(Updated Sep 2010)
Judging a hotel by how you get to it is like judging a book by its cover. The drive to World's End Lodge, Lower Ohiya (drive on the A4 past Belihuloya and turn right at Kalupahana Junction and keep going up, up and up) was excruciating. When we turned off from the A4, we saw some lights, high up and far in the distance, and joked that that was where we were going. When we got to the hotel, we felt like a couple of jokers: that was where we were. The last bit of the climb is a series of hair pin bends with signs painted on rocks urging you forward "just a hop skip and a jump," etc.
We walked out of the car around midnight - we left at 7pm - and our minds were blown. There is no light pollution and you're high up on a mountain: the stars are clearly visible, seemingly just out of reach. For me, it was as if I was really seeing our night skies for the first time, so clear were they. Another sign of how high this was - even inside the room, you can hear the wind whistling and swirling around angrily, banging at the windows.
