<![CDATA[תאילנד או סרי לנקה בהריון]]>

Hi all.

My name is Yoav and I want to share with you my worst traveling experience in Srilanka – what will save you money and great deal of suffering.

So, after I got married on the 25.9.2007, my wife and I wanted a nice honeymoon. Since we have never been in Srilanka, we decided to give it a try, but without investigate deeply about this place, what turned out to be a big mistake, very big mistake.

I will start with a general description of the people in Srilanka, most of them. We talking about zero reliability, zero to poor English level, zero hospitality, who will do zero to make your stay pleasant.
We stayed at the Eden Hotel in Beruwala area 25.Oct.2007 – 1.Nov.2007. Our first encounter with Srilanka's people started immediately we got into the room and found that the TV remote control does not work. It seems like a minor problem, but when you try to get a service there, you start to understand with whom you are dealing. They first told me "someone will come". We wait. No one comes. After 2 hours I went to the lobby and insisted that someone will go to the room with me (room 332). When I showed him the TV remote control problem, he took it, stood near the TV, played with the batteries and tried to make it work. Finally it did, but only when he stood next to the TV. I insisted it must work from bed. If it works only near the TV I really do not need it! Then he argued with me that it is OK. It took me VERY long time to explain that it is useless if the remote control works only hand-long distance from the TV. Finally, after 3 hours, both TV and remote control were replaced.

Just imagine what happens with this kind of people and a greater problems or service requests as demonstrated ahead!

Our next encounter with these people of Srilanka, started few hours after the TV event. We woke up at 1:00 AM 26.10.2007 in our room 332, because of ants bites! We turned on the light and watched few ants traveling on our bed sheet. We moved them away turned off the light and back to sleep, but not for long. Again the same story. Few ants. We got up again but looked also under my pillow, where we found a circle with HUNDREDS of ants, small, red and waiting to prevent you from sleeping in your first night. Now things start to be really annoying. I called the reception again, but this time I learned my lesson from the TV event detailed above. I waited 5 minutes and when no one comes I went down to the reception. They first offered me to shake the bed sheet. I explained that this will not work because this will not eliminate the source of the ants which is not in the bed. Then they offered to spray insect killer spray in the bed !!! . I explained that this solution is not acceptable. Then I asked for the only solution – move to another room. They said it is not possible and I will have to wait for the morning for that. But we can not sleep.... I said again. This argue ended on 3:00 AM after 2 hours, when they called some manager (called Charith, I think) and suddenly another room was found (328). We were very tired and quickly went to sleep.
In the morning we found out another surprise – TV remote control not working in our new room just like in the first one. Same TV story all over again.

Our next story is at the hotel fitness room. The instructor is not there. You need call him if you need something. But guess what, there is no phone there. I asked what do I need to do in case I need something. The answer was – go to your room and call him! The room are far away from the fitness room.

Well, when the single use caps ran out, I wanted to notify the instructor about it. I was lucky because he just got in – no long distance travel to my room. I asked him for more caps. He said OK, left, and did not return. I decided not to give up and went out to look for him. One minute travel to the nearby billiard game room was enough – he was there playing billiard instead of bringing the caps I asked for. My question where are the single use I asked for was answered with the stupid smile and no words. These people just don’t care about you.

You pay the hotel good money and get the worst service possible.

Next, we found ants again also in room 328. I was lucky this time - they were just entering the room threw the balcony. I also located the nest – it was in a big planter next to our balcony. There is no way for worst design. Why they did not thought about this option of ants in the planter when they placed the planter there?
My answer – This is Srilanka. They do not think or plan.

The next point is the food. I have to say that in general it is good but if you do not eat spicy food, your selection is decreased dramatically! In addition, if you like green, not ripe tomatoes, you are in the right place. We had such tomatoes in every breakfast and dinner everyday.

The food story continues when my wife missed one of our pre-paid dinners. We new about this in advance and notified the reception that we