(Nearly) Back To School

The New Year holidays are drawing to a close.  They have gone so quickly!  We had such a wonderful holiday, I can't quite believe we are back to school tomorrow.  It has, of course, been wonderful to see the cats again.  They have been all over us since our return.  I think they may have missed us, just a little bit.

The flight home was OK.  We left at 1am on Thursday morning, so we had the whole day to laze about by the pool at the hotel.  They very kindly let us keep our room until we left at 8pm.  I didn't sleep particularly well on the flights, and we didn't nap when we got home at about 2pm on Friday.  This meant that I slept for 15 hours straight on Friday night!

Last night,we went to the pub with our friends who looked after the cats, to watch the 6 Nations rugby.  Wales Vs Ireland started at 10pm.  England didn't start until 1am, and even Matt came home at half time to finish watching it on our TV.  I left after the first game.  It was a nice evening, catching up with our friends.  Today will be a lazy day, making the most of our last day of holidays before we go back to school tomorrow.  My staff training starts after school tomorrow, and I have the year 4 museum trip on Thursday, so should be a good week.

These photos were from the last day of term, when everyone dressed up in traditional Chinese dress to celebrate the New Year.  I'm slowly uploading holiday photos too, so keep your eye out for them.

Day 11 - Last Evening

Day 11

The usual morning today, with both of us having English breakfasts. We lounged by the pool, which isn't quite as quiet today, a small child having arrived yesterday. We had lunch at the hotel today too, delicious sandwiches on the same bread we have for toast every morning. Its so fresh and yummy.

Then, the usual pool lounging afternoon. Matt had a massage. For dinner the hotel had moved the 4 tables onto the lawn and lit them with candles. The tables were scattered with bougainvillea, big white flowers, big orange flowers and tiny white flowers everywhere. It was very pretty. For dinner we had a seafood platter, so we each got a small lobster, 2 jumbo prawns, tuna steak, seer steak and cuttlefish, with a salad and bread. It was incredibly delicious, especially the lobster. So sad that its our last night.

Day 10 - Sunset

Day 10

The usual lazy morning today, lounging by the pool, and stroking the cute hotel dogs. Breakfast was superb again. Matt had a fry up and I had pancakes. We were given extra, as I think the concierge likes us!

The lazy morning continued into a lazy afternoon. At about 5.30, we headed off to the beach to walk along it and watch the spectacular sunset. We found a beach bar where we watched the last of the suns rays sink below the horizen with an arack cocktail each. I now know that its made from coconuts, and is not nice neat at all!

We had dinner in the same hotel, which had covered everything in fairy lights. Even the trees lining the short walk from the beach to the restaurant. Very pretty. We had a delicious dinner of prawn cocktail, I had seer fish and chips and Matt had a burger. Matt had chocolate mousse for dessert too. Yum! Then a short tuk tuk ride back to our hotel and bed.

Day 9 - Market Day

Day 9

Today, we opted for a slightly smaller breakfast of omelette and beans. We had it on our lovely balcony, enjoying a soft breeze. The Ceylon tea here is superb.

Its market day, so we tuk tuked into town to have a nosy around. It was a proper locals market, full of fresh fruit and veg. Very interesting and lively. I didn't feel too great having my camera out though. It screamed tourist and wealth and we would rather have blended in a bit more. Still, I got some interesting photos. We had a smoothie in a cafe. I asked for mango flavour, and 5 minutes later our waiter came back into the cafe carrying a mango! How's that for fresh! We went to a couple of shops, to buy a painting of an elephant on fabric, and a carved wooden elephant for our friend who is looking after the cats.

For dinner, we stayed at the hotel and shared 6 different curries. There was so much food! It was called the Sri Lankan buffet. We had a Tuna curry, chicken curry, dhall lentil curry, green Ben curry, cashew and pea curry and a curry we thought was potato, but was actually a delicious sweet root vegetable. This was all with a rice mountain each, popadoms and mango chutney. We asked for 90% spice. It was delicious, but I had terrible heartburn later!

Day 8 - Sri Lankan Breakfast

Day 8

Today, we ventured into town again, after an enormous traditional sri Lankan breakfast, of 4 different

types of curry and a sort of rice noodle thing. Yum. We were so full, we didn't need to eat again until dinner.

In town we had a wander about and stocked up on water and snacks. Then we went to Pier 88 a lovely restaurant on the waterfront with a view of a huge Buddha on the opposite bank. We each had a refreshing milkshake, then made our way via tuk tuk to see the Buddha. It is still being built, but a lovely man took us up to have a look, and we met the chief Buddhist monk who will be in charge once its finished.

After an afternoon by the pool, we headed back into town to the same restaurant for dinner. We both had burgers, which were OK. It was just nice to have a change of scenery.

Day 7 - Beautiful Beach

Another lazy day. We are really relaxing into it now. A wonderful breakfast of fruit, followed by a couple of hours by the pool. At lunch, we went for a wander to the beach. Its about 10 minutes walk through the rice fields. The beach was deserted, and had the cleanest white sand I've ever seen, not a pebble or shell in sight. So beautiful. We wandered along for a bit, and stopped in a cafe for lunch - omelete for me and a chicken sandwich for Matt. We had to run from the sea to get to the cafe because the sand was so hot!

A stroll back to the hotel, and the afternoon spent in the pool, chatting to the new guests who arrived today and drinking arack cocktails... Still haven't found out what arack is. I suspect some kind of rum. Mixed with pineapple juice its delicious!

After a lazy afternoon, we had dinner at the hotel again. Matt had surf and turf, with a gigantic tiger prawn. Seriously enormous! I had a spicy Thai green curry. We discovered that I can eat very spicy good! Yum.

Day 6 - ... and Relax

Day 6

Today, we were lazy, plain and simple. We started off with a lovely breakfast of eggs, bacon and sausage (you have to order the Sri Lankan breakfast in advance and we didn't know- tomorrow though, yum!). This was followed by s couple of hours relaxing by the beautiful pool. We popped into the town for a look around the few touristy shops and to try (and fail) to buy me some bite cream, the one thing I forgot to pack. I'm always eaten alive on holiday by bugs! We ended up sharing a small chicken pizza for lunch, before heading back to the tranquility of the hotel. Matt went for a massage and I had a swim. Very relaxing.

We had stocked up on snacks and booze in town, and were sitting on our porch enjoying s quiet beverage, when there was a loud slap on the ground right next to me. Our ceiling outside is covered in geckos and one had fallen off. He seemed fine! I am now quite paranoid about one landing on my head!

Dinner was delicious again. Matt had a lamb spicy curry and I had a cashew and veg curry. With a couple if cocktails of course.