Honeymoon - Day 6: Sri Lanka - Dambulla Caves and Kandy

In the morning, we went to Dambulla to see the Cave Temple.  This was a pretty cool sight.  The temple was in a cave, and the ceiling of the cave was painted.

For lunch, I had a plate of spaghetti and meatballs.  This was delicious (or maybe I just haven't had western food for too long since I have been in Asia).  Also, we both ordered a fresh juice.  After seeing the restaurant a the other day use cold bottled water when making the juice, we confirmed with the restaurant today that they also use bottled water, and went ahead and ordered drinks.  Best decision ever!

A couple hours of sitting in the car, we arrive at Kandy.  We had a couple hours to kill before going to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth, so we walked around the city a little bit.  We spent a little bit of time in a dress shop where lil friend tried on a few dresses.  Then we walked over to a KFC and tried some hot wings.  Have to say, the hot wings tasted different, but it was delicious!

We then met back up with our tour guide/driver to watch a cultural dance, and headed to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth, where we were able to catch glimpse of the sacred tooth relic just before they closed it for the day.


For dinner, we were able to go to a local place, and had some Kota and more hoppers.  After dinner, we were taken to our hotel for the night - the Randholee Resort, Kandy.  This was the best hotel thus far!!!  Clean, hot water, air conditioned, quiet.   They even had amenities and tons of towels - not to mention a Christmas tree in the front.  Having stayed at the Hideout Hotel in Sigiriya for 3 nights, this was like redemption.  Ahhhh... paradise.

Tally for the Day:

Lunch - Spaghetti n meatballs and fresh juice (2160 Rm)

Snack - KFC and Coke (570 Rm)

Dinner - Kota and Hoppers (700 Rm)
Cultural Dance (2000 Rm)
Entrance to Temple of the Sacred Tooth (2000 Rm)

Total Spent for the Day: 7600 Rm = ~$ 54 USD

Honeymoon - Day 5: Sri Lanka - Polonnaruwa

Breakfast was pretty good (below is a wrap I made), and for lunch, we were able to try some more local food (that they do not usually serve tourists).  The dish on the right was pretty yummy (it was a pork knuckle like dish - a bit crunchy, and spicy).  

After a the hike yesterday, today we sent out to see Polonnaruwa, another UNESCO site.  There were tons of stupas, and the buildings and sculptures were pretty cool.  It was also really hot.  Some of the sites we had to go on barefeet, so our feet got really really hot!

At night, it was by far the worst night at the hotel.  There was no hot water or water for that matter.  The toilet also malfunctioned.  -1 star for today for the hotel.  Can't wait to go to the resort hotel tomorrow in Kandy.

Last night in the heart of the cultural triangle - bye bye Sigiriya!

Tally for the Day:

Water (375 Rm)
Lunch (1700 Rm)

Dinner (2000 Rm)
Tips for water monitor (100 Rm)

Total Spent for the Day: 4175 Rm = ~$ 30 USD

Honeymoon - Day 4: Sri Lanka - Spa and Sigiriya Fortress (Lion Rock)

Woke up this morning, and had breakfast at the hotel.  The green soup for breakfast was pretty good - and pretty healthy.

We had a couples spa :) - the type where we were in the same room next to each other where they gave us a massage.  That was sooo romantic :).  Afterwards, we were taken to a steam room where there were these leaves that made it pretty calming, and to sweat it all out and open up them pores.

The spa made us very oily.  But they told us that we should not shower for a few hours since it was not good for the body and we were supposed to let the oil soak in a little bit.  We were given tea at the end as well which I thought was pretty nice.  Overall, pretty relaxing, but I sort of like the kind of spa where there were many different stations of hot/cold/nap.

For lunch, we had some daal and chicken biryani.  Pretty good I thought.  After that, we went back to the hotel to hang out for a bit (and shower) before going to the Sigiriya Fortress.  

