Oldies On Tour

When booking up our trips, I decided to have a day off in between, and so glad we did, as we are usually shattered after our days out.

We had a leisurely breakfast, in fact we were the last ones in the restaurant having arrived down quite late! The breakfasts are good here, with plenty of choices, with eggs and bacon cooked to however you want them, fresh fruit, and choices of breads and pastries. Not sure I want to see the scales when we get back to Jane’s.

The hotel is the only one (I think!) that is on the beach in this area, all the others you have to walk across a very big road, over a park area, before you get to the beach, but sadly you are not allowed to swim in any of them, as there is a very strong under current, the

The library with NO books!

nearest safe beach is over an hour away, we can paddle though!

Prince Philips 1935 standard nine

We enjoyed sometime by the pool, before and after lunch, went and explored a bit more of the Hotel, it is huge.  We took the lift to the second floor, where we found another big lounge, with an area which is being renovated, it is going to be a museum, not sure what is going to be in there, although we did find Prince Phillips first car, which apparently he bought in 1940, costing a mere £12. The car was a secondhand 1935 standard nine, it was then sold on and

Renovations to the Museum

restored, and given to the Hotel to showcase.

In the evening we could not be bothered to dress up, so we dined outside, by candle light, with the waves crashing below us, it was very romantic, it is such a lovely setting here.

I managed to manipulate the days to do the log, where I get the easy days, and Geoff gets the trips to do, mind you he does like history!

When the Hotel is eventually finished at the end of this year, they are hoping it will be the ‘Raffles’ of Sri Lanka, so we are pleased we came here now, because we doubt we could afford it later!

The YouTube ID of Insert video URL or ID here is invalid. We were told that Kandy is a “must Visit” place when holidaying in Sri Lanka, so today is the day.

The fascination of Kandy is its history ancient and modern as well as the Temple of the tooth, where “Buddha’s” tooth, this holy relic of the Sri

Anyone Want Bananas?

Lanka’s Buddhist faith is kept; we are told and it is believed to rest in a golden urn that only leaves the temple for a holy parade in August.  This parade of Buddha’s tooth takes one week and is accompanied by 80

Somewhere in here is the Tooth?

elephants.  I remember as a child my Father recounting this spectacle as he was here and witnessed this parade in the mid 1950’s.

The potted history lesson of Sri Lanka, has been traced back circa 30,000 years, though before 1815 was a split island, with the kingdom based in the central mountains with Kandy as the capital and the coastal regions first colonised by the Portuguese 1505 – 1638 then the Dutch 1638 – 1802 and finally the British 1802 – 1948: though in 1815 the British attacked and defeated the Kingdom of Kandy and United the Country as Ceylon.  The king (1780  – 1832) “Sri Vikrama Rajasinha” fled and was exiled in

Last King of Sri Lanka

India.  This was the end of a kingdom stretching back to 6th Century BC!!!!!

We had arranged to meet Joseph at 0630 after collecting our Breakfast boxes from reception, he was waiting with doors open and spot on time; we were off.  Even though it was early Saturday morning, the traffic was heavy as we weaved our way across Colombo, which incidentally seemed to go on forever.  The distance going the quickest route (see map) is 133 km’s and should take around 2.5 hrs but we we went across country and there were townships all along the way until we reached the start of the mountainous region: Tuk Tuks and traffic all

Yesterday’s Result, Other bus on the other side of the road!

along the way.  Eventually we arrived at the Elephant place, where Christine could satisfy her desire to ride one,  not the orphanage as originally planned as the write ups weren’t very good and we were warned off as it is a “rip-off-place”

Joe our Driver and Car

It was here where we opened our breakfast boxes and immediately

Who is in Charge?

disappointed with the contents.  Breakfasts at the Galle Face Hotel are superb and you are spoilt for choice so we were looking forward to our boxed ones, ahhhhh!  Still we ate most but kept the fruit back ’till later.  It was now Christine’s big moment, her elephant was waiting and she climbed on board for her half

Christine Riding an Elephant

hour ride, down to the stream where she was relieved “Nelly” didn’t shower her, then off along a well trodden path into the jungle:  Why was I not up there with here you ask, well I have done it many times before and besides I was operating the Video Camera so we have a record for posterity.

Nb.  This video will appear at a later date,  once we have learned how to load one onto our web site!!!!!!

After dismounting the elephant, Christine set about feeding him with

Anyone Want Bananas?

Bananas and pineapples, all of which were swallowed hole, much to Christine’s surprise, don’t know why, after all they do have big mouths!!!

