Oldies On Tour

Yes, today we leave after a wonderful 10 days in this historic Colonial Hotel, our relaxation days between our days out was the right way to visit Sri Lanka. Our three long days out together with out trip around Colombo gave us a very good insight to the life, the sounds and the scenery of this Island located to the Southern Tip of India.

Our last lie in then a relaxed breakfast followed by sitting in the sun and do a last few lengths in the salt water pool.

Christine was straight down to the pool after breakfast but I had to complete the log for our tea plantation trip as I had encountered a few IT issues, still all done and I went down.  After sitting in the sun and getting rather hot we strolled along the beach, had a paddle in the ocean then back into the hotel pool.

Back up to the room for 13000 hrs, a spot of lunch, though a continuation Of breakfast as we pocketed some cheese, biscuits and Jam etc., followed by showers and last minute packing.

We paid our final bill, not as bad as we were expecting, and into the pre-booked taxi and away.  Our trip to the airport was quite sedate this time and it included the Airport Highway, again built by the Chinese.

We were through the airport formalities quickly and then waiting quietly for boarding.

Take off was un eventful, the plane was full and food and drinks were wheeled out. Unfortunately our seats were the ones in front of the row with the emergency exit so therefore didn’t recline but the ones in front of us did. Because the space was tight, our fold down tray was in two halves which was good as I didn’t have enough room to fold down the whole tray, but half was OK. So when the food tray arrived I had to balance my tray on just half of the fold down one. Everything was OK but as I finished eating, so did the lady in front and started to recline her seat, my tray went everywhere, the glass shattered across the aisle, oh dear.  After the cabin staff cleared up, this woman came right back but I had nowhere to go, the tray nearly divided me in two and I was totally hacked off.  I stormed into the business class seats as they were empty, and started reading in comfort, until I was asked to move back.  I explained the situation and told the stewardess what I thought of Sri Lanka Air, but no I had to move back, I said I couldn’t fit in that seat with the one in front in the reclaimed position.

The stewardess then took my boarding stub bad disappeared only to return a few minutes later saying she had swapped someone and I had an other seat to go to.  When I returned to the cabin I noticed Christine had moved into mine and somebody else was in the middle and I had a window seat , first row behind the partitioning bulkhead; that’s better.

Arriving at Abu Dhabi airport, straight through Passport Control, our bags were amongst the first few off so out of the airport and into a taxi within half an hour.

After telling the driver where we wanted to go, that didn’t work, I gave him a piece of paper with the address on, that didn’t work, I turned the piece of paper over and tried the International Emirate’s school is a local landmark, that didn’t work either so he went to ask supervisor, eventually we got under way, found the local mall so we knew our way to the house now but believe it or not it was now when the driver decided to put his “Tom Tom” on!!!!!

Arrived to a dark house, all had gone to bed though Doogle and Oreo and thats just what we did after a great 10 days in Sri Lanka.

Thoroughly enjoyed breakfast again, they cater for all nationality’s so if you fancy curry for breakfast you can have it!  We have a variation of the English one, we had pancakes as well today, no wonder we don’t bother with lunch.

Back to the sun beds plug in my iPod, Geoff read his book, we swam in the pool, and thoroughly enjoyed the morning. We went to the room for coffee, then I went back down to the pool, leaving Geoff to do the log! He he…

Geoff came down eventually, we had some cocktails by the pool, watching the sunset, then back to the room, wash change and out to the Italian restaurant, the food was fantastic! good job we got there early as there were no spare tables later.

Little India

My opinion on this Island, having travelled a big area now is, it has not been westernized yet! So you will not see the fancy shops in many places, there are a few, most towns and villages look dirty and very poor especially around Little India, which I found a fascinating place although Joe (our driver) said we

Tea plantation

would be harassed if we tried walking around there. The traffic is mayhem, with the tut tuts, motor bikes, buses and cars all jostling for their place, the buses are filled so full they cannot shut the doors! The motorbikes carry the whole family, and the trains are packed as well.

The island has some beautiful scenery, especially around the tea plantation area, I have thoroughly enjoyed our stay here, and although the trips we did have been very long at times, that is because we chose to stay in Colombo.  Our Hotel has been brilliant, very comfortable, certainly not a plastic Hotel, with wood carvings and original floor boards everywhere.

0730 hrs start again and straight into the “dodge-em”, bleep, bleep, bleeping crazy traffic with crazy,  suicidal drivers, especially on two wheels.  One strange thing we see are whole families on 1 motorbike with the parents wearing crash hats but up to two children on board without crash hats!

