Taking a Break

View from Kandy-Colombo train one fine morning. Photo Credits: My pen pal Helen*

Let me start by thanking everyone who has been so supportive of this venture and who keep coming back to read the Girl With a Budget navigate Sri Lanka on a strict budget. As you would've noticed however, these trips aren't cheap; they cost money. Money that comes out of my not-so-big paycheck.

Coz that's the whole point here. Some of us (maybe most of us) live with our parents; we don't pay for water, electricity and food. Tripping with their money kinda feels like cheating, no? If they're generous enough to make you a rice packet every morning to take to work, then maybe we should take care of our own entertainment.

In order for me to take budget trips every few weeks, I save like a crazy person. So much so that my parents are convinced I'm a stingy person. I'm not. I spend generously on memories :)

I'm on a budgeting break right now, so Girl With a Budget will be spending most of her time in Colombo (work) or Kandy (home) earning money and saving it. And just like all of my #budgetingto posts, I'm inviting you to come with me. Save with me. Let's see how much we can collect by the middle of October, shall we?

Here's to Saver October! Woo hoo!

Next Week: #Budgetingto A Budget

*Name changed to protect privacy

*All pictures are subject to copyright © Asuka Randeniye 2016.

Beddegana Wetland Park: Colombo’s Secret Garden

Incandescent

One of the biggest problems about Colombo is that unless you have a load of cash, there’s very little to do. As in, to hang out. Watch a movie? Upwards of LKR 600 each. Eat out? Saivar (roadside eateries for the non-Sri Lankan you) is fine; you can polish off a meal for two for less than 200. But any decent cafe, restaurant or even fast food place is gonna cost you more than LKR 500 per head because you can’t just eat to fill your stomach, you have to pay service charge, other taxes, leave a tip yada yada.

Step right in...

What about a trip? Again, if you don’t have a vehicle of your own, public transport is gonna tire you out. And as you saw from my earlier posts, trips kinda empty your account. Even budget trips.

So imagine my delight when I found this little gem in the heart of Colombo. Frances Hodgson Burnett* would’ve been proud.

The Beddegana Wetland Park is in Ethul Kotte and opened for visitors just about a month or two ago. Before that it was just a patch of land with swampy water where people would visit at night to ahem... er... maybe I shouldn’t say. Wasn’t safe for kids anyhow.

We started off from Colombo 05 on a weekend and got there around 11.30 AM. It took us about an hour to navigate traffic from Borella and find the Beddegana road that leads to the park. If you're familiar with the area, it's very easy to find.

Beddegana Wetland Park via Google Maps

The prettier ones wouldn't stay still  :(

Today it is a bird park (although I saw more butterflies than birds) that charges LKR 50 per head for entrance. There is an elevated walkway that goes around the park so that humans don’t damage the environment. There’s a huge parking area too, and it’s very family friendly.

 

It was kind of hot inside but the most surprising thing was the quiet. Ethul Kotte is close to Nawala and Battaramulla, both busy urban areas. 100 meters from the front entrance are traffic-laden roads. But inside? It was paradise.

There were tons of butterflies of all colours and shapes. My boyfriend and I had fun trying to count how many (we lost count). It was close to midday so most birds were resting but a few storks were out on the water for us to see. There is a watch tower, several viewing platforms and a number of intersecting paths that meander around the park.

Come over to the other side...

It took us a good 1-2 hours to go all around it. Mind you we walked slowly, enjoying the absence of smoke, dust and loud horns screaming in our ears. The park borders the Diyawanna Lake on one side and you can look out on it from 2 different viewing points. 

 Most of the park is closed off for public access, which I think is smart. Even the small area open to us was already becoming polluted with toffee wrappers, polythene bags and plastic water bottles. I wish they’d kept large dustbins here and there. And checked our bags to remove all polythene stuff.

One of the many summer huts dotted around the park

Colombo's secret garden

If you’re thinking of going, take a hat and sunglasses and switch off your phones. This isn’t the place for selfies every 2 minutes. It’s a place for quiet, for reflection and maybe a few photos to remember the place. You won’t catch the bird calls on your Instagram my friend. It’ll only be in your heart. If you remember to listen. 

(Approx.) Time Taken : 3 hours

(Approx.) Total Cost   : LKR 500 (including petrol for the car)

Satisfaction                  : 4.5/5 (didn't see enough birds)

* Check out 'The Misselthwaite Archives' here, a retelling of F.H. Burnett's Secret Garden on YouTube. 

*All pictures are subject to copyright © Asuka Randeniye 2016. Photo Credits: Lahiru Piumwardena

Unawatuna: The Surf, The Sand and the Sun!

Unawatuna!

When my pen pal arrived in Sri Lanka, I dreamed of travelling the country with her, backpacking when necessary and being independent, 21^st-century-women together.

