My Adventure begins at Resort in Sri Lanka | Vacations
My favorite Resort in Sri Lanka. After 20 years of working in Greece, Scotland (1 year), and in Qatar (9 years) in various sectors and later on, in my profession, I took the decision to quit my job in Qatar and follow my dream. Traveling! I remember during my last day I was scared, lost, excited, sad, happy, sleepless, worried, feeling that I escaped from a "bubble" and generally emotionally unbalanced.
This is exactly how I arrive in Colombo
The adventure begins on 04th May 2015 in Sri Lanka
Arrive at Colombo airport and late at night in the Plantation villa resort in Sri Lanka. I decided to start my travels with a detox, meditation, yoga. Package vacation for 3 weeks as I wanted to just relax, lose weight, and connect deeply with myself.
I write a post about Plantation Villa in Sri Lanka because I really had some of the best weeks of my life! I would like to note that I do not check something for the sake of publicity and fake advertising. Let's get started on the adventure in Sri Lanka!
I arrive at Colombo airport at 8:10 pm. The driver's resort was waiting for me at the exit, a cute 25-26 years old guy. The distance from Colombo to the Villa is 2.5 hours drive in Kalutara. That day was Buddha's birthday and it was a huge celebration on the roads. People were dancing, singing, saw parades, fireworks and it was a big party!
At 12.00 midnight we arrive at the villa. My first impression is "Owwoou! too much green!!!" We enter through a big gate, which leads to the villa through a green pathway and another small gate. As I am getting out of the taxi, a very polite man named Daniel (half German, half Sri Lanka) introduces himself. Another lady - she is Lalita - comes out of the house with a glass of delicious papaya juice, they direct me to my room where I fell asleep directly.
The Villa - Resort in Sri Lanka
Villa pathway
Villa entrance
The next day, I open my eyes and scan my room. It is one with an en-suite bathroom, clean and traditionally decorated. The villa is very well maintained with just 8 rooms and literally inside a jungle. The villa consists of the kitchen, dining room, living room, and some guest rooms.
My room
Outside the villa, there are more rooms, the yoga area, the message area, the doctor's office, a pool, a sitting area, a children's playground, and lots of green. Through the playground side, you can enter the jungle place which belongs to the villa territories. It's a huge area, with big trees, mini waterfalls which pathway leads to the other side near the main entrance.
The Staff - Resort in Sri Lanka
The staff is 3 lovely Sri Lankan ladies, Daniel who runs the place, the massage therapist, the doctor who visits the villa when is needed, the meditation teacher, and the owner named Ishara who visits the villa often. What can I say about all these people? Each one of them plays a unique role in the villa. I can simply say that the customer service if I can call it in this way, is simply EXCELLENT. This place is not a typical hotel resort. While it has a family atmosphere and the staff are just locals from the village, this fact does not stop them from offering a unique service than any other luxury hotel.
All the food, treatments, and philosophy is based on Ayurveda, "Ayurvedic medicine -- also known as Ayurveda -- is one of the world's oldest holistic (whole-body) healing systems. It was developed thousands of years ago in India. It is based on the belief that health and wellness depend on a delicate balance between the mind, body, and spirit"
Swimming pool area
Villa surroundings - The Plantation Villa Resort in Sri Lanka
The resort has a range of wellness packages to rebalance the mind, soul, and body with meditation, yoga, and traditional Ayurvedic treatments. During my 3 weeks in the Villa I had a detox package which includes the following:
- Panchakarma treatment (deep detoxification for the body), which include daily massages, baths, sauna, all the related Ayurveda treatments and herbal medicines (the personalized treatment is given daily) - a separate post of the Panchakarma treatment will be posted -
- Accommodation with en-suite bathroom.
- All meals (breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea with fruits or a sweet, dinner, water, and unlimited tea between meals).
- Yoga once a day (in the afternoon).
- Cooking lessons (twice) - separate post soon
- Daily meditation classes (most of the days were twice a day - early morning and evening). - separate post soon!
- Discussions with the Meditation teacher and the resident doctor about life philosophy, treatments, yoga, and self-improvement.
- Use of the facilities (swimming pool, library, and various board games)
- Guided walks into the villa area with the resident doctor.
Adventure - The Plantation Villa Resort in Sri Lanka
During the first 4 days, the other visitors are a lovely British lady and 2 other girls from Japan Chika and Yoko. The Japanese girls are really hilarious! We just had a great connection, after just the 1st day wherever we meet we just look at each other and start talking way too much! One day we have an excursion with our Meditation teacher to the village and to the nearby town. We start our walk to the village, which is just a few meters from the villa. The green scenery is amazing and the people are looking at us with curiosity and big smiles. I really love a very cute and shy girl dressed with a white/reddish top.
