Well I promised Claire that I would also do a honeymoon report (she is going to the same place so has mucho interest!!). Carefully edited of course…?
I took 2,500 photos but only a small selection on here as it takes too bloody long!! Rest will end up on FB...
Monday 21st March 2011 – Day 1
We were picked up in an executive car from our flat at 4pm, although didn’t leave till 4.30pm as I was still frantically packing! We set off for Heathrow (still early) all excited! We arrived at about 5pm, check-in should have opened at 6.30pm but we wanted to make sure we didn’t get stuck in rush hour traffic on the M25. Fortunately they opened check in early and we went straight through.
We went straight to the pub for dinner, followed by a wander round the shops. Heathrow T4 is not designed for normal shoppers, it was all Harrods outlets and stupidly expensive!!!
Thursday 24th March 2011 – Day 4
Up early again to head out to Polonnaruwa, the old ancient capital city. This was an extra trip and was quite pricey but there was a lot to see. We drove for about an hour, stopped off at the museum which was full of historical information and then moved on to the actual ruins. Girls need to have their shoulders and knees covered so it’s a good idea to wear ¾ length trousers and carry a pashmina to wrap around your shoulders. You also need to take off shoes before going into the temples, but be aware that the ground gets very very hot!!! Our driver guide was really good, explaining all of the history and getting us to all the sights before the school children groups which seemed to be following us around!
After Polonnaruwa we headed to Sygiriya with a lunch stop on the way. The road to Sygiriya was really bumpy and waterlogged in a lot of places, I had visions of us getting stuck! We stopped for a photo op about 1.5km away and it looked so high up, I couldn’t believe that we were about to climb it. We entered through the water gardens which were beautiful, the climb then started. We climbed up to the fresco area where a few of the original wall paintings still remain. Along the mirror wall (with its 1921 grafitti!) to the next area. We eventually arrived at the lion’s feet which are about a third of the way up. It used to be a full lion’s head for the entrance to the King’s palace but now only the feet remain. We started the final climb to the top and at this point my nerve started to go, mainly because it was so high up but I am normally ok with heights as long as I can hold on tightly, but this section of staircase only had handrails one side and for some reason that freaked me out… but I persevered slowly and it was so worth it, the view was amazing! We saw the old swimming baths and the seat where the King would sit and watch his girls. There were also chipmunks and monkeys all over the place!
Back to the hotel for dinner and cocktails!
Friday 25th March 2011 – Day 5
We left Habarana and started our journey towards Kandy, the cultural capital of Sri Lanka. On the way, our guide had arranged for us to have an elephant ride (cheaper through him than the hotel). The place was 50 yards down the road from the hotel and we were the first ride. We watched them attach the seat to the elephant (who was massive!!!) and climbed up the little wooden steps to the platform. It was a very surreal experience standing on top of an elephant! All 4 of us were in this rather precarious metal frame as we started to make our way into the forest. We stopped for photos and I got to sit at the front, on the neck of the elephant with her ears flapping against my legs! They gave us a bag of bananas each and as we ambled along, she would raise her trunk up and we would feed her. I stayed on the front until we reached the edge of the swamp, then the guide got on the front. We started to head into the water and kept going until our feet were almost in the water. It was such a calming experience, all we could hear were the birds and the water. As we headed back, Mr C got on the front of the elephant and loved it!
Back in the van and on to Kandy. We stopped at the Dambulla Rock Caves on the way... more stairs!!!
We stopped at a spice plantation on the way, we were given a tour and had all the benefits of the local plant life explained to us. It was very interesting to begin with and I got a quick face massage out of it but it all felt very much like a leading sales pitch towards the end and then we were cornered into the shop. I did buy some natural hair removal cream, mostly for memories as the guy asked for a volunteer and Mr C said that he could use his leg, he asked if he was wearing sun cream, which he was, so he could do a sample on his chest thinking he would put a tiny bit on the side… but no, he smeared a huge dollop of the stuff right in the centre!!! Poor Mr C ended up with a completely bald patch in the middle of all his manly chest hair! Not so bad for Sri Lanka but he ended up shaving off the rest for the Maldives!!!
