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1.3.07
What an incredible time we've been having so far. It really has been a fantastic holiday and we're only 2 days in.They arrived on Tuesday evening in Colombo and I met them at the Grand Oriental. We spent the first night at the Gallery Café, met up with Sal, John-Seymour and his girlfriend, Pippa for frozen strawberry margheritas at Gallery Café. Great fun and so glad that M&D have finally met Sal - who has become such an important person in my life out here. I'm very very lucky to have found someone I get on quite so well with.We had a delicious meal and a good catch up, rather too much wine before heading back to our triple room - we're all in together! Which is actually really good fun.
The next day we met our driver Alan and headed off early to Sigirya. We had a great drive and didn't even realise that we were in the van for so many hours as we stopped to buy fresh pineapple in the pineapple village, cashew nuts in the cashew nut village, pitied the porcupines tied up on the side of the road - it was mad seeing stall after stall piled up with pineapples or cashews, you wonder how they can all make any money.We decided to stop at Pinnewale Elephant Orphanage on the way - what a fantastic experience. Obviously I've been up close to elephants recently due to the Ele Polo but I will never cease to find these incredible animals simply amazing. So big and strong, seemingly so gentle and ponderous and yet I know how fierce and frightening they can be if they want to be.The orphanage was started up in the 60s to look after 7 orphan elephants and it now has about 65 elephants. The new babies get released back into the wild, but they others live out their lives in the security of the orphanage.One of the eles is blind as poachers tried to kill it for its tusks, and another Raja had only 3 legs as it lost a foot in a land mine. It was incredible to see how the elephant managed to walk/lumber about on 3 feet.We wondered about their grazing field, taking photos and paying the mahouts so we could get up close to the babies. Then we watched two eles being fed - I just love watching how they use their trunks, curling about, stripping bits of wood, carrying leaves into its mouth, inquisitive trunks snaking through the bars looking for more food, sniffing about - just brilliant. We then headed down the road to lunch overlooking a wide river - via all the tourist stalls which we couldn't help but buy coconut elephants, t shirts etc - love it! Anyway, soon all the elephants came down the path and got into the river - what a wonderful experience to see them wallowing about, spraying themselves, submerging themselves in the water, playing with each other, wrapping their trunks around together, the little babies neslted in amongst the huge adults absolutely loved the water - got some great photos of them wallowing in bliss.
I then got the chance to get into the water next to an elephant who was lying down and I gave him a good wash, such fun - their skin is as tough as old leather and their hair is so wirey and spikey !
Well, after lunch we had a bit of a long drive to Sigirya - Dad snoozed in the back of the van and Mum & I had a good old catch up on all the usual Vacani dramas and family goings on.
We arrived at our hotel, Chaaya Village, in time for watcing the sunset over the lake. A beautiful sunset, the sky was a deep red and we sat on a bench with a host of monkeys playing in the trees above us. We had a good room, v nice bathroom, a fan shaped pool next to an open restaurant, all the staff were so friendly and polite - and there were quite a few other people around which meant it had a little bit of atmosphere, always good. That night, Hen and Koki came for dinner - they'd been having a great holiday and had climbed Sigirya that day. Good fun for Mum and Dad to have met both of them before the madness of Galle. We had quite good food - lots of yummy puddings!!!
Up with the sparrows the next day at 6am, ready to leave the hotel at 6.30am so we could get to Sigriya for 7am, ready for the big climb. It was such an impressive sight as we approached - huge rock fortress built by Kassapa in the 1st C AD, although the rock had been used by Buddists for hundreds of years before that.We had to fight off all the guides as we began our ascent, Dad in particular got annoyed as they kept trying to hold his arm and support him - you can imagine how much that pissed him off!!! We had a great climb up Sig - through amazing rock arches, up rather perilous spiral staircases to see beautiful cave paintings of the concubines that Kassapa had to look after him. Amazing how the colours have survived and the detail of the women - all topless but so elegant. The last bit of the climb was up a rather steep metal staircase, up the side of the rock and then we'd made it - it only took us half an hour! I think we were all expecting more of a climb - amazing views at the top, we're having so much fun taking photos and films, checking out the scenary with the binos - chatting to the very few other tourists up at the top. It was so worth it to have started early as we were the first up there and only a few other people joined us - all very peaceful.
