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Our Sri Lanka Tour Map
COLOMBO
We didn’t do too much in Colombo as we both really needed to relax a bit and we came to the conclusion that we should generally plan longer stays from the outset.
So we mainly wandered through this terribly lively city to capture a few impressions. Fortunately, there are still pedestrian traffic lights, which are also respected here. …-G.)
There are a large number of buses in the city, all imported from India. You can see that time and the state of the roads have left their mark on them. But you don’t fall out and the travelling ticket seller collects the passengers on the way and helps you find the right stop to get off.
The Lotus Tower television tower can be seen from everywhere in the city. At 350 metres high, it is one of the tallest television towers in the world and was put into operation in 2022. In addition to the radio and TV broadcasting facilities, there is also a restaurant and a viewing platform.
Interesting are also the modern skyscrapers and the old colonial buildings that are present in different states everywhere in the city, sometimes interestingly beautiful – or otherwise… …-G.)
Not far from the TV tower was an incredibly colourful, almost very colourfull temple that we really wanted to visit. Unfortunately the door was closed, but we were able to use the pictograms to find out what was allowed – and what wasn’t – as you can see, Petra wouldn’t have been allowed in anyway with her natural hair …-G.)
And off we went again. I came across an accommodation by the sea, by a lagoon, which had such great reviews and many longer stays and we had the feeling that this was the right thing for us, just lazing by the sea for a few days without any problems.
Katakurunda
So we took the slow train (no other train stops there anyway). At the ticket counter we had to persuade the official to sell us a ticket for this simple train (tourists only travel first or at least second class).
After a long 1 1/2 hours, we were the only passengers on this packed train and got off at a lonely station with aching backsides. And now what? In the distance we saw a busy road at the end. Nope, don’t feel like walking that far. Attempts to call the accommodation failed.
Then finally a lone person came along, but he knew his way around, oh, you can walk there, along the railway tracks, then cross and then this way and that. The path turned out to be three times as far, but eventually we got there and the inviting adverts of delicious cappuccinos and snacks were just what we needed. And we would have run the last few metres if we hadn’t had the heavy rucksacks. Finally arrived———- and the gate was barricaded. NO, please don’t! What now? From what we could see, it looked more like nobody had been there for a while. Gerhard managed to open the gate and there was a big sign on the door of the house: Closed. And now? We only knew in the back of our minds that there must be a „Feel Villa“ next to this „Feel Lagoone“, but we couldn’t find a phone number. It was also getting quite heavy, getting darker and darker and then a downpour. On the way to look for a neighbour I came across a scooter and he was finally able to help us, knew the owner and gave us the right phone number and stayed with us until we had a connection. The owner was completely flabbergasted as the booking had not reached him and, as it turned out later, he was in the process of having a new homepage designed.
And now he set everything in motion (first with Scooter) to keep us in a good mood, because he was visibly happy that we still managed to take the whole thing with a sense of humour. He immediately drove off to get biscuits, made coffee in the disused house and had us taken to his house in a tuk tuk, where the nurse had just cleared the biggest room today, and in no time at all he got everything in order with the help of his daughter and we were given a beautiful, large room with a nice bathroom in a lovely house with a family connection and a lovely pool, which he cleaned for us today.
Today we got the best and most extraordinary breakfast, unfortunately we couldn’t manage it all and Victor is just busy making us feel good, sometimes a bit too much and we have to slow him down. We also learnt that it is always very empty at this time of year and he closes the other house. We welcome the rainy season here, the showers are sometimes quite heavy, but short, the air is cleaner than we have experienced for a long time and the cooling from the rain is very pleasant. Later, he told me that he had just spoken to his daughter about the fact that he was having problems paying a bill and that we were suddenly standing in front of the door, sent from heaven, so to speak.
The town actually consists of the busy thoroughfare with a few „side arms“. But of course there are also many religious buildings. Unusually, this is also a predominantly Catholic area, which we were disturbed to hear, as in the evenings a long-lasting church service was broadcast at a deafening volume over loudspeakers along the road. There was no chance of escaping it. …-G.)
Today we took a long walk to the sea, visited a large resort where nobody stopped us from taking a good look at it, strolling around the property and even enjoying a long nap on the beach loungers.
When we thought about taking a tuk tuk back, we were told 500, but to my astonishment Gerhard said 300 and to my even greater astonishment this was immediately accepted.