The Sigiriya Fortress is by far the coolest of the sites we have seen thus far.  The fortress is basically a palace set on the top of a rock.  The history goes something like a king's son forcefully took over the throne, then fearing revenge from the rightful heir, moved the capital from Anuradhapura to here.  Then over the years, he built up the defenses, meanwhile the rightful heir builds up his army in South India, and eventually comes back to takes back the throne, moves the capital back to Anuradhapura, and converts Sigiriya fortress to be used by Budhist monastery.

To get to the top of the fortress, it was a pretty steep hike.  Both the tour guide and I was sweating profusely getting up there.   I was literally drenched in sweat probably about half way up - not to mention my legs were burning from that incline.  Right before the very top, we see the lion's paws.  From a pure attacking/defending point of view, it is easy to see why Sigiriya would be very easily defendable.

The top of the rock was really cool.  There was a big swimming pool/pond at the top, tons of places and the 360 view is pretty amazing.  Makes you feel bad for the poor souls who had to bring all the rock and what not to build all of this.

On the way back, we were able to convince our driver to take us to eat some hoppers at a local place for dinner.  We drove around and finally found a place that would make it.  This was our cheapest, yet most filling and yummy meal yet.  For basically ~$6.50 USD, we got a bunch of hoppers (egg hoppers, plain hoppers, desert (chocolate) hoppers) - enough to fill even me up!

Tally for the Day:

Lunch - Daal and Chicken  Biryani @ New Sigiri Restaurant (1980 Rm)

Dinner - Hoppers Galore! (900 Rm)
Tips for spa (300 Rm)

Total Spent for the Day: 3180 Rm = ~$ 23 USD

Honeymoon - Day 3: Sri Lanka - Anuradhapura and Elephant Ride

Today, we first headed to some historical sites at Anuradhapura.  This was the capital city of the first established kingdom in ancient Sri Lanka and Sinhalese people.  We would see our first stupa of many on this trip.

We saw the largest man made pond in Sri Lanka, which is 15 feet deep, and 6x the size of an Olympic swimming pool.  Also saw the third largest building of historic times (159 x 52.6 x 9.5 m).

We also tried a king coconut - very refreshing!

After the morning sight seeing, we headed towards Sigiriya, where we would get to go on an elephant ride!  Been looking forward to this part quite a bit since I have never been on an elephant before.  While the excursion was called an 'elephant safari', it turned out it was more like a ride around a pre-determined loop in what seemed like a super large backyard.  They were ready with the touristy things like selling bananas and what not too.  Having said that, it was still pretty awesome to be on top of an elephant!  Loved every minute of it (note to self: will add elephant pictures once I get my hands on them)

After the elephant ride, we stocked up on water and beer, and also bought some corn from the street side.  The corn was pretty delicious.  We were also up-selled to consider purchasing a few add ons to our trip.  After looking at the various offers, we decided we would do a spa.  So we booked a spa for the 2 of us for tomorrow, before our hike to the Sigiriya Fortress.

We arrived at the hotel at around 3pm-ish where we would spend the next 3 nights at.  Sadly, the beer we bought fell on the ground and so all that hard work of buying the beer was wasted.  We would later end up just buying beer from the hotel.

The first room we got was pretty bad (above).  It was very dark, the fridge (aka a bar fridge) smelled and was dirty.  After talking to the staff, we got switched to a top floor room with a view.  Apparently this was a downgrade from the previous room, but we couldn't quite figure out why - since it was cleaner, and we loved it.  There was no air conditioner though at this hotel called Hideout Hotel, Sigiriya.  The beds are had nets to prevent mosquitoes and bugs from getting in.  The water pressure for the shower was also not too strong, and hot water was not necessarily present all the time.  To sum it up, this place seemed more like a camping cabin than a hotel room.  The staff was super friendly and nice though.  We would later find out that their kids live in the US.

The dinner at the hotel was pretty yummy.  The hotel strived to make 'local' food for the guests, so we got to try a bunch of local food without having to leave.

