Customer feedback - Sri Lanka and the Maldives
As we are always striving to improve the quality of our service
and delivery of our holidays we appreciate any comments received from our customers. Immediate and
appropriate action is taken when holidays drop below our very high standards. Please read what
previous customers have to say about us - warts and all! Please be aware that the comments included
in Customer Feedback are the personal views and opinions of individual customers and not those of
Tikalanka Tours. Explanatory notes and our responses to customer comments are contained in square
parentheses.
"Thank you for arranging our tour in Sri Lanka. We had a really good
time and the whole trip ran very smoothly.
Ravi was a very good guide and driver. He drove very well and we always felt comfortable with him. He cleaned and
maintained the vehicle regularly which was appreciated. He pointed out animals and other interesting things as we
were driving along. He was really caring and considerate of our elderly relatives. He was always punctual and we
really enjoyed having him with us.
The hotels were of good standard as described and the itinerary worked well. Ravi arranged an early morning climb
to Sigiriya on the last morning for Tim and me and also took us to Dambulla on the way to the airport. We really
appreciated these additions as they were both unmissable gems.
The whole trip was very good value, in fact I don't know how you did it for the money.
Thank you very much for organising it."
Sally, Tim, Ken & Betty, England, August 2010
|
"What did you like most about Sri Lanka?
Wonderful landscape.
What did you like least about Sri Lanka?
Can't think of anything.
Any other comments?
We had a wonderful time and know it simply wouldn't have been possible without Tikalanka and our lovely, helpful,
knowledgeable and superb guide, Pathi."
Rachel & Chris, England, July 2010
|
"What did you like most about Sri Lanka?
The rich culture and lush vegetation, abundance of fresh food, the friendly inhabitants and the cleanliness.
What did you like least about Sri Lanka?
None.
Any other comments?
Just to say that we all really enjoyed the holiday, it was fantastic throughout in every aspect.
The guide Sena was really good, really knowledgable of the country and a really nice person as well who
thought highly of "Dr John". Please convey our respects to him. I would have no hesitation in recommending
Sri Lanka and Tikalanka Tours to anyone.
Only wish was instead of 2 nights at St. Andrew's [Hotel, Nuwara Eliya] we had one at the Ella Gap Guest House
as the view was amazing."
Alan, Karen & Julie, England, July 2010
|
"What did you like most about Sri Lanka?
All of it!
Variation of landscapes - from tea planting estates to coastline. Loads to see and learn about -
people and culture - vivid memories! Tea factory trip - super.
What did you like least about Sri Lanka?
Inability to walk freely without being surrounded by well meaning but annoying "locals".
Any other comments?
All accommodation of a high standard, except for our stay at [Anilana Resorts] Craigbank, Nuwara Eliya -
very strange set up there, cold and damp with three (untrained?) men running the house - wouldn't recommend.
[Ceylon] Tea Trails [Castlereagh Bungalow, Adam's Peak] - superlative and exceptional.
Excellent driver [guide] - Sena - very kind and told us such a lot about his country and religion."
Sandy & Elaine, Scotland, June 2010
|
"Tikalanka provided us with an excellent introduction to
Sri Lanka. Our itinerary was close to perfect and we thank you [John] for the suggestions and advice you gave
us as it took shape over time. We will recommend Sri Lanka and Tikalanka to friends and colleagues.
Hotels ranged from good to superb. Hotel restaurants were excellent. Indeed one of the best meals we've
ever eaten was the special giant prawns dinner arranged for us by the wonderful employees of Turtle Bay
[Tangalle]. We were the only guests and felt like royalty. Service at all hotels was very good to
extraordinary. Our highest praise goes to Arun at Casa Colombo [Colombo]. He acted as our "butler" and
was a pure delight. Arun is a young man with lots of energy and intelligence. In addition, he has a fine
sense of balance between the privacy needs of guests and their relationship with him. The staff members
who cared for us at The Kandy House [Kandy], Turtle Bay and Aditya [Galle] were also special. For example,
at Turtle Bay, the manager, Ishara Da Silva, left her office open and computer turned on for our use after
5pm each day. Wow!
Our safari experience was truly exciting and on a par with safaris we've done in Kenya and South Africa.
