Staying at Sri Lanka’s FANCIEST Colonial Hotel
today guys we are leaving Kandy and heading to Nuwara Eliya also known as Little England and we're going to be staying at a very famous hotel called The Grand Hotel which is a colonial building that was built 200 years ago by the British and believe it or not Karolina Queen Elizabeth II herself stayed at this hotel we're very excited to show you around the Grand Hotel and for tomorrow for Karolina's birthday we're going to be hopefully having he te in The Gardens of of the Grand Hotel and of course we're going to be giving you a tour of what is known as little England okay guys the train has arrived it was half an hour late and we're in the observation class which is at the front of the train may I have your attention please this is P raway station so this is the train guys at the front we have the observation Saloon a lot of the foreigners are going onto this one this green looking Carriage but uh oh hello and this is the sleeper rettes hi can I have a look inside like this okay thank you so very drastic difference I'm assuming to over here but we are at the back so I have no idea if we're going to actually yeah get on seems to be quite full yeah oh my God okay that's one yeah ah it's funny there we go everyone's waiting for us there we go thank you not sure there's any space it there everyone is having it seems backpacks the train has left now we're figuring out where to put our suitcases there is no space in the carriage so our man over here said we could put them here so rule number one of Sri Lanka do not travel with massive suitcases all right let's show you guys this observation Saloon so the door is open number this looks amazing think we can sit here yeah I think these are our seats hey massive windows it's really wow cool I love it that was definitely a chaotic start to this trip trying to get onto the train we were the last ones onto the train and finding a space for our suitcases was very difficult but we're finally on it's moving very slowly very very slowly and you've got these massive observation windows so you get a really beautiful view out the front and I think the train is around 3 hours 3 hour a little bit more yeah a little bit more than 3 hours so we're just getting comfortable the windows are actually opened yeah so there's a nice breeze coming in the chairs are quite nice you've got Victorian style um TR in front of us very very rtic yeah very vintage um and actually we were assigned seats that were like separate from each other and one of them seats was that one just over there so if we wanted to we could just go to the front but we kind of want to be sat down next to each other make sense [Music] did E like just like fall off the edge just by it's crazy and there was um there was a guy just sitting just next to us I saw like a Nescafe cup kind of just flow out the window so I was thinking oh maybe he's just getting rid of the uh liquid so I was like I'll give him the benefit of the doubt next minute a whole bag of rubbish just out the window and then I uh confronted him and I was just like why are you doing that and started knocking me and he's like do you want to Chuck this rubbish out of the window so yeah literally on the seat opposite me yeah and I was just like I can't believe this is such a beautiful place and you're doing that and then next minute there's a guy falling onto the tracks cuz he's looking at kolina uh I think he has a hat on yeah but like you know we're in the observation classes it's like first class equivalent so like there's no there's no kind of excuse for it so [Music] and we are finally off an hour and a half delay but the views were incredible need to see if the suitcases are still here yes hello hello oops uh where's my suitcase oh my God thank you we just got we put our suitcases here you're the new do uh can we go out there or this way this way okay a perfect okay this is like a premium exit there we go we're going uh to Grand Hotel okay how much to Grand Hotel be 18800 18,800 of w that's too much that's too much ah you think like 700 too too far okay we'll go upstairs and we'll we'll find out okay so it's okay it's okay no no pick me all right we got man trying to help with the suitcase pick me he said pck me works I wasn't expecting PickMe to work let me help kolina I have an in it's fine okay so he said 1,800 and he said PickMe is the same price I didn't think PickMe would be working here um so it's always best to compare the prices yeah let's do a little bit of bargaining I think but uh how much to Grand Hotel good price my friend yes give me 1,400 rupes 1,400 is too much how far is it 10 km 10 kilm so should we check pick me yes you should yeah what don't need say how much uh first guy said 1,800 second guy said 1,400 1300 so we got a lower one all right we're working out the prices now all right let's check Pig B it's uh 1,200 with a Tuk Tuk and 1,300 with a car how much with you sorry yes you give the 1, I say 1,400 close to the PickMe Price yes okay you're that's that's honest yes that's okay no problem no problem okay that's fine it's a similar to the PickMe price all right so this is the life of traveling with these suitcases talking about suitcases you might be wondering what are the suitcases we've been traveling around the world with these very vibrant very attention grabbing suitcases so these are from Level8 we've been using the Voyager series to travel to the lights of China South Korea Japan when it comes to Sri Lanka we recommend going for the 20inch suitcase the carry-on because it's just so much easier for if you're traveling by the trains um if you're going to be taking Tuk tuks then this is nice and compact for that but if you do have a private driver let's say you're