Ulagalla Resort, Thirappane, Anuradhapura

So back to the original purpose of this blog - to tell you about some of the amazing boutique hotels in Sri Lanka.

Ulagalla (http://www.ulagallaresorts.com/) is a relatively new resort, having opened in August 2010. Having read some  reviews on Trip Advisor and seeing a few negative comments about the service (i.e. inexperience, rather than poor attitude), I was a little reluctant to go there just 9 months into operation, but thought I'd give it a go in the spirit of the pioneering forefathers.

As it turned out, the service at Ulagalla turned out to be an absolute highlight of the stay, with the most friendly, attentive, hospitable and obliging staff one could ever hope for - all of them smiley, with a "can-do" attitude towards any and all requests.

The resort itself is pretty impressive. Built on an old family estate in the Cultural Triangle of Sri Lanka, the resort currently covers some 58 acres at present with another 25 acres or so to be developed in a second phase. The result of having all this vast acreage to build on is a facility that is practically a nature park in itself, built in the middle of some of the most beautiful natural countryside the country has to offer.

The first think you see as you drive in is the impressive estate manor (or "Walauwwa" in Sinhalese). The grand old house has been lovingly renovated as the resort's dining room, bar and office, preserving the original architecture as far as possible. The Walauwwa is fronted by an impressive forecourt and there is a quaint welcome area just off to the left, where the hotel manager will welcome you in a nicely-innovated take on the traditional Sri Lankan greeting for honoured guests - you are first invited to light a ceremonial oil lamp and then to ring a beautiful set of bells, announcing your arrival to the resort staff. The whole thing could easily have tipped off the verge into corny-ville but the genuine warmth with which it was performed by the manager and his team had even cynical old me sold.

The Walauwwa

The Walauwwa is fronted by a serene Lily-pond. To my amazement, we were informed that most of the ponds dotting the property (including this one) were purpose-built when the resort was conceived. You would never have guessed that any of the ponds were anything but natural (just take a look at the two photos below), a testament to the ingenuity and thought that has gone into building the resort.

The resort prides itself on its Green credentials. The complex was constructed with minimum impact to the original property, building the 20-something individual villas on stilts upon raised "hillocks" in order to furnish a view without having to cut down any trees - the manager told us that not a single tree was cut down in building the resort (there may have been a spot of "ILL" - see post #2 below - in this statement, but looking around it didn't seem too far-fetched to believe him). The villas or "chalets" as the hotel rather Swissly insists on calling them, were fabulous, each one effectively a one-bedroomed apartment featuring separate sleeping and living areas connected by a corridor, a spacious bathroom and a dining area incorporate into the living room. The bedroom included a handsome four-poster bed and the living room had plenty of plush, comfy sofa-space, on which a fair bit of time was spent (I can tell you now that watching Obama announce the killing of Osama while one is under the soporific influence of Thanamalwila's finest produce is a trippy experience indeed). The chalet's lighting and climate is controlled via a very cool touch-screen master unit, and the interior is very tastefully decorated in wood and plush furnishings. There are large windows everywhere so you're guaranteed a view in every direction - I particularly enjoyed the Kingfisher that had taken up residence on a tree just outside the living room window.

The exterior of the chalet incorporates a narrow sit-out terrace that runs the length of the building, which leads to a private plunge-pool (nice size, fitted with a jacuzzi function), deckchairs and an outdoor dining area. We had breakfast out there each morning - very pleasant (and featured in the title photograph of this blog).

I had asked for a villa that was well-situated for bird watching (in the past, anyone who knew would have correctly assumed that this meant an unrestricted view of the topless beach but the sad truth is that at this stage of life, the reference is to the feathered variety...I've even bought an illustrated, hardback copy of a book on Sri Lankan birds...one gets on a bit as one approached one's forties - what to do?) and the hotel duly obliged. Chalet no.8 was promised to me as one that seems to attract bird-life and it certainly lived up to its billing. We had a procession of Kingfishers, Bulbuls, Rollers, Woodpeckers and Barbets parading about right outside our chalet, to the point where I was beginning to suspect that the manager, Mr. Blackett, was hiding in the foliage releasing one bird after another from a series of cages hidden there. Add to that the continuous stream of overhead flights (flocks of geese, thermal-surfing Brahminy Kites, Heron etc etc) and I was in Ornithological heaven from start to finish.