On our visit to town, we visit a temple and we have a walk meditation around the "Kampara" statue. Afterward, we watch a small night ceremony, it was just a monk singing. It was a very simple one, but all the concept is very spiritual. On the back of the temple is an area where we could hear the birds singing. It is sooo deadly and we could only hear the birds singing. That night I feel totally at peace...
The next morning we wished the girls a safe journey back to Japan. I did hate to see them leaving with teardrops in their eyes...
Nada (Meditation teacher) with the girls from the village
My girl!
For the next 2 weeks, we were joined by a small group of other visitors. The person that I interact with most was David from England. I can clearly say that I and he were the happy Villa mascots on those 2.5 weeks, his sense of humor is great! I believe the combination of the British / Greek humor made the staff happier and they were very pleased to interact with us at any time. A hilarious part is during the 3 days of noble silence (Vipassana type meditation) - I will be referring to a different post, it is just a different and quite "weird" experience for me -.
The days pass quickly with the daily detox program, village walks, books reading in the garden, swimming, board games, 1 day trip to Galle with David (1.5-hour drive from Villa), visit the nearby temples, long and interesting conversations with the other visitors and the staff, self-talk, self-realization or just do nothing.
Village
A very interesting activity is the visit to the village school with the Villa owner, Ishara and Nada. We buy some chocolates and me and David pass from classroom to classroom and distribute them to the kids. Oh, such an amazing experience!!!! The kids with their cute uniforms, run after us, very very happy, ready to pose for any photo and they sing to us. I am so pleased with their big smiles! If you consider the level of poverty of these kids, you will realize how selfish and ungrateful we are in our lives... I would like to mention here, that the Villa supports the local community with various activities such as books donations to the kids, hiring staff from the village, and many more things.
School, school kids, and chocolates
Junk fruit directly from the tree
Tree rubber collection from the villa jungle
Tea shop in the town
Fresh coconuts
Food
The food is vegetarian, simple, and fresh. But still absolutely delicious! The majority of the ingredients are from the villa's garden or from the local markets. My favorite is the coconut roti, the banana cake, and the mushroom curry. The doctor encourages us to eat slowly and in moderation during the program but sometimes I am so hungry that I caught myself with desperate gulps! The turnoff is the dinner in which we allowed only soup and some fruits. In the beginning was quite hard but after the 3-4th day was just fine! Of course, if you are not in a program you can enjoy a full dinner (Those on the program, make sure you don't dine with these people together! haha).
During the food time, I really loved watching the monkeys playing around from the dining area window. Except for the monkeys, vila has other pets also, cats and lizards! The lizards are so big and you can hear them during the night, after a while, I got used to them.
Delicious lunch and breakfast
Monkeys Playground
Another activity is the cooking lessons, which carried out twice during my stay and are very informative. A separate post will be done!
Most of all, during my last days, the villa wins the "trip advisor" certificate, so it's time for a lunch party! Ishara with the staff ready a different and delicious lunch for the guests. The Biryani rice was really a hit!
On my last three days in the resort, I was completely alone, with only the staff. Ishara, Nada, David, and Hans left...In the beginning, I felt completely sad...As a result, I stopped thinking about all the sadness and focused on all those great moments we spent together. Their inspirational stories taught me a lot about happiness, sadness, the universe, self, love, courage, how to deal with angry and negative people, how to drop complaining, nagging, how to cut all the sad past moments of my life, what life is about, how to be a better person and the most important how to enjoy the now moment.
Last night
My last night in the resort was accompanied by an excellent banana cake cooked by Lalita. Enjoying happily and calm my last night with all nature sounds around...I experience true relaxation, perfectly detoxed, feeling healthy and recharged, happy, and a rare reprieve from anxiety. This is exactly how I leave the resort... Big Thank you.
Time to switch off the lights of my room and go to bed. Tomorrow the Sri Lanka adventures continue. Be calm and feel at peace with yourself. One of the best places to stay in Sri Lanaka.
NAMASTE
Note 1: I will be soon posting the experience of the yoga, meditation, and Panchakarma treatment, I would like you to have the full picture of my resort story.
Note 2: The site of the resort is www.srimalplantation.com. The owner is named Ishara and is one of the loveliest ladies I ever met.
Note 3: Regarding the recent Sri Lanka floods... Most noteworthy, a Pray for those people who lost their homes died, or are still missing.
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