A Jack Fruit Tree

Back in the car and on our way again until we arrived at “New Regent” a spice and herbal garden.  As of we got out of the car we were accosted by one of the guides and taken all around, stopping at all the various herbs and plants that supposedly will cure anything and everything.  All the old favourites were here but so many more, we were amazed.  We sniffed “this” and massaged “that” He also demonstrated a number of things including the construction and cooking arrangements of a local’s, with limited means, kitchen.  I don’t suppose these have changed down the centuries!

On our way again and we were getting agitated, we had not had a coffee or tea break so upon arrival into Kandy, we stopped at the Queens Hotel,

Queens Hotel

again another Colonial one and a sister to the Galle Face, though I need to say immediately not in the same league; it is very tired, still the coffee and tea were ok though the slice of cake we had was just dry sponge.  This hotel started

Queens Hotel Bar

life about 160 years ago as the Governor’s Residence with Army Barracks attached before being converted around the turn of the Century.

It was now time to walk across the road and

The Temple of the Tooth, Entrance to the Complex

enter the Temple of the Tooth.  Security was tight as was dress code.  I had to don long trousers and Christine had to cover her arms.  Before this was a temple, it was the royal residence, vacated by the last Monarch 1815. Next, naturally had to pay an entrance fee and leave our shoes behind, oh I so hate being in bare feet!  We wandered all through this spectacular temple whilst nearly tripping over

The Temple Gardens

all the worshipers.  We looked long and hard where the tooth was but saw nothing!  This tooth relic was brought here from India in 371 AD; though I don’t suppose anyone has seen it, I wonder if it is a top or bottom or a front or back tooth!!!!!

The Main Alter Inside

The other interesting feature about this Buddhist Temple is the religious

Hindu Temple in Buddha’s Temple Groundsp

An Anglican Church in the Temple’s Grounds

tolerance, on this site apart from the Buddha temple there is also a Hindu Temple and an Anglican Church.

Right time for a late lunch, for this

The Temple and Lake From the Lookout Point

Jo drove us up to a lookout and restaurant over looking the lake alongside the temple.  Here we enjoyed a sort of Curry/Chinese mixture, all I can say it was very tasty and filling with a splendid view into the green mountains beyond and the lake below and as a diversion, watched a monkey tight walk along an electricity high wire.

Buddha o.n top of a mountain

Back in the car and we started to return, though we returned the

The route to Kandy

alternative way which was certainly prettier, less congested and more importantly we came across a procession preparing for tomorrow,

Man Hooked and Hanging

another holy day!  We must say this was a

Man Hooked a and Sitting

procession like no other, not because it was long or colourful, not because it stopped the traffic but because of the pain some of the participants must have been enduring.  Young men were attached by cords hanging from a pole stretched over the front of small trucks with the cord ends attached to hooks that were hooked into these men’s backs and legs.  In fact one fellow was hooked in a sitting position and the remarkable thing about this was that everyone suspended with hooks through their skin were

Cotton Tree!!!

smiling!!!!!!  Naturally we stopped, watched and videoed the whole thing.

Hardly believing what we had witnessed, we drove on our way again and soon we watched a fleeting sunset then it was dark.  Now up ’till Jo had driven well, sidately, considerately and at times was just plain slow, but now it was dark, hold on boys, he was as bad as the lunatic we had when

On the back of a Tuk Tuk, On These Roads, Quite Right

we had when we first arrived.  Weaving in and out of the traffic, no consideration for Motor Bikes or Tuk Tuk’s, they must have been second class citizens, and things were not made easier with Pedestrians crossing the roads in dark clothes.  Neither of us knew how we eventually arrived back to our hotel without having hit someone or something!

Anyway, back 13 hours after we had left having had a good day but exhausted and upon entering our room we found a plateful of fruit, peeled and cut, also some candy waiting for us.  Perhaps they heard our moaning about the breakfast boxes!!!!!

Woke up this morning to the sound of the Indian Ocean crashing on the rocks, what a

What a fantastic view!

fabulous place this is, the sun is shining, and we have a lovely blue sky.

We took a late breakfast, we both took the English breakfast! yes bacon freshly cooked to how you like it! you never realise how much you miss it! until you can’t get it, so it was a good change.

Back to the room, then downstairs by the pool, with our books, what a lovely few hours just being lazy, we both went into the 30 metre pool which was 24 degrees ( temperature taken at 6.30am) didn’t seem cold it was just right. Geoff had coffee whilst I had a fresh pineapple juice, it was

By the pool looking out on the Indian Ocean

lovely, later he had a beer, I had a fresh mango juice. It is so relaxing here, Geoff is enjoying keeping the flunkies busy!