on on a coach or you are having a private car then having a big suitcase like this can be great because you can just fit a lot more into it and there's also space for taking things back home now we got a 28inch suitcase we've got a 20inch suitcase this can come as a set and we really like the idea of having a set so that you have one suitcase for one purpose you're going to Long Haul you need more in your suitcase versus a kind of smaller one where you kind of just want to pack lightly and you just want the flexibility of having a carry-on when it comes to the features what we absolutely love about this suitcase is the grip it's a really nice wide grip it's very unique we've never really used suitcases with such a really great feeling grip to it and it kind of goes up and down to different levels just like that now the thing I really like about the 28 in and that's why I've gone for a 28inch is this grip so this grip is very useful when you're on your travels you're putting it through um security you're putting it um into the checking desk when you're checking in your luggage both of these suitcases have this security lock so you can keep the contents of your suitcases secure where these suitcases really kind of excel are the wheels so the wheels I think they're German made they're super robust so when we're on our travels me and Karolina LOVE to walk with our suitcases and so we have done a lot of mileage with these suitcases and one of the worries we had was what happens if if the wheel breaks uh because if the wheel breaks you essentially have to replace the suitcase and with Level8 Voyager suitcases we've been using them for a year and we haven't had to replace them because the wheels are super durable if you want to find out more information about Level8 suitcases we'll pop up a QR code on screen that you can scan or if you prefer you can go to the link in the description and there you can see not only the Voyager series which we highly recommend we've been using it for the past year absolutely love the suitcases but they also have a wide range of suitcases tailored to what your needs are as a traveler all right it was nice meeting you guys do you want to be on on the YouTube video yeah sure all right we met these guys it was Sunny and Mandy great people enjoy and congrats to them they just got married thank enjoy the rest of your honey all right thank you it was 1,400 okay this is good same as Pik me I happy yes honest man honest man thank you all right you you didn't want to say the high price because that is not good it's not good that's good you know sometimes when you arrive to a new place M uh you the taxi drivers say very big price wow and uh not honest but uh it's different here okay this is the situation inside so maybe you can put in this this can perfect thank you okay here we go guys bye guys take care I really like the temperature here it's a bit chilly oh yeah it's a lot more cooler M wow bit like back home in England yeah such beautiful views it says Edinburgh over there Edinburgh Street Edinburgh yeah like in Scotland yeah [Music] thank you so much all right I will help yep one second there you go my friends it's okay keep the change keep the okay thank you okay byebye byee all right we have made it guys to the Grand Hotel hello how are you hi wow very fancy inside here looks quite busy is this all checking do you think I think [Music] so thank you is it this way to check in Check in yes please okay thank you this is awesome good evening Grand thank [Music] you so that's how the in pool looks like oo it's a temporature control in the pool and that's how the cocktail looks like after you thank you so this is what you get for $211 per night here at the Grand Hotel yeah let me put the card in for the light so this is pretty much the first time we're actually seeing the room because we quickly had the bell boy put these Suites down here but already what I can see is that everything is so stylish like look at this wardrobe a nice kind of wooden wardrobe very retro yes hey this is quite nice yeah I really like the bed so the first thing I noticed is this carpet very kind of old school Decor in themed with the 200 years old hotel yeah same with these lamps like they're so elegant and stylish so we've got a bit of a chill out area over here now let's check out their tea so they are PR noting dma there's a quote on there from Lou youu the cups are quite nice okay dma tea okay so I was expecting more of a kind of let's say more premium tea selection or like a wi wider variety that's that's what I meant we the bottle of water as always yeah there's some Kettle I am a bit of a tea man so um when we were in candy we had a really beautiful tea box that they topped up every day and it was so good so compared to that I think that's just how we're comparing it so we've got um a nice big siiz bed that's nice to see and you can see all of this kind of wooden finish to everything kind of keeping in line with the old kind of feel of the hotel I like the touches as well here is like some sort of like the fireplace yeah old school fireplace very nice and actually I'm seeing that logo that was on the uh wardrobe as well I wonder if that's the Grand Hotel logo maybe and that's a coffee production in 1885 so interesting now do we have a view M I like the grounds of the hotel but the view it's just okay yeah there's a Tuk Tuk coming this way so it's a road and over here we have a golf course yeah I think that we're at the back of the hotel yeah it's not the best view but let's have a look we haven't actually seen the bathroom yet do we need some light oh no it's open oh okay actually the bathroom is quite elegant what I've noticed straight away is this nice little finish to the tiling these