Day 13 - Thursday 31st January

Although there was an optional tour this morning, we decided not to go. It was going to a tile factory, a rope factory and a Hindu temple. Instead we enjoyed a longer sleep. By the time we got to breakfast at 8:30am, the rest of our group were already there having their breakfast on a long table in the hotel restaurant.

Instead of the group outing, we decided to get a tuktuk into town. Brett and Mandy had decided to join us and so we met at reception at 10am. The staff organised two tuktuks for us and negotiated a price of 2000 rupees per couple for two hours. The drivers would stay with us for this time and take us from one destination to another.

The first stop was a souvenir shop near the bus depot. Here we looked at drums, brightly coloured baskets, a wall of elephants of various sizes, etc. They sold masks similar to the ones we'd seen a couple of days ago at the wood carvery but here they were much cheaper. The manager asked us to pay cash rather than using credit cards.

Next they took us to two different department stores and then to a supermarket.

On the way back to the hotel, our driver stopped to pick up his daughter from school - she looked about 5 years old. Then he dropped her home which was fairly close to our hotel. From the street, it looked like a nice home. Maybe tuktuk driving provides a good income.

Back in the hotel, we heard that the fishermen were on the beach pulling in their nets. So I grabbed my camera to take in the sights. There were two groups of men tugging on long nets that went for about 10m up the beach and about 20m (and probably much further) in the water out towards a fishing boat.

An English tourist told us that the whole process takes about two hours. After taking lots of photos, one of the groups of fishermen beckoned me over and let me help them pull in the nets.

For lunch, we decided to go to the bar instead of the restaurant. They have comfortable chairs on the terrace outside the bar overlooking the lawn, palm trees and beach.

Suellen and Bruce were already there. They'd ordered toasted club sandwiches whereas we went for beef burgers with chips. This was a pleasant change from the buffets we have had almost every day so far. I had a Tiger beer this time and Suzy had a fancy cocktail.

Neil came to see us several times about the arrangements for tomorrow - particularly the check-out time and the departure time for the trip to the airport.

He was still calling Suzy "Byrne" and so she decided to tell him that in Australia, we either say "Sue" or "Mrs Byrne". The good news is that he is starting to remember some of our names.

After lunch, we walked down to the beach to see how the fishermen were going only to find out that it was all over. Instead we walked along the beach looking for crabs. We saw one crab who seemed to be enjoying a surf. He was running into the surf and being washed back before trying it again and again.

In the afternoon, Suzy sat on a lounge under a large umbrella on the lawn looking out to sea. She sat there reading her book on her iPad.

In the evening, we sat on the balcony of our room to watch the sun set through the palm trees. When we went down to the bar at 7pm, most of the others in our tour group were already there.

Dinner was another buffet in the hotel restaurant.

Last night they were running out of wine and tonight the shortage was even greater. Rather than bringing a price list, they invited us down to the cellar to see the wines they had left. There were only three different reds and not many bottles of each. I decided to get the Merlot from Chile again.

We were back in our room by 10pm.

Day 12 - Wednesday 30th January

Today the plan was to travel from Sigiriya to Chilaw. Bags needed to be outside the room by 9am and the bus would leave at 9:30am. So we didn't need to get up until 7am.

It was another pleasant morning - partly sunny but with a few dark clouds hanging around. We still haven't had any rain on our holiday.

Breakfast was busy because there were several tour groups in the restaurant. They had even ran out of bacon.

When we got to reception prior to the planned 9:30am departure time, our bags were next to the bus but there were several men standing around staring at the bus. It turned out that the bus had a flat battery. How many men does it take to change a battery? Anyway, they fixed the problem and we got underway at 10am.

The chef had organised lunch boxes for each of us and so we decided to eat these on the bus rather than stop at a restaurant along the way.

Before lunch, we stopped at the Dedicated Economic Centre in Dambulla. This is a wholesale distribution centre - somewhat like Paddy's Market in Sydney. When we went inside to have a look around, we saw bulk quantities of fruit and vegetables.

Neil told us to be back in the bus within 15 to 20 minutes. Several of us were back on time but Neil and the others took more like 40 minutes.