Back to the room for a late lunch, showers etc, before getting ready, we have been invited by the hotel to a cocktail party. At 6pm we headed for the dining room, where we met Carlos Sanchez, who was the Operations Manager, Geoff had champagne whilst I had a mojito, and very nice it was too. Later Tony arrived he was the General Manager who came from Tasmania, so Geoff and him had long discussions on Rugby! Whilst I enjoyed talking to Carlos, and another guy who was a Commercial solicitor in London, although he was Lebanese! another Mojito, and more champagne, I was slowly getting p….d and more talkative!!  We finally left at 7.30pm and had dinner, which was very enjoyable, we have an early start tomorrow, so I fell into bed at 10pm

After a well deserved lay in and a leisurely breakfast we made for the tourist desk, always a good start point!  About 5 minutes later we had booked 4 trips, the first today, a two and a half tour of Colombo in a private car where the driver is also the guide.

The Old Parliament Buildings

Joseph, our guide, collected us from our hotel and took us along the front passing the old parliament building, fighting all the traffic and Tuk Tuks

Traffic!!!!!!!

Tuc Tuc’s waiting for Fares

to get us to the Indian quarter: Incidentally the proper name of a Tuc Tuc is a Trishaw. We drove through these un-believably busy , colourful and noisy  streets, passing numerous Hindu, Buddha and Christian Temples and Churches and for a few minutes I thought I was back in Delhi, there was no difference.  Christine was sliding from one side of the car to the other

Wall to Wall Bikes

taking ‘photos Whilst Jo, our

Colourful Shops

Driver, was laughing and saying it will get her fit.  Not only did we experience their way of trading, we also past the area where they lived, I must say we don’t always realise how good we have things In Europe.

Colombo’s World Trade Centre

Jo, whilst driving gave us a short history lesson about Sri Lanka. Naturally we knew this was a part of the British Empire and they gained independence in 1948 but like many countries given independence

The BBC Building

The British War Memorial

everything didn’t go smoothly and even changing the name from Ceylon to Sri Lanka didn’t smooth things and eventually the separates who wanted autonomy, the Tamil Tigers as we know them by, rebelled and for 16 years there has been a civil war which only ended in 2009.  It was evident by the number of Army and Airforce bases we passed just how geared up for war the Government was.  The good news now is how peaceful and harmonious the population is.

Moving on from the Indian Quarter we visited the

Central Train Station

main Railway Station

Side street in Indian quarter of Colombo

built by the British, still being used but very run down, past Victoria Park, also set out by the British, Independence Square and all the various Government buildings. We also drove through the “Posh” districts where the wealthy live and past all the Foreign Embassies etc., still fighting the traffic I may add.  We passed the Colombo Test Cricket complex, with all their Cricket facilities ours look very poor, no wonder we lost 5 – 0 to the Bl—y Australians and the

The BBC Building

Ashes!!!!!

Moving swiftly on, we drove past everything that was worth seeing here in Colombo, including two post boxes: A green one from the days of the British, it had GR on the door (King George VI) and red ones for the Sri Lankan post, though the red ones are only used for local post, the green ones are for all

The Two Letter Boxes

other post, there is no escaping their Colonial past!!!!!

Dropped off at our Hotel after a fascinating trip around Colombo in time for a snack before heading out to the local Supermarket for this and that, including a bottle of Gin (& tonics) and a bottle of Port, Christine’s latest drink!!!! And a few biscuits.

Back in the Hotel for a “cuppa” and a catch up with e mails and web site etc., then down to the poolside bar for dinner but unfortunately by now it was raining, so we enjoyed a poolside dinner with wine today!!! In the

The Pool Bar at Night

Paddling after Dark

Hotels verandah.  After diner, rain having stopped, we wandered down to the beach and had a paddle in the warm Indian Ocean enjoying the balmy weather. We shouldn’t be too shocked about the rain, after all one of the charming things about Sri Lanka is the greenness and varied vegetation, not like the sand and more sand we encountered in Abu Dhabi!!!

Tomorrow is a leisurely day, nothing planned but who knows with us!!!!!!!!

After our 4 hour flight on Sri Lankan Airways we arrived at the international Airport, Colombo and with the one and a half hour time zone change it was around 0500 hrs; a short night with minimal sleep on the plane!  We were lucky that though it was a fullish flight we had three seats between us.

One of the first off the plane and onto a bus to the terminal and wow, the heat hit us, great.  Again one of the first in the queue for passport control only to be turned round and told to fill in a landing card, this should have been given to us on the plane, but it wasn’t. Once completed we were back into one of the many passport control counters And through very quickly, very efficient.  We arrived at the carousel to find our case coming round on the belt, never been so quick before.

