My impressions of Lanka
Hello! I will share my impressions about the rest in Sri Lanka. Before the trip, I read a lot of reviews about hotels and the country, many thanks to everyone who shared their experience of traveling to this wonderful country, maybe my review will be useful to someone : ). From the tips of the “experienced”, I applied some, and I recommend them to future travelers, including: take food with you on the plane (sandwiches, cookies, sweets)... the flight will take a long time to keep your mouth busy : ))) (we bought water in duty free )… in Dubai, go to the duty free, again, buy water for the flight to Colombo and. . if you drink "good": ) alcohol, it's better to buy it here. At the Colombo airport, change money and purchase a SIM card (we bought a "Dialogue", spoke with relatives and a local guide... there was a small unused amount on the account).
Hotel: Rested in Koggala, in The Long Beach Resort from 11/10/2013 to 11/19/2013, ordered a room for three, deluxe with ocean view. We were accommodated in room s507…excellent! : ), comfortable and private : ) (three more rooms and a fence enclosing the hotel), a room on the first floor - you open the door to the terrace, then a couple of dozen steps and…HELLO OCEAN!! ! In the hotel, all the rooms are large, but doubles... everything you need for a third person in the room - a bed, a bed, a pillow, a third set of towels, etc... the hotel staff informed almost until dinner : ))), one unit... with an interval of 30.40 minutes, at that time we rested - sunbathed, swam, periodically being distracted by listing the necessary (brought stubbornly: ) one unit at a time). The room has everything you need... air conditioning, fan, refrigerator, hairdryer, tea set, electric fumigator, safe, telephone (did not use), TV (did not turn on : ))... everything is in working order. British-style sockets, an adapter is required, although it is possible to do without it (when inserting the plug into the socket, insert a fountain pen or a wooden stick into the third hole). Money and documents were kept in a safe, the rest, as usual, on the shelves in the closet and suitcases, nothing was lost, although I heard complaints about the loss of cigarettes and something else small : ). The room was cleaned daily, tolerably : ), we left chocolates and sweets (we didn’t leave money)... once we forgot to remove the “do not disturb” sign, the young man who cleaned the rooms, meeting us on the territory, was worried about our uncleaned room. The food is normal, sometimes the dishes were spicy : ), but the choice is sufficient... you can find something edible. We took breakfasts and dinners... I recommend - in the evening there is live music in the restaurant and delicious, varied desserts.
Beach: OCEAN SUPER!! ! Strong, powerful, yet warm and affectionate. The wave is constant, well of different strengths. Jump on the waves, wander parallel to the shore, except for the buzz... three in one - aqua aerobics, Charcot shower and solarium , sometimes a smaller wave can swim along the coast, from the hotel border towards the plane, but carefully and not for long (drags). The coast is sandy and this is the beauty : ), we went to Unawatuna - we didn’t like it (the coast is pebbles and stones, shells, dead corals and dirt (: )
Excursions: From the reviews we realized that it’s better not to deal with the tour operator, here in one of the reviews we learned about the local Russian-speaking guide-tuktuker Chintak, we called him upon arrival and the subsequent acquaintance with Lanka took place in his company : ). Decent, responsible, arrived quickly, and by prior arrangement, always on time. He was always in touch seven hundred seventy-four, five hundred forty-four, seven hundred thirty-two. We went with him to Galle, Unawatuna… and a few other interesting places…. The coolest and most memorable two-day tour of Sigiriya-Kandy! SUPER!! ! Gather a company or arrange with Chintaka to join a company of at least 8 people, then the price per person will be about 130 dollars +/-. Bargain : ). We left the hotel at 4 o'clock in the morning, we drove for quite a long time, the excursion program began from Sigiriya. Hot, damp, wet steps. . . and always up : ). . . comfortable shoes are important here, climb to the very top, it's worth it! Then elephant riding, here, as well as everywhere else in Sri Lanka, you need to bargain... long and hard : )))... we didn’t succeed (instead of the promised 1800 rupees / person, we rode for 3000 / person), a temple in Kandy (take it with you socks, shoes were offered to be left in the minibus). I really liked the Royal Botanical Gardens, tea plantations and a tea factory in Nuwara Eliya, waterfalls. Informatively - a spice garden, but a silk shop (: , the quality is below average. I really liked the hotel where we spent the night in Kandy (Grand Kandy Villa). Friendly smiling staff; clean spacious rooms; good, tasty, beautifully decorated dinner and breakfast. Managed with our minibus the driver-AS! A narrow winding road on which animals lie and roam, children run, scooters and tuk-tuks drive, regular buses and trucks . . but we safely returned to our hotel, on the second day late in the evening, barely having time for dinner. In Sri Lanka, there are still a lot of interesting places that we wanted to, but did not have time to see.
Sri Lanka is a poor country and its citizens, in an effort to live better, fool our brother-tourist, whoever can , therefore: agree on a price in advance, BARGAIN everywhere except those places where there are recommended prices (although they are often overestimated there, for example, when buying beer), when paying for services or goods, count money at the seller and only then give it back, be prepared for extraordinary situations (they give you a hand helping you up or down the stairs, and then they demand money for this work).
Sri Lanka is an amazing, wonderful country with its pluses and minuses, I saw it this way, but every traveler will separate the good from the bad for himself, and may not agree with me Let everyone who wants to see this country! Good luck!
