Colombo & Home

Having just about completed the packing the previous night we got up at seven and had a cup of coffee and then walked up to the hotel around 7.45. Here I had a lovely last swim and then went into breakfast, which was interrupted by a monkey stealing a piece of toast from our table but left the boys behind. a waiter had wanted to see the boys again otherwise they would’ve stayed in their bag. I had a chat with a nice manageress and the receptionist about the previous evening’s dinner And when we came to leave, we found that we had only been charged for one of the dinners. We received a photo of ourselves in front of the bells system and had more photos taken with the manageress and the boys before leaving at 9:20 am.


The road was awash	We later saw the dam discharging water	..and this is what we missed seeing

After about an hour, we left the road to visit the largest Buddha statue in Sri Lanka. We had previously seen a smaller reproduction of this at a roadside site. However we came to a ford, where the water looke deep and had a strong current. David advised DJ not to progress as water might have entered the engine. Also we had to return along this road, so the volume of water might have increased even more before our return. So we turned round and later we saw how the water was gushing out of the lake at a considerable rate.

I had had a good 30 minutes sleep in the car, making up for my wakefulness of the previous night. It was then about a four hour drive to Colombo and this was quite uneventful, part of it along motorway practically deserted we reached our hotel in the centre of Colombo around 2:15 pm. It was a charming colonial bungalow with just seven rooms and we had one of the best two of them, situated on the first floor overlooking the courtyard and pool. We had some difficulty obtaining Wi-Fi but eventually got some, although not a perfect quality. We sat downstairs beside the pool and after about 30 minutes I had a swim and dried off down there, having washed my hair around six. We had the last of our Taiwanese whiskey and a snack, being subjected to quite loud music, presumably in anticipation of midnight tonight which we will not be participating in. Then down to dinner which was a set menu around 7.30.

After a pleasant meal, although not actually very good food, but it was enhanced by two musicians with saxophones singing old songs and parading on the lawn at a turn down volume, we retired to bed and went to sleep about 10.30. But we were woken up within an hour with the music incredibly loud underneath our window. We listened to Old Lang Sang, it’s a long way to Tipperary and John Brown's Body amongst others until gone 01.30 am.

Chris soon got back to sleep but David had great difficulty and woke up with the 7:30 alarm feeling like a wreck. So was not impressed to be greeted by Happy New Year by all the staff as we went into breakfast. The manager apologised profusely but this did not placate David. We went out at 9:30 am fearing the worst!

DJ drove us into the centre of town and there we met up with Chanelle, a very pleasant 30 ish lady who spoke excellent English and we had a most enjoyable two hours with her discussing numerous things as well as the history of Colombo. We saw the old Fort built by the Portuguese and Dutch and some very old English architecture, including the first Department store here, Cargils, which opened around 1860. We ended up in one of the first hotels which is now run by the government and here we had a lime juice soda overlooking the port . Chanelle informed us that this was the port taken over by the Chinese not so long ago.


Ourguide	Not much remains of Old Dutch Fort and Hospital	A lot of the British buildings remain, but...	..only in a small area

The Clock Tower today ..	..and in 1910	The replacemnt for an original building destroyed by earthquake	Government building

Awaiting restoration	Cargills store	The Grand Oriental Hotel

We got back to the hotel before one and then had five hours with our iPads and Chris having two swims before having a bite to eat on our pleasant balcony and leaving for the airport at 6 pm. We were informed that it took an hour to the airport and here we would have, and we’re probably need, three hours to clear before boarding our flight to Istanbul at 10 pm. A nine hour flight followed by four hours in the pleasant Turkish Airways lounge in Istanbul before continuing, business class, to Valencia.


Istanbul Business Lounge is always worth looking orward to	Somerville inspected the fresh croissants	The omlette chef had never seen a small bear before	The up over the mountains

wolf down Business Class meals	and view Valencia from the air	Home again	and dirty washing too