Sri Lanka packed into two days

Our driver Mr. Vicky

Our 5:15am flight got into Colombo in Sri Lanka just before 9am and our driver, Mr. VIcky met us at the airport and helped me find the ATM. Soon we were on our way to Kandy. The only signs of their politcal and financial troubles we could see were the half full flight and the long lines of people waiting for gas during this shortage of fuel and food. By lines I don’t mean waiting an hour or two for gas. In a popular area, I saw over 250 motorcycles, tuks tuks, and cards waiting (see video) and I had read about 2 men in their 80’s who had died in the heat waiting over 8 hours in line. With the protests and politcal unrest calling for the resignation of the President, we considered skipping Sri Lanka, but since part of their problem is lack of income from tourism it seemed like we should do our part to spend money there.

At duty free in Sri Lanka you can buy washing machines and refrigerators

Duty Free in Sri Lanka

People waiting in line to get gas

More cars waiting for gas

People waiting in line for deisel for generators

Hundreds of people waiting for petrol:

Orchids

After about 4 hours we arrived at the Botanical Gardens and Mr. Vicky helped us get tickets and showed us the lay of the land before going to wait for us. We wandered about looking at the displays of many trees, plants, and flowers. They had several palm lanes with diffent varieties of palm trees and two different rose gardens. There were also several trees with plaques commemorating their planting by famous people like the Queen of England. The orchid house was beautiful! Mr. Vicky was waiting for us when we were done and he whisked us off to our hotel, The Grand Kandyan.

Pretty little blue and yellow bird in the botanical garden

Pretty tree in botanical garden

Aloe vera plants

display of a variety of grasses

Orchids in the orchid house

Our driver waiting for us

This beautiful stonework
is in our bathroom

The Grand Kandyan was an amazing hotel! Either due to Covid or the exchange rate I got much more than expected for my $121. We were ushered in to a beautiful lobby and shown to chairs and a table where we were served a wonderful juice drink until it was our turn at the reception desk. Our room was even more beautiful. The bathroom was ornate with beautiful matble work that I would expect in the lobby, not in my room! It was the nicest hotel of my trip so far, even nicer than the Empress Premier in Chaing Mai, though they didn’t give us a fruit plate and bag of snacks.

Beautiful bathrrom floor in my room at Grand Kandyan

bathtub with beautiful marble

Bathroom in Grand Kandyan

fancy area on each floor by the elevators

Our room at the Grand Kandyan

Grand Kandyan room view 2

Grand Kandyan lobby

The tooth or at least the fancy container holding it

That evening we went to the Temple of the Tooth, where legend says a tooth from Buddha was brought to them from India for safekeeping. This artifact is kept in a case (the case reminds of what the Torah is wrapped in when it is carried during a Barmitzvah) in a special room and brought out three times a day for viewings. First there is a procession of monks who bring food to feed the spirit of Buddha with drummers playing music. Then the bring the case with the tooth upstairs to a viewing area where I was able to snap a quick picture of it. Actually I’m not really sure what I shot, I think it is the case containing the tooth, but everyone was waiting in line to see it, whatever it was and the tooth must be in there somewhere.

Room where the tooth of Buddha is housed

Room where many statues of Buddha are housed

Drummers and monks at the ceremony to give food to honor Buddha

The most interesting things for me were actually not the tooth which may or may not have been Buddha’s, but the drumsticks that have a circle at the end which were used to hit one of the drums. Also interesting was a room dedicated to the memory of an elephant who was featured in the annual procession around the city for decades until he died. They decided to honor him by having him taxidermied (the first time ever for an elephant) and having this building with pictures of him throughout his years.