The bus arrived at the Anantaya Hotel in Chilaw at about 2:30pm. Neil had told us that it was 1km out of town but it turned out to be more like 13km. It is located between the lagoon and the beach. The setting is idyllic - large grass lawns dotted with palm trees.

We were welcomed by the hotel staff with a delicious green drink and a warm towel. One of the reception staff (a tall slim lady with a beautiful smile) then showed us to our room. Our room was on the second level and (like other rooms) overlooked the pool.

Our room safe turned out to be a drama. When we called reception to say the safe didn't work, they sent one man who couldn't fix it. He organised a technician to come who unbolted the safe, took it away and returned with a replacement safe. At first this safe seemed to work but then it stopped working. They then replaced it with another safe. Third time lucky!

To give them their credit, the repair service was prompt - it took less than 30 minutes to sort it out. Let's just hope it works OK when we try to open it to retrieve our passports when we are leaving.

We also asked the staff for an information booklet - the folder you normally get in a hotel room. All we received was blank stares and puzzled looks. Eventually reception gave me a brochure about the hotel with pretty pictures etc. In other words, they gave me a sales brochure.

By this time, several of our group had occupied lounges next to the pool and had been for a dip. We got changed and joined them. It was very refreshing. It is a very large pool - it runs to full length of the building containing the guest rooms. Further along there are two more buildings for guest rooms and another large pool.

Later I grabbed my camera to take photos of the hotel - particularly the palm-tree lawns, the pools, the sandy beach and the various buildings. To the left of the beach, there were dozens of fishing boats. Men were busy stacking the fishing nets away in their boats or in the nearby thatched-roof huts.

I stayed in the area until about 6:30pm to get photos of the various stages of the sunset. There were no clouds in the sky - just a bright orange ball of fire that seemed to get bigger as it descended towards the sea. It doesn't get any better than this. This is paradise.

Just before 7pm, we went down to the bar for a pre-dinner drink. Mandy and Brett were already there and others gradually arrived over the next 40 minutes. I had a rum and coke whereas Suzy had a fancy cocktail.

Dinner was another delicious buffet followed by dessert. I had lots of chocolate desserts of one type or another.

However, the wine was a challenge. Firstly, none of the wines on the wine list were available - instead they had a hand-written wine list on a scrap of paper. I think the waiter might have been new.

At first, he didn't understand what I meant when I asked him about the prices. Eventually he went away and found someone who had the answer. When he brought the wine (a South African Shiraz called Cape Dreams), he couldn't get the cork out and had to get help from someone more senior.

Suzy had read reviews online that described some of the staff as being like characters out of Fawlty Towers. This might have been an example of this. In the end, he enjoyed our bottle of wine.

We were in bed soon after 10pm. This time it was a real queen size double bed rather than twin beds that we'd often had elsewhere on this holiday.

Day 11 - Tuesday 29th January

There were no early morning commitments today and so we were able to sleep in. We went across to the hotel restaurant for breakfast just after 8:30am. Once outside, we noticed that it was warmer than most mornings on our holiday - it was already 25C.

It was good not having to rush breakfast. I had an omelette from the egg station cook and had time for two cups of coffee.

We heard that Neil had told someone in our group that part of this morning's outing would include a visit to a sacred site. Therefore, several of us had to change from shorts to ensure that our knees were covered. At least he told us today and we could avoid the problem we had at the sacred sites yesterday.

Neil had given us various times for our departure this morning: 9:30, 9:45 and 10:00. The most recent one we heard was 9:45 but when we got to the reception area, we found out that it had changed to 10am again. Apparently, the chef was coming with us and his shift didn't finish until 10am.

This morning's outing would be an optional 3km walk to a nearby village to observe local culture. Most people had decided to come on the walk but a few decided to stay at the hotel to relax and have a swim.

When we set off, the receptionist had joined the group as well as the chef. The first part of the walking journey was on the dirt road that we'd driven along before in the bus. Then we got onto narrower paths.