lamps look like kind of candles yeah all right okay I'm not a big fan of sh curtains but usually in older hotels they would have this uh standard shower head we're at the Grand Hotel so they've got their branding on things everything is super clean but it looks a bit like dat yeah and actually they've got this uh for the older people so I think actually a lot of the clientele here from our first impressions are much uh older than us but uh that's usually kind of how we like to do things we like to kind of do the we're kind of old at Soul yeah I think so like I actually really like the vibe here good morning guys we have woken up to a beautiful view this morning check this out so we've got the golf course the beautiful grass the trees the blue skies it literally looks like back home in England and talking about England the temperature is so much cooler here in Nuwara Eliya last night it was so much colder in the room it's like so different from what we've experienced in Sri Lanka because usually we're like sleeping with the AC on and we're waking up and we're cold we need a hot shower I've got my jumper we both got jumpers on and so it very much feels like the climate you can experience back home in England but we have one more thing to do happy birthday to you happy birthday to Karolina happy birthday to you it's my birthday today are you ready for breakfast yes let's go good morning morning sir breakfast yes sir awesome what's your room number H 2553 253 thank you up to you such a big call so this is the breakfast area good morning morning good morning two people yes oh wow o everyone's sitting outside it's quite nice the inside and outside would be great yes okay hello good morning morning good morning sir all right guys let's see what we can have at the breakfast area there is Egg Hoppers it looks like I love it these are Egg Hoppers beautiful good morning so this I think is like rice FL FL and coconut milk coconut milk so they're putting on these small but quite deep pans look at all the different colors of all the Egg Hoppers this is our favorite shilan snack yeah yes oh here he that Sizzle that's a Egg Hopper she does a "Benny Hopper" yes Ben Hopper is a cross between an Egg Benedict and an Egg Hopper wow okay we will go for yeah that sounds like a great idea but but it's bacon oh yeah that's okay we we eat bacon ooh so this is for the Benny Hopper so we got some bacon hollay sauce so the hollandaise sauce goes in there so egg hopper there's like black pepper inside of that as well ah this is uh some kind of uh like coconut s coconut sambar yeah beautiful and the delicious bacon yes holiday sauce goes on top wow beautiful this is a Benny this is a Benny Hopper okay play on eggs Benny I've never seen the thank you so much goody thank you wow look at that this looks awesome there you go for your birthday so chefs are making a Dosa right now getting the mixture spreading it over the grill pan making it really thin so milk rice ah milk rice this is what you wanted to try Karolina milk rice that's the price String Hoppers here yeah string Hopper this is a flavored one there are so many different colors we love that we're getting a tour with Chef we weren't expecting this it's not planned whatsoever and also in the this is a rice porridge rice porridge oh this is all night we are keeping in the fridge and we are serving chin it's C page and also some healthy drinks oh infused water oh that looks good cucumber watermelon detox bitter gold bitter gold that's healthy some people are asking for the sugar disas especially in South Asia bito is really um popular right it's also kind of herbal like a tea called te it's called ranaa ranaa is a kind of flower in the SRI Lan way there's so many things we need to try so we got the pastry section over here ah you're baking everything yeah wow so they're baking inside of here all of that and then everything here is fresh guys are you hungry look all this when you live in a an area like norelia we don't put our vegetables which grow in this part in our fridge unless we have a big event and uh you know we have a fruit and veg people if you need some Tomatoes you call the supplier they will bring it in a bicycle I've also noticed there's many different Honeys here you got bee honey cinnamon honey everyone is enjoying the the the swe section so we got some muffins Donuts so we've decided to dine outside because it's such a nice atmosphere and the temperature and we just plated everything oh oh my God was that a shot oh it's a noises okay for the crows yeah cuz the crows will come and eat all this food it's very quiet here so it was unexpected so we're outside in the gardens we've got a beautiful spread of food over here so we got some String Hoppers you got all the different multicolored string hoppers chicken curry potato Curry Dal and that's the coconut sambal we got some sushi now our favorites this is a butterfly pea egg Hopper and this is a benny then we've got the Benny so the eggs benedict play on the egg copper this is such an interesting fusion and I went for the plate of the milk rice with some Chutney and with some fish curry and some uh baked I think sweet potatoes look how beautiful is inside of here the colors on the roof with the light coming through the chandelier so this is where we checked in yesterday and it was completely covered with people but now it's so quiet and over here we have the Queen's Corridor you can see some of our notable guests so all over the walls here we have very famous people and here we have it the late Queen Elizabeth wow knowing that we are staying in a hotel where she once visited is just incredible you've got I've just notice Emperor Hirohito he was the longest reigning Japanese emperor and he actually reigned