Space invaders, surprises and Ceylon Tea

Friday 8th June

Its unusual for a plane journey to be exciting, but this trip to Sri Lanka certainly was. We left half an hour late due to ‘trouble over Germany’ and my next door neighbour was trouble from the off. He was very polite, calling me ma’am, but he was a terrible space invader. He had a huge bag that he insisted on putting on the seat with him, his arm was constantly over the armrest, and whenever he went to his inside to pocket, which was every 10mins, he elbowed me in the face. 

Still , I managed a bit of sleep, until the breakfast currie was cleared away when a giant cockroach dropped from the luggage rack right onto the girl across the isle from ian!! She screamed, it scuttled off under the rows in front, everyone leapt up, and the stewardess calmly sauntered over and caught it in a tissue.  I wouldn’t like that to happen again!

We arrived at Columbo airport and sailed through customs, collected our luggage, bought a few rupees, and exited to find our guide, Ravi, waiting. 


Miller bear arrives in Sri Lanka 

The group introduced ourselves, most people being our age, a mum of 80 with her son, and a young single traveller from Newport. We then climbed on board the blessedly air conditioned bus. The heat was like a wave as we left the airport. The driver, who’s name I didn’t catch so let’s call him Dave,is a bit mad. His bus is the fastest thing on the road so he had to overtake all the other traffic beeping as he goes. Heres a few things I noticed on the four hour journey to Dambulla

- Tuk Tuks are everywhere

- There are loads of roadside stalls selling strange fruits

- Every house has a mangy dog that stands by the side of the road and looks hard

- Cows are roaming free everywhere


Tuk Tuk


Fruit

After a couple of hours Dave and Ravi stopped at a lakeside cafe for tea and toilets. The temp was pleasant and it was really welcome


Another hour and we were arriving at the amazing Amaya Lake hotel. The bathroom is huge, with a giant shower and spa bath. The bed is the size of a small planet. 



We spruced up and headed for a lovely meal before turning in. It’s been s long day

Man of the day

Got to be the plane cockroach

Creatures spotted

Cockroach

Egret

Bats

Mozzies

Next up - Sigiriya Rock Fortress 8am start

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