Day 5 siriguri

This was the day that we wanted to climb the rock, the big one! We wanted to get there early as the heat builds up very quickly, and the ticket office opened at 7am.

Arrived early, and very little queue, so the plan was to walk up to the fresco paintings,  and see the lions paws, and come back.  It was actually quite a walk from the ticket office to the start of the walk, and all the time stairs up and up!

We did pretty well, and got to the paintings, which was up a spiral staircase, and whilst good, not sure it was worth the extra up and down involved.

When we eventually got to the lions paws which form the last part of the walk, we were going to stop, but Heather wanted to do the rest of the walk, so we went for it!

It was quite a climb, and in effect you are waking up a see through staircase, bolted on to the side of the cliff face.

Finally made it, and the view was spectacular, how they managed to build a palace up here beats me...

Going down was much easier, and we were back in the car for around 9.30.

Day 3

Arrived at our hotel, which I have to say is fabulous, its like a detached villa linked by long walkways, which are lit up at night.

We have our own plunge pool, and all the villas are spread out, so plenty of room. They are quite big inside as well, and well equipped.

We decided to stay around local just to catch up with ourselves today, and had a great evening meal. Coconut curry and vegetarian curry for Heather, went down very nice. We also had a great cocktail by the pool.

Day 4 - elephant safari

A nice quiet start, relaxing by the pool and trying on the sarongs that they left us. Decided that Heather made me put it on wrong though, so much better tied around the waist! Decided to do an elephant safari, which meant being taken to an area where we paid separate fee for the jeep, then went to the safari area where we paid for the entrance. It's around 15km of very bumpy roads following around a shed load of other jeeps, until we spot an elephant. Having already done this at the antara in Thailand, we were a little spoilt, but it was fun. The heavens opened at one point so we had to keep putting on the roof cover, then we got stuck and covered in mud, but hey ho, great fun .

Day 2

Slept quite a lot as we caught up with our new timescale, and finally got out and about. Found a great clothes shop, and stocked up on some nice light clothing.

People are very friendly, and the prices in the shop seem very reasonable.

Got some banana cake for later, and off to the beach cafe for lunch.

Nice afternoon relaxing, and found a nice restaurant that did really good curries, so had a walk up there, then a tuk tuk ride around the streets. Found a fish market selling fresh fish, great selection if you are local. Back by 9pm and ready for an early night and starting again tomorrow.

Had a great chilli margarita, except instead of salt it was chilli flakes and my goodness it was hot!

A good start - Day one

Flights great, 7 hours to AD, and then 4 to Sri Lanka, and all arrived on time. The only incident was the stewardess spilt a little water over Heather when pouring get a drink, of course I laughed. Then we hit some turbulence, and both glasses fell over me. So I had a wet patch for most of the journey....

Got through customs pretty quickly, and our bags were pretty much the first ones off

After organising our taxi, no one is there when we arrive, and meanwhile we are constantly getting people coming up to us asking if we want a taxi. Call them, and they promise a taxi in 5 minutes, still no taxi and been waiting nearly 30 minutes!

Some chap had been asking if we are ok, so we decided to use him, so he asks us to wait outside while he gets the car

10 minutes waiting and no sign of him, and meanwhile another 40 people ask me if I want a taxi.....

Eventually he turns up in a rather less than new Nissan saloon car, and a chap comes out of nowhere to load up my bags, which having packed light there is no need. Then of course he now wants money.

We have been waiting nearly 45 minutes for transport, its now 4.30am in the morning and all we want to do is get to our hotel...

Eventually we set off, and he is a very careful driver, and by that I mean slow. We must have done the whole journey at 20mph, so a 10 minute taxi ride takes nearly 30 minutes, and we are overtaken by everything but push bikes.

Well we got here at 5am, and in fairness it's a lovely hotel, very friendly people, but we are knackered.

So sleep time, breakfast stops at 10am, so we get 4 hours shuteye and down to get a bit to eat.

First impressions are it's very hot, lovely people and a great beach we will explore later.

Also our first taste of what you can do with a towel!

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