Back to Colombo

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Geo: 6.92747, 79.8484

Although we left Kandalama at 8.30 am it still took us till 4pm to get to the Mount Lavinia Hotel in Colombo. The distances do not look huge on the map but roadworks, traffic and the usual dogs,cows, buses etc make the journey longer. Our driver has been fantastic at taking shortcuts to avoid road works that he heard about from other drivers. We only stopped once for lunch and that was at a very local restaurant which had a curry buffet. We both tried a bit of all the curries which were good but not that hot. Every one in the restaurant was eating with their right hand even our driver ,but thankfully we were given a spoon and fork! The traffic in Colombo was horrendous but we finally arrived at the Mount Lavinia Hotel another converted Governors mansion. Ted for some reason caused quite a stir with the porters who took photos of him. Our room looked out onto the ocean and for once the air conditioning was sensible and came off and on and kept the room stable. Numerous weddings are held here so we saw lots of brides in beautiful dresses. I soon found out that there was a hairdresser in the hotel so went straight off and had a wash and blow dry_ sheer bliss! By this time it was 6pm which was happy hour at the pool bar so off we went and had a couple of lovely cocktails. Choice for dinner was a huge barbecue or a la carte. We opted for a la carte and had lovely starters and then once again had main courses which were too big and couldn't finish. It was lovely to go to bed with the waves crashing nearby. The following morning we headed for the buffet breakfast which was extensive but once again thee were too many chiefs and not enough doers and it took us ages to get the tea. I tried a Hopper, which is a crispy bowl made out of rice filled with an egg, sounds awful but was very good. After that we retired to the pool area for the first real sunbathe and beers later at the pool bar. This last day was intentionally a day of rest in the sun. Later we tried a light lunch at the beach seafood bar and in the evening a light dinner back in the restaurant. It has been a great two weeks and I shall miss the lovely green countryside. The people have been very nice and the food has on the whole been good. By driving around I feel that we have really seen what the country is like.

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