Having slept with the shutters wide open and only the ancient vertical iron bars between us and the rainforest I woke gently as sunlight began to illuminate our lush surroundings. The white mosquito drapes billowed gently as the cool breeze moved across the bed and the room was filled with the sound of unfamiliar birdsong. Columns of sunlight highlighted the charismatic features of the room and I could not have been more content so having Bob insist we get up for...

At exactly 340 am we were woken by a quiet rapping on the door. Bob opened it to find a beaming Mr. Tennakoon offering a tray of tea and the news that some of his Newmarket racing tips had come home winners. Satisfied that we were awake he retreated into the darkness, giggling to himself, as he headed off to prepare breakfast. Half an hour later we loaded the bags into the back of our sleepy driver's Tuktuk and after a sincerely grateful goodbye we were given our...

In the morning light I watched a chipmunk scurrying across the branch outside our window making an angry chattering noise which was quite out of character for the rest of the tranquil garden. The smiling Mr. Tenakoon soon called us down from our balcony for a traditional Sri Lankan breakfast and warily we descended, following him into his house. Seated on the terrace our freshly woken tastebuds and stomachs were assaulted with string hoppers (Sri Lankan noodle ne...

Bob only added a few overnight bites to her catalogue, apparently preoccupied with the slats dropping out from under her side of the bed, leaving her with a very specific orthopaedic mattress, to which I remained oblivious. We breakfasted outside, making friends with the very entertaining house pooch who seemed determined to earn itself a beating by digging holes in the freshly raked sand. Our TukTuk ride to Trinco was beautifully cool and the small villages we p...

Bob's mosquito count now totalled over 80 which made for a frenzied breakfast of scratching, steroid cream application and disbelief at my relative untastiness to the critters. Fortunately Alex dispensed a pack of antihistamines which soon hit the spot but checking out was still interspersed with random bouts of scratching as we headed down the drive on our heavily laiden TukTuk. We arrived down the coast at our last minute booking and inwardly groaned. We were ...