The only thing that bugged me was the number of Peacocks swanning (fnar fnar) about in that poncily superior way of theirs, smug expressions writ large on their beaky little bonces. I do realise that for most people the presence of Peacock would be a plus-point, but I simply cannot abide the horrid, nasty beggars. Here is a selection of birds shot from our chalet:

(Friendly Neighbourhood) White-throated Kingfisher

Flameback Woodpecker

Brahminy Kite

Reckon this is an Egret - I love this shot through the fringed overhang of the chalet's thatched roof

The resort has plenty of activities on offer. First time visitors to Sri Lanka should take advantage of Ulagalla's location to explore the country's Cultural Triangle - the hotel offers excursion to the nearby ancient kingdom's of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya and the Buddhist monastery atop Dambulla rock, all of which are well worth a visit. There's plenty to do in and around the resort too, including a Balinese Spa (more on this later), Archery, Horse-back riding, Kayaking and nature walks. We decided to go for the latter option and had an enjoyable two-hour ramble along the bund of the nearby Wannmaduwa Wewa (a large dammed tank), cutting through a patch of lush mini-rainforest and ending up circling back round to the resort's front gate. We were accompanied on the walk by two guides from the surrounding village, both of whom were pleasant and very knowledgeable about the local bird-life. The walk starts at 6am, and ends around 8-8.30: making it back before the heat gets unbearable is well worth forcing oneself out of the (very comfy) bed at an hour one is more used to stumbling home at... (don't believe this party-hard machismo, by the way: the reality is that I never go out anymore and get up at 6am four days a week, anyway, to play golf...).

View across the Wannamaduwa Wewa

Hungry as horses after the nature walk, we were ready for a large breakfast, and the hotel didn't disappoint. The breakfast order is (sensibly) taken when you have dinner the previous night and the staff are very obliging in serving you wherever you wish. In fact, the hotel operates a "eat when/wherever you like" policy that is a refreshing departure from the usually rigid set mealtimes resorts of this nature usually adhere to. We opted to have breakfast at our pool-side deck and the meal was served efficiently and with not even a trace of a grumble - this is actually saying something when you consider that the chalets are so widely spaced apart (and ours was pretty far from the main Walauwwa) that everything (and everyone) has to be shuttled back and forth in motorised buggies. The hotel is very generous in the options you have for your breakfast order, too, and they're not fussy about mixing and matching between Sri Lankan and Western. As an example, on the first day we ordered String Hoppers (tell you what these are another time, for those of you who don't know), Kiri Bath (rice cooked in coconut milk), Kade-paan (crusty village bread), Pol Sambol, Seeni Sambol, Katta Sambol, Beef Curry, Chicken Curry and - as we feared dying of starvation after that meagre repast - bacon and eggs...

Food at Ulagalla was a little bit of a mixed bag. The Sri Lankan / Eastern cuisine was, on the whole, far superior to their Western. Breakfast was excellent and we had an awesome devilled chicken as a 2pm snack one day, but the meals served at dinnertime had some way to go to aspire to being truly "fine dining", which is what it's advertised as. Portions were plentiful, the presentation creative and the service excellent. However, the cooking was average - certainly not bad, just not "haute cuisine" and the resort would do well to address this aspect of its customer experience asap. We had dinner at the Walauwwa on the first night - the setting was lovely, on the first-floor terrace of the house overlooking the (stunning) pool. We brought our own wine and there was no mention of a corkage charge, nor was one applied. The dinner menu is fairly well-rounded covering the usual grills as well as asian dishes such as Thai Green Curry and Nasi Goreng. There is a decent selection of starters, but the so-called "Parma Ham" I had was definitely a bit tired and not terribly authentic. The desert list looked more interesting than it actually tasted - crepes stuffed with coconut and banana was cold (it would have been far better warm) while the chocolate whatsit looked a lot better than it actually tasted (rather like Paris Hilton, one hears)... I didn't check the wine list as I had brought my own, so can't comment. Prices were fairly decent for the standard of the hotel (cheaper than Colombo's Gallery Cafe at any rate, but then again, I think the only restaurant more expensive than the GC in the entire world is Jean Georges in New York City and even they offer Food-week specials...)

Dinner on night two was by the main resort pool, which is ethereally lit with spingly-spangly underwater lights. Lovely setting, but not enough light to even see what one was eating - a couple of braziers here and there wouldn't go amiss.

Elegant Dining Area

That's some rack...

Cold Crepes....