Now we’ve had a relaxing day and made it clear to our host family that you can’t do anything out of the ordinary every day, nor do you want to. We enjoyed breakfast, every day they endeavour to serve different local things and explain them to us in detail, and Victor is particularly proud that he pays attention to organic products, which is quite rare here because, like everywhere else, Monsanto has its fingers in the pie. We enjoyed the pool and finally concentrated on the upcoming hotel reservations for our round trip, which we booked in Colombo, which takes a lot of time, because booking.com is no longer what it used to be and you have to be very careful with the clauses, otherwise you will experience some unbelievable surprises.
Victor constantly overreaches himself and with all the promises he makes, he ends up being overwhelmed himself and chaos ensues all the time. Then his wife turns up unexpectedly, greeted with ear-splitting screams from the two children, and is not working somewhere here as we assumed, but in the Maldives and is only here for a few days before disappearing again for four months. The man is, so to speak, a househusband with lots of great ideas, all of which come thick and fast and sometimes push us to our limits because we’re waiting somewhere, he can’t be reached because he’s forgotten to charge his mobile phone and of course he can only keep one of the three appointments he made. Sometimes we had to make an effort not to lose our sense of humour. He often knocked on our door late, just as we were about to go to bed, to give us detailed instructions: e.g. tomorrow morning I’ll order you a tuck tuck at 7am, it will take you to the temple complex, take your things with you, it’s halfway to Colombo, I’ll send you the address, we (he and his wife want to be there at 4am because their son dances there all night). So we got up at 6, downstairs just before 7, time passed, no tuck tuck, no address. The domestic help also arrived, no key either. We couldn’t get to our things in the fridge, where the good herbal blood juice I had brought from Germany was. At 7.45am the daughter arrived in the car and driver (she actually lives in the house and was supposed to wake us up) as a matter of course, but also had no key to the house to let the housekeeper in or to let us into the fridge, she thought she had given it to us the night before (another story), but it was only the key for the roller shutter so that we could get in. Victor and his wife greeted us in a good mood and with only 4 hours sleep, with the most irritating smile as always and you couldn’t be angry with them. I don’t know if they don’t also take a drop of cannabis oil every morning. Anyway, it was a wonderful event where people come from all over Sri Lanka to pay homage to the local culture and thank Buddha since last night.
Last but not least, a picture with Victor, his wife and their son. But now a quick snack. …-G.)
A friend then took us quite a way towards Colombo, so we didn’t have that far to Colombo and we were also lucky that 2 seats were saved for us on the packed train.
Once we arrived at our hotel, we went straight on to a food festival right on our doorstep with 2 great music groups.
A TOUR ACROSS SRI LANKA
Colombo to Kandy
Today we had to get up early again and look forward to the „first class“ train,
which Fernando, a very pleasant tour manager, had booked for us, because otherwise we are more modest. But our joy was limited, because even 2nd class was much more comfortable in the other countries and our hopes of breakfast or at least a coffee on the train were thus dashed and we arrived in Kandy quite hungry. What surprised us, however, was that Fernando turned up at the train to see if we were there. The guide found us straight away at the train station in Kandy thanks to the photos he had been given. We then enjoyed breakfast high up in a restaurant with a view over the city. We are in the middle of the mountains here and everything is built on slopes and the inhabitants have to climb quite a few stairs or slide up or down the soggy hills if they live outside in sometimes very light tin accommodation. The hotel was very unusual, built on different levels on the steep mountain slopes. We found it to be an architectural masterpiece. We had a wonderful room with a beautiful bathroom, with a direct view of Sri Lanka’s largest river, which swelled incredibly from one day to the next.
Luckily it only rained at night and so we didn’t notice much of it. The only thing that was a challenge (for me) was to find the room or the restaurant because of the stairs.
The next day we visited a beautiful botanical garden nearby, where we spent a few hours strolling around.
The visit to a magnificent orchid exhibition was particularly interesting.
After 2 nights, we travelled on to Nuwara Eliya and were looking forward to our large room. On the journey there, we marvelled at an incredible waterfall, but couldn’t get out as it had started to pour in the meantime. We visited a herb garden with a training centre for doctors and employees of a nearby hospital. And it has to be said that the doctor who looked after us knew an incredible amount, only we already knew everything, the herbs, they process them into 25 different liquids for all sorts of things and I’m going to try one.
We travelled to Nuwara Eliya in pouring rain and anything but southern temperatures.
The tea garden and museum we visited was also very interesting and we learnt a lot.
Here the tea is still processed according to the traditional production process and we learnt a lot about the different varieties and individual processing stages. Finally, we were able to try 10 different types of tea and – of course – buy them there too. We chose two varieties and still enjoy the tea as it is very rich. …-G.)
Nuwara Eliya
One was very tasty with a few spices mixed in, which we then ate straight away in the hotel, as we had now landed at over 2000 metres and, as we had often done before, were only wearing summer clothes; it was storming and pouring with rain, we had arrived in the middle of the rainy season, so Fernando must have kept something from us or confused something.
