Little Dream guesthouse

To Sue, Rod, and whoever else might be interested: today I went on a day-trip from Kandy to Danbulla, and took the chance to find out about this guesthouse, of which we talked in recent topic ';Guesthouses on Saranankara Road';.

The guesthouse is there and open. I visited it. It is not in Dambulla, nor on the way from Dambulla to Amaya lake: it is actually at Amaya lake. As soon as you reach the lake, you reach the guesthouse.

It is a lovely place. They have three simple but neat rooms, medium size, with bathroom attached. All three rooms are in an annex building just next to the house. I saw twin beds, portable fans, mosquito nets, wall hangers for clothes, and other things I don%26#39;t remember now, and I saw a couple of hammocks under the porch. My first impression was that it is very clean. The owner, very kind lady, Ms. Adanta, is now asking 800 RS a room, but with possibility of discounts in case of longer stays.

I had the impression that the place is VERY quiet: away from the road, and it is a secondary road with very limited traffic anyway. Ms. Adanta told me that it is possible to swim in the lake (the nearest beach remains some 300 m. away from the geusthouse).

The lake looks really odd as it is scattered with skeletons of old, hardened trees standing out on its surface. Ms. Adanta told me that they remained there since the lake was formed artificially. There were more before, but sometimes people go there to get firewood...

I imagine that, in a foggy weather, the lake must offer a quite ghostly view with those strange black branches coming out everywhere. Today, in bright sunshine, it was just extravagant; and with the small islands and the hills around, and the vast countryside on one side (at a lower level than the lake), it made a nice panorama.

Ms. Adanta gave me their new phone no.: 072 2893736. She offered me tea and a slice of papaya and we had a chat in her sitting room. Before leaving I made a polite attempt to pay for what I had, but she refused.

Here is how to get there without tuk-tuk:

Find the junction of the Amaya lake road taking off from the main Dambulla-Kandy road. It is near the Dambulla temple, just about 200 m. north of it, in direction of downtown Dambulla (which remains abaout 1 km away from that point). At that junction you will see signs for Kandalama Hotel and Ayama Hotel. A little further down the road, a green sign pointing to Bakaluma and Kandalama. There is a small bus stand in front of a ';Mitsui Cement'; building. Wait there for a bus to Amaya lake. Not all buses stopping there are going to Amaya lake, so be careful to catch the right one. The bus will meet two main bifurcations on its way, and always turn left.

After 7 or 8 km, I think, you will suddenly see the lake from the bus, on your right. Almost immediately, the bus will reach the edge of the lake and turn left on a strange piece of cement road with an odd parabolic edge. At that point I saw a small beach with a few boats on the lakeside. Almost immediately after passing that strange turn, stop the bus and get down. Some 100 m after the turn, there is a small road taking off to the left. It is marked ';Vihata Janapada Rd';. Turn into that road, and you will see the ';Little Dream'; sign at once in front of you, a bit down the road.

If you go by tuk-tuk: make sure that the tuk-tuk driver will not pretend that he is the one who had the initiative to take you there, or else he will ask for a commission from the owner. Anyway, given the fact that she has only 3 rooms, and that the place is quite isolated away from the town, it would be strongly advisable to call first...

Regards, Ticino

Little Dream guesthouse

Small addition:

Amaya Lake is the name of the hotel (formerly the Culture Club). Quite likely it is NOT the name of the lake (or %26#39;tank%26#39;/wewa) itself - must check at the map which tank it is. Amaya is the hotel company name, they also run e.g. Amaya Hills in Kandy.

However if the GH is next to Amaya Lake hotel then there%26#39;s a good chance there are more tourist-readable signposts for the hotel than for the tank so basically Ticino gives good info!

Thanks,

%26lt;Erik%26gt; %26amp; [Sandya]

Little Dream guesthouse

It is Kandalama Lake.

Hans

Thanks so much for the research Ticino! And I%26#39;m delighted that you have been able to solve the telephone number query. Does Ms Adanta speak much English - ie enough to make ourselves understood if we %26#39;phone ahead and book to stay?

You must have made a considerable diversion to look at Little Dream ... did you not fancy staying here whilst you were in the area? And I see that you are still trying to avoid tuk-tuks!!!

Keep on reporting back and enjoy your travels.

All the very best,

Sue

I apologize, as a matter of fact it is Kandalama Tank. I was confused by the fact that the road was referred to as the Amaya Lake road in previous topic, and by those Amaya Lake signs - but in fact there are also the Kandalama signs.

Ms. Adanta speaks quite good English and certainly good enough to take a booking by phone. Myself I was tempted to stay there a couple of nights, but preferably with some company and not alone, or else I would not know how to kill time - even though the guesthouse does have a good number of books at disposal, I saw them in Ms. Adanta%26#39;s dining room.

Regards, Ticino

Thanks, Ticino for the direction to Little Dream guesthouse and the update phone number of Ms. Adanta.

We stayed there for 1 night, sadly arriving after dark when the mosquitos were out. Ms. Adanta was very friendly and her cooking was great. The rooms are extremely basic (quite damp, not secure against insects from outside as there is no glazed windows, and there is inadequent lighting.)

If you are looking for a cheap and extremely rough and ready but friendly accommodation, this is for you.

We paid 800 for the room, 700 for dinner for 2 and 400 for breakfast for 2.

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