The flight to Colombo took 6 hours 40 minutes with an hour stopover in Male, Maldives. Flying to Male took about 3 hours 50 minutes. During the stopover, I watched the workers cleaning the seats in preparation for the passengers from Male. To my horror, they did not change the blanket nor the cushion. I realised that I was going to be boarding a transit plane, in this same manner, from Colombo on Sunday.
By the time we arrived in Bandaranaike airport, it was 25 minutes past midnight. I was tired as I could barely sleep in the plane due to the multiple interruptions arising from meals and landing. At the arrival hall, our driver was already waiting for us. The ride to the hotel took us through small towns and lasted almost an hour. My heart missed a beat when the driver turned into a lonely lane. The place was dimly lit. Soon, we found our car stopping in front of a huge wooden gate. A sign read The Sovereign. We have arrived! A guard pushed the gate to allow our car in (1st shock: non-automated gate).
Upon checking in, the porter guided us up two storey of stairs (2nd shock: no lift???) . I got into my room, quickly cleaned myself and fell asleep. In the morning, my mind was finally clear enough for me to inspect the room. At a glance, the room was reasonably decorated. However, a few important items were missing such as blanket, tv and shampoo (3rd shock).
After a western breakfast in the dining hall, we proceeded to plan our trip to town. We were annoyed to find the staffs unequipped to provide us with even simple information such as the distance from the hotel to town, nearest location of a money-changer and the best way to get around. Neither were there maps! Finally, the manager, Kumara, came to solve the issues. He even offered to accompany us to town.
We waited for 15 minutes or more for the cab. The trip to town took about 10 minutes probably, costing LKR 460. We were taken to several gem shops before finally finding a bank in the Majestic City shopping mall (resembles the Weld or Pertama) to get some rupees (Sri Lanka has capital control). The bank was very old-fashioned, largely relying on human power for transaction activity. Our transaction took nearly half an hour (USD1 = LKR114)! With some rupees in hand, we bought some Mlesna tea from a tea centre in the mall.
Next, we headed towards Gangaramaya temple near the Beira Lake. Finally, Kumara left us at the Pettah market before returning to the hotel. The market was filled with mainly local. We strolled along the many shops, noting the close semblance to Masjid India in Malaysia. Suddenly, a man approached us and started giving directions. He took us to the saree lane, up to some shops selling saree and salwar cloth. I spent LKR 2,600 on a set of salwar cloth, from the discounted price of LKR 2870.
Having satisfied ourselves with cloth-shopping, we set out to head for the next stop. We were advised by the shopowner to head to Crescat, a shopping mall. Strangely, the man who was giving us directions wanted to take us elsewhere. I refused as I realised that the place he spoke of was not recommended by WikiTravel. My friend and I decided against taking another tuk-tuk too (after having been cheated twice to pay LKR250 per trip). We chose to walk without proper directions. The man followed us. Shortly, we learnt his real intention. He asked for LKR300 as tip for taking us to the shops. We ignored him and walked away. He followed us for some time before leaving us alone. We were glad nothing happened.
We kept walking and stopping occasionally at shops along the roads. Soon we came to Laksala, a state-owned emporium, selling handicrafts and jewellery. Nothing caught my eyes. So we set out again, attempting to locate Crescat on our own. We realised that each time we asked for direction, we will be asked to catch a tuk-tuk. Our aimless walk took us to a heavily-guarded area, consisting mainly of hotels. We later learnt that this particular location houses the President's home, army base and old parliament. As we tried to enter the road, we were stopped by two guards, requesting to check our passports. It was a normal procedure.
We continued our journey happily, thinking that we will be reaching Crescat soon. Once again, we were approached by a local who can speak Malay. Our journey took us to the ocean. Suddenly, we felt droplets of water. Our initial thought was that the source came from the strong wave. Soon, we realised it was raining! The man managed to persuade us to take a tuk-tuk to the next destination. Little did we realise that we will be taken to yet another gem shop i.e. Gem Paradise. Sigh. A pair of ear studs, shaped like a 3-petal flowers caught my eyes. The petals were made of sapphire. Unfortunately, the cost was beyond my budget at USD300.
It was 5pm when we arrived in Crescat. It was a tiny shopping mall. We started looking for places to eat as we did not take lunch. The only available eatery is the food court. We settled on two pan pizzas, drinks and garlic bread, costing LKR690 (4th shock: more expensive than Malaysia!) . The tuk-tuk ride back to hotel cost us LKR450 (negotiated price). It was pretty amazing that we found our way back given that the hotel did not provide us with its address! The tuk-tuk driver asked us how can we go around without knowing our own address. Luckily, we remembered the landmarks and the number of the hotel. We also had Kumara's handphone number. We did not take a cab because cab can only be called to hotels. Geez.
27 May
Registration began at 8.45am. The opening ceremony was held at the auditorium in the CBS building, which is connected to the hotel. GH was invited to join the lighting ceremony as the foreign rep. The Governor attended the ceremony too.
The seminar was conducted by two professors from Jawaharlal Nehru University. While the two are very knowledgeable in their areas, I was somewhat disappointed by the course content which was not what I expected.
At the end of the day, the foreigners (only 4 of us including 2 from SAMA) were driven out to town. We were taken to Laksala. It was here I found most of my souvenirs at reasonably prices. The gems were reasonable priced too although the designs appeared to stall in the 60s. The emporium closed at 7pm. We headed to pizza hut (again!) for dinner.
28 May
Another day full of presentations and discussions.
In the evening, we were taken out again. This time, we went to House of Fashion, a local department store and Odel, a higher-end department store. It was interesting to note the contrast between the two shopping malls. We had McD for dinner. I bought a McChicken Junior for LKR110.
