Hawkridges and Harlands hang out together

On the way to the house we stopped of at the Sri Lankan version of a service station but which was a lovely restaurant with an old plane in the grounds and a spectacular view of the sea.

After eating lunch the boys had an explore of the plane before we set off again.

On arrival at the house we were greeted by Tai, the owner who served us fresh lime sodas and took us on a tour.  The Old Clove house was an old Dutch colonial property on a clove farm.  Tai explained how it was a ruin when he bought it and how he had restored it.  It was stunning and set in a beautiful garden with a lovely pool.

The house even came with its own yuk-tuks!

The Harlands arrived shortly after us and it was as if we hadn't been apart for over a year.

 The children quickly picked up where they had left off and were playing in the garden and in the pool.  Emily latched on to Sophia and went everywhere she did!

The next few days were spent relaxing in the house, by the pool and a several local beaches.

One of the local beaches was a favourite that we returned too.  It has a natural lagoon that was fabulous for swimming in and we were privileged enough to swim right by a sea turtle.

The food at the house was amazing and the staff looked after us very well.  Local seafood was abundant and such good value.  Tai, who did most of the cooking, made some amazing dishes.

We were all sad when it came to the last meal altogether, although the three boys enjoyed meeting the food!

                                                

                                                

                                                    

The Harlands left early on the final morning and we had two sad boys at breakfast that day!

Gorgeous Galle

Sri Lanka has so much to see and do it was hard to decide which bits to visit. Our plan was to meet the Harlands on the west coast towards the end of the week when our children's holidays overlapped.  After much discussing and research Sam and i decided that we didn't fancy lots of driving with Emily but we did fancy a civilised town where we could wander and have a beer! Lots of people recommended Galle so we decided to spend three days there.

Upon arrival at Colombo airport we set about finding a taxi to take us to the train station.  We planned to go to the start of the line so that we might get seat but all the taxi firms suggested there were no trains from there!  eventually one agreed to take us and we arrived at the station to find there was a train leaving in an hour and a half.  We bought our ticket which were two full fares and two halve.  The station master literally ripped one ticket in half to make the two halves!  unfortunately we were not able to reserve seats but were confident we would be fine after nearly five and a half years in Asia!

With time to kill we set up camp in the corner of the station and had our picnic lunch while doing a bit of people watching.  Immediately we could see differences to Chennai, there was a lot less traditional dress and there were pavements outside. however we still attracted quite an audience while we ate.

The train station was a lovely old building and retained lovely feature such as a manual train announcement board.  As we made our way down to the platform it felt a bit like we were on the set of an old war film.

As we waited on the platform for our train the announcements were hard to understand so i got chatting to a lovely woman and her daughter  who told me when the train was due to arrive.  We knew it would be a bit of a bun fight to get on so we decided that i would board with the children while Sam waited with the luggage.  As the train pulled in I noticed people throwing their bags through the open windows to reserve seats.  Before the train had even come to a stop the lovely women I'd been chatting with had shoved Emily and me aside and was reaching out to haul herself up.  Quickly I gave a good shove back and managed to grasp the door rail.  I hauled myself and Emily up shouting for William and Oliver to follow.  Their years in China have clearly paid off as they don't possess the concept of personal space, having lived in such a dense population.  They dropped low and burrowed through peoples legs and managed to secure seats!  Eventually Sam made it on with luggage and we all had seats.  Everyone settled down, stored luggage and the woman from the platform smiled and tickled Emily, normal relations resumed!  Next time i think I'll throw Emily, William andOliver through the windows as the train pulls in.

However, the fight was totally worth it.  The two and a half hour train journey south to Galle was spectacular.  At certain points the track was about a metre from the sea.  We saw amazing villages and countryside and at each station an array of street food was brought on, much to Sams delight!!

Upon arriving in Galle we found a couple of tuktuks and made our way to our guesthouse.  The Frangipani Guesthouse is an old villa right in the heart of Galle Fort and is run by a lovely family who have owned it for generations.  After dropping our bags we had a quick walk and found somewhere for supper and then we all went to bed exhausted by our day travelling!

Breakfast was served in the garden of the guesthouse and was a simple fried egg, toast and jam with a  delicious banana smoothie and coffee.

William and Oliver declared it the best hotel breakfast ever and were even more delighted when a monkey came to visit!

The next couple of days were spent exploring Galle Fort.  A lovely walk on the old wall helped us get our bearings and we visited a couple of great museums.

The town was hit by the 2004 tsunami and one museum had an excellent explanation of how they occur and the devastation caused by that one.  Some excellent restaurants and shops were discovered as were places selling ice creams.  One afternoon we managed a dip in the sea to the amusement of the locals.

The weather was pretty hot and it was lovely to get up on the wall in the evenings and enjoy the breeze and amazing sunsets.

By the Thursday morning William and Oliver were beside themselves with excitement at seeing the Harlands again.  On route to the holiday house we went to visit a tea plantation where we learnt about the the making process and had tea and cake on a beautiful verandah.  From there we set off to our holiday house.