After the spice plantation we headed for Kandy and the hotel. It was the Chaaya Citadel and was located right on the river. We stopped there literally to drop off bags and then headed to the government recognised Gem factory. We had a tour of their museum which was tiny and a little weird! We then had a tour of the building where we could see them cutting stones and making jewellery. Typically we then ended up in another shop! Mr C wanted to buy me a wedding present here but we had no comparison on prices so no idea if we were getting a bargain or being ripped off.
We had spent so long in the gem factory that we were 20 minutes late for the Kandyan dancing. It was a bit of a strange setup, felt a bit like a bad amdram performance. There was a bit of hot coal walking after (I say a bit, they laid out the coals, walked over them and then they were done! No announcements or anything… as I said, it was a bit weird!
Back to the hotel for another early evening swim in the dark!
Saturday 26th March 2011 – Day 6
Up a bit later today, we left at 9am. We headed off into Kandy to visit the Temple of the Tooth. It was very busy, we headed straight for the centre of the temple and were hurried into a queue which turned out to be to see the tooth (or more truthfully the casket that the tooth was held in). We were taken past the window that you could see the casket through and people donated food, money and flowers to the Buddha. It was heaving with people and the drums that were being played downstairs resonated around the entire temple.
After the Temple of the Tooth, we headed to a Batik workshop and wood carving workshop. Same story, tour around the workshop followed by a sales pitch! We bought a couple of batiks but the wood carvings were hugely overpriced. The other lady on our tour bought a coconut wood bowl for 3000 rupees, we found one in another shop, identical, for 1000.
We stopped for lunch and then popped into the silk shop downstairs where I got to try on a traditional saree.
Funnily enough we had finished for the afternoon just in time for England V Sri Lanka in the Cricket World Cup! We didn’t blame our driver for wanting to watch it and it meant we had an afternoon of relaxation by the pool!
As it happens, we lost!
Sunday 27th March 2011 – Day 7
First stop was the Royal Botannical Gardens, they were beautiful... giant bamboo and tiny orchids.
Back in the minivan to make our way into hill country. We drove for miles and miles, climbing higher and higher. The scenery changed from dusty roads to lush green tea plantations (all with very English/Scottish names!!). We stopped at the Grenloch tea factory for lunch and then had a tour of the factory. It was very hot inside but we learnt a lot about tea!! We bought ourselves a box of tea after.
We carried on up into the hills to about 6,000 feet where we stopped at the Jetwing St Andrews hotel in Nuwara Eliya. It was an odd hotel, very old English country garden. You could even have high tea on the lawn! It was much cooler here being so high up and it was quite a cloudy day. We were only a short walk into the town so we decided to have a bit of a mooch about for the rest of the afternoon. Mr C wanted to buy some cigars. I really didn’t enjoy it, it was such a poor town, there weren’t really many shops and the fumes from the cars was choking me. As much as I think it is important to see a country for what it really is, I wouldn’t recommend it if I am really honest, didn't feel very safe.
We headed back, had a lovely dinner and then had a drink in the bar. The bar had messages from previous guests written all over the walls; we spent a bit of time reading these and then went to bed.
Monday 28th March 2011 – Day 8
Up early again to start the drive back down the hill the other side. The scenery was spectacular and the sun shining today. We stopped for some photos of the waterfalls and more tea and then made our way to Kitugala for lunch (where Bridge on the River Kwai was filmed – although you cant see anything!!)
After lunch we said goodbye to the other 2 on our tour, they joined the main coach as they were transferring to Bentota Beach. We had the minivan to ourselves as we travelled the hour and a half back to Mount Lavinia. A lovely walk on the beach and last dinner in Sri Lanka on the terrace overlooking the sea where you could see Colombo further round the bay. Our room for the night had a four poster bed, that was so high I had to scale one of the posts to get in it!!!