(For Paul it was the highpoint of our travel in Sri Lanka.) We were pampered as the only guests of Mahoora
[Safari Camp, Uda Walawe]. The men who set up and manage the camp know how to meet guests' needs while maintaining
privacy. Special kudos go to our guide Dilan Peiris. He's really smart and socially savvy. We hope that
future marketing of Sri Lanka will include safaris as a highlight.
On the itinerary in general. The rigors of visiting the archaeological and other sights in the cultural
triangle were nicely balanced by the cool beauty of the tea country and the glorious beaches of Tangalla and
Galle. (We were thrilled to have a brief encounter with a lovely giant green turtle who had just covered
her eggs on the beach at Rekawa.) Again, we appreciate your input into the itinerary, in particular the
addition of the tea country and change of hotels in the Tangalla area.
Our many, many thanks to you for the room upgrade and spa treatments at Aditya and for arranging
for Kapila to take us to Matara for shopping at Jez Look. We think the latter should go on Tikalanka's
list of recommendations to tourists. Jezima Mohamed offers warm hospitality and a tour of her batik
workshop. The products are stunning.
Our journey would have been enhanced if we had had a more knowledgeable and mature guide than Kapila.
Our evaluation of him is based on over 30 years of travel with guides and drivers in an array of
challenging cultural and political worlds such as Cambodia, Laos, Uzbekistan, and Syria. Kapila is a
good driver and a pleasant person, but he is at best a mediocre guide with limited social skills and
poor English-speaking skills. We were frustrated by his seeming inability to grasp the larger picture of
anticipating essential elements of our tour and being sure that our needs and expectations would be
met. For instance, he didn't review our itinerary at the start of our journey. We weren't even sure he
had a copy until we set off for the safari and discovered that his itinerary did not match ours! In
addition, he never prepared us for the day's challenges as we moved from place to place. For
example, at the Golden Temple, Dambulla, we were hustled out of the car and into the crush of Wesak
pilgrims making their way to the caves. We had no water and had to carry our packs with valuables.
Kapila walked many steps ahead of us and appeared completely unaware of whom we were in the
situation. Kapila was irritatingly nosy about how much we were spending at hotels and in shops. He
complained periodically about his gastritis, his disdain for Tamil and Moslem Sri Lankans, his dislike of
this or that hotel owner. Even at the very end of our journey, Kapila was out of sync with doing his
work as a guide. We arranged to meet him at The Beach hotel [Airport] at 8am for our drive to the
airport. However, it never occurred to him to arrive 10 or 15 minutes early to make sure we were set to
leave Sri Lanka. He arrived shortly after 8am and left us at the curb at the airport. We scurried off and,
with some confusion, managed to get through the crowds at security, customs and the like to make
our Emirates flight. Though we were less than satisfied with Kapila, we offer these thoughts in a
sincere effort to help him improve his tour guiding skills.
Again, our Sri Lanka adventure was a success and Tikalanka helped make it so. Thank you for
your service and support; may your business prosper and enjoy continuing success."
Kay & Paul, USA, May/June 2010
|
"Further to our conversation two weeks ago, I agreed that I would
put the issues discussed in writing. Apologies that I have not done this until now.
As I said to you [John] at the time, this should not take away from the fact that we had an excellent holiday.
The agenda and accommodation provided was excellent.
However, chronologically our issues with Pathi as our guide were as follows:
Virtually as soon as we were off the plane, he was selling Emma the idea of a massage on the following day.
We were jetlagged but nevertheless naïve about this, and she quickly agreed to it. Continued efforts were made
to try to sell to me too, though it was clear that I was not interested. He also at the same time sold is an
elephant ride, initially to be a 45-minute journey from the hotel, but then at the hotel as he realised we were
too jetlagged etc. To be fair, I have no complaints about the elephant ride as we both enjoyed it. We had agreed
with Pathi that, given jetlag, we should change the agenda on the first day and fit the additional items into the
following day. This was good advice, and we were grateful for it.
The following day, after the Sigiriya ascent and the Dambulla caves, which were both excellent and well worth
seeing and in particular in the case of Dambulla, well guided, we arrived at the massage premises [Habarana].
