SECTION 3,
Nuwara Eliya to banderwala is 2 hours by road .We did not wait anywhere on the road and went straight to a beautiful restaurant cum bar in the city’s centre. The weather was comfortable, around 22 degrees centigrade, and it felt a bit hot as it was a fully sunny day, and Nuwara Eliya was around 16-18 degrees at night. We three, including Nishi, sat at a four-seater table and asked for a beer. As usual, my wife went for soft drinks, and coconut water was available, her favourite; I told Nishi no more than one can as he had to drive another few hours. We slightly changed our travel plan and went to Bentota, where we booked a two-night stay; our tour operator made the necessary changes without additional cost. We discussed with some of the tourists from the south and the Manager and made some changes to our itinerary after consulting with some tourists at Banderwala, and we met the owner of our restaurant. With this temperature and the middle of the day, beer is quite comfortable, and I took one more by the time my wife and Nishi jointly decided on our lunch order; the waiter told us it might take half an hour, but we said that was ok. A hotel Manager is a man of around sixty years, and he came to us and gave us many tips; he has white hair and looks pretty cheerful. He recommended some changes to our itinerary. My wife was going looking the menu card for some special Lankan delicacies.
Sri Lankan dish for lunch. It took some half an hour to serve. Nishi told us that while returning from Yale ( we have a two-night stay at Yale), he will arrange our lunch at one of his friend’s houses, who is running a small restaurant near the beach and on our way. We agreed immediately. The Manager was talking to us about the city, how he had started his restaurant nearly 20 years back and asked about our family. He wants to visit India, but for whatever may be the reason, it has yet to materialise so far. I told him to make a plan, and if he had informed me earlier, I could arrange some hotel for him and his family at a reasonably low cost as our department has a lot of Guest houses all over the country and putting a room will not be that difficult in those places which are pretty good. He thanked me. His elder son is an Engineer who passed out from Chennai in India and is now working in a company in Colombo.
We enjoyed talking to him and, during the process, took one more can of beer and enjoyed the whole ambience. The restaurant attracts many customers, and since it is peak lunchtime, it is almost complete, mainly tourists. Many customers were coming and going, some waving at us and some we talked with before changing our plan to go to Bentota. We waited outside, where there was small but beautifully maintained carpet grass and flower plants. There are swings in one corner, and I used them for a long time. It was delightful. There I met some more tourists. Also, all seemed to enjoy and relax during their visit to this small country, having every kind of weather and a reasonably developed tourist infrastructure. There is no language issue, and people can speak English well In most of the places we visited.
After nearly half an hour, we started to Bentota. If we had decided earlier, Bentota would be nearer to Nuwara Eliya; from here, it is almost four and a half hours. We chose and were happy later that our decision was correct for people of our taste. My tourist operator arranged this, and he charges nothing extra for the changes except the difference in hotel tariffs. Banderwala to Bentota is 265 km, almost 5 hrs, and has many hotels to stay alongside the beach. The road could be better, and we have to go slowly, again, no wait anywhere. The hotel manager gave me two cans of beer for the road, which became very useful. We reached around 6-30 pm and told the reception people to take us to the room straight. I was feeling for a bath badly and slept for some time. In all the hotels I have seen, there is an arrangement for the drivers’ accommodation and fooding as many tourists come by bus or cabs /car. If they do not provide the facility, the drivers or the tour operators will book you in another hotel. So competition helps the drivers for accommodation and food free from the hotel. Nice business arrangements.
When we reached the hotel, it was almost dark, and the hotel was lovely. The rooms are cleaned and maintained properly. Our room was on the first floor featuring a balcony with a beautiful sea view and the coconut trees enhancing the beauty, and dining was on the ground floor, with a village-like ambience created beautifully. Two artificial ponds were created inside the dining area with different varieties of sea fish. Through the door, we can directly go to the beautiful beach, and there are few tents, and sitting arrangements are made where room service is also available. We decided to have our dinner early. We were also hungry and decided that tomorrow morning, we would go to the beach before sunrise.
We got up quite early and went to the beach, which was clean, and the sea was also calm. We saw the sun rising gradually, and it was such a lovely view. Soon hotel residents started coming, and all were enjoying the scene. After some time, we decided to go to the sea and play with the seawater going and coming with the sea waves. How the time was going, we did not realise. After an hour, we came out of the sea and cleaned in the showers placed in one corner so that we should not carry the sand inside. We sat under an umbrella-like tent and placed the order for our breakfast which was complimentary. We sit there for a long time enjoying the sea views, and as soon as the sun rises, more and more people go to the sea. We came back to the room. I saw the TV and emails I had not seen for the last few days.
We had our bath, slept, and woke up only when the room intercom rang from the reception that lunch would be closed within some time and whether we would take our lunch. I told him we would be dining hall within 10 minutes and have lunch. The receptionist, a young girl, was giggling and enjoyed my panic reaction of missing the lunch as I heard over the intercom. We reached the dining area within the next 10 minutes as no formal dress was necessary, and I wore shorts and a T-shirt. I asked Nishi whether he had his lunch, and he said yes. I told him I was not going anywhere today and told the tour operator to cut my two days stay at Colombo to one and increase my stay here for one more day. It was so relaxing here.
TO BE CONTINUED
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