Tuesday 29th March 2011 – Day 9
Up really stupidly early at 3am to get our transfer to Colombo International. As we came out of the hotel there was this really loud noise which turned out to be frogs!!! It was raining quite hard but not at all cold.
Our flight was 7.15am and only an hour. We landed in Male International and reported to the Kuoni desk. We had arranged for a speedboat transfer to the island under the recommendation of the travel agent as she said you could be waiting hours for a seaplane. As it turns out we had to wait for another flight and so were stuck in the airport for 2 and a half hours anyway!!! The speedboat was quite small and full of Germans and staff from the island. It took 2 hours to get to Kuramathi and at one point you couldn’t see anything but sea in all directions!
We finally arrived in paradise at about 1.30pm, just in time for lunch. We ate and then had to navigate around to find our room, our cases were already waiting and the room was amazing, literally a stones throw away from a white powdery sand beach and turquoise sea. We had a basic Beach Villa but to be honest it was more than enough for us. The island was fairly large really, would take a good 25 minutes to walk from one end to another. There were little electric golf carts that would take you down the main pathway if you were feeling lazy.
Mr C took off his shoes and never put them back on, it is sandy paths everywhere, just watch out for hermit crabs!
We were on the Select All Inclusive which meant we could eat in any of the Al A Carte restaurants and had a separate wine list from which we could order by the bottle. I would definitely recommend this option, if only for the fillet steak and rose wine!! You will need to book for the restaurants though... we ate in the Reef, Island BBQ, Indian and Palm Pizzeria - our favourite was the Island BBQ followed by the Indian! The Reef was the smallest and supposedly most romantic but tbh I didnt really like it. No music or atmosphere and the beach to overlit. The Island BBQ was much nicer by the infinity pool that had little led starlights in it.
The first night at 6pm we went to watch the stingray feeding which was quite something, the ghost crabs and herons were all in on the action too!
The next day we went for our first snorkel (equipment included) out by the infinity pool. We were surrounded by about 8 reef sharks which appeared to be circling but are perfectly safe (apparently!!). Saw loads of big fish round this side of the island. The reef is round the other side, by the water villas. There are channels cut into the coral marked by flags which make getting to the edge much easier but make sure you go at high tide (advertised in reception and the eco centre) as the first time we tried it was far too shallow. You will see so many fish, corals, starfish, sea cucumbers and eels… it’s awesome!
We met another couple while we were there, also on honeymoon, and set about working our way through the cocktail menu! My favourites were the Little Dinghy, Maldivian Lady and Rose of Red… I had quite a few!! The Havana/Dhoni Bar was very good, very chilled and they had cigars and shisha pipes which we enjoyed very much (these are not in the all inclusive though!)
There is also a 300 year old Banyan tree…
The sunset viewed from the sandbank is amazing, but don’t stay up there too long after as it gets pitch black!! A torch may be handy for late night walks back to the room. The sunset cruise (included on Select AI) is also lovely.
The rest of the honeymoon sort of blurred into a week that went too fast… I think we should have gone for 10 days here as it took us a while to get over the hustle and bustle of the Sri Lanka trip and find our feet.
Tuesday 5th April 2011 – Last Day
When it was time to come home, we had a seaplane. There was no jetty on the island so we got a little ferry boat to take us out to sea where we met the plane on a little raft no more than 10 feet square! The flight only took 15 minutes and was amazing; we really wish we had done it both ways really. Very loud so if you have sensitive ears take earplugs!
It was an amazing honeymoon and I would thoroughly recommend it. We booked through Blue Bay Travel (Tropical Warehouse) who were the cheapest by about £500 and their service was excellent.
I want to go back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Claire... any Q's let me know!
Mrs C x