Though it
was in a pleasant enough country location, it was quickly clear than standards were not high (there were no
showers, the quality of the masseur was apparently not good). We should have abandoned it there and then, but
I persuaded Emma to go ahead with it as Pathi would otherwise lose face, which was not something I would not
have considered later in the holiday. Further final efforts were made by Pathi in conjunction with the parlour
owner to sell me a massage. Emma had her massage, and came out visibly upset at being covered in oils yet unable
to shower. This was clear to Pathi, who was concerned at her upset.
Lunch was then had and we went on to the safari. As a note on the safari, we didn't go to the game park on the
agenda on the grounds, he told us, that the elephants were currently in this other park. It didn't matter, as we
saw elephants and enjoyed the safari, but after the event we suspected that this park was chosen because it was
near to the massage parlour location - we may be wrong about this. [Minneriya and Kaudulla National Parks are
both part of an 'elephant corridor' stretching across the region and the choice of national park is made at the
time for the best elephant spotting opportunities]
The following day, we drove to Kandy. On the way, we went to a spice garden [Matale] that we had agreed to stop at,
which we enjoyed - whilst we bought some small things we didn't really need, we didn't begrudge it as the tour
had been interesting.
We started at the Temple of the Tooth, which was excellent, and Pathi was excellent as a guide here. After the
actual seeing of the casket, I would say that he wanted to get away, however. As I said to you, once we had left
the compound of the temple, I said that I wanted to see the 4 'deities' [devales - Hindu temples] in the
locality that I had read about in our guide book - he said that it was too busy at that time and that we should
go back later (we didn't, but to be fair we didn't bring it up later as jetlag was still having effect). He saw
us at the time look quizzically at each other, and said then we could do it then, but we followed his guidance.
We had been consulting a Lonely Planet guidebook regularly in the car. On the way to the jewellery shop, he gave
us a lecture that 'we shouldn't judge him by what was written in the book about touts, hawkers etc because he
wasn't like that and he was a trained guide' etc. We of course were at pains to point out that we were reading
it to brief us on the sites and not to judge anyone, but this made us realise that all was not right. I wondered
if he didn't want is to find anything else to see to distract us from the shopping delights shortly to be had,
but this is supposition.
Pathi had been saying to Emma whenever 'shopping' was mentioned that we would get plenty of opportunity to shop
when we got to Kandy - this turned out to be the case as we arrived at a jewellery shop, had lunch and then went
to a tailors. We refused the opportunity to buy anything at the jewellers, which didn't go down well with Pathi -
over an uncomfortable lunch, me unhappy with the guiding and him unhappy as above, he suggested to Emma in a
roundabout way that I was mean in that I wouldn't buy anything (or at least this is how she interpreted it),
obviously this was while I wasn't there.
After lunch, Emma mentioned that she wanted to buy a silk scarf - opposite the jewellers, there is a silks shop,
so we were of course quickly guided there. We were quickly persuaded, by the shop staff and Pathi, to buy a made
to measure suit - I had intended to buy a suit while on the holiday. The tailor, who it being a Sunday I think
was not on the premises, duly arrived. I must admit that, while I know nothing of tailoring, I didn't think he
looked confident in what he was doing, and sure enough, when the suit arrived 24 hours later in Nuwara Eliya,
the suit was much too small. It transpired that the tailor we saw was not the regular tailor, probably an
apprentice if a tailor at all. Anyway, after some telephone calls by Pathi and the guy who delivered the suit,
and avoidance of offers for a replacement suit/other goods, we secured a refund to my card.
Back in Kandy, we then pointed out that the [Peradeniya] botanical gardens was on the agenda, rather than going
to the batik shop Pathi was recommending. While he was not particularly happy to go, 'fortunately' the wood
factory was on the way back. I bought a fruit bowl, which to be fair I did need, though unbeknown to me at the
time Emma was hard sold on the 'simplicity' of having wooden furniture shipped home by our guide. We didn't buy
any.
