We Uber'd to changi airport after a quick breakfast. We were checked in through immigration (automatic recognition system, checked with thumb prints taken on entry) and into the lounge pretty quickly as there was no security gate to go through.
The lounge is pretty small but has some separate sections for quiet.
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| Departures terminal has a wall of plants |
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| Food |
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| Quiet reading area |
What it didn't have was any flight information at all! We decided to play safe and go when the gate was supposed to open. The business lounge wasn't that busy and, although we weren't there for very long as our flight left at 9:45, Jono did manage to have second breakfast!
It's a good job we left the lounge with time to spare as the check in desk lady had said " it's not far", and that was not quite true. If you have to wait for a transit train to take you close to your gate I feel that's a good thing to be told, especially as Changi airport has no departure announcements.
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| Transit to gates 14 to 21 |
Once we got to the gate, there was the usual security gates for us and xray for hand luggage. It was pretty quick as they were only processing one plane worth of passengers but once inside there was no toilets or refreshments so it's not somewhere anyone would want to be holed up for long.
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| Security at gate |
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| Holding lounge at gate |
That's something we didn't need to worry about though. Business passengers were called almost immediately and we boarded.
This was also a 321 but with a few differences from Vietnam Airlines. We had more legroom, individual televisions stowed to the left of the seat with headphones and power to charge devices.
One thing they haven't got right yet is the pretty ineffective foot and leg rest. Most people did not bother to use it.
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| booklet giving food and drink options |
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| booklet even had a recipe in it |
Welcome drinks and hot towels were quickly served and the crew came round to get our meal preferences. These were printed in a booklet to take away complete with Sri Lankan curry recipe at the back.
Food was good, this was Jonos third breakfast!
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| plenty of film choices |
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| My oriental vegetarian special meal |
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| Jonos choice from the menu, 3 types of rice with chicken |
I got to see the end of Me Before You from three flights ago and then The Fault In Our Stars. This was way too sad a film for a flight, I had red eyes to disembark with, not a good look.
Columbo was very efficient with immigration and the bags which were just beginning to go around as we got to the carousel. It was a strange arrivals area. It had a duty free zone with the normal chocolates, perfumes and spirits, but then there were huge washing machines, big stereo systems and fridge freezers. We even saw a fridge freezer loaded onto a trolley for someone to take with them!
We'd heard it could sometimes be difficult to withdraw money from ATMs in Sri Lanka depending on your card issuer, and the first ATM we tried to use was out of order in the airport. Luckily we were able to take out some currency from a different ATM. Currency is crucial here. It is not a card economy and there has been a lot of card fraud so foreigners are warned not to use them even when you can (which isn't often!). Another slightly weird thing is that many prices are quoted online and in person in US dollars; even though when you pay, it is in LKR. This means we were mentally having to change between dollars, rupees and pounds in our heads to work out what things actually cost. It wasn't always clear what exchange rate between dollars and rupees was being used either.
We still had a 4 hour car journey to go and we'd arranged a car and driver through our hosts at our first stay, Mutu Village in Habarama. He was waiting for us and we were soon away. We couldn't travel fast most of the time, the single carriage road wound in and out of towns crowded with tuk tuks, buses, trucks and motorcycles. Not many cars though. At one particularly busy place the driver just shrugged and said "schools out" . Masses of children in spotlessly white uniforms thronged the sides of the road, school buses manoevred to pick them up, parents arrived with tuk tuks or motorcycles. Traffic just crawled.
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| Tuk tuks are often personalised, this one has a poison quote, " every rose has its thorn" |
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| Tuk tuks, bikes, trucks but not many cars |
Further on the route we lost the buildings on either side and drove through coconut plantations. Mountains rose up in the distance and palm trees were everywhere. Roadside stalls contained hands of bananas and piled up yellow coconuts.
Our driver pointed out Dambulla and Sigiriya as we drove past them, both places we wanted to visit and eventually turned down a rutted red dirt track. We bounced slowly along and I wondered what on earth I had booked. A couple of turns more and we were in the entrance to Mutu Village.
It was not your typical hotel or guesthouse arrival. We weren't asked for our names or passports, there was no asking for a credit card number. Instead we were ushered into a large dining hall space and asked if we would like a drink. We actually just wanted to check in ,we were expecting to pay for our room in cash straight away but this was waved away with "we will sort out at the end". This, we were to learn, pretty much applied to everything, nothing was too much trouble but finding out how much things would cost was not so easy because it would all be sorted out at the end!
We were told the taxi driver who got us there would be put on our final bill too. This did leave us with a dilemma. Without paying for things we couldn't access small denominations and all the cash machine had given us was 5000 rupees. Far too much for the typical tip of around 100.
We were shown around the spa area before our room. We had a treetop room,up a flight of stairs with a balcony area.
Our luggage was brought up for us and I had to explain to the elderly man who had brought it up that I had no money for a tip
The owner asked what we wanted to do and I wanted to know if a jeep safari could be arranged. He pulled out his phone started talking rapidly into it and then said, " 15 minutes ok?".He explained that any later would be too late as it was already 15:20 so I was happy to agree. This of course would be added to the bill at the end although I did manage to find out the price.
A batterred jeep drew up shortly after and we were off on our private jeep safari for two. About 20minutes away is a wildlife sanctuary and that is where we were heading. The driver told us he would remove the roof once we were at the park and then drove hell for leather to get there. What I didn't realise was that all jeeps have to be out of the park by 6 and our driver knew he needed to move.
Once in the park and with our roof off, he stopped every so often to show us things he spotted: herons, storks, hawks, monkeys but the main aim was to get to the elephants. We could stand up with our heads and shoulders through the top bars but the track was so rutted and the overhanging trees were low enough to brush the top of the bars that it was safer to stay sat down while we drove. It was just two long seats one on either side of the jeep so it was necessary to brace our feet and hold onto the side bars to stay in place.
And suddenly we were there. Mothers with their babies eating the grass in front of us.
Other jeeps were there too and while they were all close enough to view the elephants, they all kept a reasonable distance from them too and were careful to move slowly when near them.
It was magical.
We also went further on to the lake where we saw them playing in the water. We also saw male elephants, some by themselves, one obviously courting a female at the edge of a group.
the elephants swung their trunks with the grass in before eating to dislodge insects
overview of herds plus baby elephant trying to catch mothers tail.
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| Baby elephant |
They have about 400 elephants in the park. We also saw peacocks strutting along, something I've only associated with castles and manor houses in the UK.
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| Peacock |
Back at Mutu Village, we had been told dinner was at 19:30 and was a buffet. We thought we would see what it was like and I am so glad we did. One table had been set for 6 people and we were the last to arrive. There was a couple from India and a Spanish and German couple. We all got talking and the evening flew by. The food was delicious and plentiful too. It turned out there were three non meat eaters, one from each couple and the owner rushed to produce another vegetable dish to put on the table with all the others.
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| great food and loads of it. |
The German/Spanish couple were leaving the next morning but Ritika and Abishek from India had plans to visit the same place we were, Polonnaruwa, the next day so we decided to go together. The owner said he would call his brother and he would drive us. Plans were made for an 8am breakfast and to leave in the car at 8:30.
Tired and happy we headed for bed.
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