Had a great meal last night. Red chicken curry with 8 (eight) side dishes for ADO! LMA started gently with local fish and chips. Sitting in an open, but roofed, restaurant looking across the lawn with lights on and torches burning was beautiful. As was the curry! Following virtually no sleep on the flight, and having lost 5+ hours on the time difference we went to bed at 8,30pm!

Slept like a log - which we needed to do because the alarm went off at 05.45! A good western breakfast (eggs benedict/omelette) was had and set off oop north at just gone 07.00. The roads were busy with school children mostly on the back of scooters as well as Colombo commuter traffic and buses. For miles and miles we travelled along the main road with shops on either side. No big stores, and sometimes shacks, but it did appear that you could buy virtually anything you wanted around here. As long as you didn’t mind if it was a bit tatty and dusty!

After a couple of hours we stopped at a Hindu temple. This was large and garishly decorated but Lionel (our driver) could get a cup of tea and breakfast with the caretaker while we walked around! (The ‘facilities’ were just about OK for ADO - fortunately there was no roof but LMA declined the ‘hole in the ground’ option!

And then we were back on the road. Lionel (bless him) has a personal driving style which seems to involve driving up to within 6 inches of the lorry/car/tuktuk/scooter/bicycle in front and then swerving out for the overtake before swerving back in and braking immediately after. It takes a bit of getting used to, And don’t even mention his rather bizarre use of main beam after dark ...

Anyway, after a bit we stopped at one of many roadside vendors and bought a king coconut and drank the juice and tasted the inside which wasn’t very much like coconut. He was also boiling sweet corn in anticipation of the lunchtime trade. After 5 hours of this we arrived at a cafe (frankly the first and only one that I would have stopped at anyway) for lunch. Curry for ADO (can you see a theme emerging?) and salad for LMA.

We then boarded a vehicle for the afternoon safari in Wittpallu Park. This a huge area and the wildlife was quite interesting. The scenery varied from quite thick jungle (most of the time) to more open country with a number of quite large lakes and waterholes. Unlike Africa, water is l,entiful even in the dry season and so there is no major congregation of animals around them. We didn’t see any elephants and, although the guide said he could see a leopard sleeping on the ground in the jungle, it might have been a figment of his imagination for the tourists!

We did, however, see two crocodiles, wild boar, monkeys, monitors, eagles, squirrel, deer, peacocks and jungle fowl - the national bird. Who would choose a chicken as their national bird?! So we bumped along potholed tracks for five hours which, frankly, was long enough - especially as we had been in the car for 5 hours earlier to get there! And then we had another hour to get to the hotel!!!

On this particular part of the journey it got dark and finding a very small turning with an a lit sign to the hotel proved tricky. Luckily ADO had satnav on his phone (which the driver didn’t) and with help from the locals we found it. Arriving at the hotel - Ullagalla Resort - in the dark was interesting. It is an old main house set in 56 acres of estate. There is a welcoming ceremony where we were invited to pull on a rope to ring a row of bells signalling our arrival and then have our photo taken!

A chauffeured buggy then took us to our ‘chalet’ which has its own plunge pool jacuzzi, a large lounge and a bedroom. Dead posh. You do need the buggy because it is about half a mile from the main house! Showered and refreshed, we returned for dinner (via buggy) which - surprise surprise - was curry! This time the two ‘proteins’ being prawn and fish.

And so ends our first full day in SL. We are here for two nights and will be visiting Anandhapura tomorrow.

So it’s goodnight from me and it’s goodnight from ‘er

ADO/LMA. xx