The Tour.....

Well, where to begin. I know, the 5:45 wake up call. The first of many wake up calls.
We meet our driver guide Anil at 6:30 at the hotel reception. A very nice man, happy, cheerful and polite.
We head off on our adventure via the back roads of Negombo heading towards the Elephant Orphanage. This was going to be a 2 hour drive, luckily our top of the range 2004 Nissan Sunny had Air conditioning (classed as a luxury car).
A pleasant journey if you ignored the fact that the highway code did not exist and didn't mind the sound of a horn every 5 seconds.
First stop the tea factory for our tour and demonstration of how tea is harvested. Now bear in mind this is a Sunday. We arrived to a staff level of 3 and one of those was the cleaner. Fairs fair though and the guide was very nice and helpful and explained what is a very simple process. they even got Fiona drinking tea afterwards. The wallet ventured out to purchase some fresh Ceylon Tea before heading off.
We arrived at the Elephant Orphanage around 9 and Anil took us in and straight round to where they were being bottle fed and washed. These are magnificent creatures and we were told a story about one of the adult elephants in the corner that was leaning on a fence. Apparently it had been caught up in the war and lost its leg on a land mine and didn't like the prosthetic that had been made for it, so kept knocking if off.
We were soon recognised as gullible tourist and invited to wash the crippled Elephant. This was to be the second of many more occasions when the wallet came out. It would seem you can't do anything without some kind of monetary reward. We paid up and moved on.
Next the baby Elephants, 2 of them 300 kilos at birth, small and fluffy trying to eat leaves with no teeth. After a few photos we headed up to the large open area where the older elephants were feeding and having their photos taken. The keepers were inviting people forward to stand with the elephants for photo's, once bitten and all that. Anil then took us down towards the river where the elephants would be taken to bathe. He said if we go down before we can get a good view, thus just happened to be in a restaurant, wallet out again for drinks while everybody else congregated on the rocks at the side of the river. We spent about 15 mins and got some nice shots of the elephants. Then we headed back to the car for the short trip to ride an Elephant.
We arrived at elephant ride number 7 and the wallet made another appearance for us to have 20 mins on a large female elephant. The price was 2000 sri lankan rupees each to ride together on the same elephant. Had a taxi tried to charge this, trading standards would have been informed! The elephant was being controlled by a rather weather worn man who looked like he hated tourists!! and photos being taken by a pleasant chap who shouted "David Bailey" every time he took a shot.
The ride itself was one of the most uncomfortable things I've had. Not surprising when you are straddling her spine. And going downhill..... No safety nets here ladies n gents. Basically just hang on as tight as you can to the man in front. That was ok for Fiona but who was I supposed to hold on to, oh yes, the flimsy bit of rope round the elephants neck.
We went round the short assault course and when we were well out of sight of the owners the the tourist hater and "David Bailey!!!" decided they would hold us to ransom for more tips. Fiona quickly made the excuse that she couldn't get her purse out while straddling an elephant and would pay later. After a few grumbles we started to move again, needless to say the photos weren't as enthusiastically taken after that.
Elephant ride over and tip settled we continued onwards to the spice garden. If we thought the morning had been expensive we couldn't have been more wrong.