Month: December 2017

The sixth of December, we travelled further along the cost to a place called Weligama. The town itself is rather uninspiring, although we did find a nice local restaurant for lunch one day.

The “resort” we stayed at for 3 nights was called “Neptune Story” – or maybe “Neptune Resort”, or “Good Story”. It was not quite 100 percent certain what the name was.

In any case, the beach was excellent, the resort itself less so. The first night we had 2 rooms which stunk of bad sewer. The manager did try to rectify the situation, and upgraded us to a couple of “bungalows” – one of which stunk of old cigarette smoke.

Even so, with the nice pool for the kids, it was quite pleasant here. There were lovely sunsets, and a little bar on the beach.

The beach had really good surf, and Albert was out several times surfing, Elise was out boogie boarding, Malene was out a couple of times surfing, and Peter even tried it.

After Udawalawe we travelled to the coastal town of Tangalle. We had 2 nights here.

Unfortunately as I write this (yet again) the wifi is terrible and I cannot upload pictures in wordpress. Sri Lanka has a thing with bad wifi.

Pictures now…

The resort we were at was very nice, and we had a lovely spacious “villa” with a mezzanine floor with beds for the kids.

Our villa:

The beach was very nice, and swim-friendly, and the little pool was also a hit.

On the 2nd of December we climbed aboard a van heading for Udawalawe National Park. We had booked 2 nights at Eagle Safari Family Bungalow.

We arrived early afternoon, and settled in. Our room was quite cramped for us all, but we had a nice balcony, and the place was really cheap. We had a nice home cooked dinner.

The next day we had booked 2 trips (safaris) to the nearby national park. One starting at 5:30 in the morning, the other at 2:00 in the afternoon (each of 4 hours duration).

Both were excellent, and to be recommended. We saw lots of animals and stunning scenery.

We also nearly had a close encounter with a large bull elephant…

 

and on the way home in the afternoon the clouds rolled in.

The next morning we took another van to the south coast, and Tangalle.

The 30th of November we left our safe haven in the middle of nowhere for the relatively short trip to Ella. The rain was gone, but we could see many trees that had fallen over, and power lines that had been knocked down. There were many work crews cleaning up along the road.

At one point it looked like a tuk-tuk had rounded a corner and crashed into a power pole, and large trucks had to scrape under the lines.

Our residence in Ella was a beautiful little place called Waterfall View Inn, and we could sit on our terrace and look across the valley to a lovely waterfall!

The clouds rolled in and out of the valley, again lending that mystical quality to the landscape.

The town of Ella (about 1 or 2 km away from our “inn”, down a winding, steep up and down, single lane, bumpy road) was really only a curve in the main road and an intersection – but it had some ok restaurants and great views all around.

The first afternoon, we went to see the “nine arch bridge” which is a picturesque railway bridge a short distance outside of Ella on the way to Badulla.

Our first full day in Ella, we walked along the railway to the waterfall. The trains were still not running, so we didn’t have to keep looking over our shoulders. The walk to the waterfall and back would normally take about an hour – it took us two. We could also have walked a little further up to “Ella Rock”, which apparently has a wonderful view, but we decided to prioritise familial harmony, and went into town for lunch instead.

In the afternoon we went to see another waterfall called Ravana falls. This was a much higher waterfall a few kilometres out of Ella.

On the 29th of November we packed all our stuff into a van for the very short trip to Kandy train station. Even though it was really only half a kilometer or so, we didn’t feel like rolling five heavy suitcases and a pushchair along the streets of Kandy down to the station.

Anyway, we arrived 45 minutes early… and waited.

The train was about half an hour late, and when it did arrive, we all scrambled on board. We had 5 reserved seats in second class. And nearly enough space for all our luggage.

The journey started off very nicely, and soon we were out in the countryside, passing green and lovely valleys, waterways, forests and tea plantations. Even the slight rain and clouds only added a mystical quality to the scenery.

Unfortunately the rain increased, and had been falling in the area for several days. When we reached the station of Nanu Oya, we stopped and stayed stopped. Sri Lankan railways did not come with any info, so we waited. Other passengers heard there had been a landslide further along the line, which had been cleared, and we would be underway in 30 minutes. Others took the advice of their local drivers (who had transported them to the station) and left again to travel by road.

After 1.5 hours, with no official information whatsoever (thank you Sri Lankan railways) we accosted the local “station master” who admitted that the train would not be leaving again that day, and we should seek alternatives. He said there was a bus in about an hour, which could take us on a 3 hour journey to Ella.

The station master couldn’t help with private transport, but luckily a local bystander had a van and driver who could deliver us to Ella. So we raced away with them.

We did not make Ella however.

After a longish trip on a very windy road in the hilly hills, through the driving rain, we rounded a corner, and came to an abrupt stop behind a bus and a couple of other stationary cars. Our driver ran out to investigate in the dark and rain, and found a tree had slid down the slope and crashed over the road and power line.

It was absolutely not possible to continue on that route, and while our driver did say there was an alternative route (about 30 extra km) it was not 100 percent certain that similar problems wouldn’t occur there. So we took the decision to backtrack a couple of kilometres to the nearest hotel, and overnight there.

No electricity at the hotel (the lines had just been torn down), but they did manage to rustle up some “chicken fried rice”, and a room with beds for us all.

We slept there the night, and left for Ella the next morning.

On the 27th we left in the van from Sigiriya to the town of Kandy, full of high expectations. The drive should have taken 2.5 hours, but ended up taking 5, due in no small part to a large traffic jam once we reached Kandy, and our driver taking an “alternative” turn off at one point. Luckily Peter and Albert were able to help with the navigation.

Kandy is a quite dirty and busy town. It rained a lot while we were there. We had 2 nights, that is one full day (the 28th) in Kandy. I don’t really think you need more.

We saw a temple which houses Buddha’s tooth.

On the 29th we left on the train from Kandy to Ella. Supposedly one of the most spectacular train trips in the world. Well, you’ll never guess what we experienced… wait for the next exciting instalment.