After a while, we came across a hut near the rice fields and stopped there for more than half an hour. The farmer answered questions for us (with Neil translating) and then offered us local food and drinks.

Also present were the farmer's wife, small daughter, sister and another man.

The walls of the hut seemed to be made with dried mud and had a timber structure with a metal sheet roof. There was a timber ladder leading up to a bedroom above the hut. Several of our group climbed up to have a look.

We had the opportunity to walk into the farmer's field where we came across a man cutting down the tall grass. Brian offered to try it for himself and borrowed the implement.

The farmer stayed with us as we continued on our journey past various waterways and a large lake. Several times, the farmer waded into the water to retrieve water lilies with which he and the chef made necklaces for us to wear.

They had to help us going down some slopes and across narrow streets until we reached a religious area. There we took off our shoes and hats before being shown into the chapel and other buildings.

Further on, we came to the village where they sat us down on plastic chairs and cut up coconuts in front of us. This coconut juice seemed sweeter than the ones we had enjoyed several days ago.

Village people stood around and watched. One woman was carrying a very small baby.

By this time, we had almost come full circle and we walked back along the dirt road to our hotel. We were back by about 12:45pm - even earlier than Neil had promised. By this time it was over 30C and there were threatening dark clouds above the hotel.

It had been an excellent excursion giving us a much better picture of how people live in this part of the world. A morning well spent.

Lunch was scheduled for 1pm but it turned out to be 1:20pm. For a change, it wasn't a buffet. We sat at a long table and the staff brought dishes of food to the table. Once again, most of us had Lion lager. Suzy had a G&T.

Looking out on the grass beyond the pool, we could see monkeys playing on the lawn and jumping into the trees - sometimes being chased by one of the dogs. It became obvious why the staff insisted on keeping the doors and shutters closed in our rooms to ensure the monkeys did not run off with items from the room.

The rest of the day had no commitments and so we were free to go back to our rooms. Some people enjoyed a swim in the pool.

Just after 7pm, we went to find the rest of our group. As we expected, they were in the lounge on the bridge above the driveway enjoying a drink. We ordered a couple of glasses of the house red which was a Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon.

Then we moved downstairs to have dinner in the restaurant. Once again, we were at tables on the lawn outside the restaurant. They had set out three round tables for us with candles.

We asked the wine waiter for a bottle of the house red that we'd just had upstairs with two glasses. He didn't understand. He kept on coming back to ask us again. He was convinced that we wanted two more glasses like we'd had upstairs. We kept on repeated "full bottle" without success. This pantomime continued for about 20 minutes and he returned to us about a dozen times before we eventually got a bottle of wine. It almost certainly wasn't the wine we'd had upstairs. He apologised and said his English is not very good to which I said my Sinhalse isn't too good.

It was another enjoyable buffet dinner with excellent chocolate dessert.

Because of the candle-lit lighting, Suzy kept using the flashlight app on her iPhone to see what she was eating. I was just happy to eat whatever ended up on my fork. Once again, the hotel general manager was hovering making sure that guests were happy.

Day 10 - Monday 28th January

We had an early breakfast in the hotel restaurant in preparation for our morning outing to Sigiriya Rock. I left a bag full of clothes in the room for pick up by the hotel's laundry service.

The bus departed at 7:30am for the 30 minute trip to the World Heritage Site. Most of our group would be climbing the rock and so Neil had to buy tickets on the ground floor of the museum building.

Betsy and I would not be doing the climb because we both have heart problems. Before our holiday, I had visited my GP because I'd been having chest pains and dizziness. In the end, he gave me permission to go to Sri Lanka but his last words were "no mountain climbing".

Neil suggested that Betsy and I should spend the morning at the museum and looking at the grounds. He said there was no fee for the museum but when we tried to enter the museum, we found otherwise and had to go downstairs to pay 920 rupees each.

Initially the museum seemed boring but it improved as we worked our way through it. The best part was at the end as we walked down the ramp towards the exit. There a man enticed us into looking at an exhibition about how people here lived many years ago.

First, he showed us devices they'd used to catch animals. Then he somehow convinced us to dress up as natives. He put a sarong on Betsy and then got her to pose holding jugs and with a basket on her head.

