Отель не плохой но вернуться не хочется The hotel is not bad but I don't want to go back

BE CAREFUL WITH EXCURSIONS FROM THE BEACH
Like many who have probably arrived in Sri Lanka, I have not used the services of tour guides for a long time. Before the trip, either I find local Russian speakers or we rent transport and explore the country ourselves, this is what I did now. After studying various Internet resources and reading the reviews of vacationers at the hotel, I realized that at least 3 representatives live in the area of ​ ​ u200bu200byour beach and are on duty at the exit to the ocean, recruiting tourists for themselves. This became the main thing when choosing this particular hotel. There was a cheaper hotel in another part of the island and no worse in quality, but there was no way to find a Russian-speaking guide nearby.
The most praised guides of this hotel were RAJA, TANU, LASHAN. Having found their phones, I discussed with them the proposed excursion program, this is Gale, Sigiriya, Kandy-Nuvaereliya for 2 days with an overnight stay in Kandy, communicating via Whats App. Everyone has a number of positive reviews, but there is nooooooo:

RAJA (offered 205 dollars per person) - according to a competitor, a very touchy and impulsive young man, according to a competitor, TANU even got into a fight if something went wrong and it’s better not to have anything to do with him. His words were confirmed by the fact that the Raja, having learned that it was not him who was chosen, but TANU, began to throw mud at me and TANU had to sharply siege him, but the sediment remained
LASHAN (offered 235 dollars per person) - calm, not very intrusive, but he speaks Russian worst of all and the price is higher.
TANU (offered 195 dollars per person, bargained for 190) - initially discussing the route with him, they were going to go KAND-Sigiriya with an overnight stay in Kandy, but he himself suggested that Sigiriya go separately, and take Kandy-Nuvaereliya, and agreed with this. Having previously discussed everything, often communicating with him on the Internet, I realized that they do not live richly. Tanu asked to bring gifts and I, out of traditional Russian kindness, brought him tangerines, oranges, a couple of chocolates, a couple of large packs of seeds that he loves but they don’t have, cigarettes and 2 x 0.5 Stolichnaya vodka, in general, he became FATHER FROST for him.
Upon arrival, we met with him, discussed the program and agreed on the days of departure, since you need to buy train tickets in advance to Nuvaereliya and the Kandy Botanical Garden. There was an agreement with him in advance to help celebrate my birthday. Earlier in the reviews I met that he can organize dinner on the beach. Seeing a large number of gifts brought (besides me, the guys who came with us in the company also gave him something), he said that dinner would be a gift from him. As a result, on January 13, in the evening, we settled down under a lantern on the beach, making sunbeds around. Tanu bought fruit, 3 kg of shrimp and 6 tuna steaks. We brought Russian vodka, Bacardi rum and Martini. Tanu came with his brother who did not speak Russian, why he came is not clear, but it is not customary to drive away the guests, they sat eating and drinking with us. We listened to music, Tanu sang to us. Rested not bad. But in the morning TANU said about the gift, he joked and asked for 41 dollars for groceries. Rs 2.000 for shrimp and fish per kilogram. I did not argue, why spoil your holiday. It was the first call I didn't hear. Then, having left the hotel, I found out that shrimp cost 950-1100 rupees, fish 700-1200. And for the remaining dollars, you could buy 2 bags of fruit at a price of 40 rubles per 1 kg of mango and pineapples from 40 to 80 rubles per piece. He cheated about 2 times.

