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Ciao Bella Sri Lanka

February 2022 - April 2024
We are going to visit Robin's dad! He has been living in Sri Lanka since 2019 and has started a concept Ciao Bella with cabanas, hotel, bar and restaurant. Enjoy our adventures :) Read more
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  • TravelerCiao Bella Sri Lanka
    Day 1

    Day 1 - On our way to Sri Lanka

    February 16, 2022 in Poland ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    Hi everybody!
    This way you can follow our adventures in Sri Lanka. We will provide daily updates on where we are, what we've been through and share some photos. Enjoy reading!

    On Wednesday February 16, our whole adventure started, at 19:00 we closed the door of our apartment in Den Bosch. Left in good hands because two friends of ours take good care of our house and the plants when we are gone! (Robin will miss her plant babys)
    Went the train, got all 3 suitcases and 2 backpacks on board and on the way to Schiphol Airport. From there to a hotel nearby to spend a short night because Thursday 17 February it really starts! But not before we have eaten a delicious last Bossche bol in our hotel room, we will secretly miss it from our neighbor patisserie. Quick sleep, alarm goes off at 4:15 am.
    Wakey wakey! Bus to Schiphol and then hand in our suitcase and check in. All data checked, visa, health certificate, all the paper work and we can go on. Despite the fact that the suitcase is 4 kilos too heavy, hihi, she condones it.
    We go to withdraw some money behind customs and wait at the gate until we can board.

    On the plane to Warsau we fill in a locator form and try to get some sleep. Once in Warsau, where we have a 7 hour layover, we decide to put the suitcases in a locker and go to town! Why wait for the AirPort when you can explore a nice new city?

    We take the bus for €1, forget to check in, oops, so we'll get the same ticket back later, and we get off in the center!
    What a nice city Warsau is, lots of beautiful architecture and delicious restaurants. We have a delicious coffee with a large piece of Pavlova, super tasty! After this we walk a long way, nice to exercise after that flight. We walk to a park where you can view the Tomb of the unknown Soldier and to Old Town Market Square. Really nice! There we find a nice crystal shop where we bought beautiful stones for our house back in the Netherlands. After this we walk back where we started because we saw that we could eat a haloumi burger at a nice tent, we also took vega shawarma wrap, delicious!!!

    The bus back was a success, missed bus, got on the wrong bus, lolllll but we did catch the plane! Totally great, we are on the plane and finally we really leave for Colombo :)

    Will be continued!

    Ciao ciao xxx
    Robin & Carlotte    Read more

  • TravelerCiao Bella Sri Lanka
    Day 3

    Day 2 - Explore Ciao Bella

    February 18, 2022 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    The flight to Colombo was long, noisy with drunk people but we had fun watching movies, painting nails and playing games. Like we always do at home hihihi. Also we try to sleep little bit but were so many noisy people in the aisles that it made it inconvenient.

    When we landed, got our suitcase and had documents checked, Sajith (manager of Ciao Bella and good friend of Robin's dad) picked us up. 2 hours drive to Kabalana, where Ciao Bella's hotel is located. In the meantime we stop in Unawatuna for a Srilakan delicacy: the eggrol. After this finally to Robin's daddy!

    We look at his place in Habaraduwa where Ciao Bella started. It's not quite finished yet, but it's definitely a start, this will be a beautiful paradise with a pizza restaurant. Edward is super happy to see us and takes us in the tuk-tuk to Ciao Bella Kabalana.

    Looooove it here! Really nicely made and set up, the hotel is a bit old so still plenty of work for us to do :)))))
    Dad glad we're here so we can tackle a lot of work. We plan what we all want to do with marketing, team bonding, the restaurant menu, the new idea to open a shop, the hotel rooms, take pictures for the website and so on!

    We have dinner at a pizza restaurant on Matara Road, very tasty because we were quite hungry, and then go home quickly because mosquitoes are coming. We are very tired from the journey and the jetleg. Shower and go to bed!

    Ciao ciaooooo xxx
    Robin & Carlotte    Read more

  • TravelerCiao Bella Sri Lanka
    Day 4

    Day 3 - Shopping & visiting locals

    February 19, 2022 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Woooooow 14 hours later, we slept well yall haha. It was a long, warm night. No air conditioning, noisy neighbours, but we were so tired we slept for a long time.
    The day started with a delicious smoothie at Ciao Bella Kabalana, made by Sajith. Furthermore, the day was all about shopping, visiting locals and brainstorming. Together with Edward we first went to Omani and her parents (family of Sajith). What a lovely family, super hospitable! They showed us the garden, the kitchen, how they make their own herbs and vegetables, and made delicious tea for us.

