3 February 2017/ by Renata
Sri Lanka
Germany 2012, cold, gray and wet January, streets crowded by foul mood-ed sneezing people, nasty germs ready to spread to new victims...No thanks, not for me. I was more for sandy beach, turquoise sea, splendid nature, fascinating history, yummy food... All this in the middle of winter? Yes, that's possible...The magical word is: Sri Lanka. But I must add, the price I had to pay for this pleasure was high, being 20 hours “on the way” (from the time I left the home till I got the keys of the bungalow). Bus, tram, train, airplane, ferry... on that day every kind of existing locomotion was used. I was more dead than alive when I finally reached my destination. But…it was definitely worth the effort.
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“A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in”.
Robert Orben (found on: brainyquote.com)
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My journey's end: the Ranweli Holiday Village, an Eco-friendly bungalow resort constructed on a former coconut plantation located on a peninsula surrounded by mangrove forest, wide sandy beach and the river Maha Oya. The bungalow hidden in a vegetables/spices garden was spacious, simply but nicely furnished, with ocean-view terrace.
The climate (at least directly on the coast) was very agreeable with a fresh breeze blowing constantly from the sea. This also caused another welcome effect: I hardly had blood hungry mosquitoes disturbing my idyll. But…nothing is perfect in this world. Instead of that the guests had to defend their breakfast from a gang of mischievous squirrels. Only a short moment of non-attention and your food disappeared. The food was excellent. As I am anyway a big fan of curries etc... I found everything I put into my mouth just deliciously.
Unfortunately we couldn't realize our desire to explore this great country in the way we wished. Even if Sri Lanka is not very big, due to very tense and chaotic traffic on the roads (cars/ trucks/ tuk-tuks/ bicycles/ people/ animals...) and the fact that already at 7pm complete darkness envelops the land, distances greater than 150 km are difficult to exceed (both ways+ some sightseeing) within one day. Under such circumstances we had to content ourselves with some trips in the nearby area only.
The most exciting one was a one-day-excursion to Kandy, located in the highlands of Sri Lanka. A beautiful area surrounded by large tea plantations, small manufacturers of leather/ceramic and batik crafts and “owning” the most important Buddha Temple called Dalada Maligawa. It was a very interesting experience with holy washing of hands and feet, flower offerings and a short meditation. On the back way we made a stop at an elephant camp, Pinnawala, where we got an opportunity to see their daily river-bath and we had a delicious dinner in a beautiful botanical garden. We returned back to the hotel late at night, exhausted but full of new impressions.
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We had also a boat excursion for a few hours along the river to see a little bit of the native flora & fauna, visited a pineapple plantation, did some sightseeing and shopping in the neighboring town of Negombo and, spent some hours on a bicycle exploring the nearby area of Waikkal, the village next to us.
Of course, being on Sri Lanka we couldn't resist a wellness day. We decided upon a small Ayurveda Center located in a natural garden, 40 minutes away from our place. We got the whole “repertoire”: relaxing bath in a stone- bath filled with medicinal herbs, feet soaking in an extract of different plants, hair/head cure with a paste made from a mixture of seeds and a whole body oil-massage. All that accompanied by relaxing lazing around under the shadow of a coconut tree, delicious fresh fruit cocktails, innumerable cups of tea and of course a yummy dinner. We enjoyed this day very much and…be assured, yes it works, at the moment we left the spa I felt/looked (both: my body and mind!) 20 years younger, at last! Smile.
It would be just too long to write in detail all that we saw and experienced within that fortnight, but I do hope you have enjoyed this brief account plus the few photos and short video I have included with it.
Aayubawan