Our last hotel and final chance for relaxation

Our heroic travellers at Galle (pronounced Gaul)

Sri Lankan plumbing does it again. We both had our very needed showers after the safari and within moments, flooded our bathroom. This has happened a number of times at our various hotels and we’ve just taken the view that as we’re only at that hotel for one night, or maybe two, let’s not fret and just report the matter to reception on our check out. However, last night’s blockage couldn’t be ignored and within moments Housekeeping and Maintenance came along with a variety of tools to fix the problem. What service.

It’s strange what you miss when you’re away from home and I have been having hankerings for a glass of pop and kedgeree. It’s fair to say that a week doesn’t go by without the former in our household and if I don’t have a Nick Evans special kedgeree at least once a fort night, I find myself getting a tad twitchy. Nick’s on a G&T kick at the moment, so opted for that for his “prinks” last night, whereas I haven’t had a decent glass of pop since Christmas. Please, first world problems, but feel my pain. Being a fairly worldwide hotel, I felt I should get a decent glass. Ok, so it was cold and sparkly, which is more than I can say for Turkish Airlines. The closest I got to a kedgeree was a fish rice, which was very nice. Dinner last night was the inevitable buffet, but if I’m honest, neither of us was super hungry and just opted for some random, miss-matched bits and bobs, plus we have accepted the benefit of a buffet. You can have as little or as much as you like.

In our few hours that we were at The Double Tree by Hilton, we’ve had 5 power cuts which seemed a little incongruous for an international hotel. We should have seen the warning signs straight away when there was a torch in the room. However the hotel has been absolutely beautiful and the gardens very tropical. The staff have been amazingly attentive. There seemed to be one member of staff for each room. We “suffered” a barmy 28 degrees at breakfast where we were super grateful for the very air conditioned restaurant.

There was a bit of a drama at breakfast. Well, life wouldn’t be right without a drama or two. We were shown to our table and started the process. Coffee, fruit, fresh watermelon juice. Then on to something a little bit more substantial, some toast. It took us a while to locate the sliced bread, which was cunningly hidden in a drawer. Then we got chatting to another guest, then the toast had to go through the toaster three times for it to change colour marginally. How many people does it actually take to make some toast? When we got back to our table, the very efficient staff had cleared it. So, back to the start and all the resetting process.

We set off on our last lap of Sri Lanka. I don’t think I speak for just myself, when I say there was a certain sense of relief that the travelling is soon stopping for a few days. The journey over to Galle, on the grandly named Southern Expressway, was thankfully on an empty, straight, flat dual carriage way, with scenery we’ve become so used to seeing. Every shade of green, but the lushest green is that of the paddy fields. The colour almost hurts your eyes it’s so vibrant. Today’s road sign which made us smile, was warning us of peacocks on the road ahead. Apparently peacocks like to eat the leaves of the cinnamon plants on the side of the road. At one point Atulah pointed out a couple of bridges over the expressway and one of them was an elephant crossing bridge. Sadly we didn’t see one crossing.

We had a wander around Galle, which is a lovely, pretty touristy town on the south west of Sri Lanka. After lunch we set off for the very last lap. This whole coastline was badly affected by the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. Higher and stronger defences have been built, though from our experience, the level they had built to would have little effect if there was an action replay. There is clear evidence of the damage the Tsunami caused, with buildings left damaged and the odd boat stranded on the side of the road untouched from that day. The coast road was absolutely stunning and it’s good to see the beauty has not been taken away completely.

We got to our final hotel, The Rockwall Boutique Hotel, an hour later and if truth be known, we were all frazzled. Could we do a review for Atulah? Could we order our dinner for tonight? There has been too much travelling if I’m honest. It would have been wonderful to have stayed another night at our hotel last night as we experienced very little of it. At times the driving has been heart stopping and I did actually let out an involuntary gasp this afternoon, when I thought we were finally going to crash, but as per, somehow one of the vehicles suddenly does an unexpected swerve and they save the day. Accident averted. I know I’m a nervey passenger, but there have been times when it’s like watching a set out of a Cirque Du Soleil act, only that is choreographed, the driving here isn’t.

Our new hotel has just 14 bedrooms and our room is massive with a balcony and straight out onto the sea. It’s quite simply the most stunning view. We’re told that meals are outside, unless it rains. Oh but of course the Sri Lankan plumbing strikes again. Management has been in the bathroom trying to sort out the drain from the sink. As I write this, we’ve had to come outside to warm up as the aircon is super efficient here.