Arugam bay

We shared a car from Ella to Arugam Bay with our new found mates - Sasha and Laura - the newly weds. The journey was very pleasant and took about three hours, with a quick stop for short eats. 

Wild life enroute to Arugam Bay.

We had previously booked SAMs Guesthouse online, for 3 nights.

Sams Guest house and restaurant - I'm still looking for the cakes he advertised!

Bit of a mistake - it's pretty crappy and way more expensive than the other places in Arugam Bay. There seem to be three Sams who work here, Sam Senior, Son of Sam and Sam, Sam the useless man - and they are all a bit weird!

Sam's pants drying at Sams Guesthouse.

The two younger SAMs appear to live on the property, judging by the shower they take in the yard every morning and the underpants hanging from the trees.

We found a couple of nicer places right on the beach and debated moving hotels immediately but decided not to throw our money away and to put up with SAMs for the three nights we'd paid for. Once Sam actually provided some towels, sheets, soap and toilet paper, it was somewhat more bearable! Son of Sam also brought us coffee in the morning (after I got him out of bed) which was the saving grace.

After 3 days purgatory at SAMs we moved up the beach to the Arugam Bay Surfing Club, only to find our newly wed mates had also moved and were in the chalet next door! Obviously we all have very good taste!

Our lovely beach front room at Arugam Bay Surf Resort.

Afternoon tea break.

Arugam Bay is a really beautiful beach. In someways it's  better than I expected and in someways it's worse. 

The accommodations are a bit basic (expected); the beach is gorgeous but one end is crowded with really scabby fishermen huts and boats (damn those fishermen trying to eke out a living - we want all the beach!). 

Unexpected fisherman and bullocks, Arugam Bay.

There are more restaurants than I expected. The '04 tsunami and the war, hit this area pretty badly, so I guess they are still recovering.

The evenings are perfect - no wind, no mossies, just still, warm, beautiful evenings.  The restaurants are a lot less 'Sri Lankan' and a lot more aimed at tourists (to be expected in a beach resort, I guess). I think we spoilt ourselves with the food we enjoyed at the lovely home stays in Colombo, Kandy and Ella. At least now we know what excellent Sri Lankan cuisine is like.

Fisherman huts and boats.

The waves are amazing - this is truly a surfing beach. I've already been dumped on my ass more times than I care to mention - it's as if the sea is trying to spit you back out, with some degree of disgust. I'ts not the easiest place for a quick 'dip', although the swell is much calmer at the far end of the beach. 

Lovely uncrowded Arugam Bay.

The beach is also really uncrowded, there are a lot of surfers here and we see them coming and going with their boards, but the beach is big enough and there are enough cafes to accommodate everyone - it's almost as serene as a Perth beach. 

At the risk of exposing what a travel elitist I really am at heart, the crowd here is also pretty laid back. Arugam Bay is relatively difficult to get to and as yet, is only on back packers itineraries, so the crowd all seem quite cool and chilled out. It's probably like Kuta was in the early 70's. Although, as with other destinations in Sri Lanka, now the troubles are over it's only a matter of time.......

Richie in recovery mode - no beer for four days!

Richie was unwell for the first couple of days here. I think he caught a really persistent virus and was in bed for at least three days. He's on the mend now but his shorts, that were loose before, are now hanging off him. The plus side is, that I'm enjoying glimpses of cute, builders bum crack!

 We've been eating at a few interesting places - great tea at Rocos a few doors down but they don't seem to do food. We asked for toast but they only had enough bread for one serve??

It's non stop at Arugam Bay Surf Resort.

We spent a lovely evening with Sasha and Laura at The Tsunami Restaurant (yes bloody awful name). As it was a special religious day, no alcohol was allowed to be served, so they served our beer in big teapots. All very prohibition and good fun. It was a perfect evening, dining on the sand, listening to the waves crashing and the beach fire crackling and drinking beer from teapots, as the tourist police patrolled up and down trying to catch us out drinking alcohol on a religious holiday. 

Sasha and Laura - we gate crashed their honeymoon.

We bade a sad farewell to Sasha and Laura today. Our time at Arugam Bay is coming to an end. A couple more strolls up the beach to Mambo's for breakfast and a swim, a few more pots of tea on the verandah and then its onto Batti.