Anyway I digress.  Our first stop around 0930 hrs, was for coffee and

The Coffee Stop, Hotel Foyer

toilets this was a hotel over looking the river where they filmed the “Bridge Over The River Kwai”  and where the cast stayed; Princess Elizabeth (before she became Queen) with

The River From The  Hotel

Prince Philip also stayed here.  Nice views but crap coffee and tea, it was the water we think, tainted!!!  After a quick wander round the grounds we were off again.

About 15 minutes of driving we stopped again

The Plaque Where The Film Set Was

and were taken along a well trodden path, down a precarious hill to where the actual bridge was constructed for the film “bridge Over the River Kwai”, this bridge together with the filming that took place on it started construction in 1956, completed 1 year later but only took 3 minutes to destroy; I suspect these days they would use a model.  Walking towards this site we passed a few “local’s” homes, poor people, and one of the women

The Film Bridge in “Bridge Over The River Kwai”

latched onto us and gave us all the lowdown

The Real Bridge Over The River Kwai

on the bridge, where the various scenes were performed and down to how they mocked up a real train with dummies and just before the Big Bang, with the train going over

The Beach Where Sir Alec (Col. Nicholson) Guinness does the Business

the top, how the actual driver of this train escaped, just in time!  In today’s world I think “health and safety” would have something to say about that!!!!!

A fascinating insight into this film that was

The Foundation Holes For The “Film”. bridge over The River Kwai”

released in 1957 and won many oscars: I must get the DVD and re-watch it.

Next stop lunch at a mediocre hotel but with front a seat view of the Ramboda Waterfalls.  We elected to go with the buffet along with many other tourists, but though it was cheap, the catering was for the masses but the food was tasteless, our first

The Ramboda Falls

poor lunch.  Joe was also pushing and wanted to get on but and we couldn’t understand why, we did find out why later in the day though!!!

Our next stint of driving took us right up into the higher mountains, at around 2000 meters, Joe was explaining how high we were but after we said we had been up Mont Blanc and the Andes , both around 4,000 meters, he said

The Swedish Built Dam

“well 2,000 meters is high in Sri Lanka” we have been told!!!!!  Still the views were bordering on spectacular and some of the back lanes he took us along, twisting around the mountain sides, apparently built by the British around the turn of the century, and the surfaces showed it, were like the roller coaster at Ferrari world; well nearly!!!! He showed us the Dam built by the Swedish, several more temples, and passing through several towns and villages, we arrived into

The Tea Factory

the tea growing areas.

Our next stop was the “Blue Field Tea Gardens” factory, tea shop and restaurant.  We had a private guided tour of the factory by a very personable Sri Lankan  young lady, it was

Women Tea Pluckers at Work

most informative and we were surprised how simple the process is from the tea bush to the finished tea.  The other amazing fact is that each tea bush gets “plucked” every week and a bush can go on producing for over 50 years.  Whilst  there I

A Tea Bush

Tea Bags Awaiting Transportation to the Factory

enquired about the tea pluckers, how much were they paid, 800 Sri Lankan Rupees a day, about £4.00 for 20 kg of leaves said our guide; there is also a bonus paid for every kg they pick above the 20

Tea Pluckers Weighing in Their Day’s Pickings

kg, but we suspect it will take all day (0800 hrs to 1630 hrs) to get to their target, after all the tea producers have been doing this for 100

Tea Pluckers Going Home After Work

years or more and know what’s possible!!!!!

After all the tea leaves have been brought back to the factory each evening, they are immediately laid out in very long but shallow trays where the first process starts, drying.

Freshly Picked Tea leaves in drying Trays.

These trays each hold 2,000 kg of leaves and when they are removed for the next crushing process 12 hrs later, their weight is half, 1,000 kg.

After the tour we were invited to sample a complimentary cuppa, I went for green tea, Christine went for BOP, Broken Orange Pekoe, or as we commonly refer to it as English Breakfast Tea!  One thing that did surprise us was the difference between Green Tea and Normal tea, firstly they are the same leaves and go through the first same two processes, but then the

Our Factory Tour Guide

normal/black tea sits on a slab and ferments whilst the leaves allocated for green tea, go into an area for a natural drying process.  Once the black tea has completed its fermentation process, about 2 hrs, it is transferred to a drying oven, the heat for which is by a fire box burning wood; this helps with the flavour.

All the tea produced here is bulk packed into cwt sacks and sent to the tea auctions in Colombo.

