Day 6

An 8 hour journey back across the island awaits us today. Sad to leave the beautiful beach but also many more adventures to look forward to. The journey was pretty uneventful, long and boring. It did give Lynne plenty of time to plan her latest idea for a career change! Reaching Negombo in time to seek out a gift, we headed to Lucian's family home for dinner. His wife made us a beautiful seafood feast and his children stared at us with little smiles on their faces! Sri Lanka were playing India in the cricket, so we weren't allowed to leave until that reached its exciting conclusion. We also received a free cookery course courtesy of Mrs Lucian which now means we can cook with the correct ingredients when we get home. Matt had previously tried to make the fresh coconut based dish - sambal - but forgot one vital ingredient, the coconut! A bottle of arrack and several beers later saw us fall into bed ready for an early flight to Bangkok.

Days 4 & 5

After a Sri Lankan omelette start (omelette loaded with chillis) we were ready to go on our elephant trek. Rana was to be our trusty steed for the journey and was easily bribed with a bunch of bananas. Great fun.

Now it was time to head east to the beach. Many police checkpoints are still in place, but nothing to worry about, in fact the police were quite a jolly bunch. We finally arrived in time for lunch in a completely unspoilt, non - touristy destination. Nothing to do except swing in hammocks, laze around on the beach and sip cold beer - wonderful. The cheeky squirrels added some humour, stealing food off our plates and even letting Matt feed them chips but apart from that, doing nothing for 2 days was our biggest priority!

Day 3

An early start as a lot of sightseeing needs to be done today! After a stop at two temples on the way (Lucian seems to like temples) we arrive at Dambulla. Unfortunately we are a little ‘templed out’ so didn’t really appreciate the history or grandeur of the place. Sigirya was a different story though. Despite the Government increasing the price to a ridiculous amount, you can’t fail to be impressed with this ‘Lion Rock’. It was mentioned that there is a wasp problem, we just didn’t realise how serious that actually was! That was enough to put Lynne off climbing to the top, but Matthew the Brave made it all the way for stunning views. After such a long and arduous climb, it was time to head

to our dwelling for the night. Here, we had possibly the best rice and curry of the trip so far, most certainly the widest variety - enjoy the photo Lisa!

Day 2

Wide awake and refreshed after a ten hour sleep unaided by alcohol. Off to the botanical gardens. Not being something we were enthralled about, a pleasant surprise awaited us - monkeys everywhere! This was enough to keep us smiling through the two hour stroll where we also spotted a sausage tree, much to our amusement. Upon entering the herbal medicine garden, a security guard decided we were dodgy and unsurreptitiously (is that even a word?) followed us around. He was about eighty and not so steady on his feet so it was easy enough to give him the slip behind a large cactus. A quick stop for fruit and we were on the way to a tea plantation and factory. Everything is still done by hand here and we didn't realise the amount of work that goes into producing a cup of tea - whoever invented it had some imagination! A quick tasting later we decided not to buy a bag of tea leaves as we really don't want the hassle of explaining that it really is just tea when we arrive in Bangkok! Now, Lucian being the local expert that he is informed us during idle conversation that Sri Lanka is very famous for precious and semi precious gems. Twenty minutes later we arrive at the gem factory and two yellow sapphires have replaced the holes in Lynne's engagement ring - brilliant. Back to the hotel to enjoy a G&T with the sunset. Dinner was accompanied by a local band who were serenading each table with a song of their choice. Resisting the urge to ask for 'Bat Out Of Hell' or 'Smack My Bitch Up', we opted for a Spanish song which was actually quite good and well deserving of the 20p tip we gave them. Full of curry and time for bed.

Day 1

Sorry about the delay, lack of internet in Sri Lanka has inhibited us. No fear though, we are up and running now. So, Sri Lanka again. After an annoying start, with our flight being changed and no notification of this, we settle in to free drinks and food in the lounge at the airport. Many thanks National Bank of Abu Dhabi! A sleepless flight follows for Lynne (a dribbly peaceful Matthew nap) sees us in Sri Lanka at 6am, greeted by Lucian our ever faithful driver. Off to the elephant orphanage we go with a brief stop for roti and dhal to keep us awake (curry at 7 in the morning is strangely nice!). Loved the elephants, not so much the mean man who whipped one for not keeping in line - 'they can't feel it, they have thick skin' did not make either of us feel happier. Great experience though, especially to see them playing in the river. On to Kandy, the home of traditional dance and hills. Not disappointed by either, we sat in the hotel restaurant and watched monkeys frolic around. Karma was restored in the Temple of the ancient tooth relic before the lack of sleep for 48 hours kicked in. Night x