Then it was my turn. He put a grass skirt and top on me before handing me a bow and arrow. I'd been taking photos of Betsy and now the man was taking photos of me. Finally, he got both of us to pose together. All the while, tour groups were walking past us down the ramp pointing and laughing at us.

Neil had suggested that we look at the gardens surrounding the rock and admire the rock from ground level. So Betsy and I walked towards the rock but only got as far as the ticket collection gate. From this distance, we could only see part of the rock and very little of the gardens.

Later we found out from the group that had climbed the rock that the area near the rock was worth visiting. They said Neil should have got tickets for us to see this area. After all, our holiday package concluded entry to the rock. Neil had also been wrong about having to pay for entry to the museum.

As we stood there wondering what to do next, we were approached by a tuktuk driver offering to drive us to vantage points where we could see the rock. He started by quoting very high prices and lowered his quotation as we declined and walked away. He continued to hassle us for almost 10 minutes.

We found a shady spot under an umbrella near the museum to sit down and read while we waited. The arrangement was to meet the rest of the group at the entrance at 10:30am. The bus would bring them from the exit back to the entrance to pick us up.

Sigiriya Rock is 180m tall and there are 1200 steps to reach the top. Suzy had only expected to get part of the way but had in fact reached the top. She took photos on her iPhone and shared them with me.

At the top of the rock, there are the ruins of an ancient city including paths, walls, paintings and sculptures. One of the most popular attractions is a giant lion's paw carved into the rock. She told me about monkeys playing on the rock and sliding down the handrail of the stairs.

When the bus arrived, Neil and the others were worried because four of our group hadn't turned up at the agreed meeting place at the exit. After waiting a little longer, Neil decided to take us back to the hotel assuming that the others would be able to get back there by tuktuk or taxi.

The missing four arrived at the hotel at noon. It was lucky that they made it back because they were having trouble remembering the name of the hotel. Luckily one of them had a taken a room key.

Before lunch we were given a cooking demonstration on the grounds of the hotel. Then we climbed onto the top level of a timber structure to eat the food that the chef had prepared.

The bus for our afternoon outing left at 2pm. The destination was Polonnaruva which is the ruins of an ancient city. On the way, we stopped at an ATM to withdraw cash. The process was not intuitive. Then I noticed that the bank next door was open and we got one of the staff to show us how their system worked.

The trip took about an hour and the first stop at the site was at the museum where Neil bought entry tickets. The bus then took us to three or four different sites.

Some of these sites turned out to be sacred sites and so we could only enter if our shoulders and knees were covered. Naturally we also had to take off our shoes and hats. Neil hadn't told us that we'd be visiting sacred sites and so many of us hadn't known to dress appropriately. Lucky my shorts were deemed to be just long enough because they covered part of my knees.

Neil had promised that we'd be back at the hotel by 5:30pm because several people had wanted to have a swim in the hotel pool before dinner. As it turned out, it was 6:30pm by the time we got back. Back in our room, we found that by laundry had been delivered.

Neil had organised pre-dinner drinks by the pool again at 7:15pm. This time the cocktail was based on white rum.

Our group had dinner on the lawn outside the restaurant. This time there was a musical quartet to entertain the diners. Initially I ordered an Australian Shiraz but when this wasn't available we got a Merlot from Chile. Once again it was a buffet meal.

We were back in our room at 10pm.

Day 09 - Sunday 27th January

Today we would be leaving Kandy to travel to Sigiriya. As usual, we had breakfast at the hotel. This time we sat at a table inside the restaurant next to the window so we can still see out onto the terrace without having to protect our food from the crows.

Back in our room, we noticed two monkeys sitting on the handrail of the balcony next door. They seemed to be a male and a female. The male was showing some frightening teeth. We were glad they didn't decide to come onto our balcony.

The arrangement for departure was to have our bags outside our room at 8:30 for a departure on our bus at 9am.

After a couple of hours, we stopped at a spice plantation where we spent the next two hours. First, we received a very informative tour of the demonstration area of the plantation. The man explained each of their spices and the benefits of each.

