Monday 6 September

The morning dawned at Kandy. At least for some it did. Most of the tuk-tuk teams actually saw it around mid-day and through very bleary eyes. My lot certainly did. Nothing to do with being in the hotel disco until 3am, of course, more the strain of all that driving, poor dears.

When I woke, though, I discovered we nearly had visitors. I looked out of the window onto our balcony, and what did I see?

Early morning visitor

There was a family of them obviously trying to get into any room with the doors open. No match for a smart bear, though.

Lots of sitting around the pool trying not to talk or do anything that was noisy or required speech. Recovery was slow and required copious fresh lime juice ( and you have to be in Sri Lanka to know how good fresh lime juice can be) and half-hearted attempts to eat. The whole day only brightened up when a trip to a jeweler who J knows was arranged. Quite a bit of self-indulgence took place (the Khan clan) and some generous gift-buying was in evidence (Khan clan & N).

It was a quiet evening. Surprise. With some fairly early-to-bed activity. But the Amaya Hills is a sooper hotel. Go there.

Finally, a view from the balcony overlooking the pool and the city. Great place. (Especially if you're not hungover and can actually raise yourself to go visit the fabulous Temple of the Tooth and look around the old capital of Sri Lanka.)

View over Kandy from the hotel

Tomorrow, Tuesday, we have our triumphal drive to the capital, Colombo, and the announcements of the various winners. We hope to carry off the prize for the 'most money raised for charity' so that we'll come home with something. (Did I tell you that J found out that he's not the oldest competitor? By three months! He's spitting about it. Ho, ho, ho.)

Nearly there.

Big O