Sri Lanka...

If there's anything that's going to cure the winter blues its jetting off for a month of sun just as the temperatures are starting to require more that just a thin coat. Being a cricket fan has certain perks of getting the chance to visit slightly more adventurous countries in the middle of winter and I wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to leave home for a month and follow England around.

Sri Lanka had always been the very top of my list of cricket tours to go on so the wait for October 31st to come around almost 8 months after we had booked our flight seemed to be an eternity. Not only just the cricket, mum had made our trip almost a guided tour of Duran Duran music video hotspots...it became a bit of a running joke we would spend more time in ancient areas than watching the actual cricket.

My track record of travelling to Asia hasn't been great with this trip starting no different...another episode of nearly passing out on the plane and needing oxygen like India made me wonder what on earth I was setting myself up for. However I couldn't have prepared myself for a more incredible month if I tried.

Before the first test, mum and I decided to have a quiet 4 days in Colombo before meeting up with all of our friends down in Galle. Having been recommended to stay in the Cinnamon Grand Hotel we had no idea what to expect other than what we had seen on the website, it certainly lived up to the 'Grand' title in its name. I've been lucky enough to stay in many hotels around the world but this one has to be up there as possibly the best I've ever been too. Not only was the lobby the largest of any hotel in the whole of Asia, it also boasted 14 restaurants to choose from covering all different cultures across the world. My favourite of 3 that we tried was Lagoon, the highly recommended fish restaurant...bizarrely being able to choose the exact fish you want from the counter and watching it being cooked in front of you certainly made for a unique dining experience.

 Our first full day in Colombo fell on the second day of England's second warm up game against an Invitational Presidents XI, with the first day of the game being completely washed out the game was set up into a 50 over a side 'test'. The game was played at Colombo Cricket Club one of the smaller grounds in the heart of the city with an old fashioned manual scoreboards and raised pavilions, one of my favourite parts about tours are the warm up games and visiting the grounds that have a lot of character and feel about the country in comparison to some of the larger stadiums.

England rotated the squad for the second game resting Jimmy Anderson, Adil Rashid and the injured Jonny Bairstow with the remaining 14 players taking part. Having won the toss the opening pair looked assured and comfortable in particular Keaton Jennings...which we could only hope would be a sign of what was to come throughout the 3 tests. England posted a credible 210-6dec in the 50 overs with Ben Stokes and Sam Curran being the other two who applied pressure to the local bowlers. The 8 bowlers used struggled to take regular wickets in the reply innings with the day ending in a draw.

Our entertainment for the afternoon however didn't come from the cricket, making our way into the pavilion during the lunch interval to escape the 30+ degree heat and try and find some water that hadn't turned luke warm ended in us joining a table with two local Sri Lankan's and a bottle of Gin...needless to say we hadn't left the table 4 hours later and when we did there were 2 empty bottles of gin.

Only having 4 days meant we had to try and make the most of our time by visiting as many different restaurants as possible. Carrying on our cricket themed day we ended up at the Cricket Club Cafe, probably the most interesting place for any major cricket badger like I am. The cafe is full to the brim of memorabilia covering every wall, including old shirts from famous games and world cups, score cards from key games, donated bats from world record innings...and photos from Englands Barmy Army visit in 2001! its safe to say I was well and truly in my element.

 

 After a fairly subdued few days the best preparation we could have had for the madness that was about to come was the journey down to Galle. Having been told about the 'Pick Me' app, Sri Lanka's version of Uber from our new found friends at the warm up game we entrusted it would be the cheapest option down to Galle. However when the tiniest 'mini van' in history turned up for 4 of us with a months worth of luggage and our driver turned the wrong way after 5 minutes we should have known it was a sign of things to come. What should have been a roughly 2 hour drive down the expressway turned into an unguided tour around the outskirts of Colombo with our driver doing everything he could to avoid the motorway we weren't much closer to Galle when we had already been on the road 2 hours. Myself and mum learnt a valuable lesson...the best way to get through the carnage that is Sri Lankan roads is laugh your way through every journey.

Settling into Unawatuna was just what was needed, a week on the beach with endless beach bars and restaurants to choose from and an opportunity to catch up with lots of friends for a week. Along with the eagerly anticipated first test of England's winter tour. 