    After this we went shopping for Ciao Bella, in a town Galle. Busy on the road with all the tuk-tuks, people have their own rules, but everyone gives each other space.
    We did some shopping for banana bread that we are going to make to sell, made appointments for Ciao Bella stamps, got inspiration for fabric to make pillows and clothes for a small shop, made an appointment for handmade fans, it's going to be fun!

    In the meantime, we had a quick lunch at The Dutch Fort in Galle and on the way back we bought yummy coconut cookies.

    Dropped everything at the hotel and drove back to Omani and her parents house, because they invited us to come and eat fresh curry! Specially made for us, and not spicy! Because our Robje doesn't like that. It tasted amazing I can tell you. With Omani’s favorite icecream as desert, butterscotch flavor.

    While shopping today and now eating the home made currry we also came up with a great idea, we asked Omani, her mother and grandmother to prepare curry spices so that we can sell them in our Ciao Bella shop. 10 times 50 grams of herbs, they really liked the idea! So the shop will be full of locally made and prepared things. This way the local people also benefit from the shop :)

    Now back at Kabalana we are chatting for a while with papa, Sajith and Robje. Happy day as Edward would say!

     Ciao ciao xxxxxxxxxx    Read more

  • TravelerCiao Bella Sri Lanka
    Day 5

    Day 4 - So many ideas!!!

    February 20, 2022 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Gooooooodmorning!
    We slept very well in our new room WITH air conditioning, which is nice to wake up to hihi.

    In the morning we tried the first new recipes for the new menu together with the cook of Ciao Bella. We want to add some more freshly baked products and snacks so that everything is even healthier and tastier. Also easy to take something with you as a takeaway and therefore sell it. We started with Banana Bread, our own unique recipe and yes it is really delicious. Today's guests all tasted a piece and loved it! Many compliments :)
    After this we made Home Made Granola, very easy to make yourself and super fresh for the smoothie bowls that are already very tasty on their own. A delicious healthy addition! The cook did a very good job, he really likes to learn new things.

    When we finished the new recipes for today we cleaned everything, prepared a room for a new guest and enjoyed a delicious smoothie bowl ourselves. A fresh smoothie bowl every day is really not a punishment, yummy.
    After lunch we worked on the laptop, me for Eventure and Robje for the new Ciao Bella menu. In between also made nice content photos for Ciao Bella's instagram, we had a lot of people who came by today!

    A few weeks earlier, before we went to Sri Lanka we had contact with a Russian girl who was a guest at Ciao Bella and who is good at designing and drawing, we started a collaboration and asked her to design postcards. We have designed a beautiful collection of 7 postcards that we will sell here in our Ciao Bella shop. We are going to display this in a nice photo frame, this will follow later, work in progress ;)

    The day is coming to an end and after a nice day of work, we took a lovely walk on the beach of Habaraduwa, watched the sunset (my favorite activity in beautiful warm countries) and then had a delicious dinner at The Hangout in Unawatuna. What a cute little town. Soon we will visit a sweet gentleman there who makes handmade jewelry, because we also want to add a nice jewelry line to our Ciao Bella shop. So many ideas! Lots of exciting things to do. Now sleep.

    Sleep well everyone, have a nice day at the other side of the world.

    Ciao ciaooooo xxxx
    Robin & Carlotte    Read more

  • TravelerCiao Bella Sri Lanka
    Day 7

    Day 5 - Galle, police & turtles

    February 22, 2022 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We woke up early today, for a new project of course. Yesterday you could see that Robje was painting the wall white, today Ksusha (the Russian girl from the postcards) came by to make a beautiful mural on it. With lyrics from one of Edward's favorite songs at the moment: Rise in the world of the unknown. Perfect for the entire concept of Ciao Bella. She also drew the Sri Lankan flower, the end result turned out beautiful!

    The postcards are also a great success. We gave them a place when entering the bar, to see if they like it with the guests! We also cleaned the top floor of the hotel in the morning, did rooms, swept and mopped floors, stairs, downstairs prepared two rooms for new guests, left a sweet card with flowers on the beds. The hotel looks like new again ;)

    Robje made delicious French toast for lunch and we enjoy a homemade passion soda made by bartender Ashen.
    After lunch we hop in the tuk-tuk to Galle with Edward. We see a nice fabric shop, Robje and I go inside and BAM, we hear a bang. Its Edward with the wheel of the tuk-tuk in the gutter. Luckily, the locals immediately came to help. So sweet. No one hurt themselves luckily, we keep going!

