The House in the Green Country (Part 2)

It's my birthday clickety click! And what better way to start the day than going to the Buddhist temple for a blessing. While we're waiting to go in, we watch coconuts being cut down from the towering palms. This involves an incredibly agile stick-like man wrapping rope round his ankles and climbing the trees at speed carrying a machete to send the coconuts crashing to the ground. Keep your distance! One of these would definitely take you out - permanently! 

A young monk dressed in an orange robe blesses each of us and ties a cord around our wrists. We put our hands together and bow in thanks. Then we make our way through the grounds to the holy places including the various statues of the Prophet and a 2,000 year old tree where the Prophet found enlightenment. It is a peaceful place and it is right to be respectful. 

It's a special day for everyone (not just me!) as it's Independence Day in Sri Lanka and a bank holiday so the staff at the Boundary House are having a holiday too but not before they treat us to the traditional Sri Lankan breakfast complete with rice hoppers and egg curry and many more things that I can't remember the names of! Seriously, everything is delicious and now we definitely want a cookery lesson! 

We have a blissfully chilled day by the pool, swimming and reading by turn and no one is hungry after the huge breakfast we have put away. But we are required to be dressed up (I'd forgotten what that's like!) to go out to the Why House for dinner and dancing for my birthday. Our hostess and fellow aquarobic enthusiast, Hen, joins us and the company and the fab trio who play great covers make for the most fun evening. We tuk-tuk home to bed. Such a special and unforgettable Sri Lankan birthday. 

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Surprisingly, we are up for aquarobics the following morning with a few folk who have grooved round the dancefloor with us the night before. A full crew from the Boundary House including the Fantasia boys and number 4. Breakfast tastes so much better when you've earned it. 

We are having a relaxing day with nothing more stressful than a manicure (look at me!) before we travel half an hour away for dinner. A rather fraught journey, partly because there are six of us in a smallish car (number 4 on various knees but mostly mine) but more significantly because we have to stop the car whilst an enormous snake crosses the road. We are assured it is harmless and won't bite but it is a constrictor of sorts and it looks so huge. It must have swallowed a very large 'something'! We wait whilst it makes its way across the road and I try not to think of snakes for the rest of the evening. I'm not good at reptiles, and snakes in particular give me the wobbles. Another beautiful villa, this one by the side of the river. For the first time, number 4 and I get bitten. Itchy! 

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I want to give you a flavour of the early mornings here. I am habitually an early bird - winter and summer, sun up or moon up - I am a six o'clocker shocker. Here in Sri Lanka, once my body clock has recalibrated itself into our five-hours-ahead mode, I am up early to swim lengths before I reward myself with a cuppa. A mist hovers over the pool and the paddy fields beyond, the monkeys rush from tree to tree and back again playing tag with the senior monkey hooting crossly. It probably isn't cross at all but the call sounds parentally firm. Kingfishers and woodpeckers and a host of small brown and black birds and pigeons (half the size and less arrogant than our own) swoop down to dip in the water or stand on the edges of the pool. They are oblivious - or nearly - to my gentle breaststroke. I'm hardly Adam Peaty! Peacocks, often three together, stroll around the garden before flying up to the roofs of the single storey buildings. Usually two males and one female, all young and so with only half the length of impressive tail feathers, strut their stuff across the tiles. The little squirrels genuinely take no notice of me at all and busy themselves running across the grass and up the trees. 

Beyond the garden, a fully-grown majestic peacock may call imperiously to any passing female before displaying his entire array of tail feathers like a Las Vegas showgirl. There are a couple of raised mounds in the paddy where they like to stage their performances, turning round and round with their feathers on full view. Early morning dogs bark, particularly when the bread tuk-tuk passes. It plays Beethoven's Fur Elise like an ice cream van and clearly the dogs as well as the local residents know that fresh bread lies within. I now know that the van is red so am thinking Postman Pat! And in the background is the distant chanting of the monks at the temple, softly rhythmical in the morning air. 

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Today is another surfing day and we stand and watch on the beach whilst number 4 child is put through her paces by a Malinga look-alike (Sri Lankan bowler of some repute). We are unwisely in the sun for over an hour on the beach and although it's only 10 o'clock, we will be paying for it later. 