Oh, and the hotel also had fireflies.  It was pretty seeing the fireflies

Tally for the Day:
Beer (830 Rm)
Water (450 Rm)
Beer repurchased (400 Rm) 

Streetside corn (90 Rm)
Dinner (850 x 2 = 1700 Rm)
Tips for elephant ride and room (450 Rm + 100 Rm)
Spa (75 USD)

Total Spent for the Day: 4020 Rm + $75 USD = ~$ 103 USD

Honeymoon - Day 2: Sri Lanka - Leopard Safari

Waking up for our 9 am pickup, we first ate breakfast at the hotel.  Our first meal was pretty tasty (very tasty fruits), the view was also pretty nice (not shown is the fresh juice and this bread thing they gave us for breakfast)

We would head to the safari in hopes of seeing some leopards.  We first had lunch near the park - the garlic shrimp was pretty good.  By the time we were done our lunch, heavy rain began and it would be this way for our entire 4 hours in the safari!

  
We got drenched on the way to the safari as the rain basically hit us directly as the car was speeding down.  We grabbed a towel and by the time we were there, the towel was soaked and dripping!!!  Luckily at some point the driver realized and for the rest of the trip, he put on the wind blocker thing that helped shield away alot of the rain.

During the safari, we saw a lot of peacocks, deers, birds and the national bird of Sir Lanka - the junglefowl (which looked like a turkey).  Didn't get to see any leopards though.

After the safari and being super wet, we were taken to our second hotel for this trip.  Hotel Alakamanda, Anuradhapura.  There were alot of weird sounds, but there was air conditioning and a hot shower.  The bed was also very comfy.  

Our dinner was not anything too spectacular.  Ate a buffet that was at the hotel, that was pretty pricey.  Wish we can go eat some local food.

Tally for the Day:

Water (230 Rm)

Lunch - Garlic prawns and chicken curry (2250 Rm)

Safari Trip (500 Rm)

Dinner @ hotel (2920 Rm)

Various tips (150 Rm)

Total Spent for the Day: 6050 Rm = ~$43 USD

Honeymoon - Day 1: In Transit to Sri Lanka

So we arrived at the airport and was getting ready to check in our bags. Then at the counter, the attendant told us that we had to pay our luggage... by the pound!  Apparently with discount airlines, we didn't read the fine print that purchasing for checked in bags at the counter costs an arm and a leg.
If you ever fly Air Asia - make sure to read the fine print.  Pre-buy the luggage if you are checking in, otherwise the fee will be more than the tickets themselves.
So needless to say, this turned out to be the most expensive day so far.   

All the lemon tea I bought I had to throw out :( - since they were charging by the pound.  I was really hoping to have a sustained supply of lemon tea for the remainder of the Asia trip.

We had a layover at the Kuala Lampur airport.  Was expecting it to be super clean given we are in Malaysia, but nope - there were flies flying about, the tables were pretty dirty (not really wiped).  Very not what I expected.

Should also mention that originally, we were not sitting next to each other (discount airlines.. ha!).  But we pulled our honeymoon card and luckily there was a family who wanted to switch seats, so we were able to sit next to each other for both legs of the flight! Woohoo!

Anyhow, we arrived in Columbo, Sri Lanka @ 10pm, paid our customs fee, then out we looked for our driver.  Lo and behold, he was right there waiting for us. We would end up on our first night at Hotel J in Negombo.

The hotel was pretty clean, and there was air conditioning.

First day of honeymoon - complete.

Tally for the Day:

2 tickets from Macau to airport  (400 HKD)

Baggage fee (240*5 + 760 + 120 = 2080 HKD)

Customs (80 USD)

Breakfast: Airport Little Dragon Dumplings (135 HKD)

Luner: McDs (7 USD)

Total Spent on non food items for the Day: $400 USD

Total Spent on Food for the Day: ~$16 USD