On the way back to the Kandy hotel [The Kandy House] (which was fantastic), Pathi asked if he could have the
morning/early afternoon off on the following day and arrive at Nuwara Eliya at 6pm - per the agenda, we got
the train to Nuwara Eliya from Kandy, which was also excellent. I was in favour of this, though it's a woman's
prerogative to want her suitcases on arrival I suppose, so we compromised at 4pm. Given that it caused some
'consternation' between myself and Emma, shall we say, over whether Pathi should have 'time off', it was
probably best not suggested, though had it been two blokes I'm sure neither would have minded.
The morning of the visit to World's End [Horton Plains] - Pathi didn't join us, he said he was sick, though
he was perhaps sorting the suit refund out, we didn't mind as by this stage we didn't want him with us. As we
discussed, Pathi was at pains that we did not feed back to you what had happened re the suit, I am somewhat
at fault for going back on my word about this but frankly I'm not too concerned. Our World's End driver [guide]
was excellent, very knowledgeable and helpful.
The rest of the trip passed by relatively without incident (given that his contacts were mostly in Kandy),
though by the end we were on limited speaking terms. We did give him a sizeable tip, which as I discussed was
really to avoid further acrimony and that I now regret.
I think I should also add that I was paying for all the meals, which was fine by me but I believe he was
pocketing the receipts with a view to claiming for them. I wouldn't really mind, though you might if it has
happened, but I could be wrong to be fair.
In summary, if Pathi had stuck to guiding he was very knowledgeable about the religious sites (Dambulla and
the Temple of the Tooth) and Sigiriya. He didn't know so much on the wildlife/botanic side or seem that
interested to be fair - I'm not sure if the training would have been so rigorous on this aspect.
The above looks like a 'witch hunt', and I am not normally in the business of getting people into trouble at
their workplace, but quite honestly we didn't get what we expected. We have travelled in Asia before, and of
course it is reasonable to expect local people, on lower average incomes than the traveller, to want you to
spend money in their country and on their products. Though I feel we were naive with Pathi, because he was
working for a tour we had arranged from home, we did not expect such a selling effort. It has to be said that
on other tours I have been on, for example day trips organised by hotels, every guide has his sideline, but
in this case in Kandy the guiding was sidelined for the shopping opportunities. [John visited Sri Lanka in
early June 2010 to discuss these comments with Pathi and the necessary changes have been made to ensure similar
situations do not occur in the future. Please note that Tikalanka Tours does not endorse any particular shops
and does not accept commissions from vendors.]
I should end by reiterating what I said at the beginning, that despite the above we had an excellent holiday,
both the accommodation we stayed in and sites on the tour agenda were first class. Emma was also very pleased
with your service in the UK, recommending us an excellent agenda and the flexibility required given the
'volcano' situation occurring at that time."
Emma & Peter, England, May 2010
|
"What did you like most about Sri Lanka?
People.
What did you like least about Sri Lanka?
Nothing.
Any other comments?
Well run enjoyable trip. Helpful friendly driver [guide] (Pathi) flexible times for trips,
prompt at sorting out any problems we had without any fuss.
All hotels were of a high standard, clean and friendly as recommended on the website.
Wedding Gift List very well set up.
Easy to use [tailor-made] website, good information and photos."
Kevin & Helen, Scotland/England, April 2010
|
"What did you like most about Sri Lanka?
So diffult to say! Polonnaruwa. Ceylon Tea Trails. Scenery. Food. People. Perhaps best combined at
Ceylon Tea Trails [Norwood & Tientsin Bungalows, Adam's Peak]
What did you like least about Sri Lanka?
The temperature while sightseeing at Polonnaruwa. Being taken to a gemstone factory and showroom
in Kandy.
Any other comments?
Overall the holiday was brilliant. We will return one day and will almost certainly book
through Tikalanka Tours. The service throughout was excellent."
Malcolm & Jacqui, England, March/April 2010
|
"What did you like most about Sri Lanka?
Landscape, nature, climate, atmospheric ruins in the jungle.
What did you like least about Sri Lanka?
Scary traffic, mosquitoes.
Any other comments?
We had a truly fantastic holiday - thank you very much for arranging it."
Monika & Richard, England, February 2010
|
"What did you like most about Sri Lanka and the Maldives?
The natural history and culture.
What did you like least about Sri Lanka and the Maldives?
