#40 Hello Madam

Mycelex-g cheap #40 Gecko (sign)# 40 Hello Madam is (now) located between #39Hillton and #42Deens.
This actually represents the third location in as many years of this particular ‘Madam’, who is actually known as Liz, or Elisabeth.

Liz came from the UK, stayed at #01 Stardust, fell in Love with the Bay and #01 employee Ramesh. They soon married and they are now blessed with a baby son, born 2006.

In order to live and work locally the couple decided to run a small business. The first chosen location, Hello Madam Mk.1, was at the bridge end of town. The small shop only opened briefly in December 2004, selling textiles, T-shirts and so on. But only for a day or so……

Mk.2 “Hello Madam” was a colorful shop opposite #50 Siam View and in addition to fabrics handicrafts and home made ice creams were on offer.
Living on one end of town, right next to the loud mosk and in rented accommodation and running a shop at the other proved to be difficult.
A rare opportunity arose in 2005 when the Aussie/UK Robbo/Peter/Linden consortium put their plot of land onto the market.
Smart Liz grabbed the chance and for the first time the happy family obtained their own premises.

#40 Gecko (establishment)

Zyprexa eating disorders #40 Hello Madam is predicted to be Arugam Bay’s rising star in years to come.
Why?
Because the entire concept is brilliant and can’t fail:
A innovative shop selling everything tourists are looking for on vacation, a nice beach side restaurant named “Gecko” offering home made goodies such as dark bread, perfect ice creams, fantastic cakes and pies. All in a homely, creative setting: It simply feels like home from home.

The new roadside lounge with plush English settees, offering good wines coupled with Liz’ known hospitality as well as a few planned rooms compliment this excellent development the Bay should be proud of.

http://www.geckoarugambay.com/index.html

19 Responses to “#40 Hello Madam”


  • Hi Yohan,

    I am sorry you had a horrible time at Gecko. I had booked in to Gecko went there, was shocked and moved to a lovely bungalow called The Jetwing Kotukal.

    However, this is no excuse for you abhorrent racism. Its vile and unnecessary.

    Do you mean that muslim hotels are less hygienic than non muslim ones?
    Why can Africa not have good burgers?
    Why is aboriginal australians not good??

    You are crazy bro! and i am sad that you are continuing to waste the precious little oxygen left.

    sad to be on the same earth as you
    Shuard

  • Please contact the hotel directly with your request.
    All known links are shown on the left side panel.

  • ranuka praveen

    hi

    12 persons will come to arugambay in feb 10/11. so we want room price
    thank you

  • yvette spowers

    Hi there trying to get in touch with you but not able to find your details anywhere. Please can you call me,

    Yvette 077 742 4676

  • To my fellow Australian Scott Pereira(you name says it all)

    You live in Australia and run a hotel/motel.. And YOU know what good service is all about…. my dear frnd may i would like to know which part of Australia??? Do you serve the aborigines to call the service you give or madam’s service impeccable…..
    My advice to you is stick to your origins…. keep serving the low class of people you serve in Australia. Your average customers expenditure must be 20$ a day… stick to that.. And keep calling your service good coz that’s what you get for that..
    Maybe your right when you say i have NO IDEA what real service is, coz I haven’t visited your dump in Australia yet… is it in the bush.. Sorry have only visited the city. (Sidney) stayed at the four seasons hotel.. Now that’s service and location. Excellent experience.. Well Scott I have got nothing against you, nor do I have anything against ramesh and Liz… I wish I could say I’m sorry but I’m not… I was angry & upset when I got back for what they did and the whole experience. I still haven’t made up my mind to visit Abay again… I would much rather go someplace else i guess.
    To all you folks who do wish to go to Madams.. Do go they do deserve the opportunity to prove themselves
    Surfs up so hang loose

  • scott pereira

    Yohan,
    It’s quite obvious you’ve got absolutely NO IDEA of what real service is all about. I live in Australia and run a hotel/motel and believe me, I know what good service is all about.
    I stayed at Madams during July/August this year and found Liz & Romesh extremely hospitable….even when Romesh was on one leg!What’s more, I also met HEAPS of travellers from all over the world and what an amazing setting.
    I recommend anyone wanting a holiday in Arugam Bay to stay at Hello Madam. I promise you, you’ll have the time of your life.

  • Quick answer:

    063 492 6004
    077 634 4871
    077 324 2133
    077 159 1265

    that is what I have on my mobile phone.
    for Rames, Liz & the family @ Gekko’s
    try them, one by one, mate!

  • Does any 1 hv da phone number 4 gecko?

  • Dear Yohan

    I was soory to hear about your suffering with Madam hand.I was at Arugambay surf resort(Previously called as Arugambay Hillton).This is not the madam fault that she has charged a lot for the drinks and spaghati but it is your fault that you had stayed there. She is from England and she allways thinking about English pounds and not Rs. If you wanted to get good rooms with reasonable prices why do not you stay the place that i had stayed. It is very clean and very good juices with reasonable prices (Pappya, Pineapple, Mango,Avacado, Mexican boritho, qusadi,Thottila chips with 3 tips, handsome well educated young boys, Indian cooks).Next time when you go to AB try ASR for staying.I showed this year nearly 70 tourist/surfers were having there Dinner at ASR.try again and do not hesitate. God bless madam and for her children

  • ha ha. my phones out yohan, will buzz you when its back to normal. i should be getting a kite harness today which means i will have two. will let you know the plan.

  • sorry guys, SCARRED 🙁 should have been the word just checked up on it, my fault, sorry for misleading you

  • Hey Roshan
    May be Regret is the wrong term, I feel sorry, and not that there was no response, Romesh called me the very next day, and had a chat. All he said was he was not happy that’s it, well there is one part that confuses me, you had said don’t be scared and stay at s & s opposite????? It does not make any sense to me…… well what I had said was “I was scared (as in wounded, scared) for life” not scared (as in fear) for life…..may be you miss understood my context. Well I will visit again, but not anytime soon 🙁

  • True, one step at a time then. I am sure you’ll see a prettier Abay in July.

  • Why? Regret, Yohan? You summed up your own experience nicely. Submitted a well written report. No reaction from Madam: That fact alone shows how she feels…..Contempt. Ignores you totally. Nothing more to gain from you – so you are out. Don’t be scared and stay at S & S opposite!

  • Hey dilly as much as i regret writing up what I did about the madams, you know it was the truth, I’m glad it has changed, but I think I’m scared for life so lets take it one step at a time, I’m checking into samans and I don’t need no ice cream or cake, just the surf and sun and the nature will do no humans or anything to do with them, Thank you

  • having visited abay a month after the experience above, things actually had changed (i think we just went too early in the season). the weather was fab – no rain! there was no construction going on. the place looked really nice and welcoming. the beach was prettier and yes i even tasted the home made ice cream and chocolate cake. must say, it was very very good. Out of this world actually! so another visit in july yohan, i am sure that the experience would be soo much more different…

  • Hi to all

    Spoke to Elizabeth AKA LIZ, over the phone and thought the place sounded good enough and Liz wanted Rs.2000/= a night and then reduced to Rs.1600/= and decided to take it for 8days, during April 2009. arrived by 9am, I guess Liz was surprised to see us apparently the room was just getting in order even though there were no guests at the place, please note I’m not referring to the place as a hotel, you will realize why as you read on.
    Got our stuff into the room, no proper parking, I love my car (wanted her to have a holiday too) the walk way which I parked had coconut trees and full of fruits, so needless to say I was on pins.
    The room consisted of a wooden double bed with a single layer mattress, and a wall mounted fan that couldn’t have blown away a feather if it had to, a mosquito net and on the side (within), the room there was a coconut tree, that’s fine I liked it. the bathroom, floor was flooded and the shower was placed in such a way that you need to stand on the commode in order to have a shower, so when you have a shower you get a shower as well as the commode, no pressure, the sink, clean but there was no water coming out of the tap there, it was just a single spray which wasn’t even enough to wet your small finger at a time. And the first introductions to the room was that the flush gets stuck and that you have to manually fix it by pulling the cover off and jiggle the buttons underneath, apparently the “Madam” had replaced it twice but still couldn’t get it right. well up to now I’m still in the high spirits of Abay, (met the two kids too Millie’ the smaller one was having a cold and jay the bigger one was having chicken pox at what stage only god knows) so looked over all that,( there were carpenters working right outside our door with heavy machinery too) got changed within minutes and hit the beach, to find a fisherman, having a piss( taking a leak) right into the beach just in front of the madams place, a bit shocked but still in good spirits, moved to the surfing point, which was a good 15mins walk along with my board.

    excellent surf, we started off with waves between 3- 5 feet, which were excellent, got back to the place by 3pm and was starving so we decided to go through the famous food menu of the gecko restaurant, have to be honest, it all sounded good until I realized she intended to catch up on the room being so low by the prices of food, a fruit juice cost Rs.400/= I could have a juice at the Hilton in Colombo at that price, but that’s fine I ordered a papaya coz LIZ who was sitting at our table recommended it, the my friend ordered a spaghetti with meat balls which was Rs. 720/= and I ordered a beef burger, with an egg(luckily I ordered the egg) and an extra portion of fries, and then the long wait, but that’s ok coz at least this way you know they actually make it, while we were waiting we got to know about LIZ and her kids, who are great kids, when we did get our food no comment about the spaghetti, but I got a bun a bit dry not toasted, with a beef Pattie in the center and the egg I ordered, THAT WAS IT, I think I have had burgers all over the world, not even in Africa do they serve a burger in this manner, but my hunger took over and I just had a go at it , the beef was dry and the bun added to it, but I have to agree the fries were good, but the burger didn’t come with any fries to my surprise, was expecting the burger to have something in it , a burger does not consist of just the bun and the beef , and my lucky egg, done with the meal,
    for reference purpose on the menu (a milk shake was priced @ Rs.400, and everything else too exorbitantly priced)and trust me I believe in value for money, and with my first experience this was not it)done with the meal and tired after driving for 7 hours and surfing, we got some rest, woke up to a empty place again, and took a walk to the beach and had a chat with some fishermen, and got back decided to have dinner outside, that was the best decision we ever made, not much on offer though because the season hadn’t got into full swing yet so no one had the good stuff, but who am I kidding they didn’t have nothing it was only kothu on offer outside, we had to do with it,
    woke up early to see sunrise, the gate was locked( I guess the madam and here staff sleep till late, and also there was no water coming out of the taps in order to clean up)sunrise was good, hit the point by 7am and had the best time , the waves were great, the locals and the foreigners flocked in there numbers to catch a waves, it was all good, was in the water for a few hours and came in for brunch, the room was not cleaned, no towel change walked into the same room we left, but then got over that fast thanks to the waves, went out for a traditional Sri Lankan breakfast, which was not there but the little bit we had was good,
    hit the water as we got back had a hey day coz the waves died down on us and the sea decided to be rough on us, pushed us around , but we were fine,pulled out the kite surfing gear and my friend had a session on it while I was messing around with the training kite. came back in to the madams after 7pm changed and drove off to pottuvill for dinner, we were expecting some good food I guess, the food was good, came back in and hit the sack, woke up early, to find the gate locked as before , but the only change was there was a horrible stench in the middle of the restaurant, like a dead animal, and then I got the gate opened and as I stepped on to the beach, even before I saw the beach I saw this huge pile of human fracas, and that was it, the last straw… I could not take it anymore from that moment on I just started to dislike the place, just came back in told my buddy I’m home sick, and he was quite understanding, he just went out and caught some waves and by 11am we decided to go see crocodile rock, made it there excellent place, saw just a couple of elephants, and came back in and decided to leave, told the madam we wish to leave.(to be also told she wanted to clean up our room but couldn’t find her copy of the keys) hmmmm got all the stuff packed and when we were loading the car the madam came over and tells me that we will be charged for an extra day, due to cancelation coz she had to turn back allot of people, as in refuse the room, sorry but I haven’t seen any human activity in the place for two days, apart from a foreigner who checked into the newly built rooms which Liz plans to charge Rs.3000/= take my word its nothing much, you get nothing extra, I checked it out(I wouldn’t pay anything more, it’s just the walls are made of brick I guess), as for the extra charge I said do as you please, and to my surprise as we finished packing our boards and baggage, another local family came in with a kid, I really feel sorry for them and I have more pity on the child the lady was carrying , coz jay had chicken pox, perfect way to start the holiday ha, didn’t want to say anything to them though, we were charged for three days’ and the food bill we had came up to 6900/= and then to add to that service charge of 10%, which brought the bill to 7300/=. I wish I asked the guy who gave the bill what SERVICE IS THIS YOUR TALKING ABOUT, fine since we are just not used to making a scene, we just started back.
    summary Liz, sounds great, will treat you great for as long as she knows she can milk you for all you’ve got, and the place in general is not the best, it’s livable, if you have no place to stay then go there, but otherwise I do not recommend it to anyone, for she doesn’t even have a view of the beach from any part of the place except for one tiny strip when seated in the restaurant.
    while I was there I did a little bit of research, right opposite the madams, there is a place called surf and sun, now there is a place you will feel at home, and also you will fall in love with the place and the owners, saman and his wife are the best people you will ever meet there, genuine people( Sinhalese too), they wont milk you for all you’ve got, saman knew my buddy and we were even offered the room for free no strings attached, it was I who decided that we shouldn’t disappoint Liz, BIG MISTAKE, IT WAS I WHO ENDED UP DISSAPOINTED AT THE END OF IT ALL.
    Surf & sun is the place to be, you wont have beach access direct but we didn’t have it anyway at the madams, any other place I wouldn’t recommend it because it’s run by Muslims and there hygiene isn’t the best , and they are very transactional. bottom line the only good thing at the bay is the nature, the waves and the wildlife, anything to do with humans is not recommended, the living conditions of the fisher folk are very poor, all I saw was humans living in very primitive stages, for someone who loves this island, this is the first place I would say that you cant live for too long in.
    well if you did read all this, all I could recommend to you is that go to hikkaduwa(if you want decent waves), and if you really want to go to arugambay, stay at the start dust, surf and sun , or if you want to be close to the point, stay at mambo’s, he has a nice place too but no access apparently, it was closed when I went there, so no comment and mambo is a good friend too, I’m sure he will show you a good time no matter what.

    surfing is great avoid the madam and her place for it is no hotel, it’s a hell hole, but she will make you feel like your in heaven, with her chatting and her mask.

    Cheers

  • Fred you are too kind! Thanks for such a positive write up. We have lots of ideas and plans for 2007, and a website is in the early stages.
    Great website by the way, i wish it every sucess, i’m sure it will be, got a bit confused with the numbering sequence of accomadation but thats just being picky!Suggest you place another catagory for shops so that home needs and the like don’t get lost.

  • Probably the best ice cream in Asia!

    Love and hugs to Liz, Ramesh and Jay.
    Wishing you and your business lots of success!

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