Despite being on the beach the weather hadn't quite played ball to what we had planned to have as a full sunbathing day, cloudy overcast and windy meant for a change of plan. We ended up having one of my favourite days of the whole tour, jumping into a taxi from the hotel our first stop was Koggala Turtle Sanctuary. I was slightly apprehensive as to how the turtles may have been kept and the conditions they were in however I've never been to a more heart warming, incredible place. The sanctuary is home to all species of turtle with each of them being kept in individual enclosures to ensure their safety. They also have a hatchery with hundreds of baby turtles being monitored on a daily basis to make sure they are safely released back into the sea with minimal risk. The highlight for me (not mum so much) was being able to hold the turtles of all ages.

What we thought was just going to be a return trip to the sanctuary turned into quite the guided tour around Koggala, on our way to visit the lake our driver started to tell us about his experience of the devastating boxing day tsunami that hit Galle horrendously in 2004. His experience was harrowing to hear about when he showed us the damage that is still left behind from the heights that the water had reached and where he had been that day doing everything that they could to try and escape the beachfront before the water came in.

The lake and herb garden was probably the most educational and interesting part of the tour, the amount of natural herbs and spices that the Sri Lankan's grow and use in all aspects of life is remarkable and shows the difference from how we deal with aches, pains and illnesses at home. Despite many of the remedies sounding very much like old wives tails mum couldn't resist buying a few samples to try back home...the verdict is still out as to whether they actually work or not!

The following day marked the start of the first test, held at Galle International Ground with the idyllic backdrop of Galle Fort it had to be up there as one of the best grounds in the world that I had been too. However if we went there with the expectation of it being up there with the organisation levels of the grounds in England we would have been severely disappointed...upon arrival it was safe to say chaos is the only real way to describe it the gate system appeared to be none existent and the groundmen were still laying out the boundary markers when the game was 10 overs in! 

Joe Root won the toss and with 2 debutants in Ben Foakes and Rory Burns the game was all set, England started well with Keaton Jennings beginning to look as if his run of low scores over the summer had come to an end reaching 46 before lunch, however at the fall of his wicket the middle order crumbled...in came Ben Foakes. Scoring one of the most assured centuries on debut that I have seen alongside Sam Curran (48) we reached a first innings score of 342. Aside from captain Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews Sri Lanka's reply never really got underway, falling 139 behind putting England in a very strong position. Keaton Jennings again led the second innings assuring his place and silencing the critics top scoring with a fantastic 146 accompanied by Ben Stokes and Ben Foakes England finished with Sri Lanka needing what would have been a record breaking 463 to win. Yet again England took regular wickets before bowling them out for 250 winning by 211. What made this win even more special was England had never won a game at Galle in history and Joe Root's first away win as captain.

 Galle wasn't just the start of the cricket it also marked the first location on mums eagerly anticipated Duran Duran tour. On my travels one of the previous lunch intervals at the cricket I went to explore the Galle Cricket Club members pavilion, having a nosey around at the nameboards and the incredible view from the balcony. Second on my trip was right to the top of the fort to watch a bit of the cricket and see all the smaller restaurants/bars and shops around the fort area. However I ended up at the Amangalla Hotel, where Duran Duran famously filmed Save a Prayer, with mum not being with me we had no idea what part of the hotel it was actually in which led to an extensive google session to ensure I had a photo in the precise spot that was envy worthy enough.

Despite all my efforts I had managed to get my picture taken in the totally wrong place which mum was very quick to correct when we went back for breakfast and a proper nosey around. It did have to be possibly the most over the top fancy restaurant Ive ever been too, which set my expectations very high for the rest of these music video locations.

The end of Galle was met with the beginning of 10 of the best days I have ever had on any tour anywhere. We joined up with Sports Tours Plus where we would be driving the coast and length of Sri Lanka staying in a different hotel almost every night in order to cover all the different essential tourist spots and the Kandy test.

We starting off with a 5 hour drive after meeting all the people who we would be spending the majority of the next few days with, some of which we had met previously in South Africa. Our drive was broken up by multiple stops at beautiful view points along the coast, starting off with the Stilt Fisherman. One of the most bizarre yet fascinating but strange things Ive ever seen, not only were they delicately balanced on the top of the smallest sticks but they seemed also be in the shallowest part of the water and still managed to successfully fish.