Maldives - Not quite value for money. [Angsana Maldives Velavaru]
Sri Lanka - Uncomfortable vehicle and no 3-point seatbelts.
Any other comments?
The Wallawwa [Airport] - great all respects.
Vil Uyana [Sigiriya] - great location, starting to fray (tough in tropics).
The Kandy House [Kandy] - great in all respects - best pool in the world.
Castlereagh Bungalow [Adam's Peak] - exceptional service.
The Beach [Airport] - doesn't match any of the above - bit tatty, poor service, poor food."
Sue & Malcolm, Scotland, February 2010
|
"What did you like most about Sri Lanka and the Maldives?
Diversity of location; organisation of tour of Sri Lanka; flexibility of tour guide.
What did you like least about Sri Lanka and the Maldives?
Unadvertised delays at Malé [Maldives] for connections to Hanimadoo - wasted day of holiday;
lack of clarity re arrangements at Malé.
Any other comments?
We were disappointed/upset at lengthy unadvertised delays in connections to/from Hanimadoo
[in the Maldives] - you could have been more explicit re this - we would then have looked
for a resort without plane connections. [All transfers between Malé international airport
and the resorts in the Maldives are organised solely by the resorts and no information on
timings of connections is given prior to arrival.] However resort [Cinnamon Island Alidhoo]
was fantastic and glad we upgraded to [standard] all inclusive.
We enjoyed Sri Lanka in every aspect. Pathi [chauffeur guide] was exceptional - sensitive to
our needs, flexible, responsive to our preferences.
Kandy: we enjoyed Serendip, but can see why [it] doesn't appeal to everyone. Felt you should
offer alternative more central hotel. [Our online tailor-made holiday planner has a selection
of hotels in Kandy, with detailed descriptions, and customers are free to choose alternative
accommodation.]
Warwick Gardens [Nuwara Eliya]: appalled by management attitude to Pathi and drivers in general
re quality of accommodation [provided for them]. Hotel and setting was beautiful; gave feedback
to manager that attempt to do English food was poor and unnecessary - dinner was worst meal in
Sri Lanka. Manager was snobby and racist."
Kath & Keith, England, February 2010
|
"What did you like most about Sri Lanka?
Scenery - variety and beauty. Pace of life.
What did you like least about Sri Lanka?
Heat/humidity. Pushy street sellers. Driving/roads."
Steve & Angela, England, February 2010
|
"What did you like most about Sri Lanka?
The sincerity and helpfulness of the people, food, variety of things to do and see, ever changing
countryside and climate. Lovely beaches. Yapa [chauffeur guide].
What did you like least about Sri Lanka?
The shocking suffering of the mangy stray dogs. Temple of the Tooth.
Any other comments?
Had a fantastic time, the highlight was seeing a [sloth] bear in Yala NP! The Last House and beach
in Tangalle was also great. Ella and Sinharaja were really good fun. The enthusiasm and knowledge of
all guides was infectious and made visiting the national parks interesting and fun. A superb
service at beautiful hotels. Did not care for the conditions of Ella Adventure Park [Ella] cabins -
in need of rapid refurbishment. Yapa was good company, helpful, punctual, very kind, considerate and
amusing - couldn't have been better."
Margaret, Jonathan & Amanda, England, January/February 2010
|
"What did you like most about Sri Lanka?
Variety, friendly helpful people, cleaner and more hygienic than expected, no malaria concerns where
we went. The boutique hotels were very good.
What did you like least about Sri Lanka?
The roads! System where guides/drivers get food/accommodation although good can lead to 'venue bias'.
Any other comments?
Overall the holiday was excellent and exceeded our expectations. We were very impressed by our driver
[guide] Sena. He was very organised and always on time. Had good standards. Very knowledgeable and interesting.
Had a good sense of humour and coped well with us! He resolved the train ticket problem, too. We found him very
genuine and spiritual and fun to be with every day. Thank you. "
Shirley, Tessa, John & Peter, England, January/February 2010
|
"What did you like most about Sri Lanka and the Maldives?
Sri Lanka - everything - scenery, wildlife and people especially.
Maldives - snorkelling.
