Day 11

Well we didn’t make sensible choices last night so the 7am alarm was quite the shock.

Added to the beer I’d had a curry last night and an 8:15 pick up meant that there really wasn’t enough time for me to assess how my body was going to cope.

We did go down for breakfast first and I’ve never seen such a variety - it was definitely 1-0 to Kandy on that front.

We went to the pick up point and for the second time, one of the buses was broken so people quickly poured onto the other bus as they didn’t want to wait.

We weren’t bothered about waiting and actually got the better of the deal as the group was now not split evenly so we all had a seat each and the air conditioning was excellent.

We’d even been given a packed lunch from the hotel - very smart - I kept it closed for a surprise reveal later

We drove for what seemed a lifetime to a tea plantation. 

We got dressed up and were asked to do some picking.

Joss said she really enjoyed it but if your living depended on it I reckon the novelty would soon wear off.

Then we went inside and a young lady talked us through the tea making process before giving us some tea to taste.

Some of it was absolutely delicious - some of it, not so much.

After drinking Joss dashed over to the on-site shop and bought the ones we liked.

Then it was back on the coach and this was mountainous territory, hard hid by a recent cyclone that had sent hundreds of landslides down onto roads that they were still clearing today.

Our driver took no notice of the obvious danger and swung the bus round every hairpin turn whether there was a barrier or prevent our plunging over the edge or not.

In this picture you can see how close to the edge the lorry is.

It was the kind of thing to make Joss go eeeek.

Then lunch was revealed. A chicken sandwich, apple, banana and a cake - lovely job.

We then went to a lake for some more pictures before back on the coach for the ride back to the hotel - some of the views were amazing.

Then back to the room for a little “relax” before the evening’s festivities.

So we tried to uber a tuk tuk and there were none available - the app did give the option to me to pay more but no way.

So in the end we got a taxi to the Sizzle Sports’ bar only to find it had closed and when the driver took us down this deserted back street I thought there was the possibility that we could die.

Only kidding 👀 he did take us on to another bar in the queens hotel call the Mountbatten.

There, Karen and Rob joined us and for dinner, I had this unbelievably large mixed grill.

Lovely.

We then spent ages trying to find 2 tuk tuks to take us back and we went to the bar.

Rashid and Archer walked past us - yes the England team were definitely staying here.

We had some more drinks before Karen and Joss went to bed and Rob and I carried on until 2:30 - sensible choices - any later and we might feel bad in the morning …..