Hey there everyone. So having really pushed myself to write two of these entries yesterday, I was tempted to let today slide and not do any, but then I remembered that the Sri Lanka trip was 14 days long and that once I am back at work, I will probably not even be able to finish one entry a day. Those of you have been reading along will have noticed that the pace of the last couple of days was intense. Once more, not having actually checked the agenda for today, I was wondering just how much longer we would keep up with this pace. I mean it had been amazing so far, but it was just so much in such a short time . . .
Anyway, we were up at 7:15 AM and had a quick breakfast at the same hotel as last night. Dorothee and Laurianne had the “western breakfast”, but I chose the Sri Lankan breakfast. We all agreed that the food was alright, and then we were in the van once again at 8:18 AM.
While the lodging had been pretty, I think it would have actually been better to not be so far from the actual city. Certainly, were I to visit here again, that is a change I would make. Shortly after we departed, at 8:58 AM we were already outside the Royal Botanical Gardens. We paid 3540 LKR ($12.00 USD) each for our entry fee, plus an additional 1000 LKR ($3.39 USD) for the buggy rental and the “sort of guide”.
This place was actually far nicer than I had thought it would be. And once again, there were so many fun facts. To begin with, this is definitely not a “natural” garden. They have lots of types of different collections of plants: grass, bamboo, agave, palm trees, etc . . . There are 200 different types just of palm trees in the garden! I did not ask about the size of the place, but it is huge, but amazingly there are only 130 workers total who manage everything: administration, gardening, cleaning, etc . . .
Whenever there are pine trees with slanted trunks, at least like the ones here, it is because termites have eaten more of one side of the roots.
At 9:33 AM we came upon this area which is of different trees planted by various visiting dignitaries and heads of state over the years. While it wasn’t quite as pretty as some of the other sections of the garden, I thought it was a very nice way to note the history of many important visitors.
Evidently this is a good place to work, as the buggy driver said that he had been working there for twenty years. At 9:57 AM we came upon the topiary section.
Since we were zipping around in the buggy (basically an electric golf cart) we didn’t closely see many things, and there was a lot of stuff that I was not able to write down before we were on to the next section. So you will forgive me when I simply say that I also saw this neat looking tree . . . no further information available 😕.
At 10:00 AM we were at the orchid house, which is supposed to be one of the main points of pride for the park, but I guess we were not overly impressed, since by 10:08 AM we were back in the buggy once again.
Then, almost immediately after we left the orchid house, we were out the gates and again getting back in the vehicle with Erik at 10:13 AM. As I have mentioned earlier during this Sri Lanka trip, most everywhere only accepts cash, and places that accept cards usually charge a 3% surcharge. With that in mind, Laurianne was starting to feel in a bit of a bind, even though both Dorothee and I said that we could manage the cash expenses for the rest of the trip, since as frequently happens when travelling, her bank had put a freeze on her bank card. The day before she had called her bank and over the phone explained to her that YES, it really was her, so she was hoping that she would be able to get money out of the next ATM we encountered.
As luck would have it, she had no problems that time getting cash. However, it highlights a regular problem with travelling abroad. It’s generally not a good idea to depend on a single payment method, especially when travelling by oneself. Traveler’s checks used to be a reliable fallback, but these days I suggest always having cards from at least two different banks and a minimum of $100 USD with you at all times when travelling. As a further backup, always make sure to have a way you can easily contact family members should you be robbed or just somehow lose your valuables. So, on that cautionary note, at 10:40 AM we were at a very picturesque train station which is still in regular use.
I found it a bit odd that we were going to take a train and then meet Erik at our arrival point. This of course meant that going by road would be faster than train, and we already had a perfectly good van and excellent driver. However, this was evidently all part of the plan. Anyway, at 11:42 AM we were on our third class reserved train and in our seats. I have to say, it was way nicer than I would have expected for “third class”. But the seats did start to feel rather uncomfortable by the time we arrived in Hatton at 1:53 PM.