What did you like least about Sri Lanka and the Maldives?
Sri Lanka - nothing - loved everything.
Maldives - Did not meet our expectations, however did provide a good place to relax after Sri Lanka
and the snorkelling was good. We saw a turtle and reef shark as our highlights. The Maldives was probably
let down by the resort [Filitheyo Island Resort] atmosphere and the less friendly staff - some of whom just
seemed miserable. In Sri Lanka we were made to feel very special everywhere we went. In the Maldives we just
felt like a number. Obviously Sri Lanka and the Maldives are two very different places and we learned that
the Maldives is not the kind of holiday for us. Whilst we did enjoy it and it was definitely needed after
Sri Lanka (i.e. time to relax) it is not somewhere we'd return to. Next time we would stay some place on
Sri Lanka's coast and forfeit the snorkelling.
Any other comments?
In total we spent 12 days in Sri Lanka. Our journey began at Kitulgala where we spent 2 nights in the Royal
River Resort. We then moved on to Nuwara Eliya, and the Warwick Gardens for a further 2 nights. Our third
resort was the Serendip near Kandy. After this we travelled to the Heritance Kandalama in the Dambulla region
- this hotel is where we got married. Finally, on out last night we stayed at The Wallawwa, which was close
to the airport.
The choice of hotels was fantastic and we could tell that a lot of time and thought had gone into finding
these unique locations. Each time we arrived at a new hotel we were suitably impressed and awed! The resorts
managed to combine a sense of adventure with a definite feeling of indulgence and luxury. The scenery and
wildlife was always fantastic and we felt like we had discovered the real Sri Lanka. The staff in all of
the hotels were simply excellent. Without exception they were warm, friendly and eager to assist. We were
especially impressed with the staff at Kandalama who treated us like royalty throughout our stay. Nothing
was too much trouble for these lovely people and everything was always done with enthusiasm and a smile. We
especially enjoyed our dinner at the hotel's organic farm, talking to the staff we met here. We sincerely
hope that we can return to the Kandalama one day and see how our tree is growing.
Finally, we would like to praise the man who ultimately made this trip what it was. On arrival at the airport
in Colombo, feeling tired and uncertain of what was ahead, we were warmly greeted by Pathi - our guide and
chauffeur for the holiday. We were instantly pleased to meet Pathi, who's smiling face was a shining beacon
in the otherwise rather sombre looking crowd. The flowers he welcomed me with were a lovely touch too.
Pathi ultimately proved to be the perfect host throughout. He ensured everything went smoothly and that we
got the very best out of our trip. Pathi was friendly and considerate; whilst also being assertive enough
to make suggestions and coax the best deals out of the attractions and resorts we visited. He was equally
extremely knowledgeable and proud and was able to transfer this enthusiasm to us. Pathi was always able to
answer all our questions and we learned a huge amount about Sri Lanka on our journey. We also had fun trying
to learn a few words and put them to use on the unwitting locals! To summarise, it was truly a pleasure to
have Pathi accompany us and we are so glad that we were lucky enough to have him as our guide. We feel that
we have made a lifelong friend - something that we really were not expecting when we booked our trip with
Tikalanka!
To conclude, the Tikalanka experience was everything and more than we expected from our holiday. Sri Lanka
has so much to offer and we loved the culture and history, the wildlife, the scenery, the sites and the people.
Each activity or visit surpassed our expectations and provided a feeling of constant wonderment. This was
definitely a holiday of a lifetime and has to be the only way to see Sri Lanka. We will be recommending you
to all our friends. We are just incredibly pleased that we chose Sri Lanka and Tikalanka for our wedding
holiday. THANK YOU TIKALANKA - keep doing what you do - it is superb."
Gemma & Stephen, England, January/February 2010
|
"What did you like most about Sri Lanka?
Friendly people, clean, good food, wildlife.
What did you like least about Sri Lanka?
12 hours on SriLankan Airlines.
Any other comments?
Excellent itinerary which included a good variety of hotels. Heritance Kandalama [Dambulla],
The Kandy House [Kandy], Heritance Tea Factory [Nuwara Eliya], Apa Villa Thalpe [Unawatuna] were excellent.
