Ayubowan !

Ayubowan is a traditional Sinhalese greeting and most commonly used to greet people or visitor on arrival or departure in Sri Lanka. It is something like saying hello but with deeper meaning which is "May You Live Longer and Be Healthy ". As in Assalamualaikum warahmatullah hi wabaraktuh ("Peace be upon you with God's blessings and prosper.") means to us, it is Ayubowan to Sri Lankan.

This post is a sequel from HERE

If your main purpose of travelling is shopping, then Sri Lanka wasn't exactly the right place for you. Truth be told, there are actually a lot of Factory Outlet in Colombo for serious shoppers. Among many, there's 2 recommended FO you can visit for a good quality of clothing line which is ODEL and House of Fashion. We visited ODEL while we're at Colombo, but didn't go to H0F as I said earlier, I didn't come to Sri Lanka to shop. I might as well go Bandung for that regards.

If you're city girl at heart, whom prefers city jungle, modernization, skyscrapers, then Sri Lanka wasn't quite right for you.

As in my case, I wanted pure rest, close to nature holiday. Being a city girl on the outside, kampung girl on the inside, I always have things with nature. The closer I can get, the better. If I were asked to choose a hotel for our holiday, those with village-wooden theme will always stays on top of my list.

Anyway, to resume my travelogue ... Once we're done with Barefoot, we proceed our way heading South, where our hotel at. Initially, we planned of staying at Galle for four nights and just enjoying Indian Ocean Breeze but there's some major changes to which I would tell later.

It took merely 4 hours to reach Galle from Colombo, mainly because their road system was still under development. Infact, when we were there, our guide showed us the new highway which is still under construction, expected to be done in November 2011. Once the highway done, it will take only 2 hours from Colombo to Galle.

Along the journey using the old road, we bypassed so many small towns, so many I lost counts. All I know, each towns have their own attractions.

There's one town we passed by called Kathaluwa. They're famous for stilt fishing as shown in picture below. Unfortunately, September wasn't a season for stilt fishing so we can only see abandoned stilt without the fish and man :)..

Image googled.

There's one village which I don't remember the name, also along the way, their main attraction was coconut liquor or locally known as arraq. Yep, arraq as in arak in our malay language. They have malays too in sri lanka, with almost 65 % similarity with our Melayu language. Their climate is almost similar to us, their people is similar to us, and I can see resemblance in their culture too. Taking shoes when entering house, eating with hands, loves spicy stuff. Even their foods similar to us, just to name a few : curry, sambal, paratha, durian, rambutan and etcetera...

What can I say, it is indeed a home far away from home !

This is how they distilled the coconut nectar, by using the ropes which connected to the tree. We have similar drinks in Malaysia right? If I am not mistaken, the non alcohol version of this drink called tuak. The alcohol one, called todi. Correct me if I'm wrong.

:: They even have Gen2 :). Boy I felt at home already ::

After 2 hours or so, our guide, De Silva, stopped and make a sudden halt and U-turn. I was taken by surprise by the sudden move because I was basically half asleep, half awake so I peeked out my window only to see this...

Dramatic mode ON !

:: Owhhh I heart De Silva so much. How come he understood me so much. He's definitely the best tour guide ever for thinking of stopping here ha ha ha. Dear De Silva, you're welcome to make 10 U-turn if u need ::

Actually, my husband did mentioned to him that we like durian and rambutan so much so by any chance he sees any, we would like to taste some.

:: One greedy customer, this woman ! ::

:: Peminat peminat cilik durian joined the gang eventually. They were sleeping soundly in the car but the moments they hear words durian, who need sleeps anyway? They're definitely my kids without a doubt ::

:: The after math. The durian costs around RM 8-9 each. I don't remember the mangosteen price but it was cheap, considering we're coming from Q8. The taste : PRICELESS. ::

:: De Silve even tapau-ed some mangosteen for us to eat at hotel. I wish I could tapau durian instead but the thought of having to sleep in a tent outside hotel make me swallow my desire in agony ::

This small town that famous with their rambutan, mangosteen and durian called Kalutara. Do stop by should the town was on your way yerrr... Totally worth it !

We proceed our journey and met up with another few small beautiful towns like Bentoata, famous for it's old rustic railway track that stretched across the town. Then De Silva made another stop. Although I silently wish for another durian stalls, our stops this time was no lesser fun than the previous one, specially to the girls. I can say that this stops definitely made their day.

:: Turtle Sanctuary ! ::

Now, being married to Tranung, you guys must think that this is ridiculous. Trust me, I've been married for 7 years and never see a single turtle when I was at his hometown. I saw a lot of turtle eggs at Pasar Payang but never a live wild turtle. I bet he's no different too.

