HE SAID... Today we were travelling south from Tricomalee to Batticaloa. We woke early at 6am, organised our packs and headed down to breakfast. I ordered poached eggs on toast, which I enjoyed with mixed fruit juice and tea. I ‘stole’ a few bakery items for the bus trip to Batticaloa, and then headed back to our room to finalise our packs. We were sad (in a way) to be leaving Trincomalee, because we’d really enjoyed the relaxed and laid back atmosphere of the place, especially our hotel (Anantamaa), and we were also sad to be leaving our friendly peacock – who we had affectionately named ‘Captain Peacock’. We checked out of the hotel, jumped into our minibus and headed south towards Batticaloa. After about 30 minutes we crossed the Mahaweli Ganga, Sri Lanka’s longest river, ... read more

HE SAID... Today we were travelling north from Anuradhapura to Jaffna. We woke at 6am, organised our packs and headed down to breakfast. I served myself super sweet sultana bran, toast, jam, pol roti (coconut roti), pol sambol (shredded coconut with onions, chilli and lime), tea and fruit juice. I wasn’t feeling 100%% – a chest cold had swept through our previous group, and it seemed to be catching up with me after a few days incubation. We checked out of our comfortable hotel (The Lakeside at Nuwarawewa), drove a short distance (via minibus) to Anuradhapura’s quiet and uncrowded railway station, walked to our platform and boarded the train to Jaffna at 9:30am. We snacked on incredibly tasty vegetable pan rolls (filled and rolled up crepes, that are crumbed and fried) that we’d picked from the ... read more

HE SAID... Today we were travelling north from Negombo to Wilpattu National Park, then east to Anuradhapura. We left Negombo around 8:30am after an early morning visit to the beach town’s fish markets and lagoon foreshore. We initially travelled north, hugging the western coastline for just under an hour until we arrived in the small township of Madampe to visit a local home-based industry cooperative. We’d stopped here for a factory tour and meal a few weeks earlier, but today we were only passing through. The cooperative manufactures a number of different coconut products, including rope from coconut fibre and treacle from coconut sap. We sampled fresh coconut juice and frothy warm toddy (fermented coconut sap), and our guide picked up a bottle of the cooperative’s trademark treacle. We left the cooperative mid-morning and continued our ... read more

HE SAID... Today we were travelling north-west from Mirissa to Colombo. We woke early at 5:30am and caught up on our travel writing before heading down to breakfast. The food was good – the hotel staff must have noted our absence at meals. I had an egg roti, freshly cooked omelette, freshly squeezed juice and tea. After breakfast we organised our packs, checked out of Hotel Silan Mo, jumped into the minibus and hit the express highway for Colombo. We entered the outer suburbs (or “outer skirts” as our guide suggested) of Colombo about 11:30pm, and after spending 30 minutes in heavily congested traffic we arrived at the Independence Memorial Hall. We loved the calm atmosphere of this open air monument to Sri Lanka’s independence the first time we visited Colombo two weeks ago, and the ... read more

HE SAID... Today we were travelling south-east from Bandarawela to Yala National Park. We woke late, and after slowly gathering ourselves together, we headed to the hotel’s open air balcony for breakfast. I was feeling a little under the weather from way too much arrack the night before, but it wasn’t enough to stop me enjoying a plate of hoppers (thin crispy rice flour and coconut crepes cooked in a mini-wok), pol sambol (shredded coconut with onions, chilli and lime), chickpeas and boiled eggs. With a focus on rehydration, I refreshed myself with quite a few watermelon juices and cups of tea. We left our hotel in the hills of Bandarawela after breakfast (around 9am) and began our journey out of the Hill Country and towards the southern coastline. We snaked our way through the majestic ... read more