Yesterday, being Poya, the chairperson of the next SLAAPS project, Anjalika, decided to visit the Tree of Life where we intend having our residential seminar on the 1st 2nd and 3rd of July. Luckily for us, i.e. Margi and my wonderful tender self, she brought along her husband and son (as backup driver) in their pajero. The original plan had been to go down in an Intercity Bus and then use Trishaws for our running around. So that saved us a lot of hassle. Phew!
Acting as mom she had brought along toasties for breakfast, though we stopped at Pusellawa rest house for hot tea and sweets.
Our first stop was the Queens Hotel in Kandy. The hotel though a little shabby still maintains its old world charm. I liked the wooden polished floors, the huge windows tastefully curtained and the princess type wing backed chairs. The covers on the chairs were not in the best of repair, but the lines of the chairs are still beautiful with the huge table in the middle of the foyer holding an enormous urn of flowers. I like old hotels that are proud of their individuality and don’t rush out to give too much sumptuous plushness. It makes a refreshing change indeed.
The next stop was Salon Rosita to speak to the lady scheduled to do one of the lectures. Her salon proved to be a well equipped one, which made us wish we had more time to spend there!
Finally we made our way to the Tree of Life. At first glance it does not have a grand appearance. It is apparently and old estate bungalow converted into a hotel in a huge acreage of land including a tea plantation. Mr Paldano the General Manager met us and then gave us a tour of the hotel and its facilities.
The conference hall was large and well lit and immediately met with our approval. The tour of the rooms proved to be quite an experience indeed. Mr Paldano is quite the show man I think. He showed us several types of rooms and ended up with this magnificent suite where I immediately wanted to take up residence in!
Actually Margi and I had this steady stream of booking of rooms for every type, each one being better than the last we saw. They had several separate cottage type units too.
Anyone who wishes to book into the hotel, should definitely have a look at all their rooms before deciding. I presume there is an escalating price range, but explore you definitely should!
The views from most of the rooms is fabulous unless marred by the parking lot or entry way.
We also had a look at their Ayurvedic massage therapy rooms for which the hotel is famous. They had quaint little huts with massage beds and tubs for steeping in and finally, what looked like a coffin……. their steam treatment. That is defiantly one facility I intend to make use of!
We then sat down to lunch in the large dining hall. They had a good spread of Sri Lankan food and desserts. There was even karavila, del, mallung along with curried crab.
Finally, we reluctantly left the gracious hospitality of Mr Paldano of the Tree of Life to make our way back to Colombo, first stopping to buy fruit on the way. I’m sure all the participants of the seminar will love the hotel!
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