Our first stop was at the EKHO Safari Hotel, in preparation for the safari at Yala National Park in the morning. Our hotel appeared to be in the middle of nowhere until you walked through towards the pool that overlooked a vast lake, from the beach resort we had been used too for the last week the safari hotel couldn't have been more different. Not only was the hotel in a beautiful location they also had one of the best buffets that we had across the whole holiday...even if the curry was so spicy I had to eat multiple desserts to stop my mouth from being completely on fire!

 The next morning would be one of my most highly anticipated of the whole tour...despite the 4:45am alarm. Ever since we had been on safari in cape town I had been looking forward to any opportunity to get out and see the animals in what we were told to be a more natural environment so its safe to say I had got my hopes up pretty high. Getting into the jeep on no sleep and no food definitely wasn't going to get in the way of my excitement. Arriving into the national park just as the sun was rising set the day up in one of the most incredible pictures I've ever seen, overlooking the water buffalo bathing in the lake it was the perfect start to what I thought would be the best day of the tour.

However 2 hours, 300 peacocks, hundreds of unique birds and 1 monkey later I was certainly starting to lose hope that I may have seen anything a little more wild. When word got back to us from the driver that we weren't too far from a group of elephants I certainly made a bit of a fool of myself with my over enthusiasm...only to be left mildly disappointed they never actually appeared. Eventually after what seemed like an a lifetime but was actually only about 8am we turned the corner to finally see an elephant, if I hadn't made a fool of myself before I definitely did in this moment. There isn't really anything that quite prepares you for the moment seeing an elephant in its natural habitat.

 

Following our early morning in the safari we ventured 5 hours up to the mid region of the island into Nuwara Eliya via Ella. This drive is up there as possibly the most phenomenal views I have ever seen anywhere, you do get a sense of fear when you're driving up the side of a mountain with sheer cliff edge drops for miles and miles but it was truly worth every minute to see the endless mountain ranges littered with tiny villages up the sides.

Halfway up our journey we drove through Ella, known as one of the most popular tourist spots 1,041km above sea level for travelling groups and backpackers for its wide range of views over the Nine Arch Bridge, Adam's Peak, countless waterfalls and tea factories. Its one of the most overwhelmingly beautiful landscapes Ive been too as a bit of a geography nerd...topped off by seeing monkeys running around just about everywhere it was quite a contrast to everywhere else we had been so far on the island.

Our long day of travelling finished up in Nuwara Eliya, very similar to Ella in landscape with a very Dutch feel to the city centre with the style of buildings. However the one major difference to anywhere else we had been previously was the temperature...I couldn't believe quite how cold the climate had dropped too of an evening to the point we needed to put jeans and jumpers on even to leave the hotel when they had been well put away ready for the journey home! I couldn't help but feel like we had found ourselves in a European ski town without the snow.

The Araylia Green City Hotel where we were staying we all said one night there wasn't enough to appreciate just how beautiful the hotel was. Its location right in the centre alongside Nuwara Eliya golf club and 100m from the racecourse it was ideally located to be able to have true vision of what Nuwara Eliya had to offer, sadly we didn't have enough time to fully explore the area however its top of my list of places to go back next time I visit.

Our final stop on the first leg of touristing before we would arrive in Kandy for the second test was Damro Tea Plantation, or as I had nicknamed it 'Sri Lankan version of Hollywood'. Much of the tourist places in Sri Lanka are beautiful locations and this was no different however the factual side of visiting the actual factory in which the tea is produced and being able to see it in front of you made it all the more fascinating. The process in which the leaves go through from planting to harvesting to when they arrive in the supermarket is far more lengthy and complex than I had first thought. 

With each leaf being individually picked completely from the soil completely 6 years after they had been originally planted, they allow the plants to absorb all the nutrients to restore them before replanting fresh seeds. After picking the leaves are fan dried at room temperature in a room full of troughs for as long as needed, once they have been dried they are placed into a machine where they are crushed, flattened, chopped and fermented which along with the size of the leaf will determine the strength and flavour of the tea at the end of the production line. The fruit flavoured teas are further developed after the fermentation process, he also went on to explain that the higher the leaves in the mountain it is believed the better the quality of the tea.  

Arrival into Kandy was utter chaos, I had believed the traffic in Colombo and Galle was anything but organised but Kandy was a different level. Our hotel was situated half way up one of the hills which made for interesting trips on coaches that seemed entirely too big for the space they were trying to fit through. If the traffic was going to set the tone for Kandy in general it did just that, checking into the hotel was anything but a smooth ride...getting told we didn't have a room and we may have to stay somewhere miles out of Kandy was the icing on the cake. However a free bottle of wine and lunch on the hotel and a room magically appearing later we were ready for the start of the second test.