It's a non-profit turtle sanctuary that run based on donation, sponsors and entry fee that they charged to customer. Entrance fee was around 400 lkr ( RM 10.80) per person and you get to mingled with newly hatched baby turtle to even 8 years old albino turtle. They were scheduled to release the 2 days old baby turtle that night so they offered us to stay back and joined. However we need to make our way to Galle hence we had to declined their offer.

:: 8 years albino turtle ::

Time were really envy with us. By the time we done at the turtle's place, it's already approaching 3 pm. We need to rushed to our hotel for check in else I'm worried they'll release our room to other customer.

On our way, we discussed about our next day plan. Since we're going to stay at Galle and actually had made reservation for 4 nights there, I think we won't be needing guide as Galle was very small fort town and we can go to nearby tourist spot by three wheeler. So my husband told De Silva that he can go back to Colombo the next day as it's really not practical having him staying back just for tour around Galle. Anyway, he said that he had his own suggestion to which he will talk to us tomorrow morning. And as for his accommodations and foods, we need not to worry much because he had it covered.

Being me, I'm sure won't rest easy if I don't have clear as crystal answer so I asked him where he's going to sleep tonight. If he's going to answer in his car or friend's house or something, then we would get him small room in any hotel there. Sensing my concern, he told us that government of Sri Lanka had this rules that every hotels, B&B, Inn or guest house to provide lodging and foods to all tour guide that came with tourists, with very minimal charges applied. This is to motivate the drivers and tour guide to bring more tourists to visit Sri Lanka and indirectly helps to rebuild the tourism activity that greatly affected by Tsunami tragedy in 2004 and civil war. He even offered me to show the dorm provided by our hotel where he's going to stay while we're at Galle, located exactly opposite our hotel.

:: Please excuse the pic quality. Taken by Iphone only. Segan lak nak kluar camera bagai ::

:: They only have to pay USD 1 ( RM 3.00+/-) per day and they'll get a bed with clean linen sheet, locker, a fan, rack to hang towel or shirt and complete with mosquito net. They even have TV and living area outside. I even checked the toilet can arrrr ? hahaha. I must say it was very very clean indeed. Plus, meals also included within those USD 1. Lunch and dinner. I asked De Silva what they're serving and he told me that it was a very simple meal. Rice, curry and 1 type of vegetable but he doesn't mind at all since that's what he would basically had at home too ::

:: He proudly told me, Madam, this is my bed. You don't worry about me. Just enjoy your holiday and beauty of Sri Lanka ::

This experience really made me re-think of what I had in life and how ungrateful I am most of the time. I always whining about small things and sighing even at smallest hardship I had to encounter but meeting him, talking to him makes me feeling like some spoilt brat. I had the best in life, and he just had very minimal necessities yet he worried about me not having a good time.

Even the simplest things, humble sleeping place, simple meal can make him smile wide because to him, he's very lucky to being given energy to work and provide for his family. I am very very grateful for this trip and I must say I made the right choice of coming to Sri Lanka. Being living in the richest middle east country, I can't help but being surrounded by rich people and get influenced by owh they're richer than me, they own more expensive bags, they wore more fancy dress, they owned bigger car attitude. I tell you, try living in middle east, you can't help but comparing your life to them. Good thing I was given the opportunity to visit Sri Lanka and I dare to say, they're not as rich as Q8, not as modernize as Malaysia but they taught me great lesson.

Moving on, he quickly send us to our hotel and told us to call him if we need anything. Approaching the lobby, we were ushered to their restaurant for check in purpose.

After some research, we chose Jetwing Lighthouse Hotel, Galle for our stay this time. My husband was attracted to the breathtaking scenery from the website while me, let just say I was sold by by their four poster bed kah kah kah.

Unlike my previous hotel experience ( except CludMed Cherating of coz. They're totally in different league), guests normally had to do check in at their check in counter. In here, we just take a rest and enjoy the view while their staffs come to us with every thing we need.

:: Our hotel ::

:: Nothin' beats cold lime juice in the hot soaring weather and a long journey ::

:: Even lil' Alis was mesmerized by the beautiful view, just imagine us. I had jaw crammed only after 10 minutes reached here. It's so beautiful, it's perfect, it's all I ever imagine and dream of ::

:: The view from outdoor Cardamon restaurant. Taken from my seat, the best seat in the world I reckon. Subhanallah ::

After we finished our drinks, the staffs took us to our room where more jaw dropping, saliva overflowing moments happened. Let picture do the story telling eh...

