21/10/2019
Looking for a great driver in Sri Lanka ? Here's your man !
Just back home after a wonderful 3 weeks holiday in Sri Lanka. I normally don’t take my time to write reviews on Tripadvisor, but this time I really have to make an exception, for our great driver and wonderful person Anura Premachandra. After what happened in April ‘19, we were of course a little bit worried about going to Sri Lanka, but now I’m back, I can definitely say that there is no reason to at all. Certainly with a guide as Anura, everything went so smoothly, that there really was not one second that I felt insecure. It even all started before we left. All the communication with Anura by email went very smoothly in perfect English. He really helped me very well, to work out our completely 3 weeks holiday. After checking the things we liked, our budget, and what we wanted to do/see, as a real travel agency, he helped me with our full itinerary : which cities to visit, which hotels to book, which temples and National Parks to visit… everything ! He also booked tickets for the famous Blue Train between Ella and Kandy, and arranged two times jeeps and great guides for a safari in a National Park.
So after arriving in Colombo, we stayed in : Gaelle – Yala – Ella - Nuwara Eliya – Kandy – Dambullah – Passikudah – Sigiriya. Anura picked us up at the airport and stayed with us for the full 3 weeks. He took so good care of me and my family (wife and 2 kids) during our whole holiday, that is was a pleasure to have him with us. He speaks very fluent English, so during our roadtrips, he is always telling interesting things about the places we visited, the nature, the local traditions, the different religions in Sri Lanka, … Not only does he know a lot, he is also very friendly, with a great sense of humour, but most of all, he is a very good person with a good heart. One time when went hiking for a couple of hours, we arrived back at our car, and we even saw that Anura was taking care of all the plastic garbage that was lying everywhere at the parking spot and the streets. I really liked sitting beside him during our long roadtrips. Also very important, he is a very good and safe driver. Compared to other local drivers or busses, he never drives too fast, or take risks. He is also the only driver I’ve ever seen in 3 weeks, who stops when people want to cross the road, which is simply not done in Sri Lanka ! He also has a great van, whith lot of space to travel. He even arranged free WIFI on-board, which was very much appreciated ofcourse by my two teenager kids ! On the road with Anura, he stoped at a lot of places, where other tourists probably don’t come. After working as a driver for more than 20 years, he knows ofcourse everything about the hidden spots in his country. He also went with me to the all local shops on the road, to buy food or drinks, to make sure that the shops charged us the local rates, not the tourist rates. He even knew in all the different cities where I could by my beer and wine (not easy to find in Sri Lanka ! ), so I could take them to the hotel, and drink a cold beer at the beach/my terrace, at really cheap rates, instead of the overpriced beers in the hotels ! He also invited me at his house in Negombo to meet his wife and cute daughter Jalini, which was a real pleasure. Me and my wife already decided to go back one day to the beautiful island of Sri Lanka, when the kids left the house, and the the first thing we will do then for sure, is call Anura Premachandra !
