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We left Haputale at 7:30am with the place shrouded in mist. This was our last journey in Sri Lanka. We tried to book the observation car but were told that it was full - so it was 2nd class for us. The train came in and we piled into 2nd class - that was full as well. We thought OK we will get a seat eventually. But no, the train just seemed to get fuller and fuller. We got chatting to a few locals who said that the problem was it ws the beginning of the school holidays and there was only one 2nd class carriage not the normal two. We ended up standing (or perching on an arm rest in Fran's case) for the whole of the 8 hour journey. Not the best journey as you can imagine.
We were a bit frazzled when we arrived at our hotel - the Mount Lavinia which is set on the beach about 8 km south of Colombo city centre. It is the old governor' s mansion which has been converted and extended into a hotel. The staff were all dressed in old colonial gear - white shorts, tunic, long socks and a pith helmet! We settled in and found out that there was a Christmas cocktail party on the roof. We had a look round and a quick change and were then off to the party. The party was because it was St. Lucia's day and there were carols with egg nogg and gluwein - a bit incongruous overlooking the Indian ocean and 28 deg. They came round with canapés which were super. We ate more meat in them than we have had in most curries!
The following day we struggled to get going - blaming it on too much wine the night before. We went up to the old part of Colombo. The journey up there was interesting - we got stopped twice in security checkpoints then saw lots of soldiers around. This was the first time we had been uneasy - it was a bit like a war zone. Fran wanted to buy some spices so we tried to find the appropriate area in the bazaar - it turned out this was the wholesale area and you could buy anything by the sack full. We then had a walk and a drink at the Galle Face hotel - one of the old colonial hotels. It was then back to our hotel where we met some friends of friends who live in Sri Lanka. We had high tea - again served beautifully with scones, cakes and sandwiches and all at £4 a head. The only draw back was that Fran was given lots of tips about where to go shopping - guess what I am doing tomorrow!! We then fly back home on Wednesday.
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