We had a driver to take us down to the east coast where Dan had booked us an anniversary treat for 4 nights at a beach resort called Jungle Lodge.

The 4.5 hour drive took us out of the Jaffna peninsula through Elephant pass, the gateway to and from Jaffna, with particularly bloody battles waged in 1991, 2000 and 2009. Today it is the site of two major war memorials with monuments erected and depicting the story of the civil war.

On a lighter note, we continued through some lovely scenery, local villages and even some wildlife - we stopped to watch a Jackal for a while and then again for a herd of buffalo wallowing in a muddy pool on the roadside.

We arrived at our resort, 20km north of the main town called Trincomolee, and first impressions were great. We had taken up their offer of a free upgrade to a beachside lodge and it just got better - lovely pool, huge lodge with indoor and outdoor shower, fully stocked minibar, bath robes, surrounded by jungle, with a raised wooden deck and a private sandy path to the beach. This was a lovely romantic treat indeed. Suffice to say that for the next 4 days we alternated between sitting under the beach umbrellas with an occasion dip in the sea, to lounging by the pool and an evening stroll along the beach. The food was great, staff were great and we felt fully revived after all the walking in Myanmar and the 3 days of travel to get to Sri Lanka.