Alan, our driver, was amazed to see us down so soon - he didn't think that we'd all make it, so we had to show him the photos to prove it! Feeling rather fit and chipper we decided to head to Dambulla Rock Caves.The first thing you see at Dambulla is an enormous gold Buddah (claims to be the biggest in the world, but it's not) still it's impressive especially contrasted against the blue sky and surrounded by very cheeky monkeys.We then continued up, past the poor beggars and hawkers - one can't help but feel sorry for them and want to give them money but you can't give everyone something.The monkeys were everywhere and I found them very scary - they were so bold, trying to snatch your bags, and baring their very sharp Dracula like fangs at you if you got too close to them, not lovely cuddly monkeys at all.The rock caves were incredible - whole caves completely covered with paintings and filled with Buddahs, geometric designs, amazing terracotta colours, still so vibrant, huge reclining Buddahs some carved from a single block of stone. The caves were decorated as a thank you for them having given a King safety when he was in hiding.Such an air of peace and tranquility - hardly any other people there, it was fantastic.
Well, the Elephant safari will certainly be a memory that will stay with me forever - a totally incredible experience and far, far better than I was expecting. Our elephant was called Rani and was 23yrs old and HUGE! We climbed aboard and sat on a very simple metal seat on its back - rather wobbly - whilst the mahout walked along side us carrying his long pole with its sharp spike on the end. Off we set along the road and then we turned inland, along a dirt track passing very simple Sri Lankan houses.Whilst I was riding the elephant, Mum had bought some bananas and as we ambled along, Rani would occasionally raise her trunk and I'd give her a banana! Her ears were so powerful, flapping all the time, holding my legs in when they were back, and so warm. Her head was huge, covered in spikey black hair, it was surprisingly comfortable riding the elephant like that.Mum and Dad were hysterical in the back, balanced on the seat, not sure that Dad was at all comfortable and Mum was distinctly nervous, especially as we headed into the water. She was being very brave though, as we headed off on our own, the mahout had completely disappeared..I was in control!!! It was simply stunning - we strolled into a beautiful lake full of water lilies and herons ( a fact that Mum was not able to appreciate until later!) whilst the mahout reappeared in his undies and he and our guide waded through hip high water - taking photos and laughing at us. It was so beautiful and majestic and stately to be on such an incredible animal in such a wonderful setting. We stopped moving and suddenly the mahout gave an order and the elephant began to sit down in the water, the whole back of the elephant tipped back and Mum and Dad were holding on for their dear lives - hysterical photos, Mum thought she was going to fall into the water.Then Rani began to spray us with her trunk - I got drenched, huge sprays of water coming out of her trunk - have I said it was utterly amazing yet??!!! We were all enjoying it so much, lots of laughter, just brilliant! We strolled back towards base, passing mongoose, herons, pigs and even a chameleon along the way. Rani loved the bananas! We eventually returned, got off the ele and had a group photo with Rani posing with her trunk and leg raised - amazingly well tamed. Mahouts have to train for a very long time with herds of elephants before they can advance to being a proper mahout - our chappie was lovely and kept saying 'My job….good job'. We were buzzing when we left, and remained like that for the rest of the night.
We had a lovely dinner in a local restaurant, Alan joined us and we had an interesting talk about the politics of Sri Lanka - whilst enjoying a HUGE Sri Lankan curry - so much food, Mum & Dad kept eating, I was very impressed.
Next day it was another early start and we headed off towards Kandy. Great scenes to be seen of normal village life, especially in Matale where they were about to have a Hindu festival. The whole village was buzzing with anticipation, stalls were decorated with garlands and the huge garish temple had music blaring outside it. The streets were awash with women in saris, children running about, people carrying umbrellas, men in sarongs.