Ella

We've had a very restful time in Ella. The town is literally one street, with a couple of restaurants, a few massage places and a few local institutions (school, petrol station etc). 

Even though it's really small, you can already see the changes happening. A relatively big supermarket has been built on the edge of the main street and the few restaurants in town are offering mainly western cuisine, with very little offered in the way of Sri Lankan food. 

There is however, a very good roti shop in town. The roti's are huge and really good. We enjoyed a delicious potato roti and a coconut roti, both too big too finish. We also enjoyed a few good meals at the Dream Cafe, but the most enjoyable meals were shared around the table at our guesthouse.

Our guesthouse came with our own resident cat (don't tell Yodi!).

If you can't be with the cat you love, love the cat you're with.

Our guesthouse, The Waterfall Guesthouse is stunning. It is built into the hillside at the top of a ravine and has stunning views of the nearby waterfall. Initially there were six guests at our place, one, middle aged, toffee nosed, English couple who occasionally sniff in our direction; a newly married young, middle class, English couple who are all shiny and new and terribly, terribly excited about their year living in India. We call them Mr & Mrs Chennai, because all their sentences begin with "When we were in Chennai........"  and us. It's a bit like that old skit with the two Ronnies and John Cleese about the British class system. 

"I know my place" - YouTube

Fortunately the guest turn over is quite frequent and we 
soon had some nice new guests from Germany, Spain and 
an English, Indian family.

Waterfall Guesthouse was delightful.

The view from the guesthouse verandah.

I'm not sure why Ella is such a big stop on the tourist trail, it's nice, but unless you're really into tracking there isn't a lot to do. We had a really good massage in the town, although the further we get away from Colombo, the more expensive the massages get. 

With our host Karen and Laura, at breakfast.

We've had fun walking along the train tracks, about a fifteen minute walk into town from our guesthouse. Richie is far too delighted when the train comes and we have to leap off the tracks - I think it's a bit of a boys own adventure!

Avoiding the trains.

The train tracks are used as the main road in Ella. 

Walk the line - the only way to get around.

We eventually sucumbed to the inevitable and decided to take a hike to see the waterfall. We were accosted, picked up if you like, by a very friendly farmer who decided we needed him to show us where to go and how to get there. After quite an arduous trek up the hill and a stop off at his cousins, uncles, brothers shop to buy cokes for us and fags for him, and a few hundred rupies later, we managed to find our own way back.

Our friendly guide.

Our guides must stop, rest stop.

The Ajayi's trekking - not our natural state!

So we've really not done much in Ella, walked the tracks, had a massage, had some great roti's, made some new friends and enjoyed the view. Onwards and upwards and eastwards to Arugam Bay.......

Kandy Town.

It's raining like mad in Kandy. Our accommodation is again delightful. We are staying at a home stay in the hills, near the lake, with a lovely couple, Sujatha and Roney at Sujatha's Guest House. 

Our home stay in Kandy.

Our lovely hosts Roney and Sujatha and the mad Turk, Mr Khan.

They have two rooms and the other guest is a funny Turkish man (only known as Mr Khan) who speaks very little English - goodness know he's coping cos I'm not sure he'll find many Turkish speakers to assist him in Sri Lanka. 

Still raining in Kandy but enjoying ourselves all the same. We've decided to avoid some of the tourist sites - not because we're precious but because we're too old to fake interest in sites like Budhas' tooth (I didn't mind queueing for an hour is to see Uncle Ho in Ho Chi Minh City, but that was a whole Uncle, not just a tooth!).

Main street, Kandy.

We spent considerable time trying to find a bar called PUB, which is located near the lake and we supposed to have a big neon sign. We eventually found it and the name has changed to Slightly Chilled and no neon sign. Funny name but great bar. 

We arrived the Pub bar at 4 pm to discover that Kandy seems to follow antiquated British liquor laws - no drinks served between 2pm and 5pm. The staff were very sweet and served us coffee so we could kill an hour. Slightly Chilled has great views over the Lake and we spent a very pleasant evening chatting to the owner, an expat Pom from London. 

