We return to Colombo .....and the monsoon returns to south Sri Lanka!

We awoke to the sound of turbulent seas and pouring monsoonal rain. Having carefully planned this trip between the NorthEast monsoons and the South West monsoons we seem to have disrupted the climate completely!

One of the best features of the Jetwings Lighthouse Hotel is it's close proximity to the sea, so any changes in the weather are immediate.This is the view from our room. Every night we went to sleep with the sounds of the waves, only metres away, crashing on to the rocks. These rocks saved the hotel from complete demolition when the second wave of the tsunami hit, althought the entire ground floor was flooded and everything inside destroyed.

The hotel had a number of idosyncracies which we found fascinating.

The staff were very helpful and friendly but there were so many of them it was a bit overwhelming: 3 people to open a door for you, the minute your plate was empty it was whisked away ( no chance for seconds!), and more staff than us at the BBQ by the pool. Jenny had been assigned a 'butler' as her personal assistant and he was very helpful and eager but spent most of his time outside her door waiting to be summoned, which was a bit disconcerting. The problem was that she ran out of tasks for him to do early on and then was desperate to find  some way of keeping him occupied. The only task he refused to do was ironing! We did our best to find something useful but it was difficult!

In yoga one morning Eva, the instructor,  was standing in front of a large window and she was difficult to see because of the light flooding in behind her so I suggested the blinds should be pulled down. Unfortunately there were none on that window. So Zoe, our guide, went to see what could be done and before we knew what was going on we had a number of the staff standing on ladders to cover the window with sheets from the outside. With the wind blowing and sheets flapping it was quite a performance and our giggling totally destroyed our meditation. But so helpful!

We were also intrigued about the bathrooms in our rooms: very nicely tiled with a lovely big bath, but with glass doors on the shower and the toilet: not great when you are sharing!! Just to top it off the glass doors had locks on them : we've yet to work out why?!

But by far the one feature of the hotel we all enjoyed was the towel animals. We were all astonished to discover an elephant made from towels when we returned to our rooms. Then each day one of an array appeared -  a monkey hanging from a coat hanger, a swan, a peacock and our favorite - a dog wearing any sunglasses left in the room!

After our last lavish breakfast we packed our bags and set off. The original plan was for a group of us to visit Geoffrey Bawa's garden. He was a famous architect and gardener, and the Lighthouse Hotel was one of his achievements. The prospect of spending 3 hours in monsoonal rain wandering around the garden was losing it's attraction when we were told the trip was off as the garden was completely flooded. When we eventually reached Colombo we also saw one  of his largest projects: the new Parliament house. Very impressive!

But first we went to visit Joy who is a dynamo in the shape of an English woman who has spent the last few years setting up an orphanage and 'Social Care Centre' which survives on donations. We arrived to find the junior class all dressed in their best with posies of flowers to give us. They were very cute and sang us a song before handing over the flowers. The whole enterprise is impressive as it provides school, training and health services for disadvantaged locals. They make soaps for many hotels ( including the Lighthouse Hotel) and there is a sewing room which produces bunting, rag dolls, soft toys and lots of items, many of which will be making their way back to Australia. The whole enterprise needs some business planning and marketing,  but has been remarkably successful to date.

After some hours on the road we made it through the traffic of Colombia and to the Kingsbury Hotel, a huge multistorey hotel on the water. The views of the Harbour are great and there seems to be a lot of development along the foreshore.

The famous Galle Face Green is not far away. It's a stretch of green lawn along the foreshore where the colonial families gathered and promenaded.  Although today there was more mud than grass!

Some of us went to a fabulous restaurant for lunch, some went shopping and others who had been given packed lunches to go to the gardens enjoyed them in their hotel room and had some rest and relaxation.

A few of us headed off to the Dutch hospital: a collection of old low slung ochre buildings with tiled roofs built by the Dutch for use as a hospital,  as the name suggests. Now converted into cafes, bars, restaurants and some lovely shops which we wandered through. An unfortunate incident when Sue and I were fooling around resulted in me breaking a horrendous sparkly peacock ashtray - I insisted on paying for it ($6.50) but the sales girls (who shadow your every step) were horrified when I didn't want it repaired to take home. I do draw the line at kitsch sometimes!

At dinner we were serenaded by a saxophonist who seemed to be playing music of our era (ie.old). Harry Belafonte Neil Diamond, the Beatles to name a few! We weren't sure whether to be insulted or not!

Back at the hotel we farewelled Angeletta,  Elaine, Anne and Jenny as they headed home.

Then it was off to bed, but sleep took some time because of the thumping beat of the music issuing forth from one of the wedding receptions being held in the hotel!

Your more relaxed correspondent

Dianne