An Undamaged Tuc Tuc

Out of the airport in under half an hour then into negotiating with the taxi drivers for the best rate.  The one we decided on was not the cheapest but we both felt more confident with him, don’t know why though!  Cases loaded and we were on our way, still dark, firstly to a petrol station, then to change drivers, odd or what, probably shift changeover.  The first driver was a slow and careful driver but the second was a complete lunatic, driving flat out along an uneven road lined with early morning commuters and shops, honking his horn continually and weaving in and out of the traffic until he only just managed to stop before hitting another vehicle up the backside.  Tyres screeching, burnt rubber as we skidded and he stopped and stalled the engine in the process.  I don’t think you could have put a cigarette paper between the two vehicles and at this point I was compelled to say something, in fact quite a lot.  He then started to drive a little more sensibly, not a lot though, anyway dawn came up and we arrived at the Galle Face Hotel 1 hour later.  I think the white knuckle ride in the taxi measured up to several of the rides in Ferrari World!!!!!!

Name Plate

We tried to check in but 0600 hrs was a little early but they said they would do their best to get us in before the normal 1400 hrs check in.  We waited ’till 0700 hrs for the restaurant to open then indulged in a hearty breakfast.  After our leisurely breakfast lasting about an hour we went on a tour of the hotel.

The Galle Face Hotel, is an typically old colonial hotel opened in 1864 and though it is a little tired is still

Hotel Entrance With Fish Pond

splendid.  There are a lot of re-furbishments  going on and one half of the hotel is a building site.  I particularly wanted to book in here as my Father used to stay here every time he came to Ceylon, as it used to be know as before, and he always had glowing reports about the place.  Of course, the last time he was here was just before he died, 54 years ago, so I was not too sure what I would find, though it is still listed as a 5 star hotel, so far I

Hotel Foyer

am not disappointed, “flunkies” everywhere, a very high staff to guest ratio, wonderful.

We were actually in our room about 0900 hrs, the hotel did us proud, we showered and then had a couple of hours “kip” before venturing out.

Hotel’s Display of Silver from Bygone Days

I received an e mail from Martin wondering if I had had a gin and tonic with my breakfast as now we are out of the “dry” Arab countries and in a Country with a more liberal attitude to alcohol, but I couldn’t even if I wanted as today is a “Poya Day” it is a very religious day in the Buddha calendar , it is a Bank Holiday and it is illegal to consume alcohol in public, so that was that!!!

Entrance To Buddhist Temple

We walked out of the hotel and were approached by a guy who said he was one of the off duty barmen from our hotel and asked if we were going to the Buddha temple to see the holy elephant.  Anyway, we tagged along with him to see where we

Entrance of Buddist Temple

ended up, a Tuc Tuc ride later and he took us into this magnificent

One of the Numerous Statues inside

temple where on certain days only, today was one of them, when the priests display their Priceless gold, silver, ivory and other precious stones and artefacts for the faithful to look at.  We were quite taken at the beauty and wealth on display, no wonder there were police everywhere.  The sad thing is we only popped out to find the local supermarket and didn’t have a camera, only Christine’s ‘phone camera, still she managed to get some pictures.  We were introduced to the holy Elephant, he was a baby (7 yrs old), he sniffed us and we stroked his trunk apparently this will bring us good luck!  Next we were given some cotton wrist bands, touched on the heads by a Buddha Priest with

The Temple Cars

some religious pot, asked for a donation and then told we would have more good luck. On the way out to collect our shoes, yes we had to go in with bare feet, not my favourite pastime, walking in bare feet! We noticed two vintage cars, an old Mercedes Benz and a Rolls Royce, so early, it had the red RR embalm on the front.  When I asked what these two cars were doing here,; apparently  they were donated to the temple,  strange we thought.  So far so good, this chap from the hotel had taken us somewhere we would never had gone to and had we gone there at any other time, we wouldn’t have had the privilege of seeing these artefacts.

Back into the Tuc Tuc and now the real reason for his attention.  He took us to a Gem Stone shop where they tried everything to sell us semi precious and precious gem stones from their mines in Sri Lanka, but we resisted as there was nothing Christine particularly liked.

Back into the Tuc Tuc and onto the hotel where we paid the driver and gave this chap, who took us out and about, a drink.

Back of Hotel (Area Currently under Renovation)

Sitting in the Hotel reading some of the “bumph” in our room, we read and were warned about locals who jump on tourists and say they work in the hotel and offer to take then to see something special, they then guide them to a shop and if a sale takes place, get their commission.  Ah well we had a good morning and very pleased we went.

The Hotel Pool

This afternoon we lounged by the pool, looking over the Indian Ocean and had 40 winks, unfortunately it was overcast and eventually it spitted rain, so in we went for a cuppa.

This evening we decided to eat in the hotel’s only restaurant, it’s. The only one at present due to all the refurbishments, but still nice.  Tomorrow we may eat poolside as they do food out there until 11.00 pm.

Back to our room for a well deserved sleep