What a Wonderful World: Ceylon a.k.a Sri Lanka

"Sri Langkat amboii Sri Langkat amboii" lalala since i get the invitation to Sri Lanka, i keep singing this song... i cant remember the whole lyrics cause this is an old song, by Jamal Abdillah & Amelina. go Google!

all right, "Ayubowan" - greetings in local language. let's proceed with my story to Sri Lanka last 10th to 14th May 2013 without any usual long introduction. going to Sri Lanka, you may take MAS or Srilankan Airlines (UL). since my trip is sponsored by UL, of course i'll promoting UL. Taking the 9am flight from KLIA, we are given a Business Class *superb* for 3 1/2 hours air travel *jetlag* and the time different is 2 1/2 hours behind KL time, which means the flight landed at 12:30pm KL time and 10am Sri Lanka time. confuse? i have to get used to it and change my watch immediately, cause we need to take another 30-mins UL flight from Colombo (CMB) to a new airport on the southeastern part at Mattala Rajapaksa Airport (HRI), Hambantota. unfortunately, the flight has been delayed for 2 hours. we are supposed to arrive Mattala Airport by 1:15pm. "ohhh, we are starving" (we finally had our lunch at 5:30pm; equal to 8pm in KL! consider dinner already). Luckily i'm having a Jala Roti (or Roti Jala) onboard. uniquely, their airports are selling electricity as the duty free items. the Colombo Airport is located at Bandarakaike actually, 45mins away from the Colombo Town. it is an old airport and since the Mattala Airport is just open for 2 months, they still doesn't have the transit system. so, we need to get-off from the airport and recheck-in at the counter for the flight to Mattala. here we go!

Upon arrival, we met Mr Lucky (an Indonesian speaking guide), he took us to Priyankara Hotel at Tissamaharama for our served 'lunch'. then, we took a jeep ride for the sightseeing at Yala National Park. there are plenty of National Parks in Sri Lanka but Yala is the biggest one. i must blame the delayed flight cause it's already late evening when we arrived and the National Park are closed at 5. so, we detour to the nearby fishing village to view the beautiful sunset. however, we still managed to see a crocodile, deer, a wild elephant, tame wild boar, white-face monkeys, colorful birds and beautiful peacock. Buffet dinner at a 5 star hotel in the jungle - Cinnamon Wild Yala. such a great experience, cause to get to that hotel, we need to use a small road which is also using by the wild elephant. #beware, wild elephant crossing. and while waiting for the dinner to be served, a group of wild boar are passing by us who were sitting at the hotel lobby area. allright, this 5 star hotel is not a gated hotel. gulp!
It's 10pm already (midnight in KL), then we check-in at Mandara Rosen Hotel, Kataragama ; 30mins from the National Park.

On the 2nd day, after breakfast we hit the road for 4 1/2 hours to Nuwara Eliya. using the wide clear highway-alike across Yala / Kumana / Lunugamvehera National Parks. we still can see any wild animals at the roadside but the government are strictly does not allow anyone to get-off from the vehicle for the safety purposes. it's not their responsibility if you are being attacked by the wild. hmmm i wonder, what will happen to us if our vehicle break down at those 'dangerous' area??
En-rout to Nuwara Eliya, we stop at the Ravana Waterfall and Ella; we are now entering the hills area. not to mention, curving and up&down road.

Arrived at a place what they called as "Little England". the Queen Ann style of the building is said influenced by British. After check-in at Jetwing St Andrew's Hotel, we took a "Tuk-Tuk" or here they also called as "Bajaj"; to the nearby town. Lunch and dinner are served at the hotel.

On the next day, proceed to Kandy (pronounce candy) for 2 hours. stop at the Tea Plantation to see the tea women-plucker, tea making factory, tea tasting and to shop a-very-cheap Ceylon Tea. have you ever wonder what Ceylon actually means? well, Ceylon is the old name of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka have a lot of old names, besides Ceylon, they also called as Langkapura, Cinnamon Island, Serindit City etc. Different grades of tea for different way to drink this tea.

i bought one for my boss, 200g for LKR500 = RM 12; this one is from Mackwoods Labookellie Estate and the grade is BOP : Broken Orange Pekoe. if im not mistaken, it suit for those who like tea with milk (Teh Tarik). i bought a vanilla tea for myself and a ginger tea for my family.

arrive Kandy, we visit the local university to see a big tree - ops, i forgot the name of that big tree. they said the tree was imported from Malaysia. really? Buffet lunch at Oak-Ray Regency Hotel , then we spent 1 hour to explore the huge area of Peradeniya - the Royal Botanical Garden. then, we went to a big lake in the middle of the town to watch an indoor cultural performance of Traditional Kandyan and Low Country Dances of Sri Lanka at the lakeside named Kandy Cultural Centre Hall for 1 hour show which consist of 10 special performances. the show started at 5:30pm with 'Blowing of the conch shell', then 'Pooja Dance', continued with 'Panteru Natum', a 'Cobra Dance', a 'Mask Dance', 'Mayura Wannama', 'Raban Dance' and 'Ves Dance'. then, they perform the 'Fire Dance' and 'Fire Walking' as the closing around 6:30pm. staying at Randholee Luxury Resort, Kandy for tonight and dinner was served at this hotel.

our last day here (consider as the last day due to our return flight is at 7am..), we went to Colombo, the famous city in Ceylon. but before that, we stop by at The Island 25 Spice Grove, a spice garden in Matale. yeap, besides Gems and Cinnamon, Sri Lanka also famous with their Spices. my interest only for the vanilla pots, the red pinapple and the hair remover hehe^^. having the best meals ever, here at this garden. for me, it's like "lauk kampung" with more than 10 dishes and those vegetables are freshly took from this garden. thumps up!. after lunch, we stop at the Pottery roadside shops and the Cashew nut shop. the cashew nut here is cheaper than in Thailand.. but i forgot the price =( if im not mistaken, less than RM15 for half-kg.

then, the traffic jam began!... KL? Jakarta? Bangkok? all these big cities are famous with their bad traffic jam. Colombo has no exception. we arrived ODEL, the popular shopping outlet at 6something in the evening. ODEL is just opposite of the oldest mosque in Sri Lanka - Dwatagaha Mosque. its such a wonderful mosque. had our buffet dinner at Raja Bojun (means 'meals for the King') with the best and a lot of big prawn and crabs.

we stayed at the one and only 5 star Muslim hotel in Sri Lanka, which is Galadari Hotel, Colombo. the hotel is actually located at the seaside, and some rooms are viewing the sea. but there's nothing we can see as we checked-in at 9pm. Early bed-time because we need to wake up at 3am due to the early morning flight *sigh*