    Stopped for a delicious smoothie and we're in Galle. What a chill day today, we really get a lot of work done. Picked up a beautiful handmade fan made by locals and ordered more for the Ciao Bella shop (will show you all very soon), went to a print shop to make Ciao Bella stamps and order staff shirts, now get the last things and we're going. Really amazing to work together on this concept with Robin and her dad, we are busy with the branding and marketing for Ciao Bella Sri Lanka and its really coming together!
    Once arrived at the last stop, this looks like paradise of nice fabrics for new pillows, clothes, etc. We looked for a shop like this for few days now. Robin is in heaven, the man asks ‘how many meters you want?’ She says very enthusiastically but also dead serious 'I want it allllllll', you should have seen that man's face.

    Once back in the tuk tuk stop for a coffee and an eggroll. A police officer came to stop us. He starts a whole story we don’t really understand and we decide to let him call Sajith the manager, because he speaks the language well. The police officer gives back the phone, Sajith says we have to pay 5000 rupees to get through. Well, we definitely don't agree with that, because we're not doing anything wrong! Edward and Robin get out of the tuk-tuk and give Sajith a phone call, meanwhile I talk to the policeman. I tell him about Ciao Bella and Edward's story. The police say 'you very beautiful' to which I say 'thank you for the compliment but we are not paying the money'. He smiles and says 'okay, go home'. Edward happy, Robin happy, Carlo happy, policeman happy. Happy days.

    Next stop was the fish market, Edward gets to taste a fresh oyster, yummy (Robin and I passed very kindly). There was a beautiful sunset in the background :)

    After this to Dreams Cabana, nice nice place to drink some cocktails and eat homemade curries. We're lucky because a man suddenly shouts 'come, look! Look’ We get up and see a turtle crawling on the beach. The man says we have to wait a bit, are not allowed to go there and we wait about 20 minutes. After this we go to the turtle, it was nice to see, such a special experience, the turtle was laying eggs! The man says that a turtle can lay about 150 to 200 eggs, which is crazy. The locals take the eggs with them to protect them and put them in a safe place so that the turtles can grow well so that they can return to the sea safely and strong. This was amazing to see, really special.

    We go home to Kabalana and Robin and I chat along with Lea and Sarah, two ladies from Germany. Sarah is here for a break and owns her own Jewelery brand. Leah’s already traveling around the world for 2 years!! Even during this corona pandemic, very cool to hear. We talk about our travel experiences, what we have learned from it and talk about women's rights in different countries and the differences between rich and poor. Inspiring and beautiful stories, nice to end the day with.

    I hope that we will have many more days like this, and also meet more inspiring people like them! We are so lucky to be here and live life this way. Very grateful.

     Sleep well now!

     Ciao ciao xxx    Read more

  • TravelerCiao Bella Sri Lanka
    Day 7

    Day 6 - Omani, tuk-tuk, get creative

    February 22, 2022 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Good morning all,
    The sun is shining here, music is on, guests are happy. It is a beautiful day! We take it easy in the morning and chat with the staff and guests.

    We visit Omani and her parents and they show us how far they have come with the curry herbs. All ingredients have been picked and now drying, this takes a whole day. They then grate each ingredient by hand so that it gets into a powder form. It takes about 5 days to make the herbs, it's really amazing to see them having so much fun doing it! We get a cup of tea, they give us a gift of handmade bracelets and after that we continue to Unawatuna.

    We eat lunch at a place called SkinnyTom's. We order a delicious egg hopper with salmon and spinach AND oh my god they have halloumi cheese! Robin is very happy, we take a poached egg with halloumi on top and for dessert a raw chocolate bar. We get some inspiration for Ciao Bella and have a good brainstorming session. Lunch was really super tasty!

    Now hop in the tuk-tuk, and again to Galle. We had Ciao Bella logo stickers made to use in the shop and decided to have shirts and caps printed for the employees. This way it looks professional every day and it is recognizable who is working. The shirts will be ready in about a week, to be continued ;)

    We stop for our favorite snack the eggrol, see our friend the policeman again from yesterday and drive to a last stop. Edward jumps out of them tuk-tuk and Robin and I stay behind. We are on a little hill and I joke 'is the handbrake on?' Behind us a busy street full of traffic. We laugh and the tuk-tuk drives very slowly backwards. We scream and shout 'help' hahahaha, locals come to help immediately and Edward runs to us. Everything went well luckily, we laugh about it with locals. Happy day.

