Sri Lanka's Buckingham Place - Even Better than the Palace

The "lobby" - and Cooper reading about the country!

This post is LONG overdue.  We were the lucky guests at Buckingham Place in April 2013, and for many reasons (one of which is laziness) it took me this long to post this.  I hope many people find this one, because it is very special to me.

The third leg of our trip took us from the Yala National Park to just South of Tangalle in Rekawa, along the southern coast of Sri Lanka.  It is an area known, in addition to its beautiful beaches, for whale watching and turtle hatching. 

As you've realized by now, I use Trip Advisor to pick most of our accommodations and this was no different - just look at the reviews of Buckingham Place and you will know why I chose it.  The problem with that, though, is that it then has a lot to live up to.  Well no worries, my friends, it sure did.  I'm just worried that I won't do it justice here.

Getting there was no easy feat.  But getting anywhere in Sri Lanka is no easy feat, so by then it did not even faze us.  One-way bridges, seemingly endless dirt roads...eventually we did pull up to BP.  We were greeted with a big smile and led to the couches adjacent to the restaurant.  There is no lobby building here (why would there be?) and soon we were joined by the owner, Nick Buckingham, for a brief introduction.  In his casual local-style garb and pony-tailed hair, he briefed us on some safety issues (i.e. don't let the kids run around with no shoes on just in case they step on a snake) and gave us his laid-back vision of his property.  It was quite a refreshing check-in and set a perfect tone for the next three days.

The most gorgeous beaches

Honestly I was blown away by our rooms.  They were huge.  We had a main room with a king bed, couch, desk and a twin against a wall.  Connecting to that was a very small room, but with plenty of room for a twin bed and a mini-fridge, then a bathroom the size of my master bedroom at home.  Check out that shower on the right corner of the picture - and it's open to the sky!  As with all of the rooms, the room opened up to a lovely view of the woods and lake below.

  

To Sophia's delight, the hotel has a resident pony, Ginger, and she just wanders about the grounds day and night.  She is super friendly (note from Nick:  do NOT let the kids walk right behind her, she will kick!) and immediately became best friend to my children.  How many hotels have you been to that have a pony as a housepet?  You might remember reading about Tuna the dog from our Cambodia trip...my kids sure do get attached to the hotel mascots!

The grounds also featured a small but perfectly adequate pool (I believe a larger one is in the future plans) and lounge chairs scattered throughout.  If you're looking for a beach resort, a path is situated alongside BP and is a quick two-minute walk.  Although the water was too rough to swim in, there is a rock pool nearby that we swam in (and spent a LOT of time examining crabs and shells). 

Our room was bottom floor on the right

The rock pool

One of the highlights was observing the turtle tracks each morning.  This particular beach is known for sea turtle nesting (seven different species nest here), which is really cool but has unfortunately led to some shady business practices.  Please do NOT pay the people at the Turtle Conservation Project next door to take you on a late night search.  From what we've been told, they do not have the turtles' best interest at heart.  

Another highlight of our stay was the food.  The breakfast menu was unchanging, but had enough variety to keep everyone happy.  Every day I looked forward to the basket of freshly baked croissants that welcomed us to our table, and being the creature of habit that I am, I had eggs and hash browns every day.  Some of the other choices were pancakes, crepes, banana-stuffed French toast and a traditional Sri Lankan breakfast.  Needless to say I left the table stuffed every morning.  And a shout out to the coffee - it sure beat my morning cup of homebrewed Folger's (and Starbucks for that matter).

Our nightly dinners were an event.  I could not wait each day to see what menu items awaited us.  And Nick, ever the most gracious host, makes it a part of his life to get to know each and every guest.  I just *cannot* say enough about Nick, his staff and the attention to detail that is obviously important to them.    (Note to families - kids need to be 8+)

But as we've experienced so many times before, it's the people who make the place so special.  Nick runs a tight ship, but has to be one of the most caring and respectful employers I have ever witnessed.  In his words and actions, it's obvious that he genuinely cares for the well-being of his staff.  And they have to be commended on their own right - they are top notch.

We asked Nick and our driver, Ruan, where to go for an excursion outside of the resort, and we decided on Mulkirigala Buddhist Rock Temple.  It was just great - very few tourists, seven caves, lots of steps and amazing artwork.  Our guide, Vijay, was just amazing - he was a wealth of information and seemed to really want to educate us on his country.  He had previously worked in the office rat race like most of us, and quit his job to live a more peaceful life...the rest of us have gained something from his decision!  We climbed, we learned and we paid a small fee to all get a Buddhist blessing.  I'll take all the help I can get :-)

Looks higher than it really is...but still!

Amazing paintings!

Vijay, Sophia and Cooper

Sophia getting a blessing

The summit at the temple - just unbelievable!

Sophia purchasing bananas at the entrance

On the way from Rekawa to the airport, Ruan stopped at the Tsunami Memorial.  It still amazes me that most people just think of Phuket, Thailand when reminded of the 2004 tsunami. Indonesia was hit the hardest, but Sri Lanka also suffered tragic casualties.  This particular memorial was for a train disaster, killing 1,700 people drowned in the tsunami.  It is hard to describe the feeling when you talk to the locals about the event.  In the United States, we go crazy when minor tragedies or disasters happen (As we should...a life is a life) but we cannot comprehend the loss of life that other countries have sustained in comparison.

All in all, I have to say this was one of my favorite trips.  Negatives - it takes forever to drive anywhere in Sri Lanka.  Positives - everything else.  The recent civil wars only ended for good about five years ago, and this amazing country can use all the tourists it can get.  Do yourself a favor and visit this lovely place, and tell Nick Buckingham I sent you!