Hotel at Negombo [Villa Araliya, Airport] was average.
The Grand Hotel at Nuwara Eliya was disappointingly run."
Norman & Christine, England, January 2010
|
"All the arrangements went smoothly: Anura [chauffeur guide]
was there to meet us; the hotels were all as described, and offered us twin rooms (just a slight hiccough
with Apa Villa [Thalpe, Unawatuna] - but they were able to switch us before we had even finished our lunch);
SriLankan Airlines were on time; and the itinerary worked perfectly.
The very high spots were: the Ceylon Tea Trails hotel [Castlereagh Bungalow, Adam's Peak] - I think the best
place we have ever stayed; the wonderful beach below the villa [Claughton House] near Tangalle - nearly empty
just as we had hoped - and with the bonus of kingfishers; and the boat safari on the Mahamodara River [Galle],
where we were the only tourists in sight. But The Kandy House [Kandy], Claughton House and The Wallawwa [Airport]
were all superb, and if we are marginally less warm about Apa Villa, it is because it was good as opposed to
excellent!
When we first met Anura, we wondered about communication; but he made up for any lack of fluency in English
10 times over in his efforts to make sure we had a good time. So if we did not get the finer points of
Buddhism (he had a good try at answering our many questions), he took us to extra temples not on the itinerary,
showed us drongos and bee-eaters, and so much more, and thrashed Jean at carom! Never once when finalising
details did he put his interests before ours; and he was always ready well before the time we agreed for
departure, was brilliant at avoiding tuk-tuks and wayward cows on the road, infinitely patient about stopping
for photos and anything of interest we passed, and just really good company.
The only item that didn't work - and this is not a complaint, only feedback for you to bear in mind for others -
was the walk in the rainforest at Kottawa [Galle], where we were attacked by an army of leeches which even the
best efforts of Anura acting as leech policeman, and some salt spray we had brought with us could not keep at bay.
I confess we cut the walk very short - so only for your more intrepid clients!
Very very many thanks. We could not possibly have constructed such a delightful trip without your expertise,
and your thoughtful tailoring of the itinerary to meet what we said we were looking for. Back at Colombo airport
listening to other reports, we realised how privileged we had been in avoiding anything that smacked of mass
tourism - and how you managed so often to get us the best rooms in the best hotels and the best seats in the
plane we shall never know! Moreover, we are still surprised that after this very special holiday, where
everything was of such top quality, we still have some money left in our pockets!
Next year is our 40th wedding anniversary, and we're already thinking that another different trip to Sri Lanka
might be the way to celebrate it. But, we are asking, could you possibly pull it off twice? We will be sorting
out all our photos and happy memories over the next few weeks - and will be in touch with you again to see
what you think!
In the meantime, we are really grateful for all of your help for his fantastic holiday, and we shall certainly
be recommending Tikalanka Tours to anyone who wants to know!"
Ruth & Jean, England, January 2010
Also, see the
ResponsibleTravel.com
holiday review.
|
"What did you like most about Sri Lanka and the Maldives?
Sri Lanka - incredible history/heritage.
Maldives - idyllic and peaceful/relaxing.
What did you like least about Sri Lanka and the Maldives?
Sri Lanka - mosquitoes! But can't be helped!
Any other comments?
We had a wonderful honeymoon and it would be very difficult to fault our trip.
The highlight for us in Sri Lanka was Adam's Peak, which was an incredible and unique experience.
The accommodation was impeccable throughout, particularly The Kandy House [Kandy], Heritance
Kandalama [Dambulla] and the Ceylon Tea Trails [Castlereagh Bungalow, Adam's Peak] - the food
was excellent too.
Maldives - all we can say is that it was PERFECT.
No negative feedback at all, we loved every minute. [Banyan Tree Maldives Vabbinfaru]
It was great to have a mixture of culture and sightseeing in Sri Lanka and total relaxation in
the Maldives.
Pathi was an excellent, warm and fun guide and we thoroughly enjoyed the 10 days with him.
A big thumbs up all round!"
Patrick & Katie, England, January 2010
Also, see the
ResponsibleTravel.com
holiday review.
|
For more customer comments from previous years, please click on the links below:
|
