Day 7 - Kandy

15.10.2024

Day 7

After an in house breakfast which we relished, we are on our way to Kandy a major city in Central Sri Lanka. 

We took a detour to visit the iconic Heritance Tea Factory hotel. A neglected tea factory is converted to a luxury hotel, and is surrounded by stunning tea plantations. 

The drive to Kandy was good. The city is on a plateau, nestled between the hills with tropical plantation, mostly tea. 

We reached Kandy at around 2.30 pm and checked in at Radisson, a nice hotel situated in the heart of the City. Soon we are joined by fulltanker Mathew Varghese, who due to personal commitments could not travel with us on day one. Reunion of fulltankers was an happy occasion indeed!

As per history, Kandy was the last capital of the Sinhalese Monarchy and the last King of Kandy apparently has ancestral roots to Kerala!!

Kandy is the home of sacred Buddhist site, Temple of the Tooth shrine. We took time to visit the shrine, where we found a number of foreigners. 

A walk around the artificial Kandy lake is a must do for tourists.

Many well wishers reached out to us today, concerned on news of floods and weather in Sri Lanka. Thanks to all, we are safe and travelling in good weather so far. 

End of day seven.

Day 6 - Nuwara Eliya

14.10.2024

Day 6

Today we travel to Nuwara Eliya, situated at an altitude of 1850 meters the coolest place in Sri Lanka. It is considered the tea capital of Sri Lanka. The city founded in 1847, has an old history. This was a hill country retreat of British colonialists and also known as Little England.

We took the Wellawaya-Ella-Kumbalwela Highway from Yala, to cover a distance of approximately 150 kms in 4 hours. We stopped for a quick breakfast at a roadside coffee shop. 

As we left the coast line and travelled inland, the terrain changed but the roads, though two lane, continue to be good. The ghat roads are well marked and traffic is orderly. Roads we have travelled in Sri Lanka so far are maintained very well. Signs of good governance!

It started drizzling as we neared Nuwara Eliya and we reached our destination few minutes after 2 pm. We checked in at Baron Luxury Boutique, a nice cozy place perched on a small hill. The steep climb to the hotel and parking required some deft skills, which fulltanker CK managed with aplomb.

After check in and unpacking, we went out for lunch. The rain, cold, the breeze and the chill factor, we decided not to brave the weather. Best in such circumstances is Pizza Hut!! 

We toured the city in our car, stopping by the Hills Club, established in 1876 by British coffee planters. The place looks grand with well maintained garden and rooms. 

We also stopped by Little England golf club established in 1889, St Francis Church in 1858 and passed by Nuwara Eliya post office, one of the oldest post offices in Sri Lanka.

We were quite surprised to see a sign so common in Kerala and in most states in India too, here in Nuwara Eliya!!!

We returned to hotel around 7 pm and decided to have dinner in-house and call it a day.

End of day six. 

Day 5 - Yala National Park

13.10.2024

Day 5

We enjoyed the in-house breakfast at Wild Lotus and spend the morning at the resort, looking forward for the safari at Yala National Park in the afternoon.

We boarded jeep for the safari at Wild Lotus at 2 pm and had a quick lunch at Chef Lady, a small restaurant and we are on our way.

The drive to the park, situated about 20 kms away took 30 minutes. After routine checking of our passports and tickets we entered the park at about 3 pm and for the next three hours criss crossed the roads inside the jungle trail spotting numerous birds and animals.

The park has a protected area of nearly 130,000 hectares of land, divided into 5 zones, consisting of light forests, scrubs, grasslands and lagoons. The park has several varieties of mammals and birds species. It has the biggest concentration of leopards in the world and also have elephants, bears, sambars, jackals, spotted dear, peacocks, and crocodiles. We took Zone 1, known as leopard territory. The mud roads are well kept and except few places where the driver had to rely on 4-wheel drive, most of the jungle trail has good roads.

Tsunami of 2004 struck the park and about 250 people in and around the park were consumed by the rampaging waves, but amazingly no animals were killed, cementing the theory of ‘sixth sense’ of animals.

We returned to Wild Lotus at 7 pm and after quick shower and usual sunset refreshments, had in-house dinner before retiring for the night.

Tomorrow we leave Lankan coast line and head towards tea country hills of central Sri Lanka.

End of day five.

Day 4 - Yala

12.10.2024

Day 4

After a day well spent in Galle, our next destination is Yala, about 150 kms from Galle. It is situated in Sri Lanka's south-east hugging the Indian Ocean, Yala is a designated a wildlife sanctuary and a national park.

We had breakfast at a small cafe in Galle fort area - we relished the English breakfast!

Our drive to Yala, once again we bypassed the E01 expressway from Colombo-Galle-Matara. The drive took us through the coastal belt, and in many places we could see tourists. Several resorts, big and small, lined up along the way is a reflection of the booming tourism industry in the country. The drive through the two lane coastal road was smooth. We stopped at few places to enjoy the beautiful coastline. 

