Trip to Srilanka, (Nuwara Elliya/ Kandy)


During the school holidays, we decided to visit Sri Lank, much to the surprise of one of my  friends from the school group. " most parents in our school doesnt go to sri lanka"? I was like , whats wrong with Sri Lanka? ".   We don't visit Sri Lanka that often, the last time we went was two years ago and that was for my father's heart bypass surgery, so it wasn't really a vacation , the kids were stuck in an apart ment and kept them selves entertained indoors.


So this time , I booked a tour with Aitken Spence Travels to tour the hillside towns of Nuwara elliya and Kandy.  The tour operator was very helpful but its pricey so I would advise  parents with slightly older kids to take it so you can go on long hikes and all. Maybe next time I will just book one of the taxi services  like Kangaroo Kabs  to the hill towns, but over all it was a nice trip.

Our journey started on a  bright hot sunny day, arrived in Colombo in the afternoon and was met by our guide, who  took us on a loooooooooooong ride to Kandy, about 3-4 hour trip, stopping at a guest house restaurant for lunch along the way.  If you suffer from motion sickness, ask to have the windows open to let in fresh air instead of using the air con.

We stayed in Royal Kandyan hotel , hotels were booked by Aitken Spence. I have to say, it was the biggest room we have stayed so far.  The food was nice a few food stalls near by as well.  The next day we went to visit the elephant orphanage, where we took a ride and fed the elephants.  The spice gardens were interesting but  they try very hard to sell you ayuvedhic stuff, the tour is short but they try to lure you into the shop to buy their products.
kandy cultural show

During the evening we headed to a cultural centre ,where they had a traditional dances and acrobats and fire walking show. According to our guide, there are about 2 -3 places where they have this kind of show. We had a lovely dinner at the Empire Cafe' which is situated near the  Temple of the Tooth.
paddy fields dot around the landscape

The next day we visited a wood works studio and then headed to Perdeniya gardens. Walked around the gardens for about 2 hours and  went out and had lunch. Then headed to Nuwara elliya.
wood carving
Perdheniya gardens

Now the ride to Nuwara Elliya is about 2 hours, a very stomach churning twisting and turning ride. We stopped at a tea plantation and  learned about the process. There were so many tea plantation, you know you have arrived in nuwara elliya when you start spotting  the tea plantations and huge vegetable gardens.  I love the sight of fresh vegetables !  And its cold ! especially in the morning and evening .  And it rains alot, so December is not a good time to visit Nuwara Elliya, maybe March to July is.

We stayed at  The Royal cocoon, a lovely  hotel, with a huge garden. The boys loved exploring and running around it.  The break fast was nice, they give you a choice of English breakfast or Sri lankan.

hotel Royal Cocoon

In Nuwara elliya we went to Gregory lake, the kids and hubby took boat rides and also horse rides.

Had dinner in a very tiny restaurant called Salamiya Italian restaurant , run by a Sri Lankan Couple! delicious pizzas, calzones and pasta is served here. The place was very tiny but cozy.
pizza at Salamiya!
The last day, it was pouring rain! so our guide refused to go any where! Once the rain stop, around 9am ,four of us decided to walk, boys in their rain coats, while our guide slept in , well I assume he did as he was no where in sight. He had promised to take us to a strawberry and vegetable farm that day. So all of us were very disappointed. So headed to town, about 15 minute walk. It drizzled now and then but was a nice walk, the boys found it funny when mist came out from our mouths when we talked as it was quite chilly.

We checked out the hotel's kitchen garden the next day, the manger was a very friendly person, they had  carrots, beets, kale and brocolli growing there.

Headed back to colombo the next morning. It didnt go as planned  when it came to nuwara elliya, but it was an ok trip. For  Lunch, we stopped in Kitulgala near the river.

In Colombo we stayed in an apartment at Supun Archade Residency due to its easy access to main road , and food.   Stayed in colombo for another 5-6 days and headed home. In Colombo it was mostly shopping, although we did go to Galle Face Green to fly kites.  Food worth talking about?,  lets see,  Mexican food at Lets Talk Taco, Local fare in a more elegant dining : Palmyrah in Renuka Hotel. Cheaper local eats, but still very very delicious, at  Hotel De fayaz infront of the mosque in Wellawatte,  Kottu Roti at Mango tree in  Odel, Lamprais (Sri lankan rice parcels) in Crescat food court.

Sri Lankan fare, hopper, string hoppers, seeni sambol, pol sambol, green bean curry ....

Over all it was a nice holiday. Hope you all had a good school holidays and its back to work or school!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kashikeyo Baipen (Screwpine fruit Porridge)

Image
I know I posted this a long time ago but I took some of my old posts out due to some comments I got but then again , I realized  different people make their recipes differently, so why bother what people say. Anyway, the first time I heard of this recipe was from my husband. We had just been married and living in Kulhudhufushi as my husband was working there for 6 months.  I love screwpine fruit and its heady perfume. So there I was making, or rather trying to make, kashikeyo kandhi and hubby kept hovering around, going that's not how my mum used to make. Yes I know ladies,  there are lots of new weds, who read this who have heard this line LOL??. Anyway , a few years later,  I finally tasted the  dish , which by the way was a totally different  dish altogether, so my hubby was right???? .   My mum in law  showed me how to make  it and I love making this, especially during Ramadhan, as its not just a desert dish , it can even be eating...
Read more

DIY Water Balloon Flip Flops!

Image
Easy and Fun DIY Water Balloon Flip Flops! S imply tie water balloons in a knot around the flip flop straps!  We liked the rainbow color pattern... Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. Be creative and have fun!  F or my daughters birthday this year we made these bright and fun flip flops at the party. The girls all had a fun time making them and they can't wait to wear them to school on the same day!  We got this idea from my niece who made these at a party a few years ago.  We thought they were so cute that we wanted to try them at our party this year.  We bought black flip flops for every girl from Old Navy, for $2.50 a pair.  I would recommend going a size larger in flip flops.  We bought 3 packs of 500 water balloons and had plenty of water balloons left over, perfect for a water balloon fight! What you'll need: 8 pair flip flops in every one's sizes     1,500 water balloons 8 girls to tie the water balloons onto the flip flo...
Read more

Banbukeyo Hithi ( Breadfruit Curry)

Image
For ages I kept meaning to try one of the Hithi recipes. Hithi means bitter but this is not a bitter curry. Its called hith i because its uses a spice known locally as hithi damui . My mum kept saying its difficult getting hithi damui you can only get it from the local ayuvedhi stalls until my sister discovered after seeing the spice that it was in fact ajwain/ carom seeds . I have seen ajwain seeds in a local shop and also in some of the Indian specialty shops. Ajwain seeds although it looks a lot like tiny cumin seeds  has a slightly different taste. There  are two kinds of hithi , one is this banbukeyo ( breadfruit )  hithi and the other is maalhoskeyo hithi ( plaintain). Recipe : Banbukeyo Hithi Serves 4 -6 1/4 piece of a regular size banbukeyo (about 250g) 2 garlic cloves, finely grated 1/2 inch ginger grated 10 curry leaves small piece pandan leaf 1/4 tsp tumeric 100g smoked tuna 1 small onion thinly sliced 1/2 tsp ajwain or hithi damui 150 ml coconut milk 700...
Read more