So here we go again...

Michelle informed us that we needed to leave at 6am to get to Heathrow Airport in time for our 16:30 flight to Kuwait. So obviously, we got ready the night before, set early alarms and left and 8:06! Haha 🙈 luckily, the drive to Heathrow was very straight forward and after introducing Ellie to her first ever Macdonalds breakfast we got to the airport around midday..

Welcome to Galle

After our dream of a flight (if only we could afford to always go Business Class.....) we witnessed firsthand the incredibly friendly and hospitable Sri Lankan nature we had heard so much about (apart from the grumpy lady at Immigration... maybe she was having a tough day 🤷🏻‍♀️) We were greeted at the airport with a warm welcome from the owner of the Seagreen Guesthouse and he gave us some interesting tidbits of information about Galle and its history, much to Chris’ delight.

Galle is surrounded by the walls of a Dutch colonial fort. The Dutch built tunnels under the fort to direct the tides so at high tides the sea flushes the swerers. This had a remarkable side effect of saving the town from demolition during the tsunami. (Educational fact by C Davies MEP)

After enjoying the glorious air conditioning in our room we went for a wander around Galle Fort. The town is peaceful, laid back and is not short of beautiful views.

Beach day at Unawatuna

Well, sleep must have been a necessitiy for our travel wary bodies as we managed a glorious 12 hours. We slept through school bells, mosque prayers and bustling morning traffic,

Feeling quite refreshed, we emerged from our Sri Lankan hibernation to start getting ready for a strenuous day... at the beach. A very friendly Sri Lankan man on the plane told us about Unawatuna beach so we decided to jump in a Tuk Tuk and check it out.

Our first ride in a Tuk Tuk was a sobering one confirming the advice received off many people not to drive in Sri Lanka. The rules of the road are anyones guess, cars weave in and out of lanes and Tuk Tuk's (albeit skilfully) weave in and out of the cars. The drifting around corners and speeding through junctions is conducted with an almost whimsical, devil-may-care attidue to the astonishment of the unspecting Brits riding along.

The white knuckle ride was worth it however, as we were greeted by a spectacular white sandy beach bordererd with classic palm trees. We were a few steps onto the beach when a smiley man offered us two sunloungers and a parasol. The ever frugal Chris sort out the price and treated the senario with his usual suspicion. However, the smiley man insisted we could lounge all day for free. We then ordered a pizza and drinks from him to thank him for his genorosity... his cunning plan prevailed.

We sat in the sun reading, eating, drinking and relaxing until our faithful Tuk Tuk driver came to pick us up later that afternoon, cue white knuckle ride 2.0.

On our return to Galle fort we wandered the narrow, boutique filled streets and browsed the little shops stopping for an iced coffee.

We again turned to trip advisor to inform us where to eat, Imal's restaurant was tonight's Sri Lankan cuisine of choice. Chris had chicken fried rice and Ellie went for daal, vegetable curry and rice. Again this was a family restaurant, it seemed we were eating in their living room crammed full of tables and tourists. The meals were excellent and Sri Lankan food hasn't disappointed, nor has the service which is always so personal and happy.

The meal cost us around £7 with drinks and tips. This meant we came in on budget which was nearly cause for celebratory drinks, but we realised that would have tipped us over our budget and force us into drinks to comiserate this fact, which could spiral into a blown budget day altogether. So we strolled back and sat on our balcony reading until night closed in and we retired.

Tomorrow we will wave goodbye to Galle and catch our first local bus to Tangalle.

Turtle day part two

After finishing our fantastic homemade meal we decided to join the host of tourists heading to the beach to catch a glimpse of the nesting turtles. This was quite stressful as around 70 people had turned up and the Sri Lankan wildlife officers seemed unorganised and unable to direct a large group.

Beach rules were strict:

1) NO flash photography or torches as this stresses out the sensitive turtles.

2) stay with the wildlife officer and keep 100m away from turtles coming up the beach.

3) stay at the back of the beach in an orderly fashion and wait to be called.