It's a blissfully lazy day by the pool, reading, snoozing and chatting. Old, dear friends together. I am trying to absorb and remember as much as I can of the sounds, the sights, the scent of jasmine by the pool, so I can take it back with me to Yorkshire. If only you could bottle it...

We have a fabulous barbecue under the trees strung with fairy lights and lit by torches. Prawns on skewers, chicken satay, pork with smokey barbecue sauce. Delicious! And sticky toffee pudding to top it off. All cooked by Delan who positively - and rightly - glows at our enthusiasm for his cooking. Bed early as we are off for an adventure tomorrow. 

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The alarm goes at 5.30 but, as ever, when I know I HAVE to get up early, I am awake well before then. We gather our things together and Vinod is parked up and ready to take us to Mirissa where our boat awaits. I am a bad sailor. I have upchucked or felt like doing so on more boats than I care to remember. I'm better when we're moving than stationary but even the ferry to Dublin requires me to stand on deck regardless of weather. I take the seasickness pills I am offered and hope for the best! 

The boat in question is a fast speed boat as we are going whale-watching. By 7.00am we are on the water and heading at speed out to sea. There are plenty of other big tourist boats but the advantage of being smaller and faster means that when we spot a whale, we can be there well ahead of the following posse. We spot our first whale early on - the sheer size is incredible and we wait for the final flick of the tail as it glides back into the water. 

Nearly three hours of whale watching and we've been so lucky to see a blue whale and a pair of whales together as well as turtles and the spectacular spinner dolphins in pods close to where the fishermen are pulling big tunafish out of the water. Whales travel along the coast about three miles out to sea at this time of year. We have been fortunate enough to see whales before in South Africa before but this is such an exciting way to spot them. 

Back on land, there's more surfing and then we head up into the hills to the amazing Malabar Hill which is a brand new hotel created with beautiful Indian styling and it makes the most of the amazing views across paddy fields and forests to the sea. This is the moment for a Cosmopolitan, obviously. And folks who've been on holiday with us know that a Cosmopolitan with rooftop view is always on my to-do list. We take a tour of the hotel after lunch and this is at the very top end of luxury. Highly recommended. 

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Today is the last of our out-and-about days but we start with aquarobics. Unfortunately my knee feels very sore after my morning swim and though I attend, I don't last for long and find myself poolside taking pictures instead. 

Sensibly (rare for me) I stay with number 4 by the pool whilst the others go off to a tea plantation and factory. We join them for lunch at another beautiful hilltop hotel Kahanda Kanda (KK) for another fabulous lunch (great food and now no exercise = diet ahead!) overlooking the tea plantations. 

Somehow having burned not a single calorie (probably) all day, we manage dinner and movie at home. The latter proved far more entertaining than watching England play Scotland in the Six Nations earlier in the week - Eurovision Song Contest - The Story of Fire Saga. Very, very funny. 

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Our last few days are, for me, largely limited to lying by the pool (ooh what a trial, I hear you say) but holidaying with a nurse, even a daughter nurse, means resting the poorly knee under her close supervision. That doesn't, however, mean that other folks are not going to aquarobics, surfing and, after a shopping trip for spices in Galle, my beloved is now sous chef to Delan, making amazing hoppers which I hope will be added to our breakfast repertoire in due course. 

We visit Galle at sunset to watch the sun slowly and spectacularly hiss into the sea from the Fort, taking in the view along with lots of locals and an increasing number of tourists. Both our outward and return flights were more populated by Sri Lankans than by British tourists but without doubt numbers are slowly increasing. Meanwhile there are a lot of Russians here and two gigantic yachts in the harbour which are most definitely from Eastern Europe. Even the surf instructors say nine out of ten folks wanting lessons are from that part of the world. Dinner is at the Fort Printers which is stunning and the courtyard dining area is reminiscent of the riads of Marrakech. 

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Our last night and we have guests for dinner. Two other couples from Blighty who own houses here in this paradise. We envy them their escape to this green country where we are treated with such courtesy and kindness. We will return - I hope - one day. 