One of them was a hair remover cream. He applied it to the forearms of two of the men in our group to prove how effective it is. Another cream was supposed to make us look 20 years younger.

The final part of the presentation had us sitting down. At the end of the presentation, they offered us a massage with some of their products. They got the men to take of their shirts and then gave each of us a massage of the neck, shoulders, back, face, hair, arms and legs. It was probably the best massage I've ever had.

This was followed by lunch at a nearby restaurant. Although they offered a buffet as usual, they also had an a la carte menu. Suzy and I went for this option - I had fish and chips while she had a delicious chicken soup that had real pieces of chicken in it. As an extra bonus, our meals were half the price of the buffet.

After lunch, we stopped at Lakruka wood carvery. There we saw demonstrations f their wood carving skills and we then left to wander through their showroom to admire their products.

As you would expect, there were elephants of all sizes, fishermen on poles, statues and furniture. One of the features mas a series of coloured timber masks.

It was after 3pm by the time we got to the hotel meant we were late for our safari. The jeeps were already waiting for us. It was a rush to get to our allocated room and back. Our bags hadn't even been delivered to our rooms.

It was only about 10 minutes to entry to the wildlife reserve. As usual, the vehicles parked so the drivers could buy entry tickets. We left in a group of about ten vehicles.

The vehicles here we very different from those in Yala National Park. They had no sides and n canopy on top. Instead there we steel bars on the roof. So the idea was to stand up and hang onto the bars to see the wildlife.

I think our driver was probably young and inexperienced. He seemed to be happy to follow along near the end of the pack. This meant that when vehicles at the front found elephants, all we could see was brushes, trees and scrub. We watched the people in front taking photos of animals.

We'd heard that this game park was dusty and they weren't wrong. There were few animals other than elephants and there weren't too many of them. Yala had been much better.

There is a very large rock in the centre of the park. The vehicle stopped so we could climb to the top where there was a timber viewing platform.

Nearby there was an exit onto the sealed road and we were back at our hotel before 6pm.

Sigiriya Jungles Hotel has a series of two-storey buildings for the guest rooms set in extensive grounds. There is a large pool near the main building that houses reception and the restaurant.

The floors in the rooms and in the restaurant are bare concrete and so when you move your chair it makes a dreadful noise that disturbs the people downstairs. Like some other hotels, there is not enough lighting in the room and so it is hard to see. The light switches are in strange places and hard to find.

Once again, there were twin beds rather than a double bed.

The hotel WiFi was very slow - less than 1MB/s in both directions. For a change this was better than my Mobitel SIM because I couldn't get any signal at all.

 In the bathroom, there is a large bath and a large shower (separate from the bath). There are timber shutters on the windows. We learnt later that it is best to keep these shut to help keep out the insects and perhaps more importantly to keep out the monkeys.

Gravel paths lead from the guest rooms to the main building. At night, these paths are lit by small lights which make it very attractive but perhaps inadequate for older guests.

Pre-dinner drinks for provided by hotel staff next to the pool. The barman had prepared a delicious (and potent) drink based on Rockland Old Arrack. Dinner was another buffet them to sing Australian songs but without success.

I ordered a couple of bottles of wine to share with Brett and Mandy - Bordeaux and Merlot wines.

Day 08 - Saturday 26th January

We set our alarms for 6:30am and went down to the restaurant for breakfast before 7:30am. It was about 21C and overcast. It looked like it had been raining.

This time, we decided to sit on the outdoor deck. Soon after sitting down, we saw a mongoose scurry past. Several others emerged from the bushes from time to time to grab a piece of dropped food. When I stood up to take photos, black crows would swoop down on the table. The first time, they got away with my croissant.

Suzy went back to the room before me. It took me ages to get her to open the door when I returned - I knocked and knocked. I eventually had to send her a text message. It turned out she had been sitting on the balcony looking at a couple of fascinated birds with long beaks on a nearby balcony.

Most of the group left on the bus at 9am to go into town for a shopping expedition. I wasn't feeling up to it (I was quite dizzy) and so I stayed behind at the hotel. Besides, I'm not keen on shopping.

