Touring Sri Lanka on Honeymoon

The Kandy Esala Perahera

2007-08-29T03:17:00.000-07:00

More information on the Parahera on Wikipedia

Elephants at Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage

2007-08-29T03:01:00.000-07:00

Established 1975 the Pinnawela Orphanage is situated half way between Colombo and Kandy in the hills of central Sri Lanka and is home to the largest herd of many in captivity where they bread, bath, eat and some of the more gentle ones perform for tourists.

More information at elephant.se

Kandyan Dancers Video

2007-08-28T06:22:00.001-07:00

Kandyan Dancers [Wiki]

Anuradhapura

2007-08-05T03:50:00.000-07:00

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Horathapola Coconut Estate in Pamela

2007-08-01T06:12:00.000-07:00

The town of Pamela is situated North East of Negombo and 50 minutes from Colombo Airport. This 5 star guest house is the ideal place to recover from a long flight.

Damitha and I made it out of the airport and were excited to see our Taxi driver waiting for us holding sign saying "Damitha Silwa!". The journey was exciting and the mini van beeped his way along the bumpy road. I thought the hotel was south of Columbo but after a while we realised we were heading north just 30 minutes from Marawila. When we arrived at Horathapola Coconut Estate our room was not ready but we were quicly offered tea and after a visit to my first clean toilet in 24hours I was a new woman! Breakfast closely followed which was a combination of French toast, meat curry and seeni sumbol and a plate of fresh fruit with a glass of freshly squeezed passion fruit juice. I tried my first sasporilla which was ok but very sweet.

We had a lovely time on the swing bench and Damitha enjoyed a lion beer and I had my first Sri Lakan coke. We took some pictures.

The Pool is small but lovely and we had a wonderful dip followed by a lay in the hazy sunshine. We had afternoon tea on the lawn with homemade chocolate cake (Fridge cake) made with 'Kandos' chocolate cake. It was very tasty. The milk served with tea is warm and made from milk powder which is nice but strange.

We are having dinner - chicken curry and rice on the balcony under the stars tonight. Dinner was amazing and we had 8 dishes and rice followed by ice cream - I had mango and Damitha coffee. The strong G&Ts were making us sleepy so after a glance at the stars (which we could just make out due to the cloudy night) we headed off to bed at 9pm and slept until 7:30.

The four poster bed had a typical Sri Lankan mattress on it so I woke at 11:30 and 430 to strech my travel tired neck and back. A fantastic start.

Wednesday 1st August: This morning we had another super breakfast, where we enjoyed a selection of fruit and scrambled eggs and roti. I ate my first mangosteen which tasted delicious. Damitha and I went for a walk in the moning and saw a tree full of amazing bats. They were flying during day which was strange but we think another couple, who were out walking may have disturbed them. Their wing span was huge and you could even hear the flap of their wings! Damitha took a photo but it was hard to show the sheer enormity of them! After our walk we lay by the pool and enjoyed our books in the sun when it popped through clouds.

The Flight

2007-07-30T10:07:00.000-07:00

First flight QR6 Heathrow to Doha seats 32Y and K by the window. Tried for an upgrade but no luck as the flight was fully booked. Uma and Papa were sitting just behind but on the other side of the plane!

Dami and I watched 'Blades of Glory' and tried not to laugh out loud! Getting off the flight at Doha the heat hit us like a sauna and my glasses steamed up when we went in and out of the heat. Damitha bought me a watch from duty free. The next flight from Qatar to Sri Lankla QR300 was tiring. The descent into Colombo was a little bumpy but we landed OK.