Day 3

 I was awake well before the wake-up call came. The tour leader, Nalaka, had obviously arranged the calls so we all got to breakfast on time by 630am. Sleep is never my closest friend, but I did feel reasonably refreshed after six or so hours. Good pillows and decent mattresses make all the difference, and even though the air-conditioner was loud, it managed to get the temperature down to about 22C for most of the night. Dave even pulled up the quilt!

Breakfast started with fresh pap paw juice, followed by hot tea (Dilmah of course!), a fresh tropical fruit plate, a bread basket with warm rolls and cold toast (both the way I like them) and then we each ordered a hot breakfast. Egg choices at breakfast is a very personal thing. Dave is definitely a scrambled man, but I usually choose fried, sunny-side up. What do you choose my friends?

Even though the breakfast took a while to come, we did manage to get away at about 8am. We were about a ½ hour behind schedule, not helped by the slow breakfast chef or the 70+ year old fellow passenger needing a few Band-Aids after deciding to take a short cut down a steep hill and slipping over. 

First stop today was a road-side market to buy pumpkin. We then travelled on, past jungle and farms to a large lake at Giritale. This region of Sri Lanka is known for its large man-made lakes, built 1000+ years ago to store water and use for irrigation.  We learnt about the various kingdoms and rulers and more about the country’s rich and diverse heritage and visited a number of archaeological world heritage sites. I skipped a couple of temple visits and chose to stay in the air-conditioned coach (it was 35C+).

Late in the morning we met a truck carrying bicycles at Polonnaruwa and most people were allocated a bike to ride to a farm for lunch. A few of us oldies (when did that happen!?) decided tuk-tuks were an easier form of transport. We all headed off on the 8km trip to the farm. At the farm, the cook demonstrated how to make a traditional pumpkin curry with the pumpkin we had bought earlier in the day. The dish was simple – fresh coconut milk, green chilli, a sprig of curry leaves, roasted curry powder, turmeric, cinnamon and lots of sliced garlic. Once the curry was cooking over hot coals in an open fire, they served us some vegetable and dahl soup. It was delicious! Next they laid out a lot more curries: Lentil (dahl), fresh coconut Sambal, chicken curry, green banana curry, jack-fruit curry, tomato and cucumber salad, poppadums, and two types of rice, white and red.  It was all really lovely, some of it quite spicy, but super flavoursome. How good are the colours of all the dishes!

After lunch we travelled back on the bikes/tuk-tuks a different way, past local villages, creeks and rice paddies. The trip to lunch was about 15-20 minutes, but the trip back was over an hour! I may have mentioned a few times my relief at not bike-riding. Dave and I shared our tuk-tuk with a lovely lady from Newcastle, Deb. $15 round trip, shared by the three of us, well spent! Half way along we stopped for a break (for the bike riders, not us) and the driver not only let Dave sit in the driver’s seat – but also let him have a drive. Deb and I choose to wait on the side of the road. Dave now thinks a tuk-tuk in Wagga would be very handy 😉

On the trip back to our hotel I tried to keep any eye out for wild elephants which are apparently common in this area, but mostly slept. We stopped at a small supermarket for a few snacks, getting back just on dusk. I was pleased to find the air-conditioner working reasonably, 25C is still a bit hotter than I like, but much better than yesterday.  

Tomorrow is a 7am start. Breakfast at 6. This holidaying thing is hard work!