Soon after returning to our room, I was sitting in an armchair reading my iPad when a monkey jumped onto the balcony railing. Before I'd had a chance to grab my camera, it had disappeared. I made a mental note not to leave the door open to the balcony.

Neil had organised with the hotel reception for a tuktuk to pick me up from the hotel at 12 noon to take me to the Queen's Hotel where he had booked for lunch. I arrived there at 12:30pm as planned. The tuktuk driver was in frequent contact with Neil to coordinate a meeting place near the hotel.

Some of the others were already waiting there in the plaza opposite the hotel and the others arrived in the restaurant soon after.

This is a high-class hotel with a very good restaurant. It was another enjoyable buffet. Once we caught a wine waiter, I ordered a Lion beer again and Suzy had a G&T.

After lunch we were to visit the Temple of the Tooth across the road from the hotel. This is a religious memorial that contains one of Buddha's teeth. The building was constructed about 400 years ago. It is a stonework structure set in a large area near the lake. After passing through the entrance (with separate entries for men and women), we walked through an extensive lawn area.

They have a strict dress code - you need to cover your shoulders and knees. One bloke in our group bought a sarong from a nearby street stall and another bloke had a pair of long trousers in his backpack.

Before entering the building, you need to leave your shoes with a shoe check office. Then you walk through a puddle at the bottom of the stairs to cleanse your feet. The stonework was pretty hot on the feet on the way to the water.

It's obviously a very popular destination for local people because it was quite crowded. Most people were dressed in white but there were a few monks in crimson robes. Many people were praying on the floor. On the way in, most people bought flowers and then left them on a large counter on the top level.

After leaving the temple complex, some of us went on a tuktuk tour of the city while others went back to the hotel. The tour took us through the traffic and up the hill to a lookout where we had a great very of the city including the lake, tooth temple, Queen's Hotel and Buddha on mountain top.

Next, we drove down the hill to the central markets. The driver gave us the option of going to the market where local people shop or to the international shopping centre where you pay a whole lot more for exactly the same goods. We went for the first option.

This is a two-level building built around a quadrangle containing a garden and lawns. They sell the items you would expect including clothing, leather goods, food and spices. Suzy spent some time buying goods in a clothes store on the upper level.

Our next destination was a cultural show at 5pm. The tuktuks got us there just in time. There must have been a few hundred people in the audience.

The show lasted for almost an hour and consisted of drums, dancing, singing, chanting, acrobatics, fire sticks, spinning, etc.

Suzy had ordered a ring at the shopping expedition and the shop was resizing it for her and promised to deliver it to the cultural show - which seemed like an odd arrangement. Anyway, the ring was there after the show and it fitted nicely.

On the walk back to meet our bus, we saw a group of tourists taking photos. It turned out the had spotted a pelican sitting on a branch of a large tree next to the lake. I naturally joined the group of photographers.

Back at the hotel, we needed a shower before dinner. After the shower I asked Suzy to take a photo of my bruised leg. The bruise was very large and the graze looked nasty. It wasn't a pretty sight.

Suzy sent another email to the travel agent telling them that Neil had been putting in a lot of effort to keep us happy. It was a positive email thanking them for following up on her earlier email. In fact, Neil was very trying - in every sense of the word.

At 7:30pm, we had drinks with the group on level 2 in the main building near the bar. There was live music next to us.

Then we moved into the restaurant for dinner. As usual, they were offering a buffet but this time they had a series barbecues set up outside on the terrace. We wondered whether the barbecue idea was a nod to the fact that today was Australia Day.

It was a great meal. I ordered a South African Shiraz wine this time called Tall Horse. The label had a drawing of a giraffe.

Day 07 - Friday 25th January

You won't believe this one. After all the mistakes our guide, Neil, has made, this tops the lot.

The plan was to travel from Nuwara Eliya to Kandy by train. This is supposed to be a scenic tour as an alternative to travelling in the bus. The bus would take our luggage and meet us there.

Neil said the train was due to leave at 5:45am and so we had to have our bags packed by 4:30am. So I set my alarm for 3:45am - which is much earlier than I like to get up.