The one real disappointment of the stay, though, was the Balinese Spa. The spa is very nicely built, in a sort of natural rock-cave surrounded by water and flowering trees. However, my treatment room had a kitchenette in plain view at the back and the other one had an open toilet - kinda harshes the mellow, if you know what I mean. The therapists are a pair of Balinese girls - very friendly, but not the most skilled I have come across. They certainly try hard, though. Having said that, the overall experience is completely soured by the price one pays, which is (in my experience) grotesquely overpriced - I feel this is a clear case of taking advantage of a lack of supply for a captive audience. The spa is outsourced and does not fall under the hotel's purview, but the resort's owners should bear in mind that the experience their guests have includes every service offered on the premises. Out-sourced or not, the price the spa charged for the treatments did have an impact on the overall enjoyment of the visit. My advice would be to forego the Spa unless you desperately want a massage and even then to go for the shorter time duration if you want anything approaching value for money...

Pleasant enough from this angle, not so much looking the other way...

I don't mean to make the Spa experience put you off, and I would caveat my comments on the Western Cuisine with a confession to being a foodie who has been fortunate enough to eat at some of the best restaurants around the world. All-in-all, the food is fine (the local food very good) and the rest of the experience at the hotel, from the service, to the chalets, to the environs was very fine indeed.

In respect of the latter aspect, should you go to Ulagalla do take some time to stroll about the property - either in the  cool of the evening or to walk off a massive breakfast. The grounds are a delight: Lily-ponds everywhere, beautiful flowers blooming wherever you look, stately trees to sit under, observation decks at strategic intervals. The resort is very mindful of being eco-friendly and runs its own organic vegetable garden, maintains its own paddy-fields and even generates part of its own electricity through a biogas facility. The resort even supplies its very own faithful family retainer, who will be only to happy to take you on an extensive tour of the facility, beaming with pride as he recounts tales of following the owners around the property while the hotel was being built. A lot of thought and care has gone into the creation of this fantastic resort, including a helipad situated in the middle of the paddy-field that must be visually splendid to land in.

The resort's paddy-field

Children's Kayaking Lake

Purty Fleurs

In terms of when to go, I would recommend avoiding the rainy season. Given the fact that the chalets are spread apart and there is a lot of acreage in the property, chances are you could end up stranded in your room if the rains get too heavy for the buggies to get about... Costwise, Ulagalla is high-end: you don't get this level of service nor this sort of upmarket infrastructure cheap. As ever, there are special deals for Sri Lankans and resident foreigners, but even here you're looking at USD 275 per night for B&B and up the scale for Half-Board, Full-Board etc. If you can afford it, do go as it's a unique experience and largely value for money.

One minor inconvenience is the need to remit 50% payment by bank transfer when booking as the hotel is not set up to accept cards online. I'm sure this will change soon enough, and transferring the money via the WLB's Internet Banking was no hassle, but still...

Finally, a word on the drive there and back from Colombo. Unfortunately, you do have to take the Colombo-Kandy for a part of the journey. This supposed major artery is, in fact, a narrow two-lane (one in each direction) road that would not be fit to pass muster as a country-road in most countries and is populated by the vilest bus drivers plying the highways of Sri Lanka - these are the sort of unmitigated bastard who swing all the way out to the oncoming lane and then glare at you when they find themselves having to brake in order to avoid a head-on collision because they didn't have the motive power to accelerate fast enough. Having said that, if you drive a nippy car, subscribe to the spot-gap-hit-gap method of driving and have sufficient confidence, the Kandy Road can be fun to drive on. The trick, as ever, is to leave Colombo in the wee hours and try to get to Dambulla before the major morning traffic starts up. To achieve this, you have no choice but to put the pedal to the metal and you need to have a stoic enough constitution to ignore the barrage of squeaks, squeals, squawks, gasps, oohs, aahs, omigods and occasional screams that emanate from the passenger seat.

(In the end, we had to sit down to a serious negotiation after the outward leg of the journey: we settled amicably on permitting squeaks, squawks and yips sprinkled with periodic white-knuckle gripping of the door-handle during the return journey in exchange for a total ban on comments along the line of "please don't kill me, there are people depending on me" and screams of "f**k, f**k, f**k I'm going to die", an arrangement that worked most satisfactorily).

Once you clear Dambulla, though, you do have rather splendid run over the 45km stretch of road to Thirappane - we're taking about 160kmph territory here, speed-freaks...

Hope you found this useful and I welcome your comments. I'll leave you with a picture of one my favourite critters, the Dragonfly: