Ultimate Sri Lanka

Hotel - Vil Uyana, Sigiriya - Room No 115

We left Colombo this morning and everyone is excited at what lies ahead. We had about a two and a half hour, stop/start, bumpy ride and I soon realised that I should have taken a motion sickness tablet because this was no smooth modern highway. I put my wrist bands on, blew up my neck pillow to stabilise my head, took a tablet and then sat back and enjoyed the ride and passing scenery. A couple of others on the bus were feeling a bit "iffy" too because of the stop/start lurching through the traffic.

Anyway, we finally arrived at the elephant orphanage at Pinnawala. We hopped off the bus on a busy street and walked down a lane to the entrance of the hotel, up a flight of stairs and then we were met with the most amazing sight. Elephants everywhere having a bath. It was a wonderful sight. We all stood there for ages and ages just watching the antics of these huge but graceful animals.

We then had a buffet lunch at the hotel which was nice but I didn't eat much as I was still feeling a bit queasy from the jerky bus ride. At the same time as we were at the hotel, there was a Sri Lankan wedding taking place upstairs, and during our lunch, ladies dressed in the most beautiful saris would descend the stairs to watch the elephants bathing. The children were very inquisitive of us and started chatting and we all shared photographs of each other.

After lunch we headed off for the drive to our hotel, the Vil Uyana which is advertised as Sri Lanka's best eco luxury hotel.

On the way, the bus stopped for a photo opportunity of these poor men chopping the outer shell off coconuts. They get paid 25 cents per coconut. Very hard work.

We arrived at our beautiful hotel, which is located in the middle of nowhere. That's a funny thing I have noticed about Sri Lanka (but it was also the same in India), you are driving along in the middle of nowhere, turn down a dusty dirt road and all of a sudden the most magnificent building pops up. These hotels are not obvious so if you were travelling on your own, you would have to do a lot of research to find these magnificent establishments. Lucky we have Scenic to do it for us!

The Vil Uyana is a series of huts spread through lagoons. It is stunning. The photos just don't do it justice but I am sure you'll get the idea.

As soon as we checked in, those of us who were climbing Sigiriya "Lion Rock" met Didier at reception and we were off - adrenlian running high! Vyonne and Darryl from Melbourne, Viv and Bruce from Whyalla and me, accompanied by our guide Didier, who by the way, treks in Nepal!! When we arrived at the base of the rock, my heart sank. It was huge. Dudley purchased our tickets and we walked a very long way to commence the climb. Off we went and we climbed, and climbed, and climbed and climbed and climbed some more. We had little rests along the way. It was quite tough going in some places as the stone steps were worn and uneven and there was no hand rail to hold on to. There were approximately 1200 steps. The weather was overcast which was great for us but we still perspired a lot. Didier said we would sweat a lot and we might like to take a fresh tee shirt to change into when we reached the top. I told Didiyer that women "glow", they don't "sweat"!

Viv was scared of heights and Bruce has a phobia about wasps as he was badly stung by them when he was a child. There were two sections during the climb when people were asked to be quiet so as not to disturb the wasps. In both of these areas, people were yelling and shouting making a terrible noise. We just couldn't believe it.

About half way up, all of us except Viv, climbed up a spiral stair case inside a cage to view the frescos on the walls and then climbed back down to the path. This was the scariest part for me as there was nothing between me and the ground a long way away, so I tried to focus on climbing and not look down.

Finally we made the top, "glowing" and puffing but feeling so proud of ourselves.

It certainly was a magnificent feat and something all of us will never forget. We took 47 minutes to get to the top, which was pretty good as we took our time and had little rests along the way. After the victory photo, we wandered around the top for a while and then started the descent. It was not long until sunset and we certainly wanted to get down before it started to get dark. About two sets of steps from the ground, I fell and grazed my shin. It looks worse than it is, but I got a huge fright. I really don't know what happened. One minute I was descending, next minute I was on the ground. Thank goodness nothing was broken. Didier washed it thoroughly for me and when we got back to reception, they gave me some Betadine to paint on it because in this weather, it is very important to keep it dry.

Didier took these great photos of the monkeys that crawl all over the rock. Sometimes they were sitting on the rail that we were trying to hold onto to keep our balance.

Sharon and John were having a drink with Phil when I arrived back from the climb and I only had a short time to freshen up and get ready for dinner. Everyone wanted to hear about the climb and were very sympathetic about my war wound. We had a lovely dinner upstairs and then into bed for a very well earned sleep.

We both had a good night's sleep. It is really lovely to be able to drink and use tap water to clean your teeth! The small things we take for granted.

We are booked on the 10.30 am Murray's bus from the Sydney International Airport to Canberra. I purposely chose the later time (and a flexible ticket), just in case we were a bit jet lagged and wanted to sleep in, but we didn't and from the breakfast room, I could see the Murray's bus booking clerk checking people off for the 8.30 am bus.

After breakfast, I went over and asked her if there was room for us on the 9.30 am bus - yes - so I went back to our room, closed the bags, checked out and wandered over to where the bus leaves from, at about 9 am. It is important to get there early (if you want to sit together) as there are a lot of "singles" on the bus and the seats are quickly taken. What a stressful job the bus booking clerk had!! People coming at her from all sides - some with tickets, some with not, some speaking English, some not - and it was only 9am! I'd hate to see her by the end of the day!