With Joe Root winning the toss for the 7th time in a row England and their unchanged side started the first innings batting, the opening partnership again struggled to set the tone with Jennings falling very early. However after a few early wickets Jos Buttler and Sam Curran built up a solid foundation putting 290 on the board. Sri Lanka again faltered early however 3 strong partnerships in the middle order saw them take an unlikely first innings lead putting the pressure back on England for the first time this series. The captains innings from Joe Root scoring a magnificent 124 supported by Rory Burns and Ben Foakes. With Sri Lanka needing exactly 300 we looked to be in a winning position having them 26-3 early, however partnerships again with Sri Lanka closing in on the score towards the end of day 4 had some nerves going around the crowd. Once Jack Leach and Moeen Ali were reintroduced to the attack wickets fell and England sealed victory by 57 runs within half an hour on day 5. England's first win in Sri Lanka in 17 years and the first time id along with others had seen them win overseas it was an incredible moment to witness.

  

The cricket was the biggest bonus in Kandy however the highlight was by far the journeys to and from the ground each day. Being with a tour company meant we had coach transfers which some would see as a good result...we were treated to a police escort on our second day drive home. Its safe to say if I didn't have any kind of high bloody pressure before that particular journey I most certainly did after. Not one of us had any preparation for what we experienced in the that 25 minutes (comparatively short to the 1 hour 45 journey the day before) tearing down busy roads at rush hour in a coach with buses either side at 50mph is not something we were quite ready for, as we had learnt from the journey to Galle the best way through these situations is simply laugh...and hope for the best!

On my last morning in Kandy I got up far earlier than necessary, having been staying on the lake for the week but not having too much opportunity to explore I decided to walk around the entirety of the lake to see what it was all about. Despite it being 7:30am it was still unbelievably warm and it didn't take long for me to slightly regret my decision to take an hour long walk...at rush hour. 

    

The end of the Kandy test was a bitter sweet moment, it meant we were back on the road travelling around doing tourist things but we were on the last stretch of our holiday before  flying home the final couple of days in Colombo. We met up again with our Sri Lankan tour guide who started to give us a more detailed insight into the country, he went on to tell us that Kandy was the last kingdom in Sri Lanka and it had been handed to the British by the Dutch in 1876. The colonisation of Sri Lanka meant that the majority of the locals have Portuguese surnames after they were forced to change them in order to fit in. The strangest thing for me was that they dont have seasons, aside from the extreme wet weather monsoon period meaning they are able to guarantee the weather almost all year round.

Our next stop on the way to Sigiriya Jungles Hotel which would be home for the last 2 nights, we ended up stopping at a local restaurant which was essentially in the back of a locals house on the rice paddy fields. The food was cooked in preparation for us by the family ended up being some of the best food I had across the whole holiday, an assortment of rice, jackfruit, banana flower, chicken curry, roti, breadfruit and fried lake fish all grown fresh in their fields eaten from a leaf with our fingers...a tradition apparently.

Our day of extensive touristing next took us to Dambulla Cave Temple, which is also known as the Golden Temple one of Sri Lanka's leading world heritage sights. Being the best preserved cave complex in the country the 5 chambers filled with statues and portraits of Buddha are quite remarkable to see the fine details and clarity in which is painted onto the expressions of buddha in all phases of life. Not only is the cave littered with religious connotations there are also hundreds of wild monkeys of all ages right up the 350 step walk to the top. Once reaching the summit of the temple you get a panoramic view of the whole of the Central District including Sigiriya Rock which would be our challenge for the following day.

Although I loved every hotel we stayed at, Sigiriya Jungles Hotel was something else entirely. It was absolutely in the middle of no where, completely surrounded by rice fields for a full half an hours drive from any sort of civilisation. It meant it was extremely peaceful which after a couple of extremely chaotic weeks 2 nights of isolation was exactly what was needed...alongside the infinity pool which was almost too good to pass up on. The strangest thing was when we were sitting in the bar minding our own business to be disturbed by the loudest machine that fumigated the entire hotel will mosquito repellent...which we later discovered made absolutely no difference to us being eaten alive.

