A Rocky Road To Colombo (CMB) That Ends With A Shopping Spree & Lounge

Sadly our last day in Sri Lanka had arrived and it was time to start heading home.  After a lazy morning of last chance birding from our balcony, we paid the bill and went down the road a few metres to wait for the bus to Kalawana.  Since it was a Sunday, there were fewer buses and we waited almost an hour but a bus finally did show up.  The trip to Kalawana was around an hour with stops and we easily found a bus for the next leg of the journey to Matugama.  The road was in terrible condition with apparent rock slides and bulldozers everywhere so this relatively short leg (40km) actually took over an hour.

IMG_3773 IMG_3775 IMG_3777 IMG_3779 IMG_3780.

IMG_3781 IMG_3782 IMG_3783 IMG_3784 IMG_3785

I love how this bin kind of looks like a bird!

IMG_3786 IMG_3787 IMG_3788

In Matugama we had an easier task because there were a lot more choices to Colombo.  I was actually more interested in a non-stop trip than the AC so we chose this bus hoping for a better experience.

IMG_3790 IMG_3791

It was pretty good and the man behind us spoke English so we chatted a while but he got out before we did.  We took the road along the seaside to Colombo.

IMG_3792 IMG_3793 IMG_3794 IMG_3795 IMG_3797 IMG_3798 IMG_3800I wasn’t sure where to jump off the bus and no one else spoke English so we stayed on to the end.  It was around 3pm and we hadn’t had lunch so were pretty hungry.  I remembered the name of a shopping centre – the Dutch Hospital so we grabbed a rickshaw and asked to be dropped there.  He actually dropped us in front of the adjacent TGI Fridays and we were both in need of a clean toilet so we went in and ended up having a late lunch there.

IMG_3809 IMG_3801After stuffing ourselves, we walked next door to the Dutch Hospital (it used to be a hospital but was now a trendy shopping centre) to have a look around.  There were several boutiques and a snall branch of Odel, a local department store.  I ended up buying a green kaftan top.

IMG_3804 IMG_3805 IMG_3806 IMG_3807 IMG_3808There were some newlyweds taking photos outside.  It’s interesting to see the different styles of wedding clothes!

IMG_3802 IMG_3803I wanted to buy some Sri Lankan art, preferably with birds  so I asked some locals and was directed to Laksala, a huge craft shop a few blocks away.

IMG_3810 IMG_3814 IMG_3811 IMG_3812 IMG_3813I bought a few batiks since they were easily packed in our carry-ons, then we went out and got a rickshaw to the airport bus stand.  It was still a bit early but we didn’t have anything else to do, at least not anything we could do while shlepping all our stuff around!  You get a choice of AC or regular bus and we had plenty of rupees left over so went AC as it was still pretty hot and humid.

IMG_3815It took well over an hour to get to the airport………….and this was a Sunday evening!  When we arrived, we discovered that we would have to wait about 3 hours until the Singapore Airlines staff arrived for check in.  Ina sat with the bags while I scouted the shops for something worth blowing our last few rupees on.  It was nice to see all the Christmas decorations!

IMG_3818 IMG_3822 IMG_3823

Sand paintings were tempting but I was afraid they wouldn’t allow them in Australia.

IMG_3821

T-shirts were too small.

IMG_3820

Ah yes!  Here we go, bird batiks!  I snapped up a couple and liked them so much I not only finished my rupees, I had to top it off with Visa.

IMG_3819The waiting area was poorly placed where you couldn’t see the board where flights open for check in were displayed.  The seats were really uncomfortable and I was desperate to get past the formalities and go to the business class lounge since we had J tickets on SQ.

IMG_3825 IMG_3826 IMG_3827 IMG_3828Not the best lounge in the world but they did have food, drinks and internet!  I was pretty sad to leave Sri Lanka as we had had a great time and seen some amazing birds but with so many options especially with One World, I am sure we will be back some day!

SpiceJet – India’s Low Cost Carrier With Great Service

I had originally planned this adventure for sometime in 2015 at which time Sri Lankan Airlines would have been a One World member so I could have gotten the Bangalore – Colombo route for 4500 Avios.  Since I brought the trip forward, I would have to buy tickets since I couldn’t use miles for this route.

IMG_3047After checking all the local airlines, SpiceJet came in the cheapest but we would have to transfer in Chennai.

.

You can easily book this ticket online and pay with a foreign credit card – unlike buses & trains which require you to jump through hoops!

.

The YQ is way more than the base fare but I couldn’t find a way to fuel dump it!

.

Since the entire ticket only comes to around $85 I wasn’t going to lose sleep over it!

.

The one drawback was a 5 hour layover in Chennai from 7pm – 1am and there is nothing near the airport to do at that time of night.  The aircraft is a smaller one and our carry-on backpacks barely fit in the overheads which was annoying but no one challenged us or made us gate check them.

.

The one advantage was that the seats were 2 x 2 so we didn’t have to share a bank of 3 with a stranger.  The crew were very friendly and a snack and soft drink were offered to everyone.  Of course you can’t compare to Singapore or Cathay Pacific but for a low-cost carrier, I thought they were pretty good!  Both legs departed and arrived right on time.

IMG_3058 Laying over in Chennai was a pita.  There was nothing to do but sit and wait.  I did have some Kindle books on my netbook, my husband people-watched and dozed off.  They won’t let you check in until 3 hours before the flight.  Chennai does have some nice artwork in the terminal.

IMG_3061 IMG_3062

These little shuttle carts will take you from the arrivals terminal to international departures for free but they do expect a tip.

IMG_3063 IMG_3064 IMG_3065For once I was hoping for a delay as I really didn’t like arriving in Colombo at 2:20am but the flight was right on time!  Since we had only carry-ons we were off the plane in no time waving goodbye to the friendly crew!