So here’s a basic outline of our first day (2 days) getting to/and/around Sri Lanka.
- A 14-hour flight from D.C. to Seoul on Korean Air First Class.
- A 6-hour layover at the Seoul Airport.
- An 8-hour flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka.
- Land at 3:15 a.m. and meet our driver, Tillie.
- Drive about 3.5 hours in the darkness (and occassional rain) to Dambulla Cave Temples, dodging school children, dogs, tuk tuks, roadside stalls with open fires, etc. all along the way.
- Climb 350 very steep, very slippery and uneven stone stairs in oppressive heat and humidity to see said Cave Temples. (no air conditioning, obviously)
- Spend $2 to recover in the small but well done (and, more importantly…air conditioned) Cave Temple Museum
- Drive 15 minutes or so to Signature Amaya Kandalama and collapse.
Honestly, Signature Amaya Kandalama could have been a roach hotel and I would not have given a flying Fig Newton. I probably still would have declared it the most luxurious and wonderful accommodations ever known to man.
Luckily, it was not a roach hotel. Not at all. It’s pretty upscale for Sri Lanka. It actually reminded me of some of the resorts we’ve stayed at in other tropical locales. In fact, the Sri Lanka National Cricket team was staying there the same time as us (they apparently had a match in Dambulla).
Continue reading Hotel Crashing: Signature Amaya Kandalama, Sri Lanka