Amazing Sri Lanka with a great guide
When planning our vacation, my wife and I chose Sri Lanka because of its exoticism, climate and ocean. After reviewing a bunch of reviews and shoveling the Internet, we decided to go to Koggala, Long Beach 4 * - open ocean, waves, almost always an empty beach or such a feeling.
A long flight, a long transfer in a big bus, and finally we are at the hotel. In which, by the way, I liked everything completely. But now the story is not about that.
After arriving and settling in, it was decided to go to dinner at Katarina Grill. The biggest problem was that we read the internet before. Having sighed and mentally prepared for prices of $40, bidding to the last, grabbing hands and threatening kidnapping in case of refusal to buy a souvenir, we went. And... everything turned out to be perfect - smiling people, normal prices, friendly staff. This is how the first Internet representation of Sri Lanka crashed.
A day later, it was decided to go to Halle - and again the same picture.
It’s not scary to ride a bus both during the day and at night, it’s safe to ride on tuk and bargain something wrong and vehemently said that they say “man, come on for 50, otherwise I’ve been here for a week and I know that it’s not the feature is not good price for local and go here 3km, not very long road as you soar" and no problem. I asked a local where they sell roti - he showed it without any problems. And on the bus at 9 pm there was a general incident: a passenger nearby asked how much money they took from us so that we would not overpay the conductor.
General relaxation and friendliness was further fueled by the fact that the beach fights on the beach just waved cigarettes and figurines at us several times, but on "no, thanks" they calmly moved on. But it's time for the tour. By a magical coincidence, a local business card fell into our hands before we tried but did not have time to give money to our guide.
The local name is Patum, he knows Russian well, answers Viber, is very friendly and makes excellent excursions, a departing tourist from Minsk told me.
Taking a risk, I wrote to Viber and met in the evening. The offer is really great: two days of excursions, a lot of cities, a train ride (a tautology, sorry), elephants, temples, a hotel, dinner and breakfast, all entrance fees... and it's cheaper than a guide, and nothing more spend other than meals and water. Reluctantly, I paid a deposit and asked for a receipt - well, why, there is a lot written on the Internet, and the guide scared me.
Patum, thank you so much! ! !
This person always got in touch, picked up on time and, as promised, a small bus for 6 people with air conditioning. The tour is amazing: Dambulla, Sigiriya, Nuwara Eliya, Eliya, Kandy.
Lots of waterfalls, beautiful temples, nature, a local train ride, a wonderful hotel and always delicious and inexpensive food (we were told that all the locals are taken only to where they have a kickback. So, I hope Patum got a kickback from where we are ate! ). The proposal that he described before the trailer trip turned out to be even better in the end. You are driving along the highway at a speed of 100 - and then Patum shouts: stop, stop, back off. And then in Russian: look, this is a peacock boy running around. We saw wild elephants and stopped to take pictures with them. We listened to a lot of stories about Lanka and cities, we drove past the hooves. As a result, Patum turned into a friend.
Should I bring shrimp or water? Suggest where it is cheaper or go out to bargain? Take you in a tuk tuk and then pick up or cook a Sri Lankan dinner at home and invite you without taking money for it? Yes please.
Result: almost all the time we took a tuk-tuk from Patum, wrote off and listened to his recommendations, went together for fruit and a few more excursions, and just met in the evening and chatted.
If you really want to spend your holidays in Koggala unforgettable - you should come to him. By the way, if you go to the hotel and answer the barkers standing there "thank you, I'm waiting for Patum", you are guaranteed fun. As I understand it, everyone knows him and are very disappointed when they find out that he has got more tourists. But there is a reason.
You can write to him on Viber - he answers quickly and to the point. +9.77 60.9154