All of the above rules were broken very early doors to the dismay of us teachers. People were pushing to the front and some even used flash photography, but did get told off! All in all this didn’t seem to be the magical experience we were hoping for.

Luckily, our guesthouse is meters away from the beach so we decided to sit and wait out the other tourists. Slowly, after much pushing in line, and all round rudeness, the tourists started to shuffle back up the beach to their waiting Tuk Tuks.

This left only a hand full of people on the beach and the wildlife officers treated us for our patience.

Chris, again(🙄), spotted another Green Turtle emerging from the sea, the wildlife officer allowed us within 5 meters or so to watch her struggling up the beach. We had to stay behind her or to the side so not to distract her. This was nothing short of amazing and felt like we were in a nature documentary. After the long journey up the beach she started to dig her nest. The wildlife officer then called us over to observe a turtle digging her egg chamber in the sand, only a few people have seen this in the wild and we were awestruck.

We then stood back and watched Mildred (we named them all) head back to the sea, Ellie managed to get some great photos consideringit we only had the light of a full moon.

We eventually got back to our guesthouse at midnight very giddy and excited!

Tangalle, Tuk Tuks and Turtles

Sri Lankan breakfast devoured, we packed up our things and headed for the bus station for the next leg of our trip in Tangalle.

We sampled Sri Lanka‘ take on the chicken buses we so loved (ha) from Central America. For 500 rupees, or about £2.50, we couldn’t really complain, and as we are already very accustomed to, the Sri Lankan’s have a far more laid back and polite approach to their public transport, with lots of smiles and even taking pity on our squashed legs and moving seats.

Ellie devoured half her book while Chris kept on elephant watch. With some sort of elephant sixth sense, he predicted we would see one, which, as it happens, we did! Celebrations were happening in many towns we passed through (an important day for Sri Lankan’s, we were told by the ‘room boy’ at the hostel, although exactly why or what for was definitely not clear in his broken English...... but of course we smiled and gave our British ‘oh! And ‘ah!’ Out of politeness)

When we arrived in the town of Tangalle 3 hot hours, 2 buses, 1 elephant and half a book later, we hopped into the nearest tuk tuk. This is where our journey became less straight forward... despite telling us he know where to find the Green Turtle Guesthouse, as our journey progressed it became increasingly clear that he definitely did not.

Describing this day will be very difficult. But, here goes. We woke up at 4:30am and the family at our guesthouse woke up to cook us a very early morning breakfast. We literally ate it within 5 minutes as we were desperate to get to the safari park for around 6am as this is when animals are most active.

One of the brothers from the guesthouse drove us to the park. We were nearing our destination the driver pulled over as a huge elephant from the national park had strolled up the side of the road to greet us! We knew then this was going to be good day.(picture below)

We started our day with coffee and tea and tried some Rotti and honey for breakfast, simple but delicious.We then started our mini hike to the Ninea Arches Bridge, one of the most famous landmarks in Sri Lanka.

On our way through Ella we stopped to make a big fuss of a lovely dog and her puppy. 20 minutes into our hike and we still had both dogs in tow. They stopped and waited for us when we spoke to locals and fended off other locals strays.

So we were on an unexpected, but much appreciated dog walk through jungle terrain. The Nine Arch Bridge came into sight through the trees and you can see below our newly adopted friend thought it was a beautiful view too.. We ran into a lovely policeman who spoke to us about Wales, cricket and Sri Lankan wildlife.

Train to Little England

Our morning started with a confident walk to the station having checked it out the night before. Lots of hellos and smiles were exchanged as we made our way through the town gradually waking up to begin its day.

