The "Colombo Conspiracy" is based on the phenomenon of many flights arriving in Colombo late at night and visitors usually stay in Colombo for only one night so the accommodation touts have you by the short and curlies. I paid US$55 for a taxi from the airport, including one night stay in a hotel which probably would have cost me 400 rupees for a room of that quality. I would strongly urge all passengers to advance book in Negombo for the first night and get an early morning bus into Colombo the next day to go elsewhere.
Sri Pada in the Hill Country, was an "other worldly" experience. From the crowds of pilgrims jammed into the bus to the continual loudspeaker acoustics. Some speakers played Buddhist chants, others contemporary music and others goodness knows what. All the sounds echoed off the rocks, incredible. I would have done the climb in one hour 45 but near the top I was forced to queue. I originally was going to skip Sri Pada due to ideological concerns about getting up before 9 am, but IÆm so glad I didnÆt.
Snorkelling the coral reef at Hikkeduwa is described as one of Sri Lankas highlights. When I stepped onto the beach in front of the Coral Gardens Hotel, my first reaction was to laugh. I felt like I was watching an exhibition in a zoo. A mass of glass bottomed boats and a continuous band of dead coral. The coral looked like it had 20 years of accumulated sewerage bleached into it and when I turned the corner to the hotels direct-to-sea sewerage outlet, I found this to be so.
this bring me to National Parks. Coming from Australia where the freedom and space aspect of National Parks is so important, I found the jeep experience not very inspiring. Not being able to leave the jeep and paying to be crammed into a small space and having your back damaged adds insult to injury. Horton Plains by contrast was fantastic, simply because you were allowed to walk.
I went on a national park tour form Kandy and any misgivings I had about the National Park were more than made up for by the rod there. The Knuckle Range road through Madugoda and the canal road from Hasalaka to Wasgomanuwa was simply extraordinary. It was a misty afternoon and the rice terraces and wetlands looked very impressive. It was also hard to imagine the environment being only 20 years old. I donÆt know about the bus services to these areas, but itÆs definitely worth look if you want to see beautiful rural areas and the Knuckle Ranges.
Negombo is a very interesting town but travellers should be warned it is the insect capital of Sri Lanka. Mosquitoes and midges are the minimum you get flying around at once; one night I had this plus black beetles of varying sizes and moths. Like touts the inspects donÆt respect personal space.
Marten Finger, Australia (Mar 99)
In Polonnaruwa, there is a new archeological museum which charts the history of the main sites of Polonnaruwa, including the sacred sites. It has lots of information boards, story boards and small -scale reconstructions of buildings like the Vatadage (which is brilliant as sometimes it is hard to visualise their remains as complete structures and very few guide books have detailed drawings), and is well presented, clean and very informative. It also has lots of the usual types of artefacts that you would associate with this type of museum -tools, pottery, ornaments. There are also lots of statues, including some absolutley lovely statues of Hindu gods and goddesses, as there are obviuosly remains of Hindu temples on the various sites as well as the expected Buddhist dagobas and other monastery compound ruins. It has been constructed and brought into being with the help of a grant from the Netherlands, and easily one of the besst I have seen in S.E. Asia. It is situated on the edge of the lake/tank Parakrama Samudra, about 1km from the village Polonnoruwa rest house/hotel.
Sue Oatley (Feb 99)
Being a keen hill walker, a friend and I decided to try to climb Pidurutalagda, the highest mountain in Sri Lanka. Officially this is not possible as the summit is the site of the Sri Lankan TV radars and communication and is guarded by the Sri Lankan army, being a likely Tamil Tiger terrorist bombing target. A local man pointed us in the direction of the walking track and we set off on our way up the hill. The path was quite obvious, but a little overgrown in places and clearly not much used.
About half way up the hill we came to the access road to the summit and so continued on this. On reaching the summit we had been spotted by the army guards. They were friendly and appreciated that we were "ignorant tourists", and after a bit of "walkie-talkie" communication, we were escorted down the hill 6 km on the access road by two armed soldiers. By taking the walking track we had by-passed the control gate at the bottom of the hill and infiltrated the army's defences! We then had to wait at the bottom control gate for two hours for the police to collect us. They were friendly and drove us back to Nuwara Eliya and we "escaped" any problems by claiming we were just ignorant and out for a walk.
Andrew Moncrieff, UK (Jan 99)
There is a very fine Buddhist temple and monastery in Negombo which is actually one of the main attractions of the town. It is called the Angurukaramulla, on Temple Road, just east of the center of town. It has a huge open lion's mouth for an entrance underneath giant Buddha statue and, inside, some frighteningly lifelike plaster figures depicting the life of the Buddha and other scenes. There is an unusually intricate dagoba with even more three dimensional scenes round the walls on two floors. It has a very romantic, abandoned feel to it which adds to the attraction.