We did go to the British Garrison Cemetery and the Kandy Garrison Cemetery. Both of which were very interesting. The Kandy cemetery was dated from about 1850 onwards and full of infants - one grave had fives sons from one family!

The very helpful cemetery guide gave us all the gory details - who died of malaria, sunstroke, dengue fever, wild animal attack - if you reached 40 years back then, you were ancient and bloody lucky. 

The British Garrison cemetery was filled with graves of the war dead from the defence of Ceylon in WW2. The caretaker was also really informative - he'd worked there for 40 years and was about to retire. He was full of stories about the families of the fallen soldiers who had visited over the years and all the famous royal guests who came for Remembrance Day ceremonies over the years.

British Garrison Cemetery, Kandy

We've been eating very well again in Kandy - from the lovely breakfast at Sujathas - fish curry and sweet rice, to the pastries at the Bakehouse, onion roti and apple cake, to chicken biryiani at the Devon restaurant and the memorable meal at the Muslim Hotel. 

Afternoon Tea at the Bakehouse, Kandy.

We had a few evening drinks at The Pub, on the balcony above The Bakehouse and had just ordered our dinner at the Muslim Hotel - two types of Kotthu, Dahl and parathas - when our fellow home stay guest, the mad Turk walked in. We asked him to join us and he promptly did and ate all our food!

Chicken Kotthu - finely diced roti, chicken and veggies - seriously yum!

The Mad Turk ordering at the Muslim Cafe and Richard with huge paratha.

We found out how he manages with very little English - he just shouts out words at the poor bewildered staff. The dining experience was equal parts hilarious and embarrassing!

We decided to avoid the rain and spent our last day and evening with our lovely hosts. I took the opportunity to join them in giving their monthly offerings to the local village Buddhist temple. It was a lovely experience. I even got to chat with the Head Monk, who at 89 looked very fit and strong. 

Local village Buddhist temple

We had the best day - Sujatha gave me a cooking lesson which was really interesting and I learnt about a few new ingredients - Goraka Cream and Maldive Fish - that I shall hunt for in Perth. I've completely changed my mind about Sri Lankan food - it's not rough at all. The flavours are quite different to Indian but equally delicious.

Cooking lessons with Sujatha

We spent the evening sharing a drink of Sri Lankan arrack, eating, swapping bad guest stories and playing a game called Carram - sort of like pool or billiards. 

We had been told that 3 days in Kandy was enough and that it was very crowded with lots of traffic. However, staying with Sujatha and Roney was a heavenly little oasis of peace, calm, great food and good conversation - once the mad Turk left that is! 

Final dinner with lovely Sujatha and Roney.

We are now on our way to Ella by train. We caught the train from Peradeniya Station, about a 20-30 minute tuk tuk ride from Kandy. The journey is meant to be very scenic. So far the train was 1.5 hours late and the ride is pretty bumpy. Plus there is an especially annoying group of old Australians with diarrhoea of both the gob and the other end. God remind me once more never to go on a tour! Thank fully I think they've now fallen asleep.

Colombo

Here at last.

We arrived on Monday and after a very smooth and quick customs and passport process (big queue for visa on arrival, but we already had our 90 day visa stamped our passports - ha!) we stepped into the steamy Colombo afternoon.

Our hosts lovely home.

Our airport pick up was waiting and whisked us of in a very small mini cab to our AIRBNB home stay in Borella, in the Colombo suburbs. We were greeted by our hosts, Nelun and Luxshmanan who live in a very charming, very old indoor / outdoor style house.

Our room at our Colombo homestay.

We have our own bedroom/bathroom and seating area. It's very charming. Breakfast is included and every morning we have enjoyed some exotic (exotic to us that is) Sri Lankan food such as red rice and spicy sambal; four leaf green soup, hoppers and egg).

Yes we have a meter, no its not working.

We've been blatting around the city by tuk tuk. They're very cheap - even though it's surprising how many times their meters "don't work" but at $2-$3 a journey - who's complaining?

Galle Face Hotel.