Tea Bushes Everywhere

We now started our journey to the town known as “Little England” and drove past hill after hill, row after row of tea plants,

Tea plantation

God, don’t we drink a lot of tea in the world,  but as we drove through the streets of Little England, it certainly didn’t look like little England to us, we could have been in any Sri Lankan town/village.  There were several old colonial buildings that Joe took us past, including an old Hotel called St Andrews but I pointed out, St Andrews is in Scotland, not England, no response!!!   Joe Drove us all around including the golf club founded in the late 1800’s, then dropped us off at

The New Posh Hotel

this posh new 5 star hotel, just opened by the Sri Lankan President.  He said he would pick us up in abut half an hour, so in we went, toilets first then sat in the lounge area waiting for service, nothing happened even though I went to reception for the Wi Fi code.  So after clearing e mails we had, we walked out to wait for Joe.

Christine’s New Friend

The car arrived about 5 minutes later and we were away.  Where are we going now we asked, back to the Galle Face Hotel Madam, oh good, and how long will that take we asked. Joe answered and after a pause whilst we caught our breath we asked again:  5 hours Madam came the answer for a second time, we were gob smacked, ouch!!!

Had we known how un interesting Little England was we would have asked to go back to the Hotel after visiting the Tea factory.  So if anyone reading this blog, don’t go to Little. England, here in Sri Lanka.

The reason our hearts dropped was that we would have to endure five hours of suicidal driving, overtaking against oncoming traffic, cutting in or being cut up by other drivers, whether they be in a car, truck, Tuk Tuk or Motorbike, or missing pedestrians who just walk across the roads dressed in dark colours; they are all lunatics and Joe seems to have a transformation after dark, and just joins in and if that is not all, we have the constant beep beep beeping of ALL road users.

We were so pleased when we drove into the front drive of the Galle Face Hotel at 2215 hrs, nearly 15 hrs after we left.  We are not sorry today is our last long day out and about.

Today was a repeat of our rest days, we do not feel the need to go out of the Hotel, as we have everything we need here, comfort, flunkies, and everything you could wish for.

My back is playing up again today, so we had a gently swim, a quick sunbathe, you cannot sit out for long, you would get burnt to a cinder, so we read our books, and sat under the shade of the umbrellas listening to the sound of the waves. Geoff continues to try and keep up with the log!  I like this alternate day thing, have nothing to write about.

Corridors have water with lights in either side very tranquil

We explored the Health spa, it is lovely down there! the only trouble is the men have to use a different sauna! steam and jacuzzi, where is the fun in that! So we have not bothered.

After the pre drinks, we went downstairs for dinner, we were

Water candles and petals everywhere

going to try the Italian over the road, but changed our minds, perhaps tomorrow.

Breakfast at a reasonable time, 0700 hrs this morning,  then into the waiting car for 0730 hrs, Joe behind the wheel and away we went, straight into the bedlam of the morning Colombo traffic, though it never seems to quieten down.   Bleep, Bleep Bleep from everyone and I have noticed Joe, our Driver, bleeping at times for no reason, just habit I presume!

Our “course” to Galle was along the coast road  stopping at various places along the way with an ETA around 1400 hrs.

Outside the Biscuit Factory

Our first stop, a picture moment, was the Maliban Biscuit Factory, this was the company my Father did a lot of work with,  including much of the planning for this current, new in 1961, factory but unfortunately he didn’t live to see the completed factory.  Unfortunately due to heavy traffic and not being able to park, I could only get a poor shot of the front of the office block, the factory behind it was not seen.

Our next stop was the Turtle Hatchery where we got to learn about turtles and hold them.

The Entrance

This place not only hatches the eggs and keeps

The Five Species of Sea Turtles

the babies until they are 5 years old before releasing them into the sea, they also take in

Brave Lady!

turtles that have been caught up in Fisherman’s nets Etc.  We saw several that had lost their flippers, naturally they would have died back in the sea, but here, they can live their life out.

Bigger and BRAVER

They also had turtles born disfigured and with no eyes, again

An. Albino Turtle, Very Unusual

they wouldn’t survive in the ocean.  We also

looked at a rare “Albino” turtle.

After this quite remarkable place and a quick

A Blind Turtle being Cared For

visit to the obligatory gift shop, we were off in the car again.

Our next port of call was the inland lagoon, Lake Ratgama, with 64 Islands in it.  We got into our private open topped boat and set off through the Mangroves and into the

Our Boat Driver

spectacular tidal lagoon.  The boat driver first took us through a tunnel cut in the Mangroves, it looked like a big black hole until our eyes adjusted and it gave us a very close-up look at

The Traps for Catching Prawns

their root systems which involves turning salty sea water into pure water, very clever!

