Shanthi Guest House

The location was handy, about a five-minute walk from Narigama beach, with supermarkets and a fruit shop nearby. There were lots of shelves in the room, and the water was hot. But the room itself was dark and dirty. When I raised it with the owner, he said I could order a cleaning service. I expected a clean room on arrival. The shared kitchen for four rooms was extremely dirty and felt unsanitary to eat in. There was only one spoon, fork and knife for everyone, so I had to wait for another guest to finish before I could use the fork. The bed was uncomfortable, and the sheets smelled damp, as if they’d been stored in a wet basement for years. The bathroom was old and dirty, and the mirror was so grimy I could barely see myself. Mosquito netting on the windows had holes, so opening them wasn’t a good idea. The net over the bed was dusty and dirty enough that I didn’t want to untie it. Traffic on the nearby road was very loud from early morning. The owners weren’t pleasant. No one helped with my suitcase when I arrived. After seeing the condition of the place, I decided to change my booking and asked whether I should modify or cancel it, since either seemed possible on the first night. The owner advised me to modify it. I did that through booking, but the hostel rejected the request. Before I left the next morning, the owner demanded extra money, saying I should have cancelled instead of modifying, even though I’d followed his advice. He and his father shouted at me in a threatening way until I said I would call the tourist police. I wouldn’t recommend staying here, even for a night. You can find somewhere better for that money.