We talked at home yesterday, everyone is fine. And it looks like it’s raining, Pinnawala – Pinnawala, but the weather cleared up. That is, it rained less in the morning tea, our hosts give us socio-economic information about a family trip to Sri Lanka. There is mandatory Pinwala national insurance for budgets only. Private individuals pay 12%, employees 8% of the salary, and the amount is deposited in an investment bank. When the employee retires he gets his money back at once. Retirement age for men: 55 years, women 50 years. who worked in a hotel retired with the money he received bought a car in which he accepts tourists on optional trips. With the tax system they stay better They stay better than us, they pay 5% in advance and regulate the flat rate according to the turnover and you have to pay the government tax (VAT) because it is currently 10%, but has increased continuously in recent years. . Today is Elephant Day in the Kandy area there are factories where you can go and see the elephants on the loose, maybe even take a walk Pinnawala.
We ask how much it costs us to tour there, we hear a scared amount again, so we go back to the clock tower market to negotiate. On our way to the train station, we think that maybe a family trip to Sri Lanka today we can handle the tickets for these. Until the station where we see a prison, it was the day of the visits so we saw a tail of several hundred meters and we are just the thought inside. In Sri Lanka, as in Indonesia and Malaysia, drug trafficking is punishable by death. At the station we find the same answer – a short “no”. We are asking for a train Pinnawala (where the elephant farms are located) and even leave one in contemporary art.
Twenty minutes we take tickets 140 Rp-1.20 USD and go to the platform. Now following the lesson on the train in Sri Lanka – almost impossible for the European if it does not climb from the starting station. Most trains only have 2nd and 3rd class, which means the conditions for traveling on the seat are holding onto a hard chair, standing on the corridor or hanging from the train. , what to say about luggage, there is no place for it. You have to buy a ticket for them as well of course everything is topped off by an amazingly small price for the trip. We were able to clarify that the train and the bus can only be used in limited cases, and that we must rent a “van” with a driver for the following destinations. We left the station and returned to the clock tower, Here we take the driver who for 3000 rupees takes us to the elephant orphanage where we see elephants in all their situations: washing in the river by (elephant trainer) or tourists, working, riding with the tourists on horses.
Everywhere, every good waiter draws your attention to give a tip, this is the most disturbing thing, after the entrance ticket is a huge 2000 rupees/person (18 USD) for a 15-minute tour. The entrance price for foreigners is different from that of residents. Anyway it’s fun to see elephants, Sri Lankan ones are darker than those in the Asian continent because they are more grey. They are the locals who took over the puppies from birth, take care of them and train them.