My mother, bless her, had other plans. She forced our family car on me (plus a driver that she paid for) to ensure that two young, unattached women would stay safe when we went on trips into unknown territory. I didn’t protest too much because it cut down on my budgets for Sigiriya and Nuwaraeliya.

Funnily enough, when we came down south to Unawatuna & Galle, she let us go without a peep, minus male figure to protect us. Hmm... If you guys understand the logic behind that, please let me know.

Anyway, we took the 6.15AM intercity express train from Kandy to Colombo Fort and then hired a cab to take us to Unawatuna. We were in the 1st class compartment which costs LKR 500, but the 2^nd class only costs LKR 280 and is just as comfortable. 3^rd class is LKR 190.

If you have the cash, you can hire a vehicle to take you all the way to Galle/Unawatuna from Kandy, but it’s very expensive; you will pay upward of LKR 10,000 for the journey. We had a lot of heavy luggage so we took a cab from Colombo Fort to Galle. If you are travelling lightly or backpacking, there are 2 ways you can do this:

1. Take the Galle train from Colombo Fort and then (depending on where you’re staying) a tuk or bus to Unawatuna. Train schedule available here
2. Take the No. 138 bus or a tuk-tuk from Colombo Fort to Maharagama and then transfer to the Galle Expressway/highway shuttle bus. The ticket is LKR 400. It will drop you off at the main bus terminal in Galle.

There was a sand art festival going on @ U'watuna!

I made a huge mistake taking a cab. I had some errands to run in Colombo & we used the cab for that as well. The meter showed LKR 11,000+ when we finally arrived at Crazy Coconut Villa, Unawatuna. Yep. Cost us more than the hotel. I heard later that the cab with the Australian animal logo (I don’t wanna get sued so no names!) charges more than the others.

Dinner & my pen pal the photographer :)

After that though, the trip was awesome. We took a bus (LKR 30 per head) to Galle Fort and had a lovely ramble. Lunch was a disaster unfortunately; we ate at Fort Rotti on Lighthouse Street because it was cheap but service took ages. After 45 minutes they served us a MDK instant paratha folded in half with sad-looking vegetables that I could count on one hand (LKR 350 & 400).

Afternoon tea was excellent, however, at Mansion Cafe on Layn Baan Street. And dinner... omg dinner. Please set aside an entire day for Unawatuna beach which is LKR 500 away from Fort by tuk. It’s worth it. For LKR 1200, my pen pal and I got a large dish of batter-fried calamari (cuttle fish to us Sri Lankans) at Samaya Tranz that we couldn’t finish. We sadly said goodbye to it coz we had to go back to our hotel.

The Crazy Coconut Villa is a modest guesthouse with a private beach 2km towards Matara from the U’watuna beach. We paid about LKR 8,000 (about $55) for one night in an a/c double room, breakfast and lunch. Remember, this was the height of tourist season, so prices were high. We lounged around the beach the next day, reading, napping & sunbathing, until it was time to go. We hopped on the slow train this time at 12.50PM and came to Colombo around 4PM, the gentle swaying of the train lulling us to sleep.

You can see the tea things from b'fast the next day

Now that’s what I call a relaxing trip.


(Approx.) Total Time Taken :  2 days
(Approx.) Total Cost           :  LKR 16,000 (counting tuk costs)
Satisfaction                         :  5/5 (for the relaxation)
*All pictures are subject to copyright © Asuka Randeniye 2016

Nuwara Eliya: Sri Lanka's Little England

No trip to N'Eliya is complete without the pic of the 'Mackwoods' sign

WARNING: THIS IS NOT A BUDGET TRIP. I REPEAT. THIS IS NOT A BUDGET TRIP. 

In fact, this was more or less a regular comfort-trip, where we ate from air conditioned restaurants, had tea at The Grand Hotel tea room and stayed in a semi-luxurious guest house.

So instead of insulting the budgeting sensibilities of my readers with a post about a non-budget trip, I will offer you a picture gallery of our trip with short captions that capture our sojourn into Sri Lanka’s Little England :)

I keep forgetting just how green everything is in Nuwaraeliya...

Climb every mountain ♫♪♪

These cuties were @ Hakgala Botanical Gardens

This tree might come alive on magical moonlit nights

I see fire, inside the mountain ♫♪♪

Of course, it isn't just natural beauty that makes Nuwaraeliya such a famous tourist magnet. The buildings are out of this world! My pen pal was amazed at how many of the buildings looked like (or actually were) from the British colonial era.

The Hill Town Cottage. We stayed here!

The famous N'Eliya post office

The famed red-brick post office clock tower. Still works!

We had mid-morning tea at The Grand Hotel, the oldest hotel in Nuwaraeliya. Unfortunately, we were too busy guzzling tea to take any pictures. We didn't finish our trip there, though. We also went to දුන්හිඳ falls (Dunhinda - Misty falls). We walked about an hour in from the main road and saw this:

Wanna tag along next time? ;)
*All pictures are subject to copyright © Asuka Randeniye 2016