The first leg of the We2Ours1 tour started in Sri Lanka.
The Flight
We flew Emirates for the 3 hour 50 minutes flight from Singapore to Colombo. The cabin crew on Emirates were great and even better were the in-flight amenities for babies. Whoever designed the kit seemed to know exactly what babies would need – disposable changing pad, wipes, diaper cream, the full works! We got bassinet seats and even managed to put Nadiya in the bassinet for a couple of hours. We flew red eye which meant Nadiya slept for most of the flight but it also meant that the both of us did not get much rest. A bad move in retrospect and we decided to try and avoid red eye flights especially if it is a short haul flight.
Colombo Airport
Coming from Singapore the Colombo airport was relatively basic. They did have a room for baby care which was under lock and key. We needed to call someone to open it. It was fairly clean and served the purpose. Immigration was straightforward and the wait was not long. We found ourselves at our hotel within 90 minutes of landing.
Colombo
Our first couple of nights was at the Shangri La in Colombo. This is a brand new hotel which became functional only in 2017. While the rooms were great and the lobby area overlooking the sea was quite impressive, the staff did seem inexperienced and service could have been better. It did however house a very nice restaurant called Kaemasutra. It served modern Sri Lankan and we had a thoroughly enjoyable dinner there – the squid ink hoppers are a must try.
Most of our first day in Sri Lanka was spent getting our car rental sorted out. The Shangri La was surprisingly not able to help with this and would only offer their cars with a driver, the cost of which was many times what we expected to pay if we self-drove a rental. Thankfully while we had stopped over for breakfast at the Taj Samudra Hotel next door, the concierge there was able to fix us up with a rental. Sri Lanka is the only place we have been to so far that requires an international driving permit. Ajay had to go to the Automobile Association of Ceylon to get this at the cost of 4000 Sri Lankan rupees. Once there, it wasn’t hard to get but one does need to set aside some time for it and the rental agencies do ask for the documentation.
Weligama (Sri Lanka’s Southern Coast)
The first road trip of the We2ours1 Tour saw us driving to the Southern Coast of Sri Lanka to the town of Weligama (a bit south of the famous town of Galle). Google estimated that it would take us 3 hours to get there but we ended up doing the journey in around 4 hours (we stopped a few times to feed Nadiya, change her and then a short break for some lunch enroute). For the most part, the road is excellent as we were on the Southern Expressway – a tolled 4 lane highway with very little traffic.
We stayed at Cape Weligama (h/t to Sarah & Dan for this recommendation) for 2 nights. The beach side resort is one of 3 properties managed by the Resplendent Ceylon Group (part of Dilmah Tea). The property itself is spread over 12+ acres and has cliff views of the sea. The rooms were top notch – we were in the most basic room and even that had an inbuilt sauna! There were buggys available 24/7 (quick phone call away) to take you anywhere you needed to get to on the property. There are multiple restaurants, bars, private dining areas and a magnificent crescent shaped infinity pool. You also get access to 2 beaches on either side of the resort.
For the entire time we were at Weligama, we did not leave the resort (did not really need to – it had everything we possibly needed!). Highlights of our stay included the amazing food (mutton curry, ‘flash fry’ crab and special Sri Lankan style ‘thali’ ;h/t to Chef Vinol for going out of his way to make sure we had an authentic Sri Lankan culinary experience), the staff (friendly folks who seemed very genuine and happy) and the ‘private’ beach (it was Nadiya’s first time at the beach and we couldn’t have asked for a better experience). Overall we had fond memories of our stay at Cape Weligama and will happily recommend it!
Kegalle (Sri Lanka’s Hill Country)
Our next stop was to Sri Lanka’s Hill Country – home to the country’s famous tea estates. Finding a place to stay in Hill Country was quite a challenge as most places either did not accept kids or were way too expensive. We eventually settled on Rosyth Estate in Kegalle. The drive from Weligama to Kegalle has 2 distinct parts – the Southern Expressway for a while (the part was a breeze) and then on to the Colombo Kandy road (this was quite a difficult drive, lots of traffic, roads zipping in and out of towns, narrow roads – overall quite stressful especially with a baby in the car). It took us over 5 hours to get to the estate.
Rosyth Estate is owned by a British couple and is adjacent to the Rosyth Tea Estate. The property itself is run more like a lodge and overlooks nice mountain scenery , although the tea hills themselves are quite a distance away. We found the lodge fairly overpriced for what it offered. The rooms were clean, but we did find red ants on the bed several times which made us nervous staying there with a baby. The food was decent but we felt the flavors were toned down and somewhat less authentic than what we had experienced before. The staff were courteous but service could definitely have been better especially since we were the only guests at the lodge. There is not a lot to do at the lodge – they do offer an estate walk. We did some part of it but had to turn back because of rain. Overall not the most baby friendly location and we could have skipped it in retrospect. Or perhaps we should have shelled out more and stayed at the Ceylon Tea Trails which is also owned by the Resplendent Ceylon Group.
Our last full day in Sri Lanka was spent driving back to Colombo. We stayed at the Taj Samudra this time as a way to show gratitude for their concierge helping us out with the car rental. This is an old hotel and the rooms are certainly more dated when compared to the Shangri La. Service however was top notch as you’d expect from any Taj property. Our last meal was at The Crab Factory in the hotel. They served up some excellent crab curry to draw the curtains on had been a week of delicious Sri Lankan food which we will definitely travel back for some day. For now however, we were done with the first leg of our trip. A good night sleep prepared us for our the next leg and our morning flight to Dubai!
Visa
Sri Lanka has visa on arrival for Indian citizens. However, you need to apply for an ETA online PRIOR to arrival on the island. It’s a fairly straight forward application process and approval is received in a few hours.
Trip Stats
Total # of countries – 1 (Sri Lanka)
Total air miles – 1,700
Total distance driven – 465KM
Total nights – 7
Nadiya’s age at the end of this leg – 10 weeks, 2 days
Around the world with a baby 