Anamaria, Hideki & Marinela
Hong Kong/USA, January/February 2017
What did you like most about Sri Lanka?
Sigiriya, Dambula Cave Temple, Hillside Country/Ella, Blue Whale Watching and the Bentota/Shinagawa Beach Hotel -> All of these were amazing!!
What did you like least about Sri Lanka?
Kandy…. We were there on a national holiday which may have been unlucky for us, but it was too crowded, you couldn’t walk on the streets without coughing from exhaust from cars and trucks/buses, and there wasn’t much to do there in the city. Our driver left us to explore the market, but for most visitors these days, I don’t think the local market is that interesting as people hassle you and it’s uncomfortable, plus a lot of junk there. The Temple with Buddha’s tooth sounded interesting in principle, but it was over-rated. Again the crowds made it impossible to enjoy it, but the Temple itself is nothing impressive compared to Dambulla Cave temples. [Peradeniya] Botanical Gardens were nice but again too crowded, and compared to Kew Gardens in the UK, not a big a deal. It’s a filler than anything else. Funny enough, we met another UK couple travelling with your company in Sri Lanka, and they failed to understand Kandy also. We also attended the Cultural Dance Show which was good efforts at best… was too long for what it was. The guest house we stayed there [Hanthana House] and Mr. Pathirana’s family was wonderful though. We just didn’t enjoy Kandy as a place, and in hindsight, feels like we wasted a precious 1 day holiday there.
What is your opinion of your accommodation in Sri Lanka?
We have been generally happy with all the accommodation choices that were provided. They were clean and renovated/maintained well, and food has been good, staff were very friendly.
We really enjoyed Shinagawa Beach Hotel which was something special and a very nice finish to our trip, very good pick!
Also, Clove Tree Cottage in the Hillside Country [Ella] and its Tea Plantation was also very special. We did not expect to find interesting foreigners like Simon [one of the owners of Amba Estate who manages Clove Tree Cottage nearby] living there. We met his neighbours on our walks also and learned a lot about tea. It was a rather eye opening experience and had a wonderful time. The food here was also very memorable, it felt like refined Sri Lankan food.
What is your opinion of your chauffeur guide in Sri Lanka?
We loved both Saman and Nihal. Saman was very impressive with his knowledge on almost anything about Sri Lanka as well as other world maters, including history and interesting legends/stories. Very professional, and his sense of honour in what he is doing, representing his country to us, came across and it was inspiring. Nihal was very different to Saman, a bit more playful but he provided a good sense of humour that was much needed to calm my mother at times. She is very picky and can be a difficult traveller if she doesn’t like something/something isn’t to her standards. Nihal was handling other Tikalanka jobs also in between our longer stays and had to do some overnight driving just to make it back to us on time for our next drive, but despite his lack of sleep, he was very much on time and very active/engaging with us to make our rides enjoyable. So really no complaints!
What is your opinion of your flights to and from Sri Lanka?
Getting to Sri Lanka was fine, but departing was painful. We were told that due to the new airport reconstruction schedule, all flights were at night and that we needed to get to the airport 4-5 hours before our flight time. Reluctantly we did that… we got there over 4 hours in advance, and it was NOT necessary. The airport was chaotic but manageable, however there is not much to do there for 4 hours… we got to the gate easily 3.5 hours beforehand, and being it late at night also…. it was unpleasant to sit there and trying not to fall completely asleep. Not a nice way to end our holiday :-( [Arranged own flights]
Any other comments?
Thank you for an overall exciting and amazing trip, other than Kandy (which was only 1 day so not a big deal) we enjoyed everything. Good mix of a variety of things!! Would definitely recommend your services to others.
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