We went on an excursion and realized that he was not a guide at all, but a Russian-speaking escort. All the way in the car, he talked on the phone or with the driver. If we asked about the country or the area where we passed, we answered. He doesn't say anything. In all the places where we stopped, he handed us over to another guide who conducted the tour.
Spice Garden first stop. On a small area of ​ ​ ​ ​.3 acres, various shrubs, trees and grass grow, which are derivatives of various spices, which were interestingly told and shown about. Then they sat down on benches under awnings and began to talk about Ayurveda and the various healing properties of plants. They also did a light massage of the neck and shoulders with oils. After that, everything could be bought at the pharmacy on the spot. Going there were just killed by the prices. For a small jar of aloe vera and sandalwood oil, they asked for $60. They refused to buy from such prices, they began to leave, they caught up on the street near the car, they offered to buy for 32, and we refused it. Subsequently, on another trip, everything was bought for $ 12. The prices are terrible.
Elephant riding. 5 elephants are driven in a circle of 100 meters. Then you can go down to the stream and take a picture with the elephant being washed and feed the elephant. Not a farm but a parody. After a farm, an elephant show, almost an hour of riding in Thailand, this is just a mockery. Subsequently, I learned on the beach that Tanu brought tourists from Slovenia there for $ 130 and they naturally complained at the hotel with tears in their eyes.
Royal Botanic Garden Kandy. The territory is huge and of course you can’t get around it with your feet. Tanu offered to take an electric car like on a golf course. Of course I paid another 12 dollars. Interesting beautiful. Several stops for photos.
Temple of the BUDDHA'S TOOTH on the shore of the sacred lake in the center of the lake. On a very large territory with located stupas and temples and other objects of worship for Buddhists. In the lake, no household activities and swimming are prohibited. Fearless fish and birds swim in flocks. We did not like the temple, which TANU was very surprised, since for all Buddhists it is a very holy place. On subsequent trips, we saw more beautiful temples.

After a snack with what we took with us and the soul in the hotel, we went to the Kandy Folk Dance Theater. Theater without tickets and seats. At the exit, you can then throw money into the donation box. The most normal seats were reserved for organized groups. We had to disperse around the hall and try to see everything through the heads of others. The dances are conducted by a group of amateur artists, the whole action is reminiscent of amateur performances in a rural club of the last century in the Russian outback. To be honest, I even began to fall asleep and warned my companion. I cheered up only when 2 people came onto the stage from behind the curtain with flaming bowls. Having seen this terrible dream, any of our firefighters began to look around where to run in case of a fire. So much fun it all ended after 12 dances. Leaving the premises, we were unpleasantly surprised by a bunch of buses that were waiting for organized groups. TANU led the Daleks along the street where our minibus could drive up. They began to wait, he phoned and we went through the traffic jam in the other direction, there we waited for a long time smelling the solar exhausts of buses. Then it turned out that our mikrik would not be able to stop near us, since the police were standing nearby and clearing this traffic jam, and he went to the theater. Everyone had already left near the theater, and we were able to safely plunge into a minibus and go to the hotel. Organization of excursions during the day and so there were a lot of complaints, but this running around the theater between the cars was the last straw. All even our women were no longer silent, but reprimanded him for this trip. We already regretted that we went to these dances at all, and did not stay at the hotel.
Back at the hotel we went for dinner. They took fruit and vodka from the rooms and sat down to dinner. Dinner and breakfast were included in our stay. TANU came to us and began to strongly apologize for all his faults, promised to improve. The girls got emotional, shared their large portions of dinner, persuaded me and him to pour vodka, which he really, really loves. In general, again, according to the breadth of the Russian soul, the fool was forgiven. We fed and watered and went to bed.
In the morning we had breakfast and found out that we would soon leave, but there was no TANU. I called him on the phone, he overslept everything after alcohol. He ran and we moved to the station to board the train. Arriving, he left us to wait, and he left with the phone to call for tickets. Then he began to run and get nervous, put the girls in the ticket queue. This all went on for an hour. Then he brought us to the station platform filled with a crowd of tourists. Very many with large tourist backpacks and suitcases. Most of them are young people traveling all over the island. A diesel locomotive with wagons approached, part of the people got out of it, but the majority remained and the crowd from the platform began to storm the wagons trying to climb up. Tanu dragged us there and climbed through the cars in search of our seats. As the largest in the company, I was the last to go so that none of our women would remain in the crowd after me. After passing about 5 wagons in a terrible crush, I heard a cry to get out. All the carriages were overcrowded and not only sitting there would be problematic in a crowd with a lot of luggage.
There are 3 classes of wagons in the country. And as I understand it, Tanu tried to get us on cheap tickets, which we never saw at all, to drag us into the car with seats and place us there. But in this train there was no such car at all. Realizing this, he was the first to jump out onto the platform and tried to escape leaving us there. There were 6 of us and we stretched out quite a bit making our way through the cars, but our girls who were walking next to him managed to notice his escape and shout it to the others along the chain. When they stepped out onto the platform, they all wanted to kill him. We must pay tribute before the trip, I studied a lot of video materials around the country and read the reviews of tourists that people order tickets in advance. The trip to Nuvaereliya is very interesting in the mountains, past tea plantations and waterfalls, etc. I asked TANU about tickets from the first days of my arrival, he told me all the time that the tickets were bought, but the girls later said that he answered them that there were no tickets, but everything would be fine and he would buy them. In the evening, sitting at the table with us, he ate our food, drank our vodka and deceived, lied to the face. This is not a person, but just a beast, there is no other way to say it. He was told that we are breaking all agreements and he must return the money that was immediately transferred to him for all the agreed excursions in the amount of $ 1140

