Paul & Nicole
Switzerland, January/February 2019
Travel via Mumbai turned out to be fine in both directions – we had our luggage checked through on both journeys so there was no need to go through Indian Immigration – Mumbai is organised for transit passengers with even a ‘Transit Hotel’ airside where it is possible to have a sleep and shower etc if you want. Perhaps the most important things are: a) the luggage being checked through and having the boarding passes for the subsequent onward flights; b) not to listen to the Indian Visa Service which tells you that a Visa is essential when you are in transit – this is an excuse to create problems for the transit passengers and a (fake news) way to make money! I regard this as a very poor reflection on India government services as they also do not give the correct information.
Perhaps the main things to do with a flight transfer through India are: a) to make sure that luggage is booked through; b) avoid the Indian Visa Service in any country trying to ‘rip you off’ with misinformation that you will need a transit visa…yes that visa might be needed if there is a stopover in India before carrying on with the journey, but a stopover you can organise with a normal tourist visa. It is the ‘rip off’ proposition that really angered me the most!
Our vacation was organised around 2-night stays in different hotels – locations. This was a good formula although perhaps we could have been even more relaxed with 3 nights at some of the locations. For us, the fact that we had car journeys and then a relaxed day after the journey was good. Much better than always being on the move from one location to the next.
Rating the Hotels:
- Colombo – Maniumpathy – 7/10
- Kandy – Mountbatten Bungalow – 8/10
- [Ella] – Nine Skies – 9/10
- [Yala] – Uga Chena Huts – 11/10
- [Galle] – Galle Fort [Hotel] – 4/10
- [Balapitiya] – Kumu Beach – 9/10
It is clear that Teardrop Hotels are of a very high standard only bettered by Uga Hotels – for the clients like us looking for small ‘boutique’ hotels these were excellent choices. We liked the ‘all-inclusive’ arrangements at Nine Skies and Uga [Chena] Huts and the ‘laundry’ freebie is a great idea!
Perhaps in Colombo, [Paradise Road] Tintagel Hotel where we ate one evening would have also been a good choice.
I gave very specific and detailed feedback to Galle Fort Hotel. Our room was not pleasant to be in - the bed made a lot of noice [noise] when you moved, the bed was not at all comfortable, the mosquito net was (not needed?) not attached in any way to protect from mosquitoes, the bathroom was a health and safety hazard with the shower directing water potentially over an electric socket, and in summary trying to cover sub-standard accommodation in a sense of history. Right next door to this hotel is a Teardrop company hotel - I forget the name but it is something like Galle Hotel [Fort Bazaar] - and as I mentioned this company is really to be complimented on their facilities and approach.
Locations and events – activities:
- There is not really a great deal to recommend Colombo as a place to visit – we had a tour (by car) but it was not an inspiring location. The Dutch Hospital complex in Galle is far better as a location to visit.
- Kandy was fine although perhaps we disappointed our guide / chauffeur by deciding that we did not need to visit the Temple of the Sacred Tooth… we did visit the Garrison Cemetery and that was interesting in terms of a perspective about original ‘British’ inhabitants.
- The [Peradeniya] Botanic Gardens in Kandy are a worthwhile visit.
- The train journey from Nuwara Eliya [Nanu Oya] to Ella was a good experience only impacted negatively by young rich American tourist dominating the carriage – perhaps the agency that organise these groups could be more respectful of the other train passengers. A seat in 3rd Class (Reserved) was quite fine – no problems there for us.
- Lipton’s Seat and the surrounding Tea Plantations was a very worthwhile excursion.
- Yala Park Safari was also a good experience – an experience really enhanced by the Uga [Chena] Huts guide – I think if we had been with another safari company the experience would not have been so worthwhile.
- We went with Raja and the Whales for our Whale ‘searching’ (rather than watching) experience – they were great, well organised and the post trip forwarding of pictures that their staff had taken really is an excellent ‘service’ factor. Highly recommended.
- Galle is clearly a place to visit.
- Kumu Beach was simply an excellent period of relaxation at the end of our trip. The weather was not great on the days there and so we did not venture out to do anything such as bird watching or river cruise. The hotel chef was very accommodating in terms of creating meals for us.
We had decided that we did not want to rush around from site to site / activity to activity that perhaps did not enthuse our guide too much, but our preference was for a few worthwhile experiences rather than ‘ticking all the boxes’ of sites in Sri Lanka.
Our Guide:
- The first thing to say is that as a driver he gave us confidence on the road – as you are aware driving in Sri Lanka requires a certain style and approach and we felt very much at ease with Saman. On the ‘guiding’ front he was probably too shy and he certainly spoke very quietly which made it sometimes difficult to follow his information. He wanted to please and I hope that we were not too difficult clients in that our agenda was not (as said above) to ‘tick all the boxes’. We definitely missed some important things in Sri Lanka, but on the other hand we did not leave frustrated that we were tired from too many temple visits.
- Feedback to Saman would be speak louder, tell some more stories about the different locations – sites (for example Leonard Woolf in Sri Lanka), create more excitement and be sensitive to the clients who do not want to do or see everything possible to do or see. I know he feels a responsibility to Tikalanka to ensure that the clients have a good time, but with some clients ‘less is more’; we enjoyed our relaxation times and he need not feel like we had to be busy all the time!