We spent the first day enjoying the colonial charms of The Galle Face hotel. It's a bit faded now and is currently under going renovations but the bar/restaurant area is still absolutely delightful. With the waiting staff in their white evening jackets and old fashioned manners and the salty, cool sea breeze gentle washing over you, it's a very pleasant way to wile away a few hours.

Galle Face Hotel Verandah bar.

Sam the Galle Face catapult man.

Richie got far too much pleasure watching the chap who's sole job appeared to be scaring away the crows with his trusty sling shot. Rich was wondering if he could bring the said chap back to Australia under a 457 visa!

To continue the colonial theme we also had dinner at the Old Dutch Hospital. We didn't plan to, but got trapped by the rain and a GIANT pitcher of beer. 

Colombo's colonial history is very evident and very unspoiled. It's very much like Singapore before they turned it into one big shopping mall. 

We've also managed to fit in a foot massage every day so far. The ayurvedic spas are pretty costly but we found a little place called The Foot Spa (courtesy of trip advisor forum) that offers one hour foot massage for 1000rps (under $10). It's on corner of Vajira Lane and Galle Face Rd, about 3 blocks from the Majestic City shopping centre.

Beira Lake.

Beira Lake is about 10 mins by tuk tuk from our home stay. It's the perfect place for an evening stroll and great for people watching.

Beira Lake, we brought our own shade.

Ooh what to choose, what to choose?

$6 and delicious!!!

We found a little craft market offering an astonishing

number of home made cakes. Best of all was the outdoor food court. Fantastic hot spicy food at very reasonable prices. We followed the meal up with a couple of cold ones at the lake side bar. Sooo civilized!

Contemplating at Beira Lake.

We spent an enjoyable evening at the Loft Bar at the Courtyard Hotel, Alfred House Avenue, off  R.A .Del Mawatha Rd, a couple of blocks from the "House of Fashion" (super cheap clothes - not so fashionable!).

The Loft Bar is on the 2nd floor and overlooks RA del M. Rd. It had a great happy hour from 5.30 to 7.30 and a jazz band. Seems like a popular place with Sri Lankans for romantic interludes, judging by the couple next to us who spent the whole evening snogging!

The hotel is full of very eclectic artworks designed from old bicycle parts. Richie asked to look at some rooms - which were really nice - big beds , coffee machines etc. We were thinking about a couple of days at the Galle Face Hotel at the end of our journey but now think the Courtyard will be a better bet.

Watching the kites fly at Galle Face Green.

We've had a very chilled out week in Colombo. It's not a city with many "sites" as such but it's great for people watching and  generally letting the pace of Colombo life wash over you. We were going to visit the museums but changed our plans at the last minute and instead of being indoors admiring dusty bronze statues, we hung out at Galle Face for the afternoon and soaked in the colour and vibrancy of Colombo people enjoying their lovely city.

Enjoying the sunset at Galle Face Green.

It's all happening at Galle Face Green.

Roof top bar Colombo City Hotel.

The roof top bar at the Colombo City hotel, next to the Old Dutch Hospital offers very reasonable drinks and a spectacular view of the city. They also have a questionable Marachi band, but we managed to escape before they surrounded our table.

Roof top bar Colombo City Hotel.

Today is our last day in Colombo before heading off to Kandy, so we are planning one more foot massage, lunch at Beira Lake and drinks at the trendy, upmarket Kingsbury Hotel roof top bar at the top end of Galle Face Green.

Finally I got to try my first Kottu dish at the Galle Face Green food stalls. Kottu is a Sri Lankan dish of madly chopped rotis with vegetables and chicken or cheese or fish etc. 

First chicken kottu in Sri Lanka - too good to wait.

It was really good - so good infact we scoffed it before we could get a photo. 




We also discovered our new favourite hotel, Colombo Courtyard, has a very cool roof top bar. Definitely staying here when we come back to Colombo next.

Colombo Courtyard Hotel roof top bar. Great spot for happy hour 5.30 to 7.30pm.

The 2.5 hour train ride to Kandy from Colombo was delightful. It was like Business class air service without leaving the ground. They even served tea and coffee in mugs - fortunately health and safety isn't an issue 'cos the train was rocking like mad when they served it. The male cabin attendant took a huge liking to Richard - I'm sure he was giving him the eye!