during World War II there's also Prince Phillip the late Prince Phillip and there's so many more because Tito Karolina he was the former leader of Yugoslavia and then this one says the Lord Mountbaton of Burma the vice Roy of India looking very Dapper wow it's also Yuri Gagarin the first man in space wow I didn't think he was staying here and look it's Carrie Fisher she was in Star Wars Karolina and there's President Nixon there's so many famous people very notary people and also Mahatma Gandhi stayed here they did not know that that is news to me this is just crazy that we're literally staying where all these people would have stayed in the past and look at this Sir Thomas Johnston Lipton he's the man who made Lipton tea and they're selling dma here I think this is a bond character I think so yeah sorry Roger GE more I think he was one of the old Bond characters and of course Kumar Sakara Sri Lanka cricket player wow this is just amazing all right there's so many people all over the walls so that brings us to the oldest part of the Hotel this is Sir Edward Barn's original bar when I say original the counter is the original from 18 1924 the seats the bottle racks in the background and we do have over there the original fireplace and also the ceiling that is all original yeah it brings this some sort of like the old charm I like it and over here we have the Billiards room these are the oldest billiards tables in Sri Lanka What A vibe inside of here yeah and all of them are covered because it's actually National Treasure even over here kolina have the ivory balls over 100 years old incredible there's an old clock as well here I can just hear it and over here we have I think it's a scoring board it is a scoring board so Steven and Sons Charing Cross London 1830 so this was built I'm I'm assuming this Billiard's room was built in 1830 and this is a scoring Way recording it yeah you can record the scoring you can just turn this knob over here there you go up to 100 I think yeah there you go wow this looks like Ivory over here I wonder what this is in the middle it's kind of like scratched out you can see all the different colors of the balls super interesting so we didn't quite have enough time to reflect on our experience taking the train from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya earlier yesterday because when we got off the train it was kind of chaotic there was taxi drivers Tuk tuk drivers wanting to offer their services and before you know it we just kind of ran out of time but my gosh that train journey was the most beautiful train journey that we've ever exper experienced in our lives and I wasn't quite expecting it when people said Sri Lanka is beautiful I didn't realize honestly how beautiful it is to the point where we're on the train journey and I'm seeing things that just kind of blew my mind away so the train was delayed like pretty much 2 hours but for 5 hours on that train it was worth it it we didn't even care that it was late because we were just surrounded by Beauty and also like the views along the way were changing like the scenery was just completely different so you could really like admire it while it's on the board because we were also in this Observatory carriage we had amazing views all around us and wow that was such a great introduction to Sri Lanka like we enjoyed Colombo candy was great but this change early really kind of so magical made us realize how beautiful the country is now unfortunately you might have heard in my conversation uh with this couple in front of us that there was a man next to us who was chucking rubbish out of the window so at first I thought he kind of spilled his coffee out the window I was like okay fair enough um but then I kept an eye on him because I saw him with a plastic bag and he chucked the plastic bag out and he looked proud of himself and I was shocked because when you see such sheer Beauty out there why would you ever never do that it really got me annoyed so I confronted him and he kind of like stuck his tongue out like like this um and kind of was like mocking me in a little way and then said do do we want to Chuck our rubbish out of his window um and throughout the journey at the end he I think he probably realized you know we were making a video and he started to become friendly and try to be friendly with us which I think made I think he realized he had done wrong and on the back of his shirt it said be the change that you want to see in others how ironic is that but hey that was just shocking to see um and also you might have heard in the conversation that a man fell onto the train tracks so what happened was is that he was walking along the train tracks and I heard that he was looking at you yeah so bad literally when I went first when he fell we were very concerned but when his friends picked him up he was fine the kind of having a bit of a joke they were even laughing and smiling so I was like he was just embarrassed yeah once we realized that and then I heard from the couple that it was because he was looking at karolina I found it kind of funny because it's Lally like another man falling for Karolina literally falling on the change house but he was fine but anyways guys what an introduction to Sri Lanka and I'm sure there is so much more to see from this country there's even a post office here in Nuwara Eliya we have a classic red letter box said it's made in Colombo 1929 so this is one of the oldest post offices in Sri Lanka it was built in 1894 and the first thing that captures my attention is the red brick it looks like something straight out of a British Town ah so it's working post office look at this this local letter box looks so like old a very retro P letter box so here's the Sri Lankan Layon on