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One final postscript on our journey home. We collect our car at Heathrow after an 11 hour flight with Air Sri Lanka (extra legroom recommended - the flight was rammed!) only to discover that the supersensitive in-car computer is showing a flat tyre. Experience tells us that it may just need a bit of air to put it right. Wrong. We have a fully fledged flat tyre and need a new one to be able to drive back to Yorkshire. Green Flag are very efficient and helpful and an hour and a half later we are on our way North. Not quite the ending we had planned but a truly wonderful holiday. 

Thank you more than I can say to Mr A and the Boss (who hopefully still like us!), Suranga, Prabat, Delan and all the Boundary House team, Hen at the Why House, Vinod and everyone we met along the way. Such a very special trip with very special friends. 

https://www.boundaryhousesrilanka.com

https://whyhousesrilanka.com

https://www.udawalawenationalpark.com

https://www.whale-watching-mirissa.com

https://malabarhillsrilanka.com

https://www.kkcollection.com/kahanda-kanda

https://www.thefortprinters.com

The House in the Green Country (Part 1)

This is the holiday I never thought would happen...

In every direction, the paddy fields wave their verdant pale-green grasses serenely in the breeze that cools the early evening air. The long, elegant buildings that comprise the Boundary House gaze across these gentle green seas to the taller trees and palms where monkeys perform random acrobatics and birdsong fills the air. As dusk falls - fast, in this part of the world - the monkeys make their way playfully back into the garden, the birds dip and drink on the edge of the pool and the squirrels, smaller and somehow more comedic than their British cousins, retreat for the night. This is Sri Lanka. 

We arrived yesterday, weary but with a 'lifer's' sense of release. I love my family, my home, my garden, my friends and the life we have made for ourselves, but to appreciate it to the maximum, sometimes - just sometimes - travelling another place is required. We watched, feeling moderate envy, as friends hit the airports last year when we had too many commitments to make a trip. Our time will come became a sort of mantra for us. And when Omicron brought the shadow of lockdown back into all our lives, it felt as though we might have missed the window. It might be... the saddest words in the English language ...too late. 

No need to go into all the shenanigans that went on in the last few weeks. Or the truly epic amount of form-filling that now takes the actual mechanics of foreign travel to an all-time low. Or indeed, the stress of cancelling and rebooking all our flights (3 people x 4 flights each) due the extraordinary level of chaos created by the airline Vistara altering our flights at the last moment and the Indian High Commission saying one thing on the phone and quite a different thing in person. The important thing is that we are here as guests of Mr A and the Boss, as she is known here. These are friends of 50, yes 50, years' duration and this, the Boundary House, is their home-from-home near Galle in Sri Lanka. 

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As I sit at dusk on day 2 proper, watching the colours fade and the lights around the house and garden pick up shadows, I can hear the night sounds of the tropics. The call of the peacocks who splash blue into the daytime green of the paddy fields with their spectacular tail display, and the larger than life - literally - gruff hooting of the monkeys in the trees. I begin by thinking we are surrounded by gorillas but although their calls punch way above their weight, the monkeys are modest in size - if not in sound. 

Yesterday we went to a local beach - some by bike and some by car - along the narrow roads where at any moment a dog, cyclist, walker, tuk-tuk or anything else might be rushing to somewhere important, or not. The breakers were of Cornish proportions, each crashing on to the beach which was narrow and busy. But we were inside a beach cafe when the heavens opened, tropics-style, and the thunder and rain beat a loud patina on the roof. Hard but quickly over. 

Back at the Boundary House all the team are a delight. The food is sublime and so gently and politely brought to the table always with a smile. Nothing is too much trouble. We try everything, including the unfamiliar, and everything is delicious. I am humbled by their kindness and the care that they take of us. 

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Aquarobics! At a charming boutique hotel, the Why House, which serves a richly deserved and delicious breakfast afterwards, we bounce about in the water whilst our instructor demonstrates on poolside the actions without the resistance of water. Nine ladies of a certain age in sensible swimwear, my skinny-mini superfit youngest child who has joined us for this holiday and four gentleman who compete enthusiastically to be the fastest bunny-hoppers and runners through the water. The last part of the class is holding on to the side of the pool - like a ballet barre lesson - and here the men separate themselves from the ladies and suddenly the hippos in tutus in Fantasia spring to mind and I am barely able to control my giggles. Got to burn those calories somehow! 

