Russian around the Baltic with some spice to finish off!

[love_the_life]

I just knew there was going to be some jeweller in there somewhere.
Just don't put the cufflinks away so safely you forget where! I did that with my engagement ring.

 

[Pushka]

Just don't put the cufflinks away so safely you forget where! I did that with my engagement ring.

I might put a calendar reminder on my iPhone. And hope I don't lose that

 

[Justcruizing]

You can't return from Sri Lanka without some sapphires as a souvenir!

Are you not curry eaters? Haven't see any in your photos. I fondly remember the great curries at the old Ceylon Hut in Adel from years ago.

You missed a great match last weekend - best I've seen the Crows play for many years.

 

[Pushka]

You can't return from Sri Lanka without some sapphires as a souvenir!

Are you not curry eaters? Haven't see any in your photos. I fondly remember the great curries at the old Ceylon Hut in Adel from years ago.

You missed a great match last weekend - best I've seen the Crows play for many years.

Love curries. The breakfast hopper had curry in it and last night we enjoyed the curry buffet. I'll post pictures shortly. Yes - I remember Ceylon Hut in Hindley Street too.

Crows seem to have shaken off their demons maybe.

 

[Justcruizing]

Yes maybe! Fingers crossed that there will be no more finals disappointments this year (re the Crows).

Enjoy the last days of your holiday Pushka and thanks for your generosity in allowing us to be part of it.

 

[Pushka]

Last night was gorgeous post sunset.

Yesterday we visited Pettah and Fort. It was rather hot walking around and I ended up looking like a broiled elephant whilst around me the gorgeous Sri Lankan ladies looked perfectly poised even in their long attire and not a drop of moisture to be seen. How do they do that!

We stopped at one of the very few stalls selling drinks and bought a Coke for around 50 cents. In the cafe - which was great for locals to eat as they were accustomed to the diet - some French girls created a ruckus because the orange drink they'd ordered wasn't pure orange juice. Surprise surprise. Not.

The Clock Tower / Lighthouse.


We then took lives in hand and asked a tuk tuk driver to give us an hour tour and get us back to the hotel. After some negotiation about price we were on our way.

Familiar love_the_life? We essentially repeated our bus tour but not that awful souvenir shop. I declined the offer to visit his gem store
The Independence Square. Blessedly empty of tourists this time but surrounded by tractors.





It seems the President of India had just gifted them.


We were dining at the buffet tonight but first some pre dinner drinks in the Wayfarers Bar. The cost of drinks isn't too bad for a multi star establishment. Maybe around $7.50 or so per glass.

 

[Pushka]

Here's that sunset. The app does funny things sometimes.



So back to dinner. All up it was around $80 and which included two glasses of nice wine.
The buildings are beautiful English colonial but the climate wrecks havoc on them.

Copper bowls and silver cloches






Servings of multiple curries, fresh curry salads, traditional English vegetables, soups, desserts and so on.

 

[Pushka]

My selections. As I've said before I just don't like large serves anymore and often my tummy churns when I see a large amount of food on my plate. It's all a bit sad really.

So I just helped myself to small portions of multiple tastes.
Curried Vegetable soup. Tasty and spicy.



Entree. (Aussie entree not the silly US usage).


Consisting of crunchy onion, curried egg, toasted curry coconut, chicken and avocado salad and shredded coconut and a squeeze of lime. All tasted very fresh and tasty.

Main

The curries. I selected chicken curry like I always do but there was crab, prawn, lamb, beef and pork curry. All the usual sambals and pastes to accompany it. Multiple types of naan, roti and paratha breads. Yum.


The chicken curry was suitably spicy and our lips were burning for quite some time afterwards.
I only had two scoops of vanilla icecream for dessert which was perfect. I've found that Asian desserts aren't my thing and while they look great I don't really enjoy the taste so am often disappointed.

 

[Pushka]

I hate last days. Last nights of cruises suck big time. Last day of long awaited and planned for holidays suck big time. Today after a pretty hectic almost four weeks we've taken it real slow. Spent some time around the pool watching the surf and this guy



He hung around us as he liked the watermelon seeds from our fruit.

I thought at one stage I was going blind - the sea spray throws up so much rubbish that our glasses quickly became completely blurred. As an example also on my camera lens -
This pre cleaned

Post cleaned.


(Now I know that you aren't supposed to clean a lens without the required tools but it was either that or no more photos ). Do not try this at home

Our flight from Colombo on UL departs at 9am and the airport is around 45 minutes away so an early start. We fly into Hong Kong with 1hr 50 min connection time with Cathay straight to Adelaide. While we've received the invite into the Pier I don't think we'll make it in time. This was the only 'paid for' flight in our trip and so will net us some SC as we are flying J for a reasonable price. Maybe the CX flight will get delayed.

We are resting right now - well, one of us is, and will venture out for the final bagpipe ceremony at sunset and final drinks then off to the seafood restaurant here. The white fish here is wonderful and will leave the funky stuff up to MrP to try.