We stopped at a Spice Garden and had a great educational tour of the spices - the plants they grow on and how they're harvested and their medicinal qualities; cinammon, cardamon, vanilla, cloves, frangipani, sandalwood, nutmeg, cocoa, aloe vera, pepper corns, pineapple etc etc. We then had a talk about the special qualities of the combinations of the spices - we had a aloe vera face massage, and a neck and back massage - Dad had his first masasge ever!! We all got terribly enthusiastic about the slimming tonic etc etc and spent over 400 GBP between us!!! They must have loved us!
4.3.07
We're just leaving the Kandy House - what a gorgeous experience that was! After leaving the Spice Experience we headed to Kandy and went to look round the Temple of the Tooth - the most venerated temple in Sri Lanka. It was in a beautiful setting, right by the side of the man made lake in the middle of Kandy. Lovely views across the lake, but the roads were so full of traffic and hustle and bustle that it all seemed a bit too hectic.We had a guide to take us round the temple - which was a bit of a disaster as he spoke his own version of English, at 100 mph punctuated with "Madam" every other word - making it very hard work to understand him. I found him exhausting, Dad switched off altogether. It was an interesting temple, a bit too gaudy for us with its gold buddahs and garlands and lights etc but at least we went.I particularly liked one of the mythical creatures that was made up of 7 animals: elephant nose, pig ears, eagle eyes, body of a fish, leg of a lion, crocodile jaw and tail of a peacock! We also saw a stuffed elephant - who'd carried the last king of Sri Lanka about in processions etc, it must have been quite a feat to stuff that!
We had lunch in a pretty average restaurant and then decided to go to the Botannical Gardens - great decision!! Totally made the day - a lovely walk in beautiful surroundings, stunning flowers and enormous trees, huge bamboo, incredible orchids, lots of palm lined avenues and the most enormous fig tree whose branches stretched over a distance of 2500sq.m - amazing! There were hundreds of school children there, having the most wonderful time running about, playing games and coming up to us to say Hello and to have their photo taken. We walked alongside the river and came across a huge colony of fruit bats - I've never seen so many bats altogether, really large ones too - 'draculas' as Alan called them! Then we had a wobbly walk across a suspension bridge over the river - beautiful scenes of people in the river washing their clothes.
We left the Gardens just as the rain came, absolutely poured down and Alan was amazing to find the Kandy House which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, but what an oasis when we eventually found it.
The Kandy House is run by Eves and Ashleigh Ogier - former Thomas's parents!! A very nice couple, who seem rather lonely stuck in Kandy and so we had fun in the evening with them, enjoying Kandy House specials and then delicious food in luxurious surroundings. It was just like being in someone's private home - in fact the Kandy House was the former home of the ex Defence Minister and it has been done up by Bawa's chiefarchitect, Channa. It is very much a boutique hotel and definitely what I'm beginning to get used to out here…oops!!
We decided to have a chilled day enjoying the Kandy House, lazing by the stunning infinity pool which overlooked paddy fields and was surround by jungle - filled with an incredible array of birds each of which had different and lovely songs. We kept trying to spot them with the binos - with not much luck. Met a Sandy and Andrew - Sandy lives in same village as John and MA and was rather chatty and nice, Andrew was hairy!! It was just lovely to have a chilled day. In the evening, we went for a drink at Helga's Folly, a totally mad place up in the hills overlooking Kandy - every part of every wall was covered with murals, photos, or random objects!
We headed back to Kandy House, somewhat with a feeling of relief where we met another very nice family - Richard and Jackie who were travelling with their daughter, Emily who lives in Unawatuna and is great friends with Bec!! Small old world - we all had dinner together which was great fun. We had our own private show of Kandyan dancing in the garden, which was lit up by candles - great fun, amazing drumming and costumes and lots of leaping about and it only lasted for 20 mins….perfect!!
All in all a fantastic stay - now we're in the van heading to Tienstin and the Tea Trails…will we ever get there….Alan and his careful driving is beginning to drive me up the wall!!!!
