I have always had plans to visit my grandmother in Sri Lanka whom I last saw
when I was 6 year old and now it was about time to meet her and when I was planning
a trip, Viswa and Gopi also tagged in.
We booked our tickets to Sri Lanka
by December and the round trip cost was 6.5K in Air India Express flight. We didn’t
plan much and it was because we were little too lazy!
Yes, the day came for us to fly.
03- 03-2012
From Chennai we had our flight to
Colombo, Bandarnayake Airport by 7AM in the morning and therefore we had to be
there at the airport by 4AM. Out of excitement and Mosquito bite, we decided
that we will stay awake the whole night to catch the flight and we started to
the Airport by 3.30 and we reached the airport by 4AM exactly. After passport
verification and security check we were allowed to enter the International
Departure gate by CISF jawans. My perception about Indian Army totally changed
after looking at the Jawans there, I felt proud and even without my knowledge
my hands were saluting. Well Build with a 48 Inch shoulder and 6.3 feet height
they will always look intimidating to the terrorist and to the Anti-Nationals.
After rounds of checking we got
our boarding passes to the Air India Express flight IX671 and only then we
realized that we haven’t changed the Indian currencies to dollars. So, we were
searching for the ATM inside the airport but only then we realized that there
is no ATM inside the airport! So, we had to surrender our boarding pass and had
to get AI employee with us to get the money from the nearest ATM outside the
Airport. And that was not the end, the ATM engulfed my card and refused to give
the money as well, yeah right, great start.
After this Viswa had to get the
boarding pass again and then we went to the Thomas Cook for currency conversion
and then hit the next tragedy, Thomas cook converted Indian Rupees to US
Dollars at Rs.64 while the price outside the airport was Rs.55. Yes, we lost
around 8K Indian rupees on this.
We summarized to ourselves, there
is no ATM inside the airport and two never do a currency exchange inside an
Airport and that to with Thomas Cook.
By 5 in the morning, we almost
completed all the procedures from boarding pass to VISA we almost completed
everything. VISA, we applied online through a website, thanks to Gopi. He saved
quite sometime in the airport. We saved all these time to take a few pictures
in the Airport, yeah, It is our vacation and we have every right to do whatever
we wanted to do!
By 6.45 we boarded the flight and
we were able to see a lot of carriers, who carry things from India<->SriLanka
using the loop holes in the law. They take liquor bottles from the duty free
shops and will sell these in the local liquor shop and make some money out of
this and they do more work of this sort.
We heard the captain of the “chotta flight” on
the speakers saying that the visibility was less than 100Mt and so it is not
possible to take off immediately and the flight will take off by 7.45. And he
kept his word and we took off by the time he told us. To suffice our hunger,
the flight served us Pongal, vada, Idly and Cutlet. (WOW! For the 3k, we paid)
After an hour journey, we touched
the Srilankan soil by 9AM. 25 degree and was breezy. To our surprise there was
no time difference, apparently they removed the day-light saving in the recent
times. We came out of the airport by 11 after getting Airtel Simcard with Data
and we also exchanged the Dollars with Srilankan Currencies. No we had a good
amount of money in our hands thanks to exchange rates.
After another 30 minutes of
discussion on whether to go to Batticalo directly or to stay in Colombo for a
day, we finally concluded that we will stay in Colombo till the evening and
will leave to Batticalo on a night bus. So, we took our entire luggage and
started to Colombo-3 where one of my Uncle stays. With Srilankan rupees 2500 we
travelled the 30KM from Airport to Colombo-3. The ride from the airport gave us
a glimpse of Sri Lanka, they listen to Jazz music like happy people do, they
wear Caribbean style clothes, if you ask them a cup of tea they will serve you
400Ml of tea and last but not the least they are really good set of hospitable
people.
We met our uncle and from there
we saw a few places in Colombo-4 which is supposed to be the prime
business/political area of Colombo and then by 2 we had our lunch in a Chinese
restaurant and then we were left alone for the next 4 hours. And by 8, we started
to Batticalo from Colombo.
04-03-2012
By 3.30 we reached my relatives
place in Chengalady, Batticalo and after that we had chit-chat for the next 5
to 6 hours and by 10 we went to a school where one of my uncle is a Principal
and apparently we found that the war has affected even the eastern province
very much. And by 11.30, we went to a
beach called Passikudah which is famous for its zero to no waves. And after an
hour of bathing, we had our lunch and then we started to Batticalo town which
is covered by water in three sides and we were able to still able to see the remains
of the 2004 Tsunami. The plight of the people because of the war and Tsunami
was very much visible. And after our entire visit we reached our home by 8 and
then it was a happy night’s sleep.
