Stardust Beach Hotel is in Arugam Bay. Arugam Bay is a popular surfing and tourist spot. Many of the buildings were destroyed by the 2004 tsunami but the area is undergoing a slow recovery mainly by private initiatives.
Most tourists in that area are westerners. There are very few Asian tourists in Arugam Bay and other parts of Sri Lanka. So sometimes Tay and I were mistaken as Japanese.
Today, we planned to go to Maligawila to see the tallest free standing buddha in Sri Lanka, then spent an hour in Grand Ella Motel to see the Ella Gap before going to John sister family's tea plantation.
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| Stardust Hotel |
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| Stardust Hotel |
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| Courtyard in Stardust Hotel |
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| The Beach |
In the morning, we had a western breakfast at Stardust. Smoking is allowed in the restaurant.
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| Doing soemthing considered illegal in Singapore |
One thing worth mentioning is the breakfast bread in Stardust hotel. I have never tasted such a good toast before except the dinner bun at a steak house near New Jersey way back in 1975/6. John and I agreed that this was the best bread we tasted so far in Sri Lanka. It was porous, light, crispy and full of aroma. I am a home baker too. I thought it was an artisan bread which Stardust Hotel baked but the restaurant manager Henry said I could buy two bags full of that bread from the shop across the street. I wonder what is the recipe and what are the ingredients used.
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| Stardust Restaurant |
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| Bread in Stardust |
On the way to Buttala, we came across 2 blacksmiths making some hardware tools. We had this kind of hardware Shop in Singapore many many years ago but I believe there is none today. So we went down to take a picture.
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| Blacksmths making hardware tool |
At Buttala, we detoured and travelled about 15 Km to Maligawila to see the tallest free standing Buddha statue in Sri Lanka, built in 7th century by a prince called Aggabodhi. This monument was found fallen and broken in to pieces in 1951. Attempt to raise the statue in 1974 failed. But in 1980, the statue was finally raised by a local engineering team. The statue is carved out of a single limestone rock and stands 14.5 meters tall.
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| Tallest free-standing Buddha statue in Sri Lanka |
About 500 meters away from the Buddha status is Bodhisattva Maitreya statue carved from rock. Left to the stair way is a stone pillar inscription placed by the king Mahinda IV (956-972 AD) on his 10th year of reign to record the work done by the king for the upliftment of the Buddhism.
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| Bodhisattva Maitreya statue |
From Maligawila, we went to Wellawaya via Buttala but we made a wrong turn at Buttala and traveled 30 Km towards Kataragama. We turned back. John said we should have proceeded to visit Kataragama because it is one of the most sacred place of Hinduism in Sri Lanka.
We ended up having a very late lunch (4pm) at a rest house.
we wanted to order the wild boar curry but we were told that it was not available.We ordered a big plate of fried rice instead. Their fried rice was fried with "smelly" coconut oil, Tay could not take it. I mixed the rice with plenty of curry to cover the smell. We only found out after lunch that we went to the wrong rest house, therefore the wild boar curry was not available. We made two mistakes today.
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| Wrong Rest House, no wild boar curry |
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| Lunched at the wrong rest house |
On the way to Bandalawela, we passed by Ravana Ella waterfall. We did not climb up to the Ravana Ella Cave high up there. According to legend, the cave is where the then King of Sri Lanka Ravana hid the kidnapped Indian princess Sita, behind the waterfall.
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| Ravana Ella waterfall |
Before we went to the tea plantation at Bandarawela owned by John's family, we had 2 bottles of beer at Grand Elle Motel, enjoying the view overlooking the famous Ella Gap (behind John and behind me in my profile). I think it is called a "gap" because on a clear day, one can see all the way to the south coast of Sri Lanka through the gap in between the mountains.
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| Grand Ella Motel Courtyard |
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| Grand Ella Motel |
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| Behind John is Ella Gap |
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| Enjoying the view in Ella Gap |
Finally, we arrived at the tea plantation in Bandarawela, where we were hosted by Kith and Bernie. As usual, we had plenty of drinks and a good dinner.
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| Dinner with Kith and Bernie |
Really looking forward to visit the tea plantation and tea factory tomorrow.
