Hi folks, hubby and I have just had a fabulous long weekend away to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary and we had a marvellous time. Unfortunately however, things took a massive dive as soon as we arrived home and now I feel crap and my lovely weekend has almost been forgotten. I won't say what has happened, just that sometimes being a parent is very hard. For those of you out there who have small children, please enjoy them whilst you can, because believe me, it gets a hell of a lot tougher when they grow up.
Anyway, I will try to lighten the mood and tell you about our lovely weekend break. Last Thursday 13th September, my hubby and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. Keeping in with the tradition of tin/aluminium and diamonds as gifts, I got a new diamond ring and he got an Ipad (nice). Hubby made me breakfast in bed and we headed for the airport at 5 am.
Along with 2 of our very dear friends here in Dubai, we flew to Colombo in Sri Lanka. Needless to say nothing ever runs smoothly and I thought the weekend was destined for failure before we even left the airport.
Apparently when I booked the hotel (back in January), I paid with a different credit card (same account just different card number as the old card had expired). Emirates airlines would not let me check in as I didn't have the old card! (what's all that about? How many people keep old credit cards?). Anyway, after about 30 minutes I was eventually allowed to check in and board the plane. Then, on arrival in Colombo, I had problems being admitted. Apparently, when I had applied for the visa, I had put the UAE as my home country instead of the UK. OMG I then had another 10 - 15 mins hanging around until it got sorted out and I was allowed in (I tell you, there's always a drama of some sort when we travel).
One thing I immediately noticed about Sri Lanka was how green it is (there may be loads of trees here in Dubai, but they are usually sandy coloured). Anyway, it reminded me a lot of Phuket in Thailand, the houses, the poverty, the maniac driving and the huge amounts of tuk-tuks. It was really warm but very windy which was lovely and a few times throughout the weekend we had tropical rainstorms (which is great to see as we hardly get any in Dubai).
On the first evening we accidentally ended up watching a short presentation on the ecology of Sri Lanka. I learnt a lots of things about the place that I didn't know before arriving but one thing remained in my mind for the whole of the trip. Sri Lanka has 501 different breeds of Spider!!!! (OMG, that was it, I was a nervous wreck most of the time looking at for anything remotely creepy crawly).
Anyway, our lovely friends had arranged a fantastic surprise for a meal for the 4 of us on the beach. It was fabulous (my friend kept apologising as it wasn't a romantic meal for 2 but 4, but it wasn't a problem at all, we had a great evening). The hotel had erected a small stage like platform and dressed the table for dinner. I was presented with a bouquet of flowers from the hotel management and we had a fantastic array of food to choose from along with a few drinks and a celebratory cake. Overall the evening was wonderful and a night I'll never forget in a hurry. A great big thanks to our lovely friends.
One thing that did disturb us though, was the fact that we saw a number of Sri Lankan lads walking on the beach in the dark. Then when they saw a crab they would whack it over the head with a large palm tree leaf. We found out later out, that they were actually poison crabs and the lads were catching them to put in aquariums and not to eat like we thought.
We spent most of the next day sunbathing and drinking cocktails after having a little walk around the streets of Negombo. During the day we were accosted by a number of beach sellers. At first I wasn't interested in anything as I've generally seen it all before, but needless to say, I ended up buying all sorts from them, 2 dresses, a silk scarf and a bag (lol, what a mug). It was actually really interesting to talk to the sellers and I learnt a lot from them.
One woman (Nelly) had been working the beach for 23 years (although she now owns her own store too and her hubby has his own tuk-tuk, bless). Nelly spoke 5 languages (English, German, Swedish, Tamil and Sinhalese) and she was only 4 months older than me (what a different life we have lead). Anyway, during the conversation at least one or all of the beach sellers asked us for jobs in the UAE either in the companies we work for or as our housemaids etc (bless em).
Saturday morning saw another early start as we headed for the Millennium Elephant Foundation where we washed the elephants, had an elephant shower (hmmmm nice) and went in the museum (we didn't have a ride on the elephants as we'd done that in Phuket a few years ago). Another thing that stuck in my mind was the fact that elephants poo at least 18 - 20 times a day! (that's right, a day!). Needless to say, whilst we were washing the elephants, one had a massive poo in the water and then I made a fast exit out of the water. Anyway, overall it was good to see how the volunteers look after the elephants and that they are not treated inhumanly.
We then moved on a few miles up the road to Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage were my friend and I had the opportunity to feed the baby elephants. We then watched a large herd of them playing in the 12 acres of grassland. At 10 am the elephants were then walked down to the river Maha Oya for a 2 hour bath. We watched them for about an hour and it was fantastic. It was so funny to see the little ones having a swim in the water, them running to the edge of the river to throw themselves in the mud, to then go back in the water for another dip. Following on from the elephants we had had a short stop at the Zorn Spice and Herbal Garden in Hiriwadunna. Again, I ended up buying all sorts of things including lotions for mozzie bits and a miracle diet potion (lol, you know me, will try anything once). It was actually a really interesting place and the guide gave us some good health tips (Hubby and I even got a quick neck and shoulder massage). I was however, a little worried about being inbetween all those trees and was extra alert on the lookout for spiders.
Finally, on Sunday morning we flew back to Dubai but not before upgrading to business class. OMG I was in my element and what was even better was the fact that hubby and I upgraded using Emirates air miles (great!). Anyway, it was fab, reclining seats that lay right back with massaging facilities, champagne on arrival, lovely meal with real plates and knives and folks. I also watched a real tear jerker film starring Kate Hudson called, 'Little bit of Heaven' which made me cry all the way home.
Overall, the weekend was fabulous and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I did however, miss 2 friends of ours who live in the UK. Over the past 10 years we have spent numerous holidays and short breaks away with them. They were here in December and we were due to fly to the Maldives with them earlier this year. Unfortunately, they couldn't be with us to share our special day but we were thinking of them, love you both!
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