Robert Greenall (Apr 98)
You don't need to go to Kandy or the north for spice gardens. In the south near Unawatuna Beach resort there's a small, thriving garden at Kagoda. Idyllic surroundings with a lake with a spice island and ancient temple (boat trips a possibility and the boatman and his family make the travellers welcome with cups of tea and a visit to their home). The guy who runs the place is German trained, very knowledgeable about the interface between natural medicine and chemical preparations. The visit itself is fascinating and the potions and lotions expensive but effective. It is off the beaten track - our driver of 20 years experience had never visited it before. We recommend getting there before it is discovered by hoards.
Eileen Thompson (Mar 98)
Climbing Adams Peak was absolutely the best experience of our vacation. We thought it would be very difficult to get up there since we are absolutely non athletes but as the great owner of the Green House said "If you are afraid you won't make it to the top, don't worry, the mountain will carry you" This man actually has his personal mountain religion. If you let him, he will tell you hundreds of amazing stories (sitting outside, the night before you go up) about miracles that happened on the mountain.
The trip took us about 2 and a half hours and anybody can do it in 3 hours. The trick is to take a break every 39 steps. If you are on the top and watch the breathtaking sunrise, don't forget to go the other side of the top to watch the triangular shadow of the mountain. A lot of people seem to forget. The shadow will only come at about 6:50 am so don't leave earlier.
Sonja Schasfoort & Dirk Douwes Dekker - Netherlands (Jan 98)
On the way to a Elephant Orphanage, there is another elephant park that is a scam. The charge for entry is twice the price of the orphanage and you have to give the elephant handler a tip for showing the elephants to you. He leaves little choice as he asks directly for the cash. This poor elephant park has only 5 skinny elephants chained up.
Terence Ledger (Apr 99)
I had an PAS camera with me on my visit to Sri Lanka. I came to know that many photolabs do accept this new format film for processing. Also, APS film is available in Colombo in popular photolabs. I handed over four film cartridges for processing to a well-known photolab in a Colombo suburb and guess how they do it. They will pull out the film out of the sealed cartridge and process using the C-41 process as with any other ordinary print film. In doing so they destroy all the exposure information in the IX format film and the print is on a small postcard with a black border. No Panorama, no HDTV sizes. I learnt later that there are no proper facilities in Sri Lnaka to process this new format film. By procesisng without using the proper machines your APS film will be virtually destroyed. Almost all outdoor photos come out over exposed and seem out of focus. Indoor photos are acceptable except for the poor sharpness. So, if you take APS films to Sri Lanka do not process it there. Check with Kodak Agent (Miller's Limited) whether they have the facilities to do it.
Ranjith Liyanapathirana (Mar 98)
A new scam by the touts to get you to go with them is " Hi, remember me. I'm the cook/receptionist/roomboy at your guesthouse.
Several people tried this on us, especially in Galle. It's quite easy to get rid of them if you ask them what guesthouse then deny that you've stayed there (they usually name the top 3 places in Hikkaduwa if you're in Galle)
Anne Dorst & Janet McCormack (Jan 98)
We arrived the day after the latest oct 15th bomb blast so we headed straight up to Kandy and gave Colombo the wide berth to start with. Expat and foreign workers enjoy a beer on a Friday night at the Queens Hotel Pub Royale. They are a good source of information when it comes to current hot spots and unsafe zones.
Simon Jerks - Australia (Dec 97)
Trains are generally safer than the roads (although local lore has it they are more prone to terrorist attacks) but well documented as being slower since most of the track is in need of repair. We travelled second class from Hikkaduwa to Colombo for Rs.55. There is no first class on this service. The journey started off well enough, with plenty of room aboard and a track that hugged the coastline affording us spectacular views and a welcome breeze. We were fair game for the usual con artists along the way. At one station, a blind beggar entered the carriage and with what turned out to be an amazing stroke of luck for him, he positioned himself right next to our seats (the only westerners aboard) with his hand outstretched. I gave him 10Rs and for a split second, I could have sworn he was miraculously cured seeing as he opened his eyes to survey the booty. On realising I'd parted with a pittance he mumbled some obscenity and left. After an hour, the train turned inland and it was here that we broke down in a rainforest for an hour, where we were soon invaded by an army of ants. Certainly an interesting trip!
Our second eventful train journey was the trip from Colombo to Kandy. We bought seats in the observation carriage in first class for 122 Rs each. The journey began rather serenely, easing our way out of urban Colombo into the open wilderness beyond. The peace was shattered as we passed through a small village where one of the locals decided to chance his arm at a landing a western scalp, and hurled a stone through the open window. Its trajectory was deflected form my path courtesy of a curtain, and almost in slow-motion struck an irate Germany on the back of the head. I felt like a sitting duck after that. We began our ascent into the hills after about an hour and were treated to some awe inspiring scenery against a backdrop of lush green rainforest. A memorable trip.
Neill Travers & Catherine Tranter - UK (Sept 97)
SRI LANKA