We had been warned that it would be cold in the morning and so we wore a jumper and our puffer jackets. Sure enough it was only 11C.

Before leaving the hotel, we collected our breakfast boxes from the reception. Neil had been opening each one to check they were OK to avoid the complaints he had got from yesterday's excursion.

The bus left on time just before 5am along the windy road to the railway station. We were there by 5:10am and we were the only passengers on the station.

Then a guard came over to Neil to check our tickets and discovered that our booking was for the 9:20am train - not the 5:45am train.

The reaction was interesting. You might have expected anger but we all just laughed in disbelief. How could anyone make such a blunder? We could have had another 4 hours sleep. Neil was very apologetic but it was just another apology. There was little point is apologising because we were past that stage - we'd heard it so many times before.

He organised to get the bus to come back to the station to take us back to the hotel. By that time it was 6am. We returned our breakfast boxes to reception and went back to our rooms.

I was struggling with the walk to and from the platform. I'd woken up with large bruises at various places on my arms and legs from my fall yesterday in the tea plantation. My leg was quite sore to walk on - especially with the uneven ground and stairways.

Suzy decided to send an email to our travel agent, Inspiring Vacations, back in Sydney to tell them about the problems we'd been having with Neil.

The plan was to leave our bags on the bus but I decided to get my laptop bag off the bus - mainly because it contained all my medication. I'd lost confidence in their ability to get things right and I couldn't afford to be separated from my medication.

Breakfast started at 6:30am and we had another excellent buffet breakfast. By the time we'd finished, Suzy had received a reply email from the travel agent thanking her for her feedback.

The bus departing again for the station at 8:30am. This time there were plenty of people on the platforms. One train was waiting on the other platform. It was economy class and the people were jammed in like sardines.

Our tickets were for first class and Neil told us to wait at the end of the platform because first class was on the last carriage.

Neil had warned us that trains in Sri Lanka are often a few minutes late. It turned out to be 30 minutes late.

First class wasn't luxurious. At least there was ample leg room. We each had a tray table and a footrest. There were toilets at the rear of the carriage.

The train took off with a jerk and the bumps and swaying continued throughout the journey.

The trip to the toilet was an adventure. For a start, it was hard to walk down the aisle because of the swaying of the train. One of the exit doors was closed but the one on the other side was open and so I had to hang on tight to ensure I wasn't flung out the open door.

The toilet on one side was a hole in the floor whereas the one on the other side had a western-style seat. It was then I noticed that the toilet emptied straight onto the track below the train - it was just an open vertical pipe. It was a real battle to maintain my balance as the carriage rocked violently from side to side.

From the window, the view was quite pleasant for much of the trip. We looked out on tea plantations on the sides of the hills below the railway line.

The trip to Kandy took just on three and a half hours. The train terminated here. Fortunately our bus was waiting for us outside the station and drove us to a restaurant for lunch. The restaurant was in the Hotel Thilanka.

Traffic was very heavy because it was peak hour. Government schools in Sri Lanka finish at 1:30pm. Apparently, they start classes at 7:30am. Neil said there is another peak hour in the early evening because many students go to evening classes too.

This time the restaurant was clean and modern - as were the toilets. It was yet another buffet and once again I had a Lion beer. Suzy went for a G&T. There was no problem with split bills and I was able to pay by credit card.

Next the bus took us to our hotel, Earl's Regency. This is a large hotel on the side of a hill. There was a wedding reception underway and the bridal party were having photos taken in the foyer.

Our room was in the southern wing overlooking the pool, tennis court and gardens. The decor is modern and elegant. Unfortunately, the WiFi speed is very slow.

We were pleased that there were no activities on the itinerary for the rest of the day because it gave us an opportunity to relax after a disrupted and hectic day. I was feeling quite tired. Towards the end of the afternoon we set out to explore the hotel.

At 7:30pm, we met the rest of the group in the bar area for a drink before going into the restaurant for dinner. It was once again a buffet. It was a large restaurant and this time there was even more choice than usual. It was probably the best meal of the tour so far.