    Now we are ready and we drive to Habaraduwa, we go to Minidu and Vishmi, dear neighbor children of Edward's home. We brought some fabric that we bought in the store because their mother can make beautiful cushions from this fabric. This will be ready in 3 days! We also ask if she can make clothes, but she recommends a man a little further into the village. We walk in that direction with the kids and explain our idea to the man. He really likes it and we order 15 tops from him. Tomorrow we are going to buy fabric and deliver it to the man, curious about the result! They will be one size tops for the Ciao Bella shop. Robin and I are so so excited about this part, we really think it's great to be creative and to be able to really implement everything in this way. Also to involve the locals and give them nice work so they can earn some extra money.

    We go back to Ciao Bella Kabalana and have a team meeting with Sajith and Ashen. Discuss some ideas, brainstorm about the menu, the terrace, reflect on some situations and then play UNO and listen with interest to Ashen's life stories. Very interesting what he tells about his childhood, his relationship with his family, work experience and about crime in the country.

    Perfect day in paradise, tomorrow is a new day. We’re going to close for a day and work together with the entire team to make Ciao Bella even more fun and beautiful.

    Sleep tight!
    Ciao ciaooooooooo    Read more

  • TravelerCiao Bella Sri Lanka
    Day 8

    Day 7 - Shopping for fabrics in Galle

    February 23, 2022 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Team day! Today Omani and her friend Dulsha came by. Together with them we have done many painting assignments, vases for cutlery, flower pots, walls, toilet signs. It was super fun, they also enjoyed a nice cappuccino with our homemade bananabread. Robin got to work with Sajith and Ashen, Ciao Bella's new menu is going to be super tasty. The boys are going groceries shopping and tomorrow we are going to learn all the dishes to the cook and taste with the team in order to serve the very best to the guests.

    Together with Lea, the German lady who has been traveling for 24 months, we laughed a lot today. Some things we can't tell, but definitely things to remember. Tomorrow we go for breakfast together at a nice place she wants to show us.

    After this we go with Edward to Galle. Now really almost for the last time hahaha, but Galle simply has the best shops! We go to the fabric store and we buy really beautiful fabric to make clothes. Tonight we take the fabric to the tailor.

    On the wat back home we stop at Shack just outside Galle, this beach tent that has been there for 7 years, owner is a Dutchman! We also meet a man who has been living in Sri Lanka for 17 years, nice to hear what he has already set up here the past years. The food is super tasty, we order tuna sashimi for only €5 wow, pasta gorgonzola and of course a quatro formaggi without tomato sauce. For dessert brownie and pudding, nice and tasty!

    Now we go back to Habaraduwa, visiting Vishmi, Minidu, Sanduni and their mother. They teach us some words in Singala (එෙනාප), which is a difficult but beautiful language. Mama has already finished some pillowcases from the fabric we bought, really very nice. After this we go to the tailor with the other fabric bought today. Robin has problems with her ankle so dear Minidu takes Robje on a bike, what a gentlemen. We show the fabric to the man, he is completely happy. He really likes it and we are really curious how the result will be. Hes making 15 tops and 3 dresses for us, all one size so that everyone can buy and wear them. Monday we pick up the clothes!

    Now go to sleep.
    Ciaoooo :)    Read more

  • TravelerCiao Bella Sri Lanka
    Day 9

    Day 8 - Pain, new menu & thunder

    February 24, 2022 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Time flies when you’re having fun. We have been in Sri Lanka for a week already, and we have already done so many beautiful things. Today we really take it easy, Robin has been having a lot of trouble with her foot since yesterday so we decide not to do too much.

    In the morning we go for breakfast with Lea, at an incredibly nice place: Two Sisters. A few years ago, these two sisters moved from Turkey and started this place, you can have a delicious full Turkish breakfast here with homemade bagels, cheese, jam, baba ganoush, etc. After this Robin and I go to Robbert, a Dutch man we met at Ciao Bella. He is a physiotherapist and we asked him to take a look at Robin's foot. After a few minutes of searching for his place in the tuktuk we find the Vila where Robbert is staying, what a pearl, what a paradise. He gives Robin tape on her foot and go back home again.

    Because the government is saving electricity in the country, parts of the country have no electricity at certain times. This is also known as load shedding. This also happened when I was living in South Africa back in 2019. We enjoy ourselves with games and paint our nails. We give Robin's foot some rest today. We are also already making travel plans, because we are not only staying in the south at Kabalana, but at the beginning of March we will head inland to visit some beautiful places there.

    When the power is back on, we start new dishes together with the cook, we teach him chia pudding, banana pancakes and buddha bowls. The new menu is going to be yummy.