We handed over our £1 for 2 tickets and waited with the locals on the platform. The train arrived and contrary to the polite nature we’ve become very accustomed to, a new ‘every man for themselves’ philosophy was brought into play as people hurled themselves towards the train doors, weilding backpacks and suitcases like barge poles. We made it onto the train in one piece and managed to find two seats together next to a man who we felt looked familiar but just couldn’t put our finger on it..... we’re pretty sure it was Seth Rogen, but thought he’d want to keep a low profile so left him alone 😉

The views from the train were out of this world, with vast expanses of trees, tea plantations and mountains that just didn’t seem to end. Photos just didn’t do the scenery any justice and every corner revealed a new view; we could definitely see why the train journey was such a highlight for travellers. Chris managed to grab a spot at one of the doors for a while thanks to another friendly Sri Lankan, and stuck his head out like an excitable puppy.

World’s End

Our alarm rang at 4.30am and we hurriedly got ourselves ready for an early morning walk around Horton Plains to see the famous ‘World’s End View’. We bundled into the van with the girls from London and a couple from Belgium and snoozed our way through the hour drive.

In between snoozing, we peered apprehensively through the windows at the ominous mist, cloud and rain. Perfect walking weather. The mist could only enhance the view, right? Wrong. We arrived at the National Park and shivered as we queued for our tickets, barely able to see the person standing ahead of us, wondering why we were subjecting ourselves to a 9km walk in the rain.

But, we headed on regardless. And we were glad we did. The skies cleared (mostly) and we strolled through the green landscape, feeling like we were back at home. The shivering had mostly subsided by this point and we were able to enjoy the views.

Kandy

Despite a night of broken sleep thanks to the resident dog’s incessant howling and barking, we were eager to get up and going and to return to the warmer weather.

Onto the train we hopped, grabbed two seats and settled in for the 4 your journey. Although not as spectacular as the first leg, the views were still impressive. We admired them while tucking into samosas and hot, curried peanuts bought from the local vendors hauling their baskets and boxes of warm, Sri Lankan food up and down the aisles of the train.

On long travel days like today we really appreciate the stark difference between Sri Lanka and Central America. We left the station without being bombarded by taxi drivers and their tall tales of our hotel being miles away and inaccessible by foot; instead, we approached a tuk tuk driver who checked the address of our hotel, agreed a price and we enjoyed another stress free journey to the door of our guesthouse.

The guesthouse, or homestay, is hands down the most idyllic place we have stayed, despite being the cheapest. Nestled in the hills amongst the trees, away from the hustle and bustle of Kandy’s centre, the grand house was spotlessly clean, bright, airy and utterly peaceful.

Typical Tourist Day

The lovely man at our homestay arranged a full day of sightseeing for us today. We hopped into the tuk tuk and headed for our first stop....

Kandy War Cemetery

Just outside of Kandy’s centre lies the beautifully maintained War Cemetry. The cemetry was incredibly peaceful. The cemetery is still looked after by Britain as it turns out Sri Lanka was an important port during World War II. Trincomalee and Colombo were both bombed by the Japanese.

Dambulla

Another delicious breakfast was served by the wonderful couple at our homestay which we tucked into gleefully while chatting to our fellow British travellers.

Next, a less than comfortable bus ride was endured and we were in Dambulla. This is to be our base for the next few days while we explore the ‘Cultural Triangle’. Again we received a very warm welcome by our new hosts; cold water and a yogurt each in our fridge, a fresh fruit welcome drink and a flask of hot water for our tea and coffee. They had even turned the TV onto a British channel (first time we’ve seen a TV since being in Sri Lanka!) and had left a little Union Jack on the table for us.

We decided to use what was left of our day to visit the cave temples and watch the sun set.

Sigiriya Rock and Pidurangala Rock

We made sure we were up in time for an early breakfast this morning to get the bus to Sigiriya and beat the crowds of tourists also hoping to climb Lion Rock. But funnily enough, everybody else had the same idea and we ended up part of a huge throng of camera weilding tourists.

We decided that as we hadn’t beaten the rush, we would take our time and explore the gardens of the ancient settlement before making the ascent to the summit. We had already circled the moat surrounding the fortress on our way in, and were fascinated by the architecture from tens of thousands of years ago. Sigiriya is an ancient settlement that was first used as a monastery before the King repurposed the land to build his palace and fortress.