top that's the prehistoric lion and it's International letter box so I think you can s postcards oh nice so guys we came to the gardens because actually this is the part that I've been looking for to the most we are going to have High Tea served here so we've been served our scones here we go beautiful that looks amazing thank you so much did you want to quickly go through everything that would be great now this will be the mushroom pie and this is the Scottish egg and the outer layer is the beef and this one is a chicken and that one is a shrimp and here we have the chicken Scottish smoked salmon with the the Capers and the de oh this looks so delicious yeah and here is the egg sandwich and the cream cheese and the Cucumber sandwich and here is the red velvet this is my favorite layer yes and here is the lemon and this one is the fruit top and the other one is the opaki okay please enjoy thank you so much looks so delicious thank you thank you wow guys oh my God like to spend a birthday like this in such a beautiful surrounding with my favorite like afternoon or high tea like this is this is one of your favorite things about British culture I'm loving it exactly oh look at this this is like Sri Lankan milk tea yeah Yar Yar Yar tea so he's pulling the tea right now look at that wow wow this is like a oh you're not spilling this so froy says makes it really creamy yes look at that oh the smell coming off that that's insane you're a master my friend you're a master okay here's the Finish result still pulling it this is going to be super creamy look at that beautiful I cannot wait to try this beautiful Sri Lankan milk tea cheers Karolina cheers happy birthday you would love it oh I that's the best tea I've tried in Sri Lanka oh super milky and creamy and Rich tea flavor mhm and it's sweet oh that is delicious I could have multiple cups of that per day I just couldn't believe how he was pulling it what a master so karolina the test of a great afternoon tea is in its scone so we got a beautiful scone over here I think this is strawberry jam I don't think it's clotted cream I think this is more like whipping cream yes but for me it's always the cream first so that's the question is it cream first or Jam first I like it cream fres so first like a thick layer of cream and the jam and I'm actually a scone lover so like I'm leaving my dream now let's give it a go can't wait for the first bite [Music] mhm is it moist so fluffy inside there's a crust outside but it's so buttery like I've been missing this taste so much I'm loving life now okay karolina does not have any clue what's happening right behind you don't look hello should I stay here yes absolutely yes that that would be great there make a video right yes okay here go birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday to Karolina happy birthday to you thank you thank you so much I feel so now thank you so much and there's even like a candle I need to make a wish you had no idea right no oh my God this is so beautiful I need to make a wish the sunlight wow yes make a wish it is a new day here in Nuwara Eliya we've checked out of the Grand Hotel as you know it is quite pricey and we've checked into a place which is a bit more affordable but what we have here is an incredible view overlooking Nuwara Eliya wow and over there you can actually see the Grand Hotel and then what we did is we treed up the mountain on foot to this hotel and they're farming over here what a beautiful view and actually in the distance you can see a very nice view of Lake Gregory so we've checked into a place called Villa De Roshe it's around $50 per night and it's kind of like a Tudor theme to this hotel it's like kind of Timber framed you'll see quite a lot of that actually in noara IIA so the question is kolina is it worth staying at the Grand Hotel in my opinion it truly is because it's actually not just a hotel it's actually the Heritage Place and there's something so special about it it's a building steeped in history in colonial history so as you walk through the hotel and you explore all the rooms there's this really old school charm about the place and every room you go into to it's so elegant decorated yeah I absolutely love the decor we really loved our experience at the hotel one thing to mention when we arrived we were a little bit worried because a lot of groups turned up and there were so many people in the hotel just kind of everywhere and so we thought W is this going to be our experience and the check-in because of that was not super smooth it was quite chaotic it was quite chaotic that's why they sat us away from act the main reception area with all them kind of beautiful paintings but afterwards all of the people kind of did spread out and our highlight was the afternoon tea like it was so nice to have it in the gardens and so peaceful actually that was a highlight and like our last thing impression was that it was actually quite quiet the hotel throughout the day um and so um there wasn't that kind of chaos chaos we were mentioning um and so our Lasting Impression is that the hotel is beautiful there's so much history to it there's great breakfast there's great uh food on offer you know he is just the Highlight so for your birthday and so um and thing to point out as well uh it's not a criticism but the room the one at least the one we had was um like basic it was a little bit dated but that's what you expect from these kind of old school hotels um but if you are wanting to spend a lot more money you can get rooms and Suites up to like $1,000 there which are probably where the queen would have stayed herself crazy anyways guys we hope you enjoyed this video don't forget to subscribe and we'll see you guys in the next video
2025-03-25 02:23