    The weather changes and we get heavy rain with thunder and lightning. We decide not to leave tonight, we were supposed to have dinner with Omani and her friend, but we text them that we are sorry and move dinnerplans to tomorrow. Preferably no tuk tuk ride in this weather.

    Sajith massages Robin's foot with a kind of herbal ritual and then we go to bed. Tomorrow another day of taking it easy, we take the bus to a beautiful beach and will have breakfast and lunch at Shady Lane in Marissa. During the weekend we are needed again in the service and the kitchen at Ciao Bella because the cook is then two days off.

    Also Omani lets us know the curry and cinnamon powders are ready. It looks so good! We will pick it up later this week and next Wednesday we will start building the shop so it can open on Thursday :)

    We are going to dream now, ciaooooo! X    Read more

  • TravelerCiao Bella Sri Lanka
    Day 11

    Day 9 - Mirissa, massage, dinner locals

    February 26, 2022 in Sri Lanka ⋅ 🌧 27 °C

    Today we go out together, for the first time since we've been here. Enjoying Sri Lanka together like a tourist. Robin takes me by bus to Marissa. The bus is full of locals and not one tourist. While it’s super easy to travel by bus AND super cheap. Our half hour ride to Marissa only costs about €0.06 cents. Bizarre right? The bus drivers here think they are God and they drive like idiots, the buses are decorated with photos, texts, loud music, again a nice experience.

    Once in Marissa we go to Shady Lane. We have a delicious breakfast here, they also have little shop in the restaurant. Kind of a best practice for Ciao Bella actually. People are literally queuing up to eat here, we get a lot of inspiration! We have a chai pudding, smoothie bowl, coconut latte and a chocolate cake. All super tasty. We enjoy this while playing our games.

    After this we walk for a while on the beach of Marissa and then decide to take the bus to Unawatuna. In Unawatuna we take a massage. Oh my god, how amazing this was. For only €15 a full body massage, it is really wonderful and relaxing. We are going to do this more often, 100%, we are completely zen now haha.

    We take the bus to Habaraduwa to Robin's father. He says he's taking us all out to dinner, including the neighbor kids, he's taking us to Shack in Galle. Awesome! The children are very excited. We go home, get ready and take 4 tuk-tuks to Galle. Special moments because the kids don't often visit a restaurant and the beach. We order pasta and pizzas and Edward shows the kids best way to eat pizza. We take pictures on the beach and drink chocolate smoothies. They absolutely loved it. Amazing kids.

    We bring them home after this. They show their houses, meet their parents, show pictures of the past. Had a great evening with these super nice people.

    Now a weekend working at Ciao Bella in the restaurant. Hope you dutchies enjoy the carnaval hihihihi.

    X Ciao ciao    Read more

  • TravelerCiao Bella Sri Lanka
    Day 13

    Beach, birthday Dulsha, Centipede

    February 28, 2022 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Hi allllll!
    Sorry about the radio silent. We've done a lot in the past few days so thats the reason I didn’t keep track of our travels as good as I did in the beginning. But I can tell you, we could write a whole book about our experiences here.

    From temples to beautiful beaches and from Dulsha's traditional birthday to 4 hours by car to Ella and then a 4 hours travel in an overfull train to Kandy.

    We took it easy for a few days and really enjoyed life in Sri Lanka. Walked along beaches with Maxi where we found shells from which we are going to have jewelry made. We found a lovely chill spot with tasty mushroom quesadillas and stayed here for about the whole afternoon enjoying fresh juices and the sun. We swim with Maxi and played games. Really relaxing, we need that.

    In the evening we take Omani and Dulsha to a delicious pizza restaurant in Unawatuna! But not before we celebrated her birthday with cake at her home with her family. It is tradition here that everyone eats a small bite of cake from the birthday girl’s hand. Special to experience. Robin & I give Dulsha beautiful earrings as a gift and she absolutely loves them. Her first birthday present from foreigners, she thinks it's all very special and is very grateful. The earrings were heartshaped and we told her its a gift from our hearts. Whole dinner we have nice conversations with the girls about their dreams and rights. Omani really wants to travel to Europe and maybe live there, Dulsha likes to travel but wouldn't want to leave Sri Lanka. We learn about their culture and compare our lives. Very nice evening, one to remember.

    When we get home there is a big scary beast waiting for us in the outdoor shower in Habaraduwa. EW. This beast, according to Minidu a tree centipede, it’s really dangerous. Edward helps us and kills the beast, we can shower safely again. After checking the whole room we can go to sleep in peace. But it is not a restful night because the monkeys on our roof keep us awake, crazy animals.

     The next day we go to Galle with Minidu :) to be continued.

    Ciao!    Read more

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