Fernando must have kept something from us or mixed something up. Now we’re mostly sitting in the hotel, which still exudes the flair of the old days, perhaps it will do so again in the high season. At the moment it’s freezing cold, a big house with empty ballrooms, disused pool tables, a bar with leftover bottles, where we wondered if anyone would notice if one disappeared. There’s nowhere to get warm except the shower gets so hot you have to be careful not to scald yourself, only tonight a tree fell on the power line during the storm and so not only has the last source of heat disappeared but so has the lighting.
One of my two long trousers is fortunately a bit wider so that I can put them on one on top of the other, otherwise everything is pulled on top of each other. Wrapped up in three large scarves, one as a skirt, one as a shawl and one in the middle, with a thin rain cover over it, we set off and couldn’t get over how summery most people were walking around here. And we were lucky, the next downpour didn’t come until we were back at the hotel. Travellers gave us hope that it would be warmer in the other direction from where they had just come.
Ella
The next morning we travelled on again by train. It was said to be the most beautiful route, it actually got a little warmer and our guide was waiting for us at the railway station in Ella.
When we arrived at the hotel, we left our suitcases in the car and took our rucksacks, which were immediately carried down the „steps“ and then back up again by a young lad. We knew beforehand that there were a few steps to negotiate, but we couldn’t have expected what awaited us: right next to the main road, we descended a number of „steps“, which were a challenge even without a rucksack to avoid breaking our bones, then we climbed back up the similar collection of stones, twice as long. Sniffling and out of breath (nope, it wasn’t age, we weren’t used to anything!!) we arrived at the top. We were almost a little embarrassed, but we actually went up one more floor, which the locals managed with ease, but they are also used to it from an early age, as most of the houses in this mountainous area can only be reached via more or less steep stairs or similar.
But the room was nice and big and we felt very comfortable there in the beautiful surroundings and the lovely garden. Today we were lucky that our guide took us to a place that only locals know, where there was a small buffet in the back room of a little shop. It was finally spicy again and not touristy flavoured, but to be on the safe side we decided to take a sip of EM when we arrived at the hotel.
The town itself is of a manageable size and is mainly tourist orientated due to the beautiful surroundings.
The next day we went on a hike up a 1200 metre high mountain.
But first it was a few kilometres uphill and downhill to the start, then it was a steep climb over hill and dale, through almost impenetrable reeds, through tea plantations, over old bridges and along railway tracks. We inspected the railway tracks and wondered whether we shouldn’t give the train a miss after all. So, onwards and upwards, but this time I took off one piece of clothing after the other and although Gerhard bravely carried the rucksack with breakfast and my clothes, I gave up at the last fifth when I realised my inattention was beginning to become dangerous, sat down on the next boulder and was finally able to enjoy my breakfast and Gerhard was now able to climb the last few metres light-footedly, where foreigners were allowed to pay 900 LKR to take a look around, in contrast to locals, who were allowed to do so for 70. It is common in Asia that foreigners are allowed to pay more for almost everything than locals, but the difference has never been so great.
After a wonderful shower and refusing to walk another metre, our guide took us to a temple that looked like nothing at first and where the sacred ground began before we even got there, forcing us to take off our shoes (hiking boots) and explore the ancient steps and areas barefoot. As it had rained again in the meantime, this was not very pleasant, but was quickly forgotten when we suddenly stood in front of a huge steep rock face with a 17 metre high Buddah carved into it, over 2000 years old. Then we came to an unusual temple, partly hidden under rocks, which was decorated with such beautiful paintings in bright colours that it was a surprising feast for the eyes in contrast to the grey, meaningless exterior of the complex.
But there were more interesting things to see. After a good 20 minutes through the hilly forest, we saw the Nine Arches Bridge, a curved viaduct. Built in 1923, it is 90 metres long and 24.5 metres high.
The next morning, the guide agreed to take a diversion on the journey to our next accommodation. We went to a temple complex with a huge Buddah with 4 goddesses next to it and once again we stood in front of it in amazement, barefoot as it should be, but this time in sudden heat, with the soles of our feet almost burnt on the hot rock.
The figures in Buduruwagala date from the 7th – 9th century.
Pasikuda Beach
Our next destination was on the east side of the beautiful island, which we were already looking forward to. The surroundings were a little disappointing at first, but we were compensated when we came to the beautiful garden and have to say that it is the most beautiful resort far and wide, although the rooms are very basic, but it’s enough.