Today's other treat is a massage. I know I have so many knots in my back that I could name each one after the anxieties of the last two years. The massage starts gently enough but when she reaches my shoulders I suggest that we need to go hard. My knots are excruciatingly eradicated but two days later I can still feel my shoulders' tenderness. 

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Mr A, our host and one of our oldest and dearest friends right back to my beloved's schooldays, wants to surf and number 4, our youngest and the only youngster on the trip, wants to learn to surf too. We sit on loungers as the surf rolls in. Number 4 has a 10  minute tutorial on the sand before heading out into the waves with her instructor. Five minutes later she is up and standing on her board expertly amongst the breakers. We can only admire. By the end of the lesson, she is without doubt the most confident surfer on the beach, waving to her parents as she glides majestically in. PMM*. 

We are city-bound this morning by car and tuk-tuk to nearby Galle. Here almost everyone wears masks everywhere and we are careful to comply. The narrow streets are a mixture of residential and every kind of brightly-coloured shops. We're heading to the jewellery quarter where the Boss (our hostess quite  rightly known as the Boss here) has some business to do. I'm not a jewellery buff but the stones are amazing.

A short walk round the hot streets is enough and we're back to the Boundary House via lunch at a stunning beach hotel. Tuk-tuk for me this time and it's such fun, if hair-raising, racing through the narrow gaps in the traffic. Tuk-tuks seem like the fastest mode of transport around here and they are driven with such gusto, slipping through the tightest gaps between bikes and lorries, cars and buses. 

This afternoon we are celebrating the second birthday of the delightful daughter of one of the members of the team here. She arrives in her party dress of pink and yellow tuile and frilly socks and shyly stays close to her mother as we sing happy birthday and eat very pink cake! Her family including her grandparents are there too and it is my honour to serve cake to the grandparents. Grandparents are most definitely to be treasured everywhere. 

It's a quick turnaround for drinks at the home of a friend of our hosts across the paddy fields. Everywhere the sharp green colours are surprisingly as soothing as a rhythmical gentle sea rushing across the sand. It has its own serenity and the colour palette of green shades calms and heals.

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More aquarobics at the Why House but with a much smaller cast. Sosanta, the instructor is significantly more interested in the absence of number 4 child than the fact that the entire cast of Fantasia hasn't turned up. I think, in revenge, he ups the anti and makes the class harder. I have inhaled half the pool! 

We are off to see elephants today with our guide Vinod at Uderwalawe. It's a two hour drive punctuated by stops to see dams and reservoirs and fruit bats. The latter like black umbrellas hang from the thickly-leaved trees during the day, only occasionally disturbed into making a short flight overhead. At night, it must be party-central. Number 4 is more worried that she'll be pooed on from a great height! 

First we go to the Elephant Transit Station where orphaned and injured elephants are cared for until they are 8 years old. We watch them come in groups of four or five into the compound for milk, each trying to barge their way to the front for their share, with their comedy tufted hairstyles. Then it's off to the Nature Reserve proper in our jeep with Vinod expertly spotting animals and birds for us. We had been alerted by our birding friends that Sri Lanka had some amazing birdlife ("You MUST take 'binos' and a bird book!") and they are of course right. Hornbills, hoopoes, jungle fowl, bee eaters, parakeets, kingfishers, eagles of many varieties and much, much more were easy to spot and obligingly some even stayed still for the camera. Elephants, water buffalo, crocodiles and mongeese/mongooses were all out and about and many, many peacocks. Of course we are surrounded by peacocks all day at the Boundary House so we're a bit 'oh yeah' about them by now. 

It's a long day and we return in the early evening tired but delighted that we had made the trip. 

...to be continued...

*Proud Mummy Moment

https://www.boundaryhousesrilanka.com

https://whyhousesrilanka.com

https://www.udawalawenationalpark.com

https://www.whale-watching-mirissa.com

https://malabarhillsrilanka.com

https://www.kkcollection.com/kahanda-kanda

https://www.thefortprinters.com