Pack. Must pack sometime too.

 

[Milboo]

*sigh* they have Watalappan on the buffet. I became a fan during my 2 visits! It is their version of a creme caramel - using jaggery and cashew nuts.

 

[Pushka]

*sigh* they have Watalappan on the buffet. I became a fan during my 2 visits! It is their version of a creme caramel - using jaggery and cashew nuts.

Yes. We tried jaggery also.

Well we are currently in Hong Kong awaiting the flight CX to Adelaide. We are both a bit poorly and sad to say it's not because of alcohol. We seem to have picked up 'something' on the second last day and we woke not feeling like breakfast. We just had a small satay at lunch and then skipped dinner altogether. MrP seems worse than me but we had a very ordinary night the last night. Plus they were doing some reno work somewhere? I was about to call a Dr for MrP but he refused.

So with very gentle kid gloves we arrived into the airport - thankfully had booked the hotel car which was lovely and not that much more expensive than the rattler we came in on.

We left at 6am and already there was another wedding party forming. Once again the men looked amazing - this time all in red and gold. Simply stunning. As we were walking to the car the bride arrived. She looked absolutely gorgeous. A tiny Sri Lankan lass in her beautiful sari and gold jewellery. I can only imagine how long she'd been awake to look that gorgeous at 6am. It will be a long day.

We had 1 hour 50 minutes between flights. Booked through UL. We arrived on time. We didn't eat breakfast - we dare not but just had some tea and soft drink. MrP slept for around 4 hours and me around 2. Baring in mind it was only 9am.

We were flying in UL J which on this flight is probably high end premium economy. Lots of room between rows so you could fully recline and still fit through.

These seats are fully reclined. There is also a footstool but it's useless.
Seats in upright.


Some nice views on the way in





We are currently in The Wing. Food selection is awful. I couldn't be bothered dragging MrP to the Pier but this one is not cutting it so much. It's almost 6pm and it looks like breakfast with croissants etc. I was hoping for something to fill in the gap as it's now been around 48 hours without a proper meal - the buffet was the last one. And I was hoping not to have to eat on the plane. Will have to sort that out later.

But I've just seen that the Pier is right next to our gate. Sigh. Didn't think that through. And missed completely seeing The Haven. Clearly signposted to avoid people finding it.

 

[love_the_life]

Oh what bad luck feeling ill. That really sucks. Hope you are feeling better now. We are sitting in a cafe at Odawara station waiting for our train backbtovTokyo. We'll get some lunch there then on to airport for tonight's flight. Breakfast didn't do it for us this morning - not a fan of slimy okra or smoked mackerel at breakfast.

 

[Pushka]

We are home again. We arrived an hour late at 6.30am which is plenty early enough.

Cathay flight in J was probably our most comfortable flight of all. Herringbone fully flat seats that were comfortable even without the seat padding. The crew were simply lovely although they were all a little stressed we both didn't have dinner. Very sweet. We were an hour late departing due to HK congestion.

Thoughts on airlines. Qantas 380 - seats need to be replaced. I constantly felt like I was moving down the seat. Very unpleasant for sleeping on a 13 hour flight.

SriLanka airline. It's a good quality premium economy classed as J. The day flight was fine not great. The overnight J flight has the same herringbone as CX but a few options (comfortable padding on seats; storage) missing. On the other hand the J price is appealing.

Cathay - well, just excellent.

My passport expires in 18 months. It is starting to fail at egate. But worse today - the camera didn't recognize me. Have I aged that much?

As we were waiting for our luggage I heard our name being called. Not good. One of our bags missed the flight. I knew it was mine and I am pretty sure it's those damn metal Faberge eggs again.

Apparently I won't get it until Sunday. I hate unpacking anyway.

Passed through customs quickly even though I'd declared the wooden magnets. My troll passed through thankfully.

Had a nap this arvo and hopefully not too much jet lag. Tummies have settled and we've cooked and eaten a roast chicken tonight.

 

[TheRealTMA]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/84715990@N00/5696320374

 

[Bindibuys]

I will be at Adelaide next Saturday....would you please try to improve on the weather for me..... rain and top of 14 is not nice.

 

[Pushka]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/84715990@N00/5696320374

I so had to google that.

I will be at Adelaide next Saturday....would you please try to improve on the weather for me..... rain and top of 14 is not nice.

It's been nice apparently but a southerly bluster coming in tomorrow.

 

[love_the_life]

And are you feeling ok now?
About to board

 

[Pushka]

And are you feeling ok now?
About to board

Yes. Pretty much better. Just not so hungry which isn't a bad thing.
Safe travels Dame

 

[TheRealTMA]

I so had to google that.

Just getting you back on stream after a nice holiday!

 

[OZDUCK]

Hope you are both fully recovered now. Thanks for the TR - nice seeing some familiar sites combined with lots of new ones.