We climbed the many, many, many steps until we reached first the Lion’s feet, and second, the sprawling ruins indicating palaces and audience halls, inhabited by the King and his people. We explored what was left of his kingdom, imagining how it must have looked thousands of years ago. The site is like nothing we have ever seen, with views stretching as far as the eye can see.

Pollanuwara

Before we left for Pollanuwara, we were warned several times that it would be hot. We threw some water bottles in our bags and slapped on some extra sun cream, and felt prepared. We were not. We felt like we had travelled to the sun, and were attempting to ride on its fiery surface on delapitated push bikes. Not our best idea perhaps, but the sites we had in store more than made up for it. (Or maybe just about....)

Elephant day!

So while talking to some British girls while trekking around Horton National Park, they mentioned something about an ‘elephant gathering’ that happened once a year in Sri Lanka. Interest well and truly peaked we started Googling and asking every local insight. As it turns out, elephants gather in huge numbers in the middle of Sri Lanka during August; it is the biggest elephant gathering in the world 🌍. And as luck may have it we were in the right place at the right time.

So we asked our incredible host (everywhere we have stayed the people have been so helpful) if he could arrange a safari to the elephant gathering.

The safari was booked in the afternoon and we managed to get two lovely German people to come with us which halved the cost of the jeep.

The Safari jeep picked us up from just outside our room and drove us the hour to Kaudulla National Park (little did we know it would be our favourite place ever!)

We were a little nervy after splashing out on a second safari as a lot of animal spotting comes down to luck.

As we entered the park we relaxed a little when we encountered a huge crocodile sunbathing on some stones.

We became a little more worried when we travelled down a dirt path in the jungle without seeing much for around 10 minutes. However, our jeep quickly swerved and stopped suddenly as a family of elephants strode across the path right behind us. The driver didn’t give us much time to enjoy this spectacle and zoomed off after one elephant made it across the road. Disgruntled and missing our amazing driver from Uda we muttered profanity. However, we soon realised why he pressed on. As we came out of the trees and onto the plain we witnessed one of the best sights we will ever see. Literally hundreds of elephants playing, eating, bathing and socialising. It was like a scene from Jurassic Park.

Our jeep carefully edged up to a family grazing and we sat peacefully next to them enjoying a truly memorable experience.

We went from one group to another finding babies \240chasing birds and parents taking a mud bath. A certain truce seems to have been agreed between the elephants and jeeps, you keep a comfortable distance and we will do the same. However, We saw our first ‘Tusker’ elephant (only 5% of Sri Lankan elephants have tusks)and he was the leader; he challenged our jeep and chased us for a very hair raising 10 seconds (imagine the T-Rex chasing the jeep in JP). After he showed us who was in charge he calmed down and let us watch him graze and tag along on his rounds checking up on the herd.

Pictures and videos can not describe how many elephants we actually saw, it was well over 300. We couldn’t turn around without seeing over 20-30 elephants grouped together.

After around an hour and a half in wildlife paradise we started to leave the plains and elephants and drove back through the jungle spotting monkeys, crocodiles and a rather beautiful owl 🦉.

We got back to Guesthouse buzzing with excitement which the owner only added to as he came running over to high 5 us all and ask us how many we had seen.

A truly special day for us and one that has seen Sri Lanka earn a place in our hearts for life.

Back to the beach

We enjoyed our last breakfast of fruit and eggy bread in the excellent Peacock Guesthouse. The manager then called a Tuk tuk and paid for it for us so we could be dropped off at the bus station. We really can’t believe how well we have been treated in Sri Lanka, the people have been a huge highlight.

The bus was rather straight forward affair, we sat on opposite ends of the bus from one another due to the busy morning rush (and not beacuse two and a half weeks is a long time in each others company) . The bus driver must have been late for some prior arrangemet as we hurtled towards Trincomalee like a bat out of hell and made a 4 hour journey less than 3 hours!

We were picked up from the station by a Tuk tuk that the owners of our new guesthouse had already paid for.

