Our Day by Design

We were up early for breakfast and our pick up to go to the airport, along with another family who were leaving at the same time. Once we had piled into the mini bus, all of the women were presented with fresh flowers as a gift for from our tour operators Kuoni. Our first week in Sri Lanka had gone so quick and I had loved every second of it, I'm not sure I could choose a favourite bit! After such a busy week we were definitely ready to relax and do nothing! The mini bus was a bit quicker at getting to the airport where we were then able to check in for our flight. Graham asked for seats as close to the front of the plane as possible as we had noticed on the way that they had a lot more legroom. After some time in the airport to look around the few shops, we were able to wait beside the gate for our flight to board. The flight we were getting was the one which carried on to London Heathrow after the stop in Male , which is the capital of the Maldives . The flight was fairly quiet a...

I was feeling a little delicate this morning, probably due to all of the curry, so I was a bit worried about getting on the bus for a long drive. After the bumpy mini bus journey back down to meet the bus, we had to pick up the other two members of our group who had stayed in the town so I was able to use the facilities before we set off! The trip back was long, around 6 hours (300 miles), as I don't think we had realised how far we had gone into Sri Lanka over the last week and the roads down from the hills were very twisty. The roads through the plantations were scenic so there was plenty to see on the way. We passed through the Edinburgh plantation then were able to make a quick stop for photographs, which was good since my attempts from the bus weren't working out too well! We also stopped for a longer break at a waterfall viewpoint. When we reached Kith ulgala, we stopped for a buffet lunch at a local restaurant. This was where they filmed The Bridge on the River Kwai ...

After breakfast the next morning, our cases were packed on to the bus and we were off on our way to Nuwara Eliya. Before we left Kandy we stopped at a Batik workshop, where we were told how they create batik and were able to watch the workers making some of the art. The conditions were cramped to say the least but it was fascinating to watch the batik process. Our next stop was a silk maker, where again we were told all about how they made silk and given the chance to look around the shop; Graham bought me a lovely grey silk scarf. Then we went to a traditional arts & crafts shop where we had a chance to get some souvenirs since we hadn't had any time beforehand to shop. Here I got a small Sri Lankan mask that I hung on our tree this year and an elephant magnet to add to my magnet collection. We got back on the bus and started our drive through the hill country, towards our next destination, Nuwara Eliya , which is located 6 ,000 feet above sea level. On the way we drove past...