7-8^th September 2019

We were in our 5^th weekend in Sri Lanka and were lucky enough to be invited to a Family weekend with Steve’s work. A whole committee of employees have organised an annual trip to say thank you to the families who are supporting the employees working hard and long hours (as I write, it is 22.30 and Steve is still at work – last meeting at 21.00). The weekend was superbly organised into small details such as prewritten luggage tags with your room number and presents for the kids. What a privileged to be treated to a special weekend in an amazing place.

Eight buses left Colombo at 5.30 am (another early start for us with 4 am alarm!) for an uncomfortable 7 hours bus journey of 153 km into the hill country of Nuwara Eliya, which is known as “Little England” due to the chilled weather (14-25C).

This time, the buses looked nicer, and the drivers seemed more chilled, however horn hell repeated itself and if I count on fingers of one of my hand the numbers of time he used his indicator, I would be very generous.

Breakfast on board in individual boxes (spicy vegetable bun, spicy fish pastry, spicy veg. spring roll, chocolate muffin – you can guess what Steve ate and what the kids ate from their boxes!), frequent stops to stretch our legs. The excited twisty roads into the mountains lined with banana trees, king coconut trees, Pomelo trees and Durian trees with stunning views of hills, tea farms and waterfalls. The shabby and dirty small towns/villages we were passing through with small shops selling all kids such as fruit, groceries, mobile phones, shoes and smart suits believe or not! Just an eye opener.

We arrived just in time for lunch, we had a little nap before going swimming and getting ready for the night entertainment. Misa stayed in bed as he felt unwell and unfortunately missed the fun.

The weather has been on our side and apparently after two weeks of cold and rain we had the sun the whole time. It would have been a completely different experience – we might have felt like at home! We took our raincoats with us and didn’t need them!

Sunday was a chill time with some activities to choose from and more food, before boarding the buses at 15.30 reaching Colombo at 22.00. Again, dinner on board picked up from one of the hotel on our way (spicy chicken and rice!), having taxi waiting for us to be in bed by 23.00. Tired, but feeling very lucky what a lovely weekend we had despite the long traveling time. All kids I saw coped really well with the long travel and a busy weekend. We have to go back to Little England again and explore. Perhaps as my birthday treat!

Rennie