From the beach to the jungle….Ella was just beautiful.

I got up that first morning and went out on the terrace to look at the waterfalls and maybe get a glimpse of a kingfisher or a monkey…When I turned round; I found 2 monkeys sitting on the roof staring at me! I got quite a fright.

Karen and Martin have a lovely relaxed way about them and make everyone so welcome. We ate communal meals and exchanged stories with back packers, Dutch travellers, an English honeymoon couple and a German couple. The German girl asked the honeymoon girl what her wedding was like. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘there was food and speeches.’ Hmm, talk about playing it down! I asked her about her dress…it was white. OK…and guests? Oh yes, there were 250! So, a modest affair then!

Our meals were all Sri Lankan, made by Karen and her house boy and Tuc Tuc driver…I have never tasted such exquisite combinations.

We walked up little Adam’s Peak, and gazed at the hills of tea swirling below us, and trudged along the main rail way line to see the waterfalls.

We were quite appalled at the state of the track, the sleepers were all at angles and some parts had broken away. Still this train line is a legacy of Victorian engineering, which opened up the hill country from Colombo to Kandy to Badulla. I lay down on the track, re-enacting a Silent Movie where the heroine is tied to the tracks as the train hurtles forward. One of my more mature moments.

We almost got killed in a tuc tuc going over the hills to Bandarawela. On the left hand side of the road was a sheer drop, we were up about 1000ft, and suddenly the tuc tuc skidded to the right, coming to a stop when it hit a rock in the verge. The front wheel axel had broken. It was quite sobering. It could so easily have veered to the left and the three of us would have been history.

Anyway, onwards and upwards, we did go to Bandarawela and saw the morning market. I bought some guavas, and the lady insisted on piling on more and more, and I kept saying, ‘Stop! Enough!’ and all the sellers just grinned…it was like looking at a continuous line of shiny teeth!

We ate curry lunch at the Bandarawela Hotel…a stately old lady of a time gone by. It’s shade and shabby elegance was so welcome after the noise and bustle of the town and the market…I felt quite the memsahib, replete after my luncheon!

The first class train to Kandy was like riding a bucking bronco…we were rattled about as we climbed the steep hills and wound our way around the tea estates. On board we met Joe and Janet, from Canada. They have been ‘at sea’ for 18 years, and have spent the last 8 years in SE Asia…mostly around Penang and Thailand. Their little boat, ‘Tegan’ is all equipped with the latest gadgets and they say sailing is so much easier than when they started out. The best innovation they have found is the introduction of ATMs…they make arrival in different countries so much easier.

They had left their boat in Galle and were now seeing the sights before going on to Madagascar and then on to S. Africa. Both were in their 70s.

Kandy, the cultural capital of Sri Lanka is surrounded by green hills and in its centre is the lake. Sitting on that is the celebrated Temple of the Tooth. (Buddha’s) We learnt all about it, and walked about and prayed and donated lotus blossoms in the hope that our prayers might be heard and answered.

Then the real reality of Kandy hit us…the urban sprawl, the con artists, and the hassle.  We spent a good hour in the doorway of a shop as the monsoon lashed down its fury in forked lightening and blood curdling thunder. It was actually wonderfully exciting. We watched people dash about with gay umbrellas, soaked from the knee downwards.

We were so rejuvenated after the storm and I had given up worrying about my sodden long orange skirt as we waded our way through the rivers that, only an hour ago, were the streets. It was by sheer luck that we found the Buddha that we had been searching for. A bronze image of Avalokitesvara in an ‘at ease’ pose. We paid a small fortune for him, and John mightily carried him back to the hotel.

The Planter’s Hotel was true to its name. A place where once the planters came from their lonely hill stations for some R&R. It is now run by a Sri Lankan Hercule Poirot look-alike. He was small, dapper and minced about and took wonderful care of us. It was all very basic, but the building still retained its elegance, and beautiful wooden floors. Sadly it now needs a lot of money to upgrade…and who has that, in this day and age?

The Lake itself was a living Zoo…ancient trees (all labelled in Latin) housed monkeys (by the hundreds) and pelicans, bats, egrets, and all the other treasures that ornithologists rave about. They all seemed to live so peacefully together. All sharing the same branch. Not often you get a pelican, bat, monkey, cormorant and striped squirrel in the same photo!

We visited the elephant orphanage, where we saw about 50 elephants having their 12 o’clock dip in the shallow river. It was so natural, babies cavorted about, teenagers were feeling horny, mums were looking bored, and there were a couple heavily in chains. These are elephants that have been injured in the wild, and need treatment. They are kept for a while, then released, but they need to be chained as they are a risk to humans. I kept my distance. We had already had one scrape with death on this holiday…didn’t fancy being trampled.

And then the escape from Kandy…there were no first class seats or second on the train to Colombo, so John and I bravely found a carriage with 2 seats in 3^rd class. We were lucky, for when the train pulled out; it was standing room only, some people just hanging on to the door frames. It was a LONG journey, and we were crushed by humanity. I couldn’t really appreciate the amazing British engineering project, that had forged this link, tunneling through the rocks 1,500 m up in the mountains. We had seen the lack of maintenance further up the line…tried not to think about it. Enough said…we did it. We are worthy travellers, and we fare -welled our journey companions as though long lost friends.

First thing we did on arrival, was book into a 5 star hotel in Colombo and stand under a red hot shower….oh dear God, it was good!

We did visit the old Galle Fort Hotel on the esplanade…another old lady that ranks with the Strand in Rangoon, and Raffles in Singapore…beautiful charm, and a nice cup of tea, but I am glad we chose the Cinnamon Grand…it was a perfect end for a very different holiday. We didn’t stay on the tourist path, we missed lots of things the guide books said we ‘should’ see, but there we go. It is all about time, and roads and vehicles…Sri Lanka still has no fast high ways, travelling is tedious, and long. But the views are stunning. Every window we looked out of, whether a car, a train, or a van, could have been a framed picture. So beautiful – jungles, trees, beaches, waterfalls and seascapes.  And we have the photographs, and the memories and the Buddha and the sapphires. Nice.