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Zanzibar or Sri lanka in July/August

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psyho
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Zanzibar or Sri lanka in July/August

Postby psyho » Sat May 26, 2012 7:24 pm

What do you suggest? I'm looking for some flat lagoons. :)

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Re: Zanzibar or Sri lanka in July/August

Postby justkid » Sun May 27, 2012 6:33 am

I'm just back from Sri Lanka. The place is awesome. Wind blows non-stop, sun shines, you should try it.

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Re: Zanzibar or Sri lanka in July/August

Postby psyho » Sun May 27, 2012 7:35 am

On which part of the island did you kite and sleep?

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Re: Zanzibar or Sri lanka in July/August

Postby justkid » Sun May 27, 2012 7:15 pm

psyho wrote:On which part of the island did you kite and sleep?
Kalpitiya which is in NW province of Sri Lanka.
There are two kite camps with flat lagoons in that region: KiteKuda and KSL. I've stayed at the last one.
As it's a time of SW monsoon all the West and South coasts should work

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Re: Zanzibar or Sri lanka in July/August

Postby psyho » Mon May 28, 2012 2:10 pm

Thanks for the info. I'm looking for some cheap places to stay. Are there any around this spots?

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Re: Zanzibar or Sri lanka in July/August

Postby justkid » Mon May 28, 2012 4:46 pm

psyho wrote:Thanks for the info. I'm looking for some cheap places to stay. Are there any around this spots?
You can rent a house from locals, price will be like $8-10. You can contact guys from camps for a help or do it by your own when arrive. IMHO, kite kuda lagoon will be more suitable in your case, there's a village next to the lagoon, and to get to Kalpitiya lagoon you have to take some transport.
If you're looking for a company, there may be some guys which live in the village and hangs out in a camp - book a camp for a few days and than decide where to move next.

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Re: Zanzibar or Sri lanka in July/August

Postby oceansprince » Tue May 29, 2012 5:23 am

zanzibar its better...north its more tropic...

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Re: Zanzibar or Sri lanka in July/August

Postby ChickenTikka » Tue May 29, 2012 7:52 am

DO NOT GO TO NW SRI LANKA WITHOUT A BOOKING. At the very least make a short term one at one of the organized hotels/groups for a few days. Let them organize a car for you and get your ass up to the lagoons and do all that stuff.

You will be sorry if you try to do it alone. The lagoons are difficult to get to, the roads are terrible, literally unpassable by most vehicles, and nobody speaks English. Im telling you. Once you know the ropes go ahead and try the cheaper option of doing the local thing. But for at least the first few days, let one of the hotels/groups take care of you. It's worth it. People have literally driven around for 8 hours trying to find the lagoon before.

There is zero tourist infrastructure in Kalpitiya aside from the 3-4 foreigners that have recently opened up shop. No surprise they charge Western Rates. You'd get better value for money propositions in other countries (Egypt, Gran Canaria, Thailand etc). These guys charge a premium because 1) they can 2) the lack of tourist infrastructure makes catering to westerners fairly expensive.

There is no midmarket accomodation. The closest is the kitekuda camp, which is still roughly 100 bucks a day. I highly recommend them. They rock. I will use them again and again.

Alternatively you can have a local family charge you an exorbitant amount, by their standards, to stay in one of their spare rooms. These rooms are going to be 3rd world basic. Frankly not much better than staying in a tent. These are very basic people. They will also most likely be muslims which means they will have fairly strict rules that you should respect (i.e. no shagging, drinking, etc).

Paying 8 dollars a day is exorbitant in a place where people might make less than 2 dollars a day. You're getting ripped off big time. You might say so what? But it's still a rip off. I personally have qualms with this, but you don't need to.

The big killer is the food. There is absolutely nothing to eat aside from rice and fish and maybe dry goods like chocolates and potato chips. When you are having rice and fish for breakfast for the 10th day in a row you might go postal. One big advantage of staying with one of the western organized hotels/groups is that they might be able to provide a little diversity in terms of what you eat. If you stay with a local hotel their gonna serve you rice and fish at every meal. Maybe, if you're lucky you can get eggs and toast for breakfast if you ask for it.

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Re: Zanzibar or Sri lanka in July/August

Postby Toby » Tue May 29, 2012 9:15 am

Ripped of is relative, let them charge their price...they have the balls to start something there and need to live too. As you say, without them the trip will be a nightmare and not relaxed!

Live and let live!

And you don't work for free as well.

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Re: Zanzibar or Sri lanka in July/August

Postby ChickenTikka » Tue May 29, 2012 4:41 pm

Oh, I see nothing wrong with people charging whatever they want to charge. I am a free market capitalist.

However, I'm also a mean little bastard of a consumer. Being an insider I know what things cost in S. Asia and for better or worse these are exorbitant prices. Just saying!

I still think it is worth paying them though if you are a first-timer or have a bit of cash. I, for one, don't want to stay in a hut without electricity.


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