It was just that the night was so hot and the mosquito net wasn’t the highlight, but after applying coconut oil again and removing the mosquito net, it worked. And after a nice walk on the beach and my refusal to extend the way back by twice as long, Gerhard had to phone the guide again. But he was probably already wondering why „we“ wanted to walk that far again. I then made myself comfortable in front of our hut and Gerhard went to explore the beach on the other side again (ha, but he just asked me for the cream for strained legs).
NILAVEDI BEACH
After two nights, we went to the next beach, which was actually nicer, in an Islamic neighbourhood and more relaxed, because the people here are nicer and don’t want to take money out of your pocket, which is sometimes unpleasant. They smiled at us in a friendly way, as I was used to in Malaysia, asked us for selfies with themselves and their friends or tried to get our attention and were happy when we took photos of them. You finally feel like you’re not a walking Euro again.
As we continued on our way, we passed two more unusual temples, which were the most impressive for me on the trip. The only thing I couldn’t understand was that walking barefoot on the hot stones around the temple is not customary in other countries, but only when you enter the temple. (This is also where the world’s largest Buddha statue (30 metres high) is located …-G.)
The old royal city
SIGIRIYA
Now we were heading inland again and were about to spend 3 nights in a tree house: Gerhard was rather sceptical (the only thing that gave Gerhard hope was the balcony, which sounded a bit civilised) – I was curious, so we climbed the high stairs and arrived in a nice tree house with running water and even a flushing toilet, unlike in Laos, where you had to walk a bit through the jungle to get to the toilet, but at ground level. The walls were decorated with palm leaves in a beautiful pattern. In the mornings, monkeys romped around at the foot of our stairs, on the surrounding trees and after a day they had chosen our metal roof as their playground, which held up despite our fears and our fears that they would climb over the balcony into our room did not materialise.
The facility was also wrested from the jungle and a wild elephant is rumoured to look around it from time to time.
Gerhard tackled the next mountain straight away after wrestling with himself for a while. This picture of the rock was hanging in our tree house and made us particularly curious. The rock is 200 metres high and a palace was built there from 473 to 491. There were palace buildings as well as several cisterns, whose water was used to supply drinking water and was sufficient for a longer period of time. Today, only the foundation walls remain, as the buildings were made of wood.
After I was able to get rid of the tourist guides, who take you up the mountain as quickly as possible in a 2-hour tour for a considerable fee with a quick tour and back down again, as the next ones are surely already waiting below. An absolutely tough job, I can confirm after my tour. But above all I wanted to organise my own time. There are still remnants of terraces and bathing lakes in the lower area.
So off we go and up a few steps to the actual gate to the fortress. There was originally a large lion’s head there, but unfortunately only the paws remain. And until then it was easy to reach with a good breath. But the next flight of stairs up left you breathless, which is exactly what you need now.
On the way next to the ascent, there were wasp nests hanging on the rock face, from which the wasps emerged a little later in a huge swarm. The guides there just shouted to duck down and wait calmly and quietly. Fortunately, the wasps had other plans than attacking tourists.
Reached the plateau without a hitch. 
The dimensions of the complex and the view of the surrounding landscape are incredible. I can’t imagine how they got all the building materials up there back then. The fancy tourist staircase didn’t exist yet and you can still see some of the original „stairs“.
After an extensive tour, we went back down the same path. At the bottom, the curious and begging monkeys were already waiting again.
And there was another passage along the side of the rock face leading to an overhang with frescoes. Photography is strictly forbidden – because it shows bare-breasted cloud girls? For a brief insight, here are the pictures taken from Wikipedia. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigiriya
Then we passed the Cobra cave with the imposing cobra watching us on the way. From there, there is also another great view of the terraces in the entrance area.
As I can’t fly, the climb was exhausting enough, here’s another picture from a bird’s eye view. Who knows if I would have started climbing if I had seen this beforehand…..-G.)
By dronepicr – Sigiriya Luftbild, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52016328
Today we went on a jeep safari in a national park. There are 3 of them in the surrounding area, which are closed alternately to spare the wild animals too much stress. We didn’t really expect much and were all the more surprised when we came across these herds of elephants and the driver clearly had a lot of fun making this experience possible for us.
Fortunately, we didn’t need this „spare wheel“, but it was there! Passing water buffaloes, we actually reached a larger herd of elephants with young at a lake. It is really impressive to observe these peaceful, huge animals in the jungle and also to see how much they love the water.
On the way back, a huge bull came towards us and our driver drove as far to the side as possible. Cops tend to make it clear who owns the road and this has already led to dicey situations. But luckily HE was having a good and generous day today and didn’t give us a second glance. So we ended our safari with a smile on our faces.