P/S : No amount of words, no pictures could explained the beauty of this place, creation of Allah, no matter how hard I tried. I just hope that my pictures could at least do some justice.

:: In theory, our room was belong to him, Mr Spielbergen as the room was dedicated to him. He's a dutch man, explained the room theme. Everyone knows him here at this hotel. All I need is just mentioned his name during dinner, lunch or breakfast and everything will be taken care of he he he ::

:: You can't get any Dutch that this wooden clog ::

:: This door was facing our entrance door. It is the door that'll led me to my heaven on earth, The verandah ::

:: Sneak peak from living room ::

:: This was taken from verandah. The moments I see this view, I forgot about the for poster bed already. I swore to sleep, read, eat, drink, and if possible take a shower here. Now tell me, who need four poster bed if you can have this ? ::

:: Another angle. To me, this view alone is worth coming to Sri Lanka for. I found inner peace here ::

:: They have not one, but 2 day bed in the verandah. Nice or not? ::

:: Erin's favourite corner. She would sat and stare at the open sea from time to time. It's remarkably wonderful since she was known for having short attention span. She can't concentrate on certain thing for longer than 2 minutes. Seeing her like this, I knew we made a right choice ::

:: Complimentary books about Sri Lanka ::

:: Complimentary tea and coffee set by the hotel. Owhhh Dilmah.. *heart* ::

:: The spacious living room ::

:: Bonus Point, private jacuzzi.. Yeayyyy ::

:: Vanity area. They have separate vanity space, separate shower from toilet, and they even have bidet. Plus, they have another guest toilet at the living room. Ohhh love. I would always prefer separated vanity area from toilet/shower so I can make my face, dry my hair without having had to occupied the bathroom and most importantly, I can take my time. Ni baru nak tenyeh foundation, anak nak terkencing lah, nak terberak lah ha ha ha ::

:: Having the time of their live ::

:: My dream bed. Sorry I forgot about you, I can't help it ::

:: Tapau-ed mangosteens and welcome fruit basket ::

:: Organic and ayurvedic toiletries set from the hotel. My shower gel smelled like tea ::

:: Alis had the best view of us all. Her bed was placed right next to the window. All she need to do was turn to her right and all she will see was open sea as if you're floating on the sea. Too bad, she wouldn't let me switched place ::

We watched sunset together that day. Fast becoming among the most memorable moment in my life, by far. Then we get ready for our dinner. Since we had quite a journey today, we decided to let our guide rest and we had our rest too, hence we opted to dine inside the hotel.

:: Sunset ::

While getting ready, our butler called Chamila came by to say hello and top up our pantry items. He even brought a basket of freshly picked kemboja for us and for the girls as a welcome gift. Did I tell you that the room came with personal butler? I didn't did I? Makcik feeling Sex & The City sangat nih ade personal butler muahahah...

:: Flower from uncle butler ::

:: They decided to added kemboja to their attire for dinner . Gedik macam sape ntah ! ::

Another reason why I chose Jetwing Lighthouse was because of their artsy stairs. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. This is beyond kewl okayyyy.. I asked my husband for the same stairs for our future home and he refused it saying that the figurine might become alive at night haahah.. Anyway, joke aside, as a muslim, we can't have any patung, be it human or animal figurine inside our home else malaikat won't come visits our home. U sure don't want that right.

It's okay, maybe I can replace all the patungs with fruits's shape instead :). I'm sure it's allowed..

Since I love the stairs so much, we spent a lot of time going up and down it, even though there's lift nearby...

:: A bunch of stairs lover, enjoying our moments with stairs ::

:: I wore salwar khameez, bought from Barefoot earlier of the day. It makes me feel prim, proper and polished. Me likey ! ::

:: Us at Cardamon Restaurant, camwhoring while waiting for our butler to come. For those room with personal butler, even your dinner, lunch and breakfast at restaurant will be handled by them. They'll take your order, they will delivered to you personally, they stay around nearby your table during your dinner and they'll attend to your other requests, if any, not the waiter or waitress. So this is how it feels like to be a king I reckon. Although I didn't really comfortable having him around, sebab acik tak biasa ade butler butler nih, plus I felt I need to rush my dinner because the longer time I take, thelonger he have to wait, but sesekali ape salah nyer hehe. Plus I can't order him away since it's his job ::

Since everyone is exhausted and we had a lot to digest from all the experiences during the day, we called the day one off pretty early. Plus we have to start early tomorrow ( day 2) and man I am so thrilled.

For now... all we need was a good long beauty sleep...

: Good nite peepssssss ::