Sirius Dog Blog: 6 Jul 2007

Travels in Sri Lanka

09:51 | Posted by Sirius

This is me outside The Millenium Elephant Foundation where I had been staying with Sam. I had a fab time with Sam and met allsorts of nice dogs, elephants and people.

Being an adventurous sort of chap it was soon time to say "goodbye" to Sam and "hello" to my new travelling companions Terri and Pete. We had a four hour journey by car ahead of us to reach our next destination but it wasn't at all boring. There was so much beautiful scenery to look at along the way, a good job really as it distracted me from the 'interesting' method of driving adopted by the Sri Lankan people. They have a kind of 'Who Dares Wins' attitude with lots of honking of horns and the roads are very busy with cars, lorries, buses, tuk-tuks, people, dogs, cows and elephants.

We reached our destination - The Mount Lavinia Hotel - and were greeted by this friendly chap who was wearing a rather nifty outfit. I think I would quite like a hat like that!

The hotel is in Mount Lavinia which is a beachside suburb of the capital Colombo. It is a lovely old building and was the British Governer's residence during colonial times. It was used as the location for a hospital in the film 'Bridge over the River Kwai' which I must remember to watch at some point.

We only stayed here for one night but we had a lovely evening with dinner on a terrace overlooking the sea and the twinkling lights of Colombo in the distance.

This is me with Pete the following morning outside the Mount Lavinia Hotel before we headed off to our next destination.

I quite like Pete but he kept getting a bit confused and usually called me 'Dave' instead of 'Sirius'. I didn't really mind as Pete is quite old and forgetful.

We set off on a two hour drive down the coastal road to Bentota. It was quite sad seeing some of the damage that had been caused by the Tsunami but the people are busy rebuilding their homes and getting on with their lives.

When we arrived in Bentota, at the Bentota Beach Hotel, the first thing I did was dash out onto the balcony to admire the view.

Pete seemed to think I needed some assistance here, but as you can see from the next picture I am quite capable of sitting on a hotel balcony all by myself!

I am

Very Brave and Not Scared of Heights! We had a lovely view from our room of the hotel grounds with the beach beyond. The sea was very rough as it is Monsoon season in Sri Lanka at the moment. It was quite windy but we were very lucky and didn't have any rain until our last day there.

After admiring the view from our room we went down to the Pool Bar where the nice barman persuaded me to try a local speciality an Arrack Cocktail. Arrack is a spirit made from Coconut milk and is very scrummy but quite strong and makes your legs all wobbly! As I am only young I decided to have just the one drink but Pete and Terri thought it was a good idea to have several and later they were all silly and giggly and showed me up quite a bit when they walked back to our room with their legs all wobbly.

The hotel had some lovely animals and birds in the grounds. Here I am sharing my lunch of peanuts with a Palm Squirrel (I wonder if he is related to Sam Squirrel?)

I spent quite a lot of time lazing around by the pool. It was quite refreshing to go for a quick dip every now and then as the temperature was in the mid 30's C. I had to go swimming 'nekkid' as Sam must have forgotten to pack my swimming trunks!

One day we went to a Turtle Conservation Project just along the coast at Kosgoda. Here I am saying hello to a one day old turtle. The baby turtles are hatched there from eggs collected from the beach and they stay for 3 days until they are a bit stronger and have a better chance of survival when they return to the sea.