|
| Ulpotha village - two-week Yoga holidays | Embogama, Sri Lanka.
| | Dates: November 2009 - March 2010 / June to August 2010 | Cost: USD 1250 per person per week.
Christmas and New Year: USD 1500 per person per week
|  E-mail  Web site
| Being in an unsurpassingly beautiful and peaceful setting, Ulpotha is the ideal venue for practicing Yoga in the relaxed manner unique to this wonderful spot. Here Yoga can be appreciated for what it is meant to be, a means to seemingly effortlessly find peace and a meditative inner calm without any of the dogma that can so often get in the way of the best of intentions.
The property is a beautiful private hideaway open to guests for part of the year; a place of total peace, where you can experience the warm, generous and gentle hospitality Sri Lankans love to offer. In this sense, Ulpotha is not a Yoga Retreat or a hotel and does not aspire to be either.
This oasis of tranquility is a traditional working village cradled on one side by low mountains and a lotus ringed lake, and on the other by emerald green paddy fields. The bio-diversity of Ulpotha is extraordinary, with flora, fauna and bird life of dazzling variety. Animal life is equally varied, with even wild (but gentle) elephants visiting from time to time.
Guests who come to Ulpotha will find a natural sanctuary of exceptional beauty, where the main activity is simply relaxing in its remarkable atmosphere of peace and calm while indulging in feasts of exquisite organic cuisine. Alternatively, there are many intriguing sites of cultural interest to visit in the immediate vicinity, many of which are completely off the usual tourist-beaten path.
For those who wish to couple their Yoga with something other than the above, there are a number of Ayurveda therapies available, all of which are administered by Ulpotha’s acclaimed resident doctor. The revenues generated by the therapies that are administered to Ulpotha’s visiting guests help subsidize the free Ayurveda Clinic run for the benefit of surrounding villages.
| Accommodation
At the centre of the village is the Walauwwa, the traditional main house now restored around a central stone courtyeard with an ancient well. The adjoining Ambalama, an open sided pavilion, provides a covered sitting area with mats, cushions, and beautiful views towards the surrounding hills and which is where meals are served. Accommodation is provided in exquisitely but simply detailed wattle and daub huts. These are built using traditional methods and materials, and consist of open sleeping/living areas covered with a pitched roof of thatched palm fronds. Each accommodates two people.
Much use has been made of clay, stone, wood, pottery and fabrics which reflect traditional village aesthetics. By design there is no electricity and life is lived by the rhythm of the day.
Though the loos [toilets] are modern and clean and the showers are open-air, they are not en-suite in keeping with traditional village practice.
Though there is no electricity, light is provided by flares, lamps and lanterns, lending Ulpotha an ethereal quality at night. Similarly there are no fridges either, since they were deemed by one of the founders of Ulpotha as little more than a means of eating un-fresh food.
| Flight and Travel Details
Flights not included. Please contact us for info on flight booking from the UK.
Transfers from the airport are approx USD 100 each way per vehicle of up to 4 persons which is paid directly to the driver in Rupees.
Apart from the abovementioned airport transfers and Ayurvedic treaments which may be booked in advance, additional massages at USD 50 each, everything is included in the cost of your holiday.
| Booking Details
For information and bookings please contact:
Sylvie Dusserre
Email: info@ulpotha.com (Preferred)
Tel: +44 (0)208 123 3603
Please be patient when calling the above number as the connection is routed through to us in Sri lanka at no extra charge to yourself. Sri Lanka is 5 1/2 hours ahead of GMT.
47 Galle Face Court 2, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka
Skype username: ulpothavillage
| Other Information
Meals
Local village life is based on a vegetarian tradition, with the staple diet centered on highly nutritious strains of red rice. Meals are cooked in clay pots over open fires and are produced from the organic crops grown in Ulpotha. Vegetables, yams and melons fill the gardens, along with mature banana, mango, papaya, jack and breadfruit trees.
All meals are cooked in the indigenous style featuring rice, curries, salads, buffalo curd, local savouries and sweets and, of course, fruits.
Activities
An open-air, teak-floor Yoga Shala - with bird song and gentle caressing breezes - provides an almost perfect venue for the practice of Yoga.
There is a treatment centre where one can have complete Ayurveda treatments administered by Ulpotha’s resident doctor.
In addition, one can go for walks in the mountains, swim in the lake, bird watch, have massages and herbal steam baths or go on excursions to some of the many intriguing cultural sites that surround Ulpotha. Alternatively, one can do what Ulpotha is most amenable to - relax and hang out in one of the many hammocks and hanging beds that dot Ulpotha.
| | |
Embogama,
Sri Lanka.
Ulpotha
Tel: +44 (0)208 123 3603
E-mail
Web site | | |
| | | |
|
   |
|
|