6.3.07
Well, we're now on our way to Galle after a very colonial couple of days at Tienstin - the oldest bungalow on the Tea Trails, built in 1888. It is a stunning old colonial bungalow, complete with beautiful wooden floors, lovely carpets, wooden panelling in the dining room and wide, shady verandahs, set in a really beautiful garden filled with a vast array of flowers, trees, butterflies, birds, colours and sounds.The staff, in particular our butler Leel, were so helpful and friendly and smiley - the food was quite outstanding and far too much of it - every lunch was 3 courses, dinner was 4 courses and high tea complete with scones, cream and jam could never be missed!! Thank goodness we didn't stay much longer, I would've popped! We had lovely views of the tea estates, it looked like the hills around us were covered in a huge continuous green fuzzy carpet - all the tea bushes are the same height. We had mountains in the distance, rivers running below - it was stunning. There was only one problem……the whole time we were there, there was a Hindu festival running in full force at the local temple, all of 5 mins walk away.The noise was horrendous, blaring music, blaring voices, blaring catawalhing and it never let up - the noise was continuous the whole time we were there.This was a huge pity as it meant no lazing in the beautiful gardens admiring the view, or sitting on the verandah listening to the birdsong - it really annoyed me but 'what to do'. I did complain to our butler ( hotel manager nowhere in sight!) and he did try to move us, but by then it was too late and would've been too much hassle. The poor staff weren't having any better time since they were being kept awake through the night by the noise too.
We dealt with the problem by escaping to another of the bungalows - Norwood - for afternoon tea! Also, a beautiful setting - amazing bamboo, lovely pool and croquet - but a rather bland modern bungalow.When we arrived there the first day, we found Jo and Nico there - with Jack, Uncle John, Rob, MA etc due to arrive later. Great fun to catch up with them, especially as we thought we were going to be there at different times.Jo on such good form, I'm really going to miss them when they go to Europe for 3 months.
Our first night in Tienstin was great fun, delicious dinner, fun game of scrabble, even Dad played and actually enjoyed it! But we rather overindulged on the wine/booze front. It's been so lovely not drinking so much recently, got to keep it up!! Jack and Jo are now both on the wagon, as is Hen - think I'll give it a go in April, will def need a detox after the 7s I'm sure!
On our second day there, we went for a 2.5 hr walk through the tea estates - fantastic. Saw the tea pluckers in action - very dark Tamil women with large gold nose rings, brightly coloured saris and white bags hanging down their backs, from their forehead where they through the tea leaves they'd picked. They only pick 2 leaves and a bud - get paid 250 Rs a day if they pick enough tea, usually about 18kilos a day each!!! What a tough life they must lead, picking 7 days a week - standing on steep slopes, in the hit, very little shade, but they seemed very smiley and cheery when we walked past and were obviously having a good natter between themselves as they picked. Stunning scenary of the mountains, streams, tea, blue skies and…..we finally walked far enough that we could no longer hear the dreaded blaring music!! It was great!
All in all, another excellent chapter in our travels round Sri Lanka. We got up at crack of dawn this morning - left Tienstin at 6am and are now winding our way down the mountains, heading towards the coast. We stopped for breakfast at such a peaceful spot byKilani River and Kitulgala (site of white water rafting and where they filmed Bridge over the River Kwai!) We could have stayed there all day - watching the kingfishers dive for fish and the water silently meandering by - it was perfect.
We finished off our holiday with a great week in Galle. It was such fun showing Mum and Dad around and introducing them to everyone. Had a great dinner at the Sun House with David, Danielle, Edward, Sal and Hen and another great Kikili dinner with Alex, Olivia, Tom, Hen, Koki, Sal.We made it up to KK for lunch and a swim - they loved relaxing at the Dutch House, Nelson looked after them very well and Mum shopped like crazy, Dad spoiled me by buying some gorgeous earrings at Amin's, we had a great day at Wijaya - rose at lunch, fun swimming, great chatting to everyone, last dinner at the Aman and finally the grand finale - my birthday!!
So, all in all a great success of a holiday - loved spending the time with Mum and Dad and loved seeing more of beautiful Sri Lanka.
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