Not lower than 50. On the first day, we all burned down, although the sky was completely covered with clouds.
- The ocean is average. Only for splashing on the waves. You won't be able to swim. Children alone should not be allowed into the water. Dangerously. Can pull deep.
The roads are a nightmare. The Egyptians are resting. The movement is very slow. We drove to the hotel for 3 (! ) hours. And considering that this is after 2 hours of the airport, 9 hours of flying, then 3 (! ) Hours of driving to the hotel are killing. Or they get it. Who likes 

Total: if you are limited in funds, then SHL is an excellent value for money. Nice quiet stay. Asia at its finest. If you have 1 ton more dollars, then, as for me, Thailand is better and more interesting. And for young people - much more fun.