Then came our journey back to Colombo. On the way, we kept having interesting encounters and visited a farmers‘ market.
It’s unusual for us to see so many men wearing colourful skirts in this region.
Ohh – the streets are being swept here! Far from it, here they are sweeping up rice that has been spread out on the roadside to dry. The swept up rice is poured into sacks for transport.
On the way we stopped at a special temple complex, but isn’t every temple something special? There were actually two and the special thing was that entry to one was free and the other only cost $6, unlike the previous ones where foreigners are usually charged $25 or more. It’s a shame, it spoils your stay here: the country with the most beautiful landscape, but the greediest people. It’s not the very poor, but those who would be better off if they could do something on their own and not just think about how to take money out of foreigners‘ pockets without doing more. You’re a bad person if you don’t leave the country with empty pockets. Now it was particularly extreme on our round trip: the guides all know each other, give each other tips, constantly try to take you somewhere where they get an extra bonus, of course it’s easy money and you feel bad all the time because you’re spoiling their business, but we want to get to know the real Sri Lanka. Besides, a guided tour is expensive enough as it is. After 3 nights in the tree house, we went back to Colombo, where we tipped the guide more than we had planned, but he softened our compassionate hearts even more on the way, so that the dollars became more and more. Yes, everything connected with tourism is paid for in dollars, in rupees there would be so many notes that you would have to have a bag with you.
Here, however, we were allowed to drive on again after some time and with a little patience and without a toll. …-G.)
Another 10 days in Colombo, this time with an Indian with an Indian restaurant.
Gerhard surprised me with a rooftop bar just around the corner, tucked away where you would never have expected it, and we celebrated my birthday with cocktails and excellent local food above the rooftops of Colombo. We were lucky that almost all of the people here were locals, so the food was spicy and authentic. And because it was so good, we went back the next day.
Negombo Beach
Then we wanted to enjoy the ocean to the full. And booked for 7 days.
We feel very comfortable here, enjoy the small pool with a sea view
, go for a walk on the beach and have discovered a nice restaurant and are always greeted with the question:
„Sri Lanka spicy and not like for tourists?“
On our first visit there, the pancake was so delicious that Petra absolutely had to lick the plate. The manageress helped us with a glowing face shield. Then we also had some closer contact with one of the waitresses.
We will also stay here for the last 9 days, enjoy the pool, the sunsets by the sea, the delicious banana or pineapple pancakes and maybe get a real iced coffee until we leave (they are slowly on their way there). And the people here are happy too, because it’s probably not often that someone stays this long, the airport is nearby and the place is often only used as a short trip.
It’s a good 30-minute walk from our STAR BEACH Hotel to the town centre. There is also a special supermarket there that sells things other than the awful snacks in the small minimarkets. The whole region here is characterised by Catholicism, which is due to the Portuguese and Dutch of the time. So there are also some magnificent church buildings.
Even a railway crossing needs divine protection. …-G.)
At the hotel, we were constantly asked if we needed anything else. They even spent a day trying to find the TV promised in the booking, without success of course. But that hardly works in any hotel here in Sri Lanka. And we got a fridge put in without asking, but it’s rare because the electricity capacity here is very poor. But now that we’ve finally discovered real bread and oatmeal again, we sometimes eat „differently“ and fruit simply has to go in the fridge in the heat. But we rarely run the air conditioning.
As we are right by the sea, which is very choppy and foamy (3 young people have just drowned after being pulled out to sea by the undertow), we definitely wanted to take a look at the fishing harbour. Through a gate that still belongs to the former Portuguese fort, but was conquered by the Dutch in 1640, destroyed by the English in 1796 and then by them around 1800. Instead, the English built a huge prison complex that is still in use today. Past this you come to the fishing harbour. A special feature here are the fishing boats with sails, which are still in use today.
On the way there, we met some locals who allowed us to take a look inside their house.
The fishing harbour can be clearly identified by its smell. In addition to larger fish, these small fish are also caught here. They are dried in the sun at the harbour and you can then buy these dried fish at many stalls and supermarkets in the city.
But our time here in Sri Lanka is also coming to an end and the airport is not that far away. …-G.)
Our flight doesn’t leave until the evening and we are still allowed to use the room. This time everything worked out and the flight with 2 stops and unusually good food and drinks was very pleasant (Gulf Air).
How long we will stay in Berlin is uncertain. It will certainly take a while. We take delivery of a flat that Gerhard was recently offered.
As the flight goes to Frankfurt, I take the opportunity to meet up with some friends and also to visit an excellent, much appreciated, dear doctor in Würzburg, who has already taken care of my spider veins and veins once.