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
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