Blogs from Sri Lanka, Asia - page 11

Our last full day. We'd arranged to do the cooking class in the hotel with the chef and then have the dinner ( which we'd watched / "helped" him cook) - that started at 4 so in the morning we went to a beach where you could rent snorkels so we could have a swim in the Indian Ocean. The undercurrent and waves are strong along the coast so there are only a few sheltered bays where it is safe to swim. I really didn't fancy a boat trip in the very choppy conditions so we opted for an hour swimming in Paradise Beach. Even being in a calm area, I still found the currents strong. So with me clinging onto Pete, we did see quite a few colourful fish and a shoal or two of ... read more

Breakfast at the Spice House is a typical fruit selection with a choice of eggs, omelette etc. However there was an added surprise on the pastry plate - one was definitely a doughnut, the other we assumed was similar with a cinnamon coating. Taking a large bite proved that it was in fact a spicy curry vegetable roll, very nice but not convinced it goes well after donought and jam on toast! Tuctuc to Galle was about 32km, longest journey by this type of transport we had attempted. Apart from the kamikaze bus drivers it was relatively trouble free and we followed the coast road all the way. As it was a full moon day it was another national holiday (they get 60 per year in Sri Lanka!) so the 'fishermen on stilts' were more interested ... read more

Sun and warmth finally arrived in time to wish us farewell to Nuwara Eliya. Tuctuc to the station in plenty of time for 12:45'ish train. Delighted to get 2nd class (unreserved) tickets for the princely sum of 220 rupees for both of us (£1.10) for a 2 1/2 hr journey (Virgin please take note!) As time for train arrived so did lots more people so platform was full when train arrived a typical Sri Lankan 1/2hr late. Train was packed when it arrived and only a few wanted to get off so think of a Picadilly line train at 6:00 in the evening and double it, add a large suitcase for everyone and you get the idea - complete bedlam! Mum surprisingly non-plussed about the chaos and dad delighted to be on a train so off ... read more

Beautiful morning dawned, warm and sunny. Breakfast and a leisurely couple of hours in the swimming pool and reading before Safari at 1:30. We struck lucky as we were the only two on our jeep (Nikolai Safari organised by Athgira River Camp so we had the driver (who was also our guide) to ourselves. The park is fantastic, the only 'big' game are the elephants but we saw so many other animals and loads of birds - it was a truly memorable afternoon. Lots of crocodiles, water buffalo, jackals and even a mongoose plus several herds of elephants, one group more than 20 including several babies, it was a privilege to see. The bird life was perhaps even more amazing with all kinds of water based species such as cranes, ibis and herons. Three different types ... read more

R: This will be a fairly short post as we didn't do much here. With a long flight day to Australia to look forward to, we opted to have a few days of relaxation in a resort type place. We arrived about 4pm, and one of the quirks of this hotel was the boat transfer. When you arrive on the boat landing stage on the mainland you get whisked onto a small transfer boat which whisks you onto the hotel complex on a spit of sand isolated from the mainland. The hotel is fairly nice, 4* kind of resort. Large pool, quite a few families, three restaurants etc. But its location is quite special, directly on a spit which you can walk down a long sandy beach just outside the pool. We got upgraded to all ... read more