We boarded the bus for the three hour drive to Canberra and as is usual with me, I fell asleep as soon as the bus started and woke up as we were passing Goulburn, about an hour's drive from Canberra. As this was our first time catching the bus to Sydney Airport and back, I was interested in Phil's comments. "Well, what do you think about the bus?", I asked. "It's okay", he said. "Now you have turned me into a bus person!" (whatever that is!) Anyway, I think he liked the convenience of it and we will do it again.

The country side is brown and dead and it's very hot when we arrive in Canberra - 35 degrees - dry heat. We phoned for an "Uber" (we are getting very good at this now) and arrived home at about 1 pm to find everything just as we had left it, but a few plants had not survived the extreme summer temperatures.

Now to the unpacking and washing and day dreaming about a wonderful two weeks in Sri Lanka with a great group of travelling companions.

A couple of weeks after we arrived home, this arrived from Scenic. What a shame we are both on strict diets after two week's in Sri Lanka of excessive eating and drinking!
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Business Class - Singapore Airlines

As Phil, Elizabeth and I were all travelling Business Class, we spent two hours in the Singapore Airlines lounge at Colombo. It was very small and pretty basic but at least there was somewhere to go. None of us felt like eating or drinking because we had just come from our Farewell Dinner. We boarded on time and waved to Sharon and John, Yvonne and Daryl and Philippa and Terry who were waiting to board in the Economy section.

It is about a three and a half hour flight from Colombo to Singapore and I slept all the way. We arrived in Singapore at about 7.20 am and said goodbye to Yvonne and Daryl as they are spending a few days in Singapore with their family. Philippa and Terry are also staying in Singapore for about three days, but we didn't even see them when we got off the plane, so we didn't get to say goodbye to them.

We only had a two hour stop over in Singapore which gave us time to go to the Silver Krys Lounge and have some breakfast and clean our teeth. There is nothing like clean teeth!

The flight to Sydney took about seven and half hours and Phil and I slept for the first few hours and then watched a couple of movies. I watched "Me Before You" and cried and cried! I was worried about the mascara running! Elizabeth also watched it and cried too. We had both read the book and loved it. I also watched "What Maisie Knew" and loved it. It was very poignant.

Phil slept so well on this flight that he missed brunch and that's a first!

We landed in Sydney at about 8.30 pm, collected our bags, passed through Customs okay. He didn't even want to see our wooden items. We just had to describe them to him. He was a bit slack. We could have told him anything and he would have believed us.

Kissed Elizabeth and Sharon and John goodbye and then headed to Rydges Airport hotel which is very conveniently located just within walking distance across the road from arrivals. Checked in, and went to the restaurant for a light snack before bed. Almost back to normality. Travelling home to Canberra tomorrow morning. Where have the last two weeks gone?

Had a bit of trouble going to sleep last night because Phil had ABC 666 Canberra on his phone and it was 5.30 am in Canberra on the phone and only midnight here in Sri Lanka. It was very wierd.

It is very hot and humid. We had a lazy morning as we are free to pack until noon whereupon we will be going out for lunch. Breakfast was taken outside, under an umbrella, and it was getting quite warm. Daryl is not well. Tired and gastro so he is in his room sleeping. Yvonne came to breakfast alone. Just as we were finishing breakfast, who should walk through the door but Carole and Vince Shokman, who we travelled with through North West Rajastan in 2013. What a wonderful surprise. We spent a while bringing each other up to date.

We repacked our bags ready for the long flight home and then hopped on the bus and were taken to lunch at the Barefoot Garden Cafe. We could choose anything on the menu which was good, because most of us chose a light snack, rather than the three course lunches we have been having. It was also outdoors and was quite warm, even though there were plenty of overhead fans. I had a smoked salmon and cream cheese baguette and Phil had a dips and bread plate.

After we finished lunch, we were sitting at our two tables and the manager mouthed to himself "People, please go". He wanted to use the table for others. He didn't realise I had seen him. When I told Didier, he said I should have said to the Manager, "Yes, we're going!" Rude bugger. We were 16 people who had just had lunch in his establishment.

Didier photo bombing my photo of the ocean!

We then went to the museum and were given two hours there, but we finished in about an hour. It was really hot in the museum and it would have taken too long to read everything, so we just walked through, looking and pausing to read sometime. It certainly has some nice pieces.

While we were having a coffee and waiting for everyone to assemble, Phil started talking to a lovely Chinese girl and she was giggling and then her friends arrived and we were having a great chat. We all thought she was about 18, but she was actually 28!

Back to Tintagel for an hour or so, to do some final packing and get ready for our farewell dinner. We said goodbye to Carole as Vince wasn't back yet and just as we were boarding the bus, Vince arrived back at the hotel with his brother, after visiting the local cemetery, looking for relations graves. We said goodbye to him and headed off.