The following day was met with another absurdly early start (when you spend a holiday getting up earlier than I do for work there's a problem!) but the excitement and challenge of the unexpected day ahead had me more than wide awake. Sigiriya Rock is one of the most iconic landmarks in Sri Lanka, standing at nearly 200m high and 1,200 steps it was a mission I had set myself I would achieve regardless how difficult it would be. Standing at the bottom I certainly underestimated it a little bit, the climb didn't look too steep and with the amount of people in front of us it appeared we would have plenty of time to climb as slowly as we wanted...which proved to be the biggest issue, when standing on the side of a mountain with only a thin metal railing between you and 100m drop my stomach spend the majority doing somersaults. Nearly an hour later we reached the summit which was worth every second of the walk up, a challenging, sweaty and exhausted group made it to the phenomenal views before being told the walk back down was much tougher...not ideal.

Our next stop was one in which mum in particular was looking forward too significantly more than Sigiriya, the Polonnaruwa Ruins or as mum saw then...Duran Duran tour stop number 2. It is the second most ancient of Sri Lanka's kingdoms, where it was named capital by King Vijayabahu. Named a World Heritage Site or just the backdrop of the Save a Prayer music video it is one of the most iconic tourist spots in the country.

As if our day hadn't already been action packed enough, on our coach journey back from the ruins to the hotel we were abruptly stopped on the side of the road by a jeep and directed to look towards the bushes directly next to the car...where there was a elephant grazing completely in the wild. There's something so unbelievable about seeing one when you least expect it and after the slight disappointment of the safari seeing one at the side of the road really set me up for the elephant sanctuary the following day.

Pinnawala Elephant Sanctuary would be our final stop as a tourist and our last day with everyone from Sports Tours Plus, although the drive from Sigiriya was at least 3 hours it couldn't have been more worthwhile. I was slightly apprehensive as to what we may have found when we arrived not knowing the condition or environment in which the elephants were kept but it was up there as one of the best places possible, not only were the elephants freely roaming aside from when they were taken from the sanctuary down to the lake for the daily bathing but they were all healthy and being rehabilitated in the hopes of them eventually being released back into the wild. 

The first highlight of many was being able to feed an elephant, when our group was asked and no one volunteered I couldn't miss up the opportunity to do something that just never happens, I dragged mum into having a go as well even if she was less than thrilled. After we watched them roam around the sanctuary we went to a hotel for lunch that had a view of a river in which they bought the elephants twice a day to bathe and cool down for 2 hours. I must have eaten my dinner in record time so that I was able to go and sit down at the lake and watch them for as long as physically possible, not only did I nearly cry (multiple times) its extremely surreal to watch them play so freely in an almost childlike manner.

 

      

Being with a tour group for these 10 or so days having only ever travelled independently before gave the tour a completely different perspective. Spending that amount of time with the same people gave you a real opportunity to get to know an entire group of people and form proper friendships, experiencing some of the most incredible places in the country with new friends was something I will definitely take from this trip in a ay I hadn't quite expected too.

We had 2 days left in Colombo before we were flying home and although I had one complete day off before the final test started and I had planned to visit multiple different places the second I sat down on the sunbed with my kindle at 8:30am there was absolutely no chance I was going to be moving anytime soon...I was still there at 5pm watching the sunset having had my one and only complete pool day for the holiday.

Our last day was spent at the cricket, the third and final test being held at Singhalese Cricket Ground down the road from where our tour had started at the warm up game 3 weeks previously. England had made 2 changes going into this test with Jonny Bairstow recovering from injury and taking the number 3 spot and Stuart Broad replacing Jimmy Anderson. England showed no signs of slowing down the form from the previous two tests with Jonny's return to the side marked with a superb hundred. England went on to win the final test, which was our first overseas whitewash since the 1960's one of the greatest achievements for our test team after the challenges of the previous few winters.

 

 Jonny's hundred rounded off our trip in the perfect manner, Ive been lucky to have been on quite a few cricket tours now however I haven't ever enjoyed a country or experience so much as this one, every aspect of the holiday seemed to make it better than I thought it could have been. One of the things that surprised me the most was that everywhere we went was almost as though we were visiting a completely different country with them all have unique quirks and characteristics. As we say with every tour its essentially made by the people who you spend it with and this tour was no different, Ive got fairly used to being one of very few females and certainly in the minority being 23 but this tour being with so many more people my age certainly made it even more enjoyable than I would have been. A month in Sri Lanka was nothing short of a pleasure, and I cannot wait to get out to the West Indies for the next tour!