We passed the traps used for catching prawns, they shine a bright light at night, the prawns swim into the traps, can’t get out and bingo, someone’s lunch next day.  We also passed a number of fish farms, the driver wanted to stop but we said no.

Next came the temple but we told him we were templed out so apart from

Temple in the Middle of the Lake

a photograph, we could move on.

Next he took us to another island and here insisted we get out, and I have to say we were glad as this old boy demonstrated how they took the branch from the Cinnamon tree,

Stripping out the Cinnamon

shaved off the outside green bark, that went as compost, then gently skinned the remaining wood from the branch which became the

cinnamon.

Boating through the Mangroves

He then wrapped these thin slivers of wood into a length and dried them, not in the sunlight, but in the pitch of his hut roof for 5 days after which it is brown and ready for grating and use; fascinating.  His next demonstration was how he weaves the coconut leaves into matting and he explained that when two layers thick, it will keep the house dry. Last but not least, he took the hair from

Fisherman on Lake

the dried coconut, weaved it, doubled it and hey presto, rope.  We all tried to pull it apart but no, it was too strong.

Back into the boat passing several birds and fishermen we made our way back but didn’t stop, we went onto the mouth

A Kingfisher Along the Way

of this lagoon, I am sure he wanted us to know and see this was a salt water lake!  This trip lasted a hour and half and we really enjoyed it and it was good to get back onto the water.  As we approached our jetty, who was there to meet us, why Joe of

Joe awaits our return

course!  Joe looks after us like a mother hen, I am sure he is thinking of the big tip he hopes to get at the end!!!

On the move again, lunch is fast approaching and Joe said he will take us to a good fish restaurant on the beach, but first we have to drive through areas where the major Tsumani hit, Boxing Day 2004.

The Train Boxing Day 2004

The  devastation caused, as we saw on the

The Railway Line, Boxing Day 2004

news at the time, is highlighted by seeing it  as it is un inhabitable

A Monument Over the Mass Grave

The figure officially quoted was 43,000 dead but our “local” driver thinks the true number is about double.  There is also a mass grave

with  5,000 un

Tsunami Damage

identifiable bodies in,  and a memorial that has been built on the

The Japanese Monument

spot.   Additionally the Japanese have also built a Statue to commemorate this tragedy, but the Japanese did it a a good omen to stop any re occurrence of any future Tsunamis.

Tsunami Damage

This was a sad part of our journey but it did bring home the devastation people suffered and it also brings home how lucky we are to be living in Europe.

Lunch next and after leaving the main area of the Tsunami we arrived at this Fish Restaurant recommended by Joe. Well the

Entrance to Fish Restaurant

entrance certainly didn’t give a good impression but once we ad walked through, we were happy.  The fish on display in the tanks and in the chill cabinets looked very good and we were happy! We got table, after a swop, next to the beach ant then ordered. A prawn and Avocado starter for Christine, rock

Seafood Platter

Oysters for me then a mixed Seafood platter to share, with Chips!!!  All very nice and we were full.  The most spectacular thing here was the size of the jumbo Prawns, they were the size of a Lobster,

A Jumbo Prawn

quite remarkable but the one e hd was a little tasteless. In this case, big was not better!!!

The Seafood Restaurant

Lunch over and off to Galle.  Galle historically was very important and on the peninsula the Portuguese built the original fort in 1588. But the  Dutch modified it extensively from 1649 onwards.  The walls

The Ramparts Today

are extremely thick, so thick that they were the only man built building not Damaged by the Tsunami.  There is not that much to see in the old fort, people live there, there is a Hotel and the usual

Galle Cricket Ground

tourist shops.  Apart from a walk along the ramparts, and looking at the Cricket pitch where test matches are played there is not a lot to see so Joe drove us through quickly, pointing some things out as we went.

A View Of Galle HarbourJoe just drove us around so we could get a feel of the place.

The Refurbished Dutch Church in Fort Galle

Next it was time for the beach, a swim, one hour of Sunbathing and a cuppa.  Joe dropped us at a beach where we enjoyed swimming in the

The Beach We Swam Off

Indian Ocean, but

One of the Entrances to Galle Fort

by now the sun was not at its brightest so after swimming, we dressed and enjoyed “Tea for Two”

Joe waited in the car, enjoying a siesta, until we were ready.  This time Joe Took us on the fairly new “Highway” a

It’s Been A Long Day!

Chineese constructed duel carriageway built to European Motorway standards though the maximum speed limit was 100 kph (60 mph) due to so many accidents!  The 116 Km took us one hour ten minutes, the 26 Km’s took us nearly an hour, again mad driving, hooting and in the dark, oh well, rest day tomorrow!