05-03-2012
After two hectic days of
travelling we preferred to stay at home and relax so that we don’t mess up with
the upcoming days.
06-03-2012
From Batticalo we started our
voyage to Kandy, a hill station in the up-country by 6.30 in the morning. In
the bus we were charged some Srilankan 200 rupees for the whole 200 kilometers.
We reached Kandy by 12.30 and we had a good lunch. Kandy was really hot and
humid and so we decided to go to Nuweralia which is supposed to be like Ooty. Out
of plight, we took an AC bus to Nuweralia and we were there by 4 in the
evening.
In the bus stand, we found a
broker who got us a room for 2000 bucks for a night. Happy we were as it was just 666 per head! We
stayed in Victoria Inn which is right in front of the Nuwereliya’s Victoria Park.
It had three beds and a decent bathroom
with geysers.
We ordered a pot of tea and we
thought it would be a milk-tea (This is how they call our normal tea) but
instead they gave us something like tea water, sugar, milk separately and they
asked us to mix it for ourselves. Oh yeah, we had the worst tea of the century.
Learning, always ask for Milk tea and be specific in explaining what you want
otherwise you might get something which can be your nightmare.
And then by 5, we started to the
Labook ellie tea factory for a visit. The cab driver charged us 2500 for the ride
and we had to accept that. He was very professional and greeted us with a warm smile.
The taxi driver had a certificate from tourism department on the Hospitality
and he was more like guide explaining us things about the hill station and he
also helped us taking photos and we also got him in for a photo. Meanwhile, he
entered the International politics which was something where we should be a
little careful while talking because you are in SriLanka. He was offended by the way the Tamil groups in
India treated the Srilankan Singhalese travelers in India and he was also
talking about his plans to visit Buddhist monuments in India. But nothing to
complain, we dropped us back at our hotel where there were literally no one
staying except us.
During the same day, we also
looked out for options to reach Hikkaduwa, the sunshine beach paradise in Sri
Lanka and we found that the Taxis’ were charging 18 to 20k for the trip so we
decided to take a bus to Hikkaduwa.
07-03-2012
Apparently, in whole of Sri Lanka
the night buses or luxury buses are not really popular and therefore most of
the buses start at daylight and reach the destination in the evening giving no
room for the travelers to spend a day properly.
And we took the bus to Hikkaduwa
and it started from Nuwereliya by 9.30 in the morning looking at the Sri Lankan
map we thought that it would take maximum of 6 hours to reach the places but to
our defeat the bus took 9.30 hours to reach Hikkaduwa. To support the transit
customers, the bus almost went through the whole of south coast road and by the
end of the journey all our bones got adapted to the bus and they were still
shaking to the tunes of the bus movement.
By 6.30 we reached Hikkaduwa and
even the first sight of it gave us all the hopes we wanted. More similar to
Nuwereliya, a broker approached us and he got us a good hotel with AC for 4.5
Sri Lankan grand. The best of the
bestest was, the sea was right outside our room and it was more like a heavy
wave would enter the room and if was a Tsunami wave then it would just get
ready in our room. In rest of the places
the average AC room charge was 7 to 8 grand but luckily we got the best one.
The tourist population was more
than the local crowd and the whole place was thriving because of tourists. It
was a “Micro” Goa with one major difference, low local population. One thing about Hikkaduwa was the Caucasians
came there to stay for months together and not for a day or two. It was more like
the hippie population of Goa and that makes them go for local brands in all the
cases J
After a good bath, we went out
for a good dinner at Millennium hotel and they served us a really good dinner
and we were the only brown skin there and from there we went to a local pub
which is supposed to very active on a Thursday night, “Funky de bar” with Bob
Marley’s photo all over the place the pub was filled with smoke! The pub was
empty when we entered and the time was 9.30 and only then we realized this was
not Bangalore where party starts by 9 and ends by 11 and this is Hikkaduwa
where party starts by 11 and reaches
climax at 4.30!
We were waiting for 11 and when
it happened we opened the dance floor and then till 1.30 the whole dance floor
was in our hands and after that the stamina was not in our hands and so we had
to leave.
It was fun but it had a lot of
problems attached to it. For browns they charge 1K as entry fee and we paid it
that day. And apparently they don’t have card machines there and you have to
use cash for buying anything and both these things screwed our happiness. And
adding fuel to the fire, the exchange centers closes by 7 in the night and
therefore if you are out of cash by 7 and you are left with dollars then it
means you have to go home and sleep. Period.
