Sri Lanka Part I (December 2019)

Remember when I said that Mom’s friends had invited us to Sri Lanka in the Singapore post? Sri Lanka is where Uncle Gem and Aunt Shibi live. It’s an island country southeast of India. We spent the majority of our time in Sri Lanka in three different places: Colombo, the capital where Mom’s friends live; Yala, the national park where we went on safari; and Weligama, where we spent time at the beach.

We flew into Colombo from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and arrived at Uncle Gem and Aunt Shibi’s house at 2:00 am. I slept in Varun’s (the eldest son) room with Elise, and Mom and Dad slept downstairs. The next morning, we got up and played cricket and exercised.

After we finished exercising and playing cricket, we ate a nice breakfast of milk rice pancakes with chili.

After breakfast, Uncle Gem drove us around the city for a little while then took us to the hotel that Aunt Shibi’s family owns for lunch. At the hotel, we got to try an egg hopper, which is a crispy shell with a fried egg inside, as well as dhal curry, bean mallung and other Sri Lankan dishes.

After lunch, Uncle Gem drove us to the Galle Face hotel, one of the oldest hotels ever. Though the hotel has been modernized, you can still see traces of the colonial heritage this beautiful seaside hotel has everywhere you look.

https://s.insta360.com/p/c208fa6cf1e313d8322cefca8609d7fb

https://s.insta360.com/p/a73fc1df1597df51e981a5cf102a6fd0

The hotel has a central lobby and four wings at the cardinal points. The hotel dates back to 1864 and has a long heritage. The hotel employed the longest working bellboy, Kottarapattu Chattu, who worked there from his employment in 1942 until 2014 when he died.

The hotel has had many celebrity visitors such as Gandhi, Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, President Richard Nixon and Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth’s husband. Prince Philip bought his first personal car when he was stationed in Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon), and the hotel has it on display.

After we looked around inside, we went outside and played croquet.

After that, we went back to their house and played until bedtime. The next day we woke up and called an uber tuk-tuk. We went to the Pettah market. Unfortunately, the driver dropped us off in the wrong place, and we had no idea where the Pettah market was. A different tuk-tuk driver said the Pettah market was closed, and he could take us to another market at the low fee of $2.00. We didn’t believe him because it was 11:00 in the morning. Then we realized that the all of the surrounding markets make up the Pettah market! At the market they sell everything you can think of!

We also visited the Jami-Ul-Alfar Mosque, which is also called the Red Mosque and was built in 1909. The mosque was commissioned by the local Indian Muslim community so that they would have a place to pray. Today, the mosque can accommodate 10,000 worshippers.

After we left the Jami-Ul-Alfar Mosque, we took an uber to the gallery cafe, which used to be the home of Geoffrey Bawa, a famous Sri Lankan architect. He personally approved the handing over of the property and its conversion into an art gallery and restaurant.

After lunch, we went back to the house, and I watched movies with Varun, while Elise and Evaan played. The next day, the same driver that picked us up at the airport met us at the crack of dawn to take us to Yala. On the way to Yala, we stopped by the Shangri-la in Hambantota for brunch. It was very nice, and it had a archery range and a trapeze activity! Next time we go to Sri Lanka, I would like to stay there.

We ate a scrumptious brunch buffet of traditional Sri Lankan food, including exotic fruit and hoppers with curry. There was also some not so delicious food such as fermented old rice (left out overnight😱) and herbal gruel (yuck!😱).

Once we had our fill of the Shangri-la, we got back on the road and headed to the Jetwing Yala Hotel.

Yala is a wildlife reserve and a national park. Ironically it was set-up as a hunting ground for the elite under British rule. Now, it is nearly 130,000 hectares of protected land. The hotel was completely surrounded by wilderness.

We went on our safari drive as soon as we arrived. We rode in a pick-up truck with a elevated platform so we could see the animals.

Elephants and leopards are the main attraction in Yala. We saw lots of elephants but sadly no leopards, which are notoriously hard to spot (ha ha ha).

Here’s a 360 of the safari https://s.insta360.com/p/2cef8ade5ea42e7c1aea36138ef03a57

We also saw many types of birds and other animals, including buffalos, cows and crocodiles. The peacock was my favorite bird, and my favorite mammals were the spotted deer and a sloth bear.

The following day, it was pouring down rain, so we couldn’t go on another safari drive. There was nothing to do at the hotel except go to the pool, which was outside, so we spent the day playing cards and watching TV. Luckily, during breakfast, we had some interesting company. There were birds that were trying to steal our food, and a creepy monkey watching us that looks a lot like the forest spirit from Princess Mononoke.

Another interesting thing that happened was that somehow a elephant got into the staff quarters 🙂 .

The next morning after breakfast, we got picked up by our driver and set out for Weligama. On the way, we stopped at the Handunugoda tea estate. Sri Lanka produced coffee until the 1860s when the coffee rust fungus killed all of the crops. When that happened, the country converted to tea.

The Handunugoda tea estate specializes in Virgin White tea. Virgin White tea is not touched by hand until it is ready to be drunk. 4000 years ago the Chinese emperor employed virgins wearing silky gloves to cut the leafs with gold scissors into a golden bowl. After that, it was dried with “divine wind.” It was very precious and was only served within the imperial court. Because it’s handpicked, Virgin White tea pickers pick 0.5% of what normal tea pickers pick on a good day.

Tea plants aren’t the only plants on the estate. There are also rubber trees, cinnamon and peppercorns.

After our guide showed us the various plants grown on the estate, we went to a cozy porch and had tea and cake.

Once we finished our tea, we went to the factory to see how tea is made. During the manufacturing process, the leaves are:

1. Picked carefully;
2. Sorted, then left to dry;
3. Rolled in a special machine to crush them;
4. Fermented;
5. Fired, which dries the leafs; and
6. Put in a machine that sorts them by quality and color

Before we left, we sampled many kinds of delicious tea (the Virgin White tea isn’t as great as it’s made out to be).

After we left the tea estate, we set out to Weligama to continue our adventures. You can see what happens in part 2!