Sri Lanka, part 1 - Negombo

Our first 4 nights we stayed in Negombo, north of Colombo and only 20 min drive from the airport. The hotel was called Golden star beach hotel, it was 3 stars and the rooms were very basic but big enough to fit 4 beds, which was great. We also got a room on groundfloor, with a veranda towards the grass and pool area, which was even better, considering we had a very active 2 year old to entertain. We arrived just in time for a late dinner, 7.30 pm, which is standard in this part of the world. And of course, at the table next to ours, was a Swedish family, with two boys. This was actually great, since these 2 boys entertained our kids for 3 days and we were quite sad to leave them. The next morning we discovered the beautiful beach next to the hotel and the girls were very excited about the coconut and pineapple trees in the garden, and more than anything, the pool (as if they didnt have one in Dubai...). The breakfast was ok, but they didnt have fresh milk or real butter, which became a big issue as the days went by. The butter was some kind of horrible margarine and the milk was made of powder milk, so the last day Emma refused to eat breakfast...After breakfast, one of the pool boys, promised to show the kids a big lobster that they got that morning. He also asked if we wanted to eat it for our evening meal. Obviously, I said yes!
The rest of the day we chilled by the pool and enjoyed watching a big christmas party on the beach, catered by the hotel for a big factory in Sri lanka. The all danced and partied for hours to a local band that seemed to play nonstop.

Then I had my lobster and it was delicious. What an experience!

On our third day we decided to do a tour of Columbo. Jon had arranged a driver (it costs nothing) to take us round. We had a great day, but were quite shocked at the complete chaotic traffic. Youve got to see it to believe it. Colombo is buisy, dirty and pretty crazy. I got kind of stressed about finding a clean place to eat and we all cheered when we saw the sign for Pizza Hut. We stopped at a few monuments and some tourist shops, but it was more a car tour, which was fine. It was really interesting to see the mixture of shops along the roads, seeling fruit, bread, car tyres, motorbikes, table cloths, wedding dresses, old tvs, etc, in houses or huts that looked like they were about to fall apart. And everywhere were children, dogs, tuctucs and cows and you name it. And no pavements. I was surprised people didnt get run over. People drove like complete maniacs. It was probably the first time in my life that I have seen really poor people. But they still seemed so happy. People were just hanging round talking to each other, helping each other with different things. And everywhere they are building new houses and renovating old ones. I bet its going to look very different in 10 years time. And everywhere there were catholic nativity figures and big stars and fir trees to celebrate christmas, as well as budhist Budha statues and temples mixed with one or two muslim mosques. Pretty amazing. Anyway, it was nice to get back to the hotel.

Christmas Eve was fun and a bit odd. We all got dressed up and went to the pool bar for a drink. Then there was a whole turkey dinner with the lot, being an old british colony and all, even christmas pudding and brandy sauce. An then santa came, believe it or not. And he was Sri lankan! Who would have thought! James was still over excited, calling santa claaas, all the time. He got a sweet every time. Need I say that everyone at the hotel knew who James Kiely was...Blonde, sweet and always running all over the place. Then we danced to a coverband singing Boyzone and Take that (!) and all sorts of not so christmasy songs, but we had fun. About 11 pm Isabelle and James collapsed and we all went to bed. Then there were christmas crackers and fireworks for about 2 hours all over Sri Lanka, but the kids slept all through it...