After good partying to forget the
sadness, we went to our room by 2.30AM.
08-03-2012
We woke up by 10.30 in the
morning and that too because to have a breakfast. We had an awesome continental
food, egg sandwich and a cup of “milk tea”. And then we started to the beach.
Every single image my eyes
captured was a screensaver or wallpaper, the beaches were pristine. People were
smooching and making out. Yes, I’m saying that. And when we said to ourselves,
we also said, this is Hikkaduwa. After a good time in the beach, we went to
shack and out of the million shacks we chose the shack with Indian flag because
we thought there won’t be any discrimination. And then started our massive
food-ing we started by 1 and we completed by 3. Meanwhile the shack owner, white
women almost finished a 20 pack of “Gold Leaf”, a SriLankan brand of Cigarette.
What we noticed was the increasing trend of the Western people settling down in
the coast town with a shack with their entire retirement fund. They settle down
to drink beer, bath in the sun, smoke and then drink and the shack owner was
one among them.
After this we went back to our
room and then we again took a good bath because of the sand from the sea and
salty water. As we were still tired of the last night partying, we decided to
go a restaurant and have a drink and eat as we already felt that it was about time
to come back to home. And there we three friends happily toasted for laughter with
a beer and took the first sip and an old tourist overlooked at it and he was
happy to see three young guys drinking happily. Seeing that he gave us a name
of a pub and told us a lot of illegal things happen and also mentioned that we
guys would have fun. But I’m still not sure why he told us! But we said, “Sir,
no.. We had an awesome night yesterday and we planned a peaceful night” and he
was fine with this but not for long, with the book in his hand, he called the
waiter and was talking to him for a couple of minutes and by the end of the
conversation he called us and told that we should go to the place “Vibration”
about which we already knew. And after this information he just went back to
drink his nth beer. After a couple of minutes, we started talking to him and we
found that he is a Scottish man in early 60’s and is on his 4th
month of vacation outside his country. Alexander, he introduced and we also
introduced each other. On the question
what he was doing, he replied that he is a former BBC employee, Merchant Navy
officer and also an electronics engineer. We had a good conversation with him till 11
and before the bar when I ordered a beer, he obstructed and said 4 more and he
also asked the waiter to bill it on his account. And after the four beers which
he found was not enough invited us to his cottage and placed chairs outside. And
he also brought 4 more beer after the 4 more order to the hotel from his room
and for today we almost drank 6 beers each and thanks to Mr.Alex, he bought us
each 4. Now the time was 1.30 and we decided that it was about time to leave
and we greeted him and left the place after a photo. On our way back to room, I still wanted party
and I refused to move, falling to my demand Gopi and Viswa agreed to “Vibrations”,
the best party place.
With our Passport, we got a free
entry into the party and then it happened to be the best party I have ever been
to. By 3.30, we started back to room and slept by 4.30!
And that is when the whole place
went to sleep.
09-03-2013
From Hikkaduwa we started to
Colombo by 10.30 in a AC bus to counter the scorching sun outside. And by 3 we
reached Colombo-4. We stayed in Seaview apartments at 5K because in the rest of
the places with taxes it came around 18K. Seaview was facing the sea in the Galle
road and had almost everything that Colombo required for. To get adjusted to
Indian food habit, we went to a Indian food restaurant called Amaravathi in
Colombo-4 to have a yummy Briyani.
We entered a shop with antiques
and about Buddha statues and Key Chains for 6K and came back to room.
10-03-2013
The flight IX681 to Chennai from
Colombo was at 9.30 and therefore we had to be there at Colombo airport at
6.30. So, we started from Colombo-4 by
5.50 to the Bandarnayake airport. We were there by 6.30. We completed all the
procedures that we were required to do and we sat in a lobby.
I saw a book store named “Good
for Thought” and intrigued by the books, lockets and Buddha, I started checking
the store. And the shopkeeper, a
sexagenarian lady helped me with the items. And as a souvenir, I bought myself
a Dharmachakra, a chakra that reminds us that life is cycle and it was that
good lady who explained me the Dharmachakra and by taking her as my guru I took
that on my neck. And that is how ended a great vacation.
And with that we took the flight
back to India, the flight was on time and dropped us at Anna International
airport by 10.30.
With a Srilankan hangover and
with a promise that we will trip to Thailand, we reached my house.
Thanks,
Alagiri Samy.S
To our next trip!
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