We went to the Gallery Bar in Paradise Road for our Farewell Dinner. It was very dimly lit and quite atmospheric but quite humid, even though they had all the overhead ceiling fans going.

The meal and the wine were very nice but all too soon the time came to change into our travelling home clothes and we headed off in the bus to the airport, dropping Didier, Viv and Bruce at one hotel, Ron and Eddie; and Phyl and Greg at Tintagel.
Dudley came with us to the airport and it took about 45 minutes to get there. We had to pass through security at the front door of the airport, all bags xrayed and twice again when we were inside but we all got through okay. I had to have my carry on checked and it was a piece of costume jewellery that is a big hunk of metal that had them worried. We all had a body pat down and the girl who did me didn't leave any area untouched! Now waiting to board our flight that leaves at 12.40 am.

Our travelling companions from the last two weeks.

Other photos from our Farewell Dinner.

Hotel - Paradise Road Tintagel Colombo, 65 Rosmead Place, Colombo - Room No South East Royal Suite

I had the earliest night on tour last night and yet I had trouble getting out of bed this morning. We were down at breakfast early and there weren't many people there. The orange juice was awful - it tasted like watered down cordial. The papaya and black currant weren't much better. The porridge was semilina which was a bit runny, the scrambled eggs were runny so I opted for French toast which was very hard to cut. I couldn't resist a photo of the Doughnut Board.

We did some shopping in the hotel shop and as a few of us were in reception early, we were taken across the other side to the waiting bus.

Didier had to make sure we were on time on the road to Colombo today because we have a lunch booking at very famous Ministry of Crab and if you are 10 minutes late, they give away your table. But we had time to do some sight seeing along the way. Then The Ministry of Crab phoned Didier to put our booking back half an hour, so we had even longer to site see along the way.

Colombo was once the capital of Sri Lanka and it is now the Administrative Capital. The new capital is Kotte. Colombo has a population of approximately 2 million - 700,000 live in the city and the rest are in the suburbs. Colombo is now the commercial capital. This is the new Parliament House.

This is a monument to all the people killed in this area by the tsunami. All their names are written on these walls. But driving through this area, you would hardly think that such a devastating tsunami had come through here only a few years ago.

This is the Bandanaranke International Conference Centre. The guard was very happy for us to walk inside the gate and take a photo.

The Independence Memorial Hall was quite spectacular with murals around the inside of Buddha's life and other important things that have happened in Sri Lanka. It was very cool in there, with a lovely breeze blowing, so we were all happy to stay in there for a while. It is really hot and humid and some of the group are feeling it. One instruction -DON'T SIT ON THE LIONS!

We drove down a few streets which contained embassies and high commissions. We were thrilled to glimpse the Australian High Commission which is painted a lovely shade of battleship grey.

Buddhas everywhere and the traffic is getting really bad so we don't have time to wander through the fruit and vege market, instead we start to head back to The Ministry of Crab for lunch. We don't want to lose our booking and this is a MUST EAT place.

We hop off the bus and walk into a courtyard of an old Dutch hospital from 1681. It is just beautiful and as we learned later from Mark Forbes, it has been restored and a bill has been passed in Parliament that all these old buildings have to be restored - no more pulling down. The lunch was so much fun - messy but fun. We had prawn curry, teriyaki chicken, chilli crab, rice, mixed vegetables and chocolate crumble pudding. All just yum, yum, yum and a lovely iced tea soda. Very refreshing on a hot, humid Colombo day. Even the butter had a crab imprinted on it!

After lunch, Phil, Greg and Elizabeth went back to the hotel while the rest of us went on a walking tour of the old colonial buildings in Colombo with Mark Forbes. There was a lovely breeze and we all enjoyed hearing about the history of some of these old buildings. And what was even better, we finished with a G&T at the Grand Oriental Hotel. We had a lovely view of the city from the fourth floor where we had our drink. This was the hotel where all the "beautiful people" of another era stayed.

We arrived at Tintagel, the former home of the old Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. He was shot on the front steps here. A few years later, his wife became the first female PM of Sri Lanka and then even later, their daughter became the first female President of Sri Lanka. We are in one Royal Suite and Elizabeth is in the other - because we are Emerald people. We have several rooms and a huge combined balcony at the front of the building. It is really nice.

Viv and Bruce, Elizabeth, Sharon and John and Didier went to the Shangri la hotel for a Sri Lankan meal while the rest of us went to the Colombo Cricket Club CAFE for dinner. Big mistake. I thought we would be going to the REAL Colombo Cricket Club for a night of cricket nostalgia but no, it was just a cafe with good cricket memoriblia on the walls but nothing like the dining room of the Colombo Cricket Club! We were in the Australian section upstairs and there was a "Shane Warne" corner.

The meal was just awful. A Ceasar salad with limp lettuce; then Phyl had curried prawns that were too spicy to eat and the rest of us had a mixed grill that consisted of dry steak, dry chicken, bacon, sausage, liver, mashed potato and potato chips. It was awful. Then dessert was ice cream with fruit salad. All in all, a terrible evening. There was a huge storm in the middle of it all and when we came downstairs to leave, it was flooded because part of the roof is open. What a night!

I was glad to get into bed.