On this day, we found out that the hotel does not accept credit card! (5th shock) It was a worrying situation as each of us brought only about USD300 into the country. From this day onwards, we had to be very careful with our spending.
29 May
The final day of the seminar.
As like the two previous days, we were taken out. This time, we spent our time at the beach to watch sunset. The view was amazing. I was quite envious of the people who can enjoy this scenery day in day out. More so, of the staffs at the central bank, which was located at another part of the shore of the Indian Ocean. It was hard to imagine that this was a place filled with painful memories from the tsunami destruction.
At about 7pm, we left for the Galadari Hotel for the closing dinner.
We returned to the hotel slightly after 10pm. The sight before us was unexpected. There was a truckful of army in front of the hotel. We got down from the van and started walking towards the reception area. Halfway in, a military man came out, gun in his hand. It was quite a shocking experience to come face to face with one of them. In order to avoid anymore "confrontation", my friend and I moved aside to let them all pass. Phew. Things settled down after that. Apparently, there was a function in the hotel earlier. The army was there to escort some VIPs.
30 May
Our excursion were to start at 6am. I went down to lobby a little earlier to get the receipts for the hotel and airport transfer. The night before was a nightmare for me and my friend. First of all, we were told that they don't accept USD. Later, they told us they do. Then, we requested for the bill early in the morning on Friday. But, they didn't get it down till evening and even that we had to remind them. Next, they combined me and my friend's bills. We needed separate billings to faciliate our claims. They could only provide the separate billings the next day (???). Luckily, when I went to lobby to get the bills, they were ready, properly typed out.
The journey to Kandy was estimated to around 3 1/2 hours, through trunk roads. The ride was so bumpy that in the end, I couldn't stop myself from vomiting whatever was in my stomach at that time. It was a good thing that I decided not to take breakfast till we arrived at the destination.
Our first stop was at the Elephant Orphanage. The entry for foreigner cost LKR1,250 while it was only LKR100 for local. The experience was pretty amazing. We were separated from the elephants only by a thin rope. I saw the feeding session. A little elephant wanted to walk beyond the rope but the keeper yelled at it. After the big elephants were fed, it was the babies' turn. Two babies followed the keeper to the milking shed. We followed them from behind. Some of us attempted to touch them. When we ran behind them, the babies ran too. It was so cute.
At the shed, visitors were given the opportunity to feed the babies from a huge milk bottle. We were also lucky enough to see a 6-day old baby elephant. One of the keeper kindly took a photo of the baby for me following the request from one of the CBS staffs. Next, we left their living quarter, crossed the road to the river. We were to wait there for the bathing time, while sipping Ceylon tea. It was fun watching the elephants marching up the road towards the river and being forced to take bath. A few wandered off to the other side of the river to play in the mud.
I bought a name card holder made of elephant dung (LKR350). I couldn't resist getting one despite the eekiness associated with its origin. In addition, it was stated that the money will be channeled towards the improvement of the orphanage.
After awhile, we left the orphanage to head to our next stop, the Geragama tea factory. We were shown the process of tea production using machines aged 106 years old! I could not resist the temptation of buying some teas and ended up with a bag of green tea. My companions spent even more. However, I was told that the best tea is in Nuwara Eliya, where the Saudis are heading to after the trip to Kandy.
Lunch was in a hotel on Amaya Hill. We were treated to a western buffet. The scenery was stunning. But the trip up was not due to the uneven roads :(
Our last stop was in Kandy to visit the famous Temple of Tooth Relic, a Unesco Heritage Site. The security was very tight because of the bombing in 1998, which destroyed a large portion of the temple. Surprisingly, the pagoda holding the tooth relic survived the blast, almost unscathed. We were unable to view the tooth as it is only taken out twice a year. Nevertheless, we enjoyed ourselves, by walking around the temple, admiring the beautiful statues.
At a particular worship area, I was approached by a monk. He led me into the area housing the statues! When he handed me some flowers to put in front of the statues, I couldn't stop myself from asking if I had to pay. I felt bad for being so suspicious over the sincerity of the monk. It was actually a privilege to be allowed such close look of the statues. One of the statue was donated by Malaysia!
Later at the museum, we were again given the privilege of stepping into the balcony overlooking the lake in Kandy. The monks even opened the window facing the pagoda for us to see the partially gold-plated roof, donated by one of the Presidents of Sri Lanka.
It was almost 6pm when we left Kandy. We bid farewell to our friends from Saudi Arabia, who took another jeep up to Nuwara Eliya, accompanied by a staff from the CBS. The rest of the staffs were to accompany us to the airport. We bought our last souvenir, cashew nuts from some local shops on the way to the airport. From LKR800, we negotiated down the price to LKR700. Hopefully, that is a fair price for 500g of oven-roasted cashew nuts. (Mom was very pleased with the extra large cashew nuts, which are twice the size of those imported from Thailand).
We were greeted by tight security at the airport. While the loading of bags up the bus to take us to the departure hall was free, they charged LKR50 for unloading the bags to the check-in counters. We chose to push our own luggages in as we were not ready to check-in. We rested on the chair in the waiting area till about 10.45pm. I took the opportunity to check out the souvenir shops. To my horror, the souvenirs were sold at about 3 to 3.5 times more than in Colombo!
The checking in took awhile either due to the inefficiency of the staffs or the computers. The same could be observed even at the business class line! I was really frustrated with their service.
There had been a lot of ups and downs throughout the whole trip. While I had trouble with the too salty, too sweet and mainly overcooked food, agressive drivers, bumpy roads and bad service, I was swept away by the beauty of its mountains and beaches. The simple decorations in the worship areas and the white statues of Buddha remind one that simplicity is still the most beautiful thing in life. I hope that the next time I return to this wonderful land, I will see improvement in the standard of living of the people but without destroying their gifts from god.
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