Friday 6th March to Monday 9th March 2020

Full moon on Monday, Poya Day, mean an extended weekend, I planned to go to the south of island with the kids, first time by train along the coast. I bought the train tickets on the way to the airport, they sent me to three different counters. They wanted all the passport numbers (good job I wrote it down and Steve was able to tell me the numbers over the phone) and paying with cash – no card, government run services are mostly behind in terms of use of technology.  I picked up the children from school earlier, quick shower and change and took a taxi to be at the train station at least 30 mins before departure (I was advised to do that), so we could push through the possible crowd of people finding our first class carriage. It surprised me, clean and spacious, but the air was cold, about 10 C and we were not prepared and nearly froze during our 2.5 hours journey! Again, Asian contrast, 33 C outside and 10 C in our wagon, can’t understand why? We arrived in Weligama around 7pm, had a lovely 1.5km walk to the hotel, through town, along the road and on the beach. We stayed in a small hotel near the road, because the next day at 6 am I went with the girls by Tuk Tuk to the port of Mirissa (we left the children at the hotel) and went on a Whale and dolphin watching. 5 hours on the boat, of the possible 70 places we were about 30, so we had a lot of space, morning tea, bread breakfast and then a big two pieces of watermelon. We saw a couple of whales, even though they were far away, a pair of dolphins and one beautiful turtle. The children were waiting for us at the hotel impatiently, having gone to breakfast, doing their homework and relaxing. Then we moved by taxi to Unawatuna (approaching Colombo) to the beautiful luxury hotel Thaprobane Waves. However, we arrived, they did not have my name on their guests list! When I found out that I had accidentally booked two hotels on the same night (tomorrow night), I nearly fainted. I paid an extra Saturday night at the hotel and we decided to stay two nights as the next night was paid. I’m still waiting and hoping to get a refund for the hotel we haven’t traveled to the next day.

The hotel was beautiful, spacious rooms with balcony, superbly beautiful nested into the rocks, excellent breakfast, salt and fresh water pools, comfort for everyone, and good free WiFi as a bonus! By Tuk Tuk we went to Wijaya Beach both afternoons, where we swam with turtles, dangled on a rope, tasted delicious pizza and pasta, and drank cocktails and King Coconuts. We enjoyed Monday Poya day by the pool and at 2pm we drove towards Galle – our last stop, Magda was much looking forward visiting this place, because her friends own a villa there and they were enthused about it. It was hot, the sun was burning and even though we sent our luggage with a friend to Colombo, after 30 minutes of walking in the sun, we were completely finished and cold drink in one of the local restaurants with stunning sea views was a God sent. Galle is a tourist town with fort around the town and a lighthouse in the middle. Lots of restaurants and cafes, but nothing special. We had a problem to get a taxi due to the fact that last month there was fighting initiated by tuk tuk drivers unhappy that Uber is taking their business, but eventually we got to the  turtles’ farm, where we spent more than an hour with beautiful animals, which children very quickly warmed to.  The taxi back to Colombo was organised by the lady on the farm – her cousin called a friend and he had a son who took us in an almost new minibus. I noticed here in Sri Lanka, that it’s like the movie “We must help each other”. Magda was sceptical we will not get home, but I didn’t doubt once, the kids had to go to school the next day.

Our scout expedition was a success, Magda brought trousers with elephants, we did new things and we had a lovely quality time together which we will remember for a long time. I realised, that I have no problem to deal with any situation – such a lucky personal characteristic to have. Nothing can beat a morning coffee by the sea, where you can only hear the waves crashing on the boulders, it was worth all the stress.

Rennie