Shrine to the elephant who performed in the annual parade for decades. He is taxidermied in the back

Natalie between two giant boulders at Sigiriya

The next morning while we were fast asleep, Mr. Vicky got up at 5:30 to wait 2 hours in line to get gas before the lines got too long. Around 10am we sadly checked out of the wonderful Grand Kandyan and he drove us to Sigiriya. This is the giant plataeu like a mini Ayers Rock only not sacred and with palace ruins on top. I read (somewhere) that it is 750 steps to the top. What they don’t mention is that the last 300 or so are built along the side of the rock and a little windy. Needless to say if you are afraid of heights do NOT look down at any point. Thankfully they have now added handrails so it is much less dangerous. There is not much left at the top just some steps and foundations of buildings, plus a large pool, but you get an amazing view of the area. It is also VERY gusty at the top so I was lucky my hat was strapped on securely. With a little patience we still got some pictures at the top between gusts.

Climbing to the top

Natalie at Sigiriya

At the top of Sigiriya

View from the top

Climbing stairs in Sigiriya

All around the main rock are smaller boulders strewn about by mother nature. Our guide referred to it as the boulder garden. On the way down, we climbed up a spiral staircase to a cave where long ago people carved pictures into the rocks. We were not allowed to take photographs, but at least I got some of the spiral stairs. When we got to the bottom we were treated to a family of monkeys hanging out on a stone wall. The babies were particularly cute. One kept trying to jump onto adult monkeys as they ran by without much success. He also was practicing jumping onto bushes and often fell off the wall but he would clamber back on. Two other youngsters were practicing as well. Super cute!

Stairs up to Sigiriya

Baby monkeys practicing jumping:

Giant Squirrel

Next up was our elephant safari. There are many wild elephants roaming about an area near Sigiriya and you can take a jeep out into the refuge area and try to spot them. First we got lunch at the jeep safari place, which was 12 small curries with different things in them so even if a few didn’t suit me or were too spicy, there were plenty of other options. The eggplant and a potato like veggie were my favorites. While there I saw something climb a tree. We asked the guide and he said it was a giant squirrel. I was a little disappointed that this interesting looking animal had the name “squirrel” (technically its name is "grizzled giant squirrel" which sounds a little more exotic) but I got over it as we hopped into the jeep for our trek. On the way there, we saw an elephant crossing sign, which boded well for our safari.

Elephant Crossing sign

Lunch at the elephant safari

Our jeep safari guide and our driver

Natalie and I on the jeep safari

We saw two elephants in the distance almost right away and took lots of pictures of them. Then it got more interesting as we found a mom with a baby and a larger baby really close by. They moved around a bit and were as close as 20 feet away, just happily eating away at the grasses. The babies were so cute! We saw a few more groups, and then on the way out we saw the largest group of the day with 6 elephants though in my picture 2 are hidden behind the last one. Very content with our day, we headed back to Colombo four hours away. When we got there we were hungry, but all the restaurants and street food stalls were closed because of the curfew.

Pretty green bird on Safari

Us with mama and babies

Mama and baby elephants

Family of 6 elephants

Baby elephant eating:

Baby elephant on side of the road on the drive back to Colombo

Nice multi country outlet at the Colombo Hilton

We checked into the Colombo Hilton where they took wonderful care of us, chasing us down at the elevators to give us back our passports that we left at the front desk, then as soon as we got into our room they called to make sure we knew the executive lounge cocktails and appetizers was closing at 8:30 (and it was now 8:29)! We rushed down there and were greeted by name as the front desk had called ahead to let them know we were coming. Talk about service! They also took the initiative to order each of the appetizers for us. We got our mocktails and soon after came our food, which was wonderfully good! It prefectly hit the spot. Then they brought by some cake for dessert as well!

Hilton Colombo sanitized the remote!

Room at Colombo Hilton

Bathroom sink at Colombo Hilton

Amazing food at the executive lounge

Executive Lounge at Colombo Hilton

Cake at the executive lounge

We were really glad we did not find an open restaurant as this was much better: top notch food and free to boot! Once again I blessed the Amex Hilton Aspire card for giving me Diamond status. That night around midnight I woke to hear loud music playing. I took a look out the window and there were cars pulling into a parking lot on the street with people hanging out partying in protest of the government’s imposed curfew.

People partying at midnight in protest of the gevernment curfew

Sri Lanka money