We plunged into the minibus and drove back with the mood to tear apart. But I didn’t do it, because I had a 4-hour drive in a foreign country where few people even know English. Having experience of traveling to many countries, I personally did not have much fear. We would have got out and reached the hotel even abandoned on the train, but the very realization of such a vile attitude after receiving expensive gifts and the fact that they fed and watered like a native and got such a result just infuriated me. If he had said the day before that the tickets were not for me, or our women told me about this, knowing that he was lying to me, I would have forced us to take us to Kandy on the first day without any extra nights. There would be no problems and insults, I realized that there could be problems with tickets. Why should I and everyone who paid $100 for a day in the country have to spend the night somewhere else and eat for separate money, I don’t understand.
In the middle of the road, he himself started a conversation, which I put off until I arrived at the hotel. He said that he would give us 530 dollars back and we parted ways. Of course, I boiled over and said that he should return 900, since there was no trip on the second day, he acted vilely. An overnight stay that we did not need was at his expense. He tried to beg and belittle even to cry not to do this, since he lives in poverty and we must forgive him for his mistakes. (in the country, a teacher receives 100-150 dollars, military and police 200-250 dollars a month) I still don’t understand why we should forgive him and pay for mistakes, although my wife nearby, who herself receives a monthly salary of 180 bucks, asked me to forgive (I I almost hit a kind woman on the forehead myself) I said that we were going to his house for money and realized that he was really scared, I promised to come to his house and tell his parents about his meanness, tell everything in the hotel and on the Internet about his meanness. The fact that he also deceived us 2 prices for dinner, I found out later. At the entrance to the hotel, a guy came out on the road and handed Tan 800 dollars, which he handed to me. He said that now there is no more. As soon as he earns on the beach, he will give us the rest. In total, all this horror cost us 340 dollars for 6 people.
Subsequently, on the beach, he hid from us when we were not on trips, then at the end of the holiday he said that he would not give anything else, behaved arrogantly, walked around waving a knife. Of course, I didn’t want to get involved with this shit in a fight, although he was worthy of a broken face. But I didn’t want to spoil the rest with a showdown with the local police. Subsequently, seeing tourists to whom he approached offering his services, I or someone from our company approached and talked about his dishonesty, which spoiled his business, receiving moral satisfaction and preventing others from making mistakes. So we learned about the tears of tourists from Slovenia affected by it. Although approaching a large company of Ukrainians and telling them about him, they received an answer. "Good job,!!! ! Managed to find... and earn money. Apparently people are the same. And God be his Buddhist judge.
Subsequently, from communication with others, we learned about a local Russian-speaking peasant SANJIV with a minibus that also carries tourists. After talking with him on Whats App, we agreed to meet in the hotel lobby. Subsequently, we went with him to Sigiriya for $ 315 for everyone, taking into account entrance tickets, and they are not cheap. A very beautiful and iconic place. If you have strength and health, then you need to climb this mountain and inspect the remains of the royal palace. We experienced similar feelings only when climbing to the top of the pyramids in Mexico and on the pyramid of Cheops in Egypt.

The next trip was to Gala for 70 bucks for 6 people. We visited a tortoise farm, a couple of hours boating on the river where small crocodiles, monitor lizards and beautiful birds were seen in the thickets. A lot has been written about these places so I won't repeat myself. Were on a ship for the extraction of precious stones and a store with it. Regretting that he had not bought, although the money was (but there was no mood) for his wife, sapphires. 2 cut stones of 6 carats could be bought for about $200. Then we went to Hikkaduwa. We spent almost 4 hours on the beautiful beach. There are no waves, beautiful large fish, but in our beloved Egypt they are more beautiful and more diverse. We fed huge turtles with algae in the water. We dined there with a bottle of local red Calypso rum. Time flew by unnoticed.