Evidently taking a second or third class reserved train ride is one of those “must do” things in Sri Lanka. Don’t get me wrong; it was pretty, but I felt that we actually wasted quite a bit of time. Would I do it again if I had plenty of time to spare and it wasn’t difficult to get tickets (evidently it is difficult to get reserved tickets), probably I would at least consider it. However, if road travel is faster and even cheaper, then maybe you can just skip the train. There are plenty of beautiful places all along the roads of Sri Lanka. Still, as I said, at 1:53 PM we arrived at Hatton, where Erik was waiting for us. We were finally able to mail the postcards which Laurianne and Dorothee had been carrying around for several days, and then we looked for a place to eat. While I was a bit horrified that we chose an Indian restaurant, I knew that for Laurianne it might be something special/different, and I have to admit that the food actually wasn’t bad. For the three of us, it was 6150 LKR ($20.93 USD) including some very pleasant fruit juices.
At 2:45 PM we were back in the van, now headed up to our lodging for the evening. Then at 3:05 PM we pulled up outside one of the most beautiful places I have ever stayed, The Argyle. I mean this place was proper fancy. They met us with hot towels and asked to sit in elegant chairs while they managed the check-in process and brought us some delightful welcome drinks. I mean wow, it was just too good to be true.
And like I said, it wasn’t true . . . Erik had made a big mistake and brought us to the wrong place. We were not actually registered there, but rather at the Grand Argyle. Still though, the workers were incredibly polite and even apologized that it had taken so long for our welcome drinks to arrive, which they insisted that we still have before we left. Still, I reasoned if that was the Argyle, and we were going to the GRAND Argyle, then our place was going to be a veritable palace! Thus, we got back in the vehicle and continued further up the mountain.
As you have no doubt already guessed, when we pulled into The Grand Argyle at 3:28 PM we couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed. To be fair, if we had never seen the first place, then we would certainly not have thought anything negative about the second place, except for the fact that it was literally in the middle of nowhere, but it was impossible to not make comparisons.
Left with nothing else to do but walk around or use electronics, at 3:53 PM we went out walking. Dorothee and Laurianne were keen on walking through a tea plantation (evidently, it’s a thing?) but I thought I would be happier just walking along the road. It turned out that the tea plantation walk had not been all that fulfilling, as shortly thereafter I came across Laurianne and Dorothee on a different area of the road, and we all walked around together until 5:04 PM when the two of them decided to just go into the hotel again, but I wanted to see a bit more if possible before it got dark.
I was actually a bit sorry for them that they did not continue on with me, since I found some other interesting sites which were also particularly beautiful with the setting sun.
I even got to see a local religious procession of some sort.
Still, it was quickly getting dark, and I definitely did not want to get lost out here on my own, so I took care to be back to the hotel at 5:51 PM. Dorothee was reading a book and Laurianne was taking care of some work, so I decided to follow Laurianne’s example and work on my pending blog entries from my October trip to Beijing. It was time well spent, and by 7:34 PM I had finished, edited and posted Day 3 of the Beijing trip. I was also quite happy about the chilly air, but Laurianne and Dorothee needed to break out sweatshirts and cooler weather gear. At 7:40 PM dinner was served.
They really did do a wonderful job of presenting the dinner, and we had a nice time sharing with one another until 9:08 PM when we decided to turn in for the evening. Certainly, I could not deny that it was a very peaceful and beautiful setting in nature. However, I wondered how we were going to fill up the next day, since we were scheduled to spend two nights here. Maybe the town was actually closer than it seemed, and we could simply take some time to do some exploration there the next day? Again, I could have just looked at the itinerary to know what was scheduled, but I hadn’t looked yet, so also saw no reason to start doing it now.
Yes, this was a very different day from the last few days of the trip, but I reasoned that maybe that was a good thing. Sometimes it is good to just reconnect a bit in nature. However, even that seemed sort of limited here. Regardless, I am sure that we were going to figure out a way to make it work for Day 6. Of course, if you want to find out, then you will need to keep reading. Thanks again for following along with my travels and do let me know if you have any questions about anything I mentioned today.
Travels with Jay 