We were welcomed with the usual enthusiasm and welcome drinks and our guesthouse had a great view of the sea.

Eager to check out Coconut Beach, we packed our day pack and scurried the five minute walk to the beach. This beach is a tropical paradise and we quickly got in the rountine of sipping beers and sunbathing.

On our walk back we stumbled across a cafe and had super pulled beef paninis.

Beach day one ticked off.

Moped 🏍

We had been looking forward to a few days to kick back and relax at the beach after a very busy trip to Dambulla. We started off well with yesterday’s introduction and thought today we would make use of the Air BnB’s moped to make our way around Trincomalee, take in some of the sights and visit Nilaveli Beach.

Turns out our plan was a tad more stressful than we had anticipated.... sweltering temperatures, wrong turnings and driving the wrong way down a one way street would give an idea of how our day began.

But we soon got into the swing and after some helpful directions from a local, we made our way to Nilaveli, which had been highly recommended by many a Sri Lankan. After our mammoth expedition to reach the town just outside of Trincomalee, we were somewhat underwhelmed by the beach, and our images of an ice cold drink were quickly shattered as we realised there were no cafes or shops to be seen.

However hope was not lost!! Our map showed a cafe a short walk from the beach so we eagerly headed towards it with our bike helmets in tow. Again, like a mirage, the prospect of a cold drink disappeared as we realised the Cafe Nilaveli was not open for business. Walking back to our bike, we spotted (and smelt) a seafood restaurant. Hundreds of flies buzzed around us as we watched a documentary about wild cats and downed our drinks which may as well have been champagne we enjoyed them so much.

We decided Nilaveli wasn’t for us, and headed back to Trincomalee and our faithful friend, Coconut Beach. We managed to nab a couple of sun loungers and set up camp with our eyes glued to our Kindles, both engrossed in a book while listening to the waves. Out of the corner of our eyes, a large dark shape occupied the previously empty space.... no, not another elephant, but a very friendly cow.

We hotfooted it down to the beach this morning to grab ourselves a sun lounger, and struck gold when we managed to set up camp in a two story beach hut lounger (for want of a better name) for 600 rupees with towels thrown in. We were pleased to say the least.

It was another gloriously sunny day on Coconut Beach. We wiled the day away reading, splashing in the sea amongst the giant waves and flying fish, and sipping on ice cold drinks from the nearby bars.

Treat day!

After booking all our guest houses through booking.com they treated us with a £30 voucher off our next booking. This meant we could have a free night in similar accommodation to which we had been staying or upgrade to a lavish hotel for the evening... we of course chose the latter.

We quickly packed our stuff and said goodbye to our gracious hosts who had made us a packed lunch! And we proceeded to walk through Trinco to the beach front where our rather swanky hotel was situated. We had arrived 4 hours before checking in time but our eagarness was rewarded as they took our bags and told us to enjoy the resort until check in time. So we sipped our welcome drinks sitting next to a pool and enjoyed people bringing us burgers and drinks. We could get used to this...

Getting ready for home.

We spent the morning lounging around the pool and having drinks and sandwiches brought over making the most of our hotel experience. Alas, 12pm can along and we had to check out and catch the bus to Kandy. The bus was longer than expected and Kandy was a rather drizzly destination. Early preparation for British weather.

The start of our long journey home...

And so our last day in Sri Lanka began with a fantastic breakfast made by our new family. They only charged us half price for the room and saying goodbye to them was emotional.

We caught a bus to Colombo which was pleasantly uneventful. We got ripped off for the first time in Colombo by a Tuk tuk driver charging 700 rupees to travel 500 yards! We went to Pizza Hut and slept a little in our hotel room until it was time to head for the airport at 12am.

The 16 hour journey home was long and painful at times. But Sri Lanka was certainly worth it! We arrived home and spent time with Michelle, Chris and Louisa in London which was a great way to end the trip. (Ready, steady, go! 😂) .

The pets gave us a hero’s welcome back to Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 and we think Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 is now our number one destination. We will be back!!!