The Cinnamon Lakeside is a typical smart hotel, very nice but somewhat impersonal. In fact we could be just about anywhere in the world and Kandy feels a million miles away.

After a leisurely breakfast in the 24 hour coffee shop we spent a couple of hours in the room taking advantage of the fact that the internet appears to be working at this time of day. No doubt most of the other guests are out seeing the sights and that is the reason!

We decided to have a change of scene and took ourselves down to sit beside the beautiful, blue hotel pool. What a marvellous setting, sitting by the lake soaking up the sunshine ... and the internet works out here too!

We were fascinated to see a number of pelicans swimming on the lake and noticed many other interesting bird life too. Not quite so interesting, perhaps, but there were plenty of crows and they were having a fantastic time time taking a bath round the edge of the pool and generally making a nuisance of themselves stealing food from the tables.

Time for some exercise and a few lengths in the pool Oh dear, it is only two feet deep for most of it! Never mind, we shall just have to laze in the shallows like everyone else then.

As the sun gets lower in the sky we decide that it is about time for a refreshing beer. No, sorry, no alcohol being served today. Why? Surely it is not full moon day again already. No, today is apparently World No Alcohol Day. Oh well, fresh lime soda is pretty good too!

Later, up in our room, we discovered that the mini bar works no matter what day it is so we fortified ourselves before going down for an alcohol-free buffet in the coffee shop.