Our bed when we came back from breakfast this am in Trincomalee
Dear Friends, I thought I would try and get a Sunday Dispatch typed up and sent to you to let you know that all is well and that we are enjoying ourselves enormously on this trip. When I last wrote, we were heading off to visit Viva and arrived with a big bouquet of lilies from our local florist. We had a great visit, and, although Viva is still without air-conditioning, it seems as though her claim has made it to the top of the pile again and perhaps action will happen this week.
We spent the remaining days until leaving on Friday getting everything in order – Wes cleared his desk, we backed up everything we could and attended our last Rotary, U3A, Strong & Hydro classes for some time. We managed to eat nearly everything in the fridge, with a little help from the boys, and gave ourselves the whole of Thursday to pack. Sadly we discovered that our friend, Averil Dickenson, had died unexpectedly that morning, after recovering from a life-threatening issue. She had been in hospital since before Christmas, had fought to stay alive and when the battle seemed won, she suddenly died. Judi, in particular, is very upset, as she and Averil had formed a lovely friendship in a very short time. We had planned to have dinner that night at the Farmers with Judi, Michael & Glenn, so it gave us a chance to reminisce and give Judi some support. Wes is one of the executors of Averil’s will, but Jeff Bain will have to manage until our return.
On Friday Wes walked the boys early with Judi, then we closed our cases, packed them and the boys in the car and drove to Eureka Kennels, where Bilbo and Frodo did their best not to look too excited! Then off to Strathmore for a quick farewell visit with Viva and Leanne. My brother Peter and his wife, Anka, have been in Melbourne this weekend, so they were planning on seeing Viva today, which she was thrilled about. As well my sister, Paun, her husband, Brian, and their youngest son, Rohan, are all coming to Melbourne from Tathra and will be visiting Viva on Tuesday. It is sometime since Viva has seen them all and she is very excited.
We decided to put our car in Andrew’s Airport Parking and save ourselves $100 car parking fees. We used to use them all the time and it was lovely to be greeted with a smile, driven to the airport and deposited at Singapore Airlines with another smile and a cheery farewell. We were into the Business Lounge in no time at all and settled down to bubbles and sandwiches for late lunch and a read of The Age.
Our flight to Singapore of about 8 hours was most enjoyable, although the plane was an old one and not as comfortable as the next leg. We had a 2-hour stopover there, freshened up, and I took the opportunity to read about Collingwood’s win in the NAB pre-season Cup. The AFL had sent me quarter by quarter scores, but the game was well & truly over by the time I saw them. Danny had also sent me the final score which was very thoughtful, and the next day, he let us know about Black Caviar’s record-breaking win at Flemington.
We arrived at Colombo just after midnight (5.5 hours difference) and were met by our lovely driver, Neel, who is 29 years old and therefore was not born when we first visited his beautiful country. The whole country is excited about the World Cricket Cup and we passed life-size cardboard cut-outs of each nation’s best player as we walked off the plane – Shane Watson was our representative. Unlike that earlier visit, the car is a brand-new Hyundai, and we couldn’t believe how good the roads are! Neel drove us to a welcoming hotel, Wallawwa, about 20 minutes from the airport. This was very comfortable and we were sorry to be spending only 8 hours there – no sign of a railway line and service was prompt and smiling, unlike our first hotel in 1979, where we couldn’t sleep for the noise of the trains and the discomfort of the beds, and where our request for orange juice in the morning took an hour to be filled. Wes enjoyed egg hoppers and chicken curry for breakfast, while I made do with an omelette as everything else had meat with it.
Our room was the first on the left and there were orange carp in the pond you can see
Neel picked us up at 9.30am and we drove all day until we reached our hotel, Chaaya Blu, in Trincomalee. We had various adventures along the way (250kms) including Neel being fined by the police for passing 2 vehicles, instead of weaving in and out and passing one at a time. We stopped by the roadside to drink coconut milk from King coconuts; we had a late lunch in a typical inexpensive restaurant with buffet offerings which we washed down with ginger beer. We were pulled up at a roadblock, but once the police realised we were Australians, here for the cricket, they smiled and waved us on. The last 43 kms of our drive were like the Sri Lankans roads of old and it took forever, swerving around potholes, all made worse by the floods last year.
Our current hotel is also beautiful and looks just like the photos on its website. Our room looks out onto the beach, there is a comfortable day bed outside the room in the shade, where Wes has spent most of the day since we enjoyed a long, leisurely Sri Lankan breakfast of string hoppers, fish curry, dhal and sambals, finished up with curd and treacle – yummy! Neel has the day off and we are meeting him at the seafood restaurant tonight for dinner. Wes has gone to have a massage, while I try to paint a picture of this lovely place we are in until Tuesday morning, when we drive to The Tea Factory Hotel in Nuwara Eliya. Apparently the road there isn’t too good either, but it will be worth the discomfort.
Our bedroom before the swans arrived
I was too tired and not hungry enough for dinner last night, so Wes and Neel enjoyed a quiet meal together while I did crosswords, read, answered the door to people wanting to clean the room, and finally fell asleep around 9pm. Wes was home shortly afterwards and we both slept through until 7.30am which was just what we needed.
I will put the link to this newsletter on Facebook, as so many friends are getting in touch that way. It has been fascinating to read David Castles’ descriptions of Sri Lanka circa 1986 when he travelled here and had a very different impression of Nurawa Eliya than we did. Tomorrow we are going out in the morning with Neel to see what should be seen here, then I think the afternoon will be free, so Wes can battle the waves again. There aren’t very many people here and our view of the beach is uninterrupted.
Thanks to everyone who has been in touch already – it is lovely to hear what is happening at home, or in New York if it is Jane and David Knox.
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