We saw surfers on their boards and watched waves roll them on to shore. Traffic en-route was orderly and people generally driving safe. 

At Matara, a city on the Southern coast of the island, we decided to take E01 expressway onwards Yala. 

Nearing our destination, we stopped at Double Tree by Hilton at Weerawila, a picturesque retreat nestled on the banks of Weerawila Lake for lunch.

We checked in at Wild Lotus, a villa we found through booking.com, turned out to be an excellent choice. Since the place is located some distance from the nearby town, they offer food and we choose to have our dinner in house. Wild Lotus Yala is a hidden gem, really fantastic place for travellers and family with kids.

We will be staying here for two nights and look forward to the wildlife safari.

End of day four.

Day 3 - Galle

11.10.2024

Day 3

After a hearty breakfast at our hotel in Colombo, we travelled to Galle the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka about 120 kms  away. We took the old coastal route instead of E01 expressway to Galle, to get a glimpse of the Sri Lankan coastline. The route very much resembles Kerala coastal route.

On our way we stopped at Cinnamon hotel at Bentota, a beautiful Sri Lanka luxury resort for refreshments.

We reached Galle at about 2 pm and had lunch at The Tuna & The Crab, a nice Japanese restaurant in Dutch hospital precinct.

We checked in at Oasis, an Air BNB place, exclusively reserved for fulltankers. The owner, a retired Sri Lankan banker, with a warm smile was very hospitable.

We explored Galle on foot, spent couple of hours around Galle fort and lighthouse area and the nearby lanes - very similar to Fort Cochin heritage areas, but must admire the cleanliness they maintain and lack of touts!! We enjoyed almost perfect weather and the breeze was just nice.

After sunset we went back to Oasis and showered and went out for dinner. We were lucky to find an excellent location by name “Luuma beach”. It was about 10 pm and we were the last customers and got exclusive service and a table was set on the beach. 

After starters it started raining and we quickly got back inside the cozy comforts of the shack for rest of our dinner.

We returned to Oasis around 11.30 pm and had a good nights sleep.

End of day three.

Day 2 - In Colombo

10.10.2024

Day 2

We had planned two days in Colombo, and day 2 we woke up with the news of passing of Mr. Ratan Tata, the visionary leader of the Tatas instrumental in leading Tatas as of the top 100 brands in the world. Tatas have probably touched the life of every Indian, and fulltankers pay their homage to this humanist and great soul of India.

Colombo is the erstwhile capital of Sri Lanka and is the financial centre of the island and a tourist destination. The capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is itself within the urban/suburban area of Colombo.

We spent a quiet day in the City, had a big breakfast at Hilton Colombo residences and thereafter did some errands, arranged logistic support for our tour of the island.

We had dinner at the luxurious Shangri La hotel situated near Galle face, one of the finest locations in Colombo. 

We were joined by friend and colleague of full-tanker JK, Ms Sharmini Serasinghe for dinner. A quiet evening, well spent.

End of day two.

Day 1 - Kochi to Colombo

09.10.2024

Day 1

Start of fulltankers epic trip to Sri Lanka. After customary good byes to our families, we reached airport at about 7.30 am for our flight to airport, scheduled to leave at 10.20 am.

We had breakfast at the crowded Earth Lounge at the airport…for the discerning, the food was as insipid as any airport lounge food.

The one hour flight to Colombo by Sri Lankan airlines was uneventful and we landed at Bandaranaike International airport, named after former Prime Minister S. W. R. D Bandaranaike situated in the suburb of Negombo, 32.5 kilometres north of the nation's capital Colombo, on time at 11.20 am. Sri Lanka and India are in the same time zone.

We had our visas pre-approved and immigration was smooth and quick. Though we had international roaming, we took couple of local SIM cards. Post immigration and customary visit to DFS for “beverages” and chocolates, we collected our luggage. After customs we found a group of Sri Lankan dancers performing. We took some videos of their dances and they posed for photos with us.

Exchanged INR to LKR at one of the many bank counters for local spending. Our car rental agent was waiting for us, who guided us through to the exit and to the Mitsubishi Monterro arranged for our 15 day drive in Sri Lanka.

We took the Colombo-Katunayake expressway E01, the first and the longest expressway of Sri Lanka, for the 30 kms drive to Colombo, but then found the car not to our liking. We took the car to the main office of the rental company in the city and got a replacement car, which we found much better and cheaper too! We now have DFSK580, an almost brand new SUV.

We checked in at Hilton Colombo Residencies, a place ideal for short and extended stays, where we had booked for our two day stay in Colombo. 

The weather in Colombo is hot and humid at this time of the year, but we had some showers in the evening while we took a customary autorickshaw drive in the city. We also did some shopping at the nearby Cargils supermarket before we decided to return to our hotel to spend the rest of the day.

End of day one.