After months of changing our minds about where to go for our summer holiday we finally managed to compromise and come up with a suitable itinerary (bearing in mind I would be 25 weeks pregnant at the time).
So here is a brief overview of the fabulous holiday we had.
SRI LANKAWe left the deadly heat of Muscat for Sri Lanka arriving in Colombo 22nd July at 5.15am – never a good look! What you need to know about Sri Lanka is that although it is a small country and the distances don’t seem too far on a map in real life it takes hours to get anywhere as the roads are so bad e.g. a bad journey like that between Dambulla and Kandy of 77km can take 3 hours! From Colombo we headed straight out of the city to Dambulla about 150km inland. Our resort was fairly eco-friendly but Ali was shocked that there was no TV! The Culture Club Resort
http://asiatours.net/srilanka/hotels/cultureclub.html was filled with animals so Laith loved it, especially the chipmunks and rather large lizards. Ali headed off to Sigiriya Rock for the afternoon but there was no way I was even going to attempt to climb it, stairs or no stairs! It was a fortress for one of the rulers, and also a harem of sorts. It is known for its amazing engineering marvels… probably a bit lost on me.
Next day we headed off to Kandy and stopped en-route at Dambulla Caves, a series of caves uses as temples for Buddhists. Now, nowhere did it mention there were over 100 steps to climb so as you can imagine by the time we got to the top I was shattered! The monkeys run wild and of course I was only concerned about Laith getting bitten and contracting rabies … temples…oh yeah, nice click-click-click.. Can we go now!
Kandy is a large city, in fact our housemaid Sujata is from Kandy so she had told us a little about it. Not really much to see and do there, another temple, the botanic gardens and really that was about it. We stayed at Earls Regency Hotel
http://asiatours.net/srilanka/hotels/earl which was nice and located up on a hill overlooking the river. Laith was keen to have a swim in the pool but by the time we got there the rain poured, nevertheless they swam and as a result the next day Laith had a cold … good one guys! Anyway we packed a box of tissues and headed off to Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage for the day. When we arrived they were all down bathing in the river so we headed down for some coffee in a café overlooking the river and got a great front row view of all the action. Laith loved this trip and talked about it forever.
From Kandy we took the mammoth journey over to Nuwara Eliya (the high tea country). This trip was 77km but it took us about 4.5 hours in the car from one hotel to the other, it was a shocker. Imagine feeling car sick (still had pregnancy sickness) and having an active 2 yr old in a car for that long. We stopped at a Tea Plantation at the top of the high country and had tea, it was very nice. I was a bit tired and “over it” and stopped Ali from buying more than one little box of tea, my logic being the excess luggage we would have to have on the rest of our trip. BIG MISTAKE, it was the nicest of all teas in Sri Lanka and believe it or not we could not buy it anywhere else!!! I paid for that one! We stayed at the Tea Factory Hotel
http://asiatours.net/srilanka/hotels/tea_factory.html which was nice but we had a very windy and cold day so we ended up staying indoors for the afternoon and evening.
Next morning we drove to Colombo, a fairly uneventful city where we stayed for 2 days before leaving. Can’t say we were too impressed with the city and anyway by this time the cold germs were spreading – not a good sign! We stayed at the Hilton
http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/hotels/index.jhtml?ctyhocn=COLHITW which is probably one of the best hotels there, certainly their buffet was amazing and excellent quality.
Overall the trip was nice, and Sri Lanka is a beautiful green country but to be honest until the roads are finished (they say another 3 – 5 years) then I won’t be heading back. There is a lot of corruption which is very sad as it seems the money from the Tsunami is not reaching the people the way it should. I am not sure it is such a good idea to do the route we did in such a short time as you end up spending too much time in the car, however for the adventurous there is a small airline to take you between cities. Just to let you know I was able to email the tea place and yes they will deliver to us but wow the overall cost is about 300% more than if bought the damn tea at the time!!!!! (Doh!)
SINGAPORE
We went in and out of Singapore about 4 times over the next 2 weeks, each time immigration staring at my belly and asking me when I was going to deliver (Yep, I was feeling very glamorous considering I was only 25 weeks!). They wont let you in if you are over a certain amount of weeks as they discourage people from going there just to deliver their baby. I really liked Singapore, it was clean, there was enough to do for a short trip and the shops…well…what can I say…amazing.
Highlight would have to be Singapore Zoo which is a fantastic place to go. It also has a little water park / play area for the kids so Laith had a great time and it gave us a chance to rest for half an hour or so. It does take a day to get around, and we were so tired by the end that we could not go to the Night Safari as planned. It is just up from the zoo and you go in the evening at 7pm to see all the animals at night – looked great but we just didn’t have the energy. We went looking around the shops and Ali has some suits and shirts made. My major purchase was a new Digital Video Camera (Panasonic D-snap, fits in the palm of your hand), just love it and take it everywhere now as it fits in my handbag. I loved the supermarkets; yep anything is exciting when you have been living in Muscat which is pretty basic in terms of shopping. We stayed at the Royal Plaza on Scotts
http://www.royalplaza.com.sg/ and I would highly recommend them if you want a hotel near Orchard Road and the MRT. One day we went out for a stroll and got caught in a “shower” well it bucketed down (what do they say in Ireland…. Rained Lead Rods???), we took refuge in a Coffee Bean coffee house but still got a bit wet getting home.
Our final night / day in Singapore (on the way back from Thailand) was spent at the Sentosa Resort
http://www.thesentosa.com/ on Sentosa Island
http://www.sentosa.com.sg/day.htm …excellent! We had limited time so we only managed to go to the evening “light water show” and it was great, really something to be seen. Also on the Island are Underwaterword and a lot of other activities.
STAR CRUISE
We left Singapore aboard the Superstar Virgo for a 5 night cruise which was for the most enjoyable and relaxing part of our trip.
http://www.starcruises.com/Itineraries/Singapore/index.htmlAfter going to our cabin and looking at the “snug” layout we opted to upgrade ourselves to a suite. It was the best money ever spent as the Exec Suite was at the front of the boat with unobstructed views and a very spacious lounge / dining area; a large bedroom with plenty of cupboard space, and a luxurious bathroom. So I was very happy to be able to unpack and stay in one place for 5 nights in a row. The cruise took us to Penang, Phuket, back via Singapore to Malacca and Kuala Lumpur. The choice of restaurants was excellent and the food catered for all tastes. We even managed to have a night out without Laith to the Italian Palazzo which was divine. Laith discovered “kids club” and even though he was just 2 he loved it. He didn’t even give me a second glance as he raced inside to play, play, play! In one of the restaurants they had a separate Kids Buffet and seating area, perfect for little ones and their family! The Spa, the Ice-cream place and the Lounge were all great, just wish we had more time. By this time I had Laith’s cold and was feeling a little off colour but not too bad. We had no sea-sickness although the first night in open seas we did feel like we were on a ship, but in the morning and from that moment on it was plain sailing. I was a bit sceptical about a cruise but I have to say that I would recommend this one to anyone and especially to those with children.
The ports…
Penang was fairly uneventful unless you get into the history of things. It was very hot (too hot) and we ended up taking a short walk and then back to the boat as we were not interested in the shops.
Phuket – we did not get off in Phuket as we would be spending 6 nights there in a weeks time.
Malacca – you could get off and discover Malacca only if you were prepared to then go by coach up to KL (while the ship sailed up there). As I was not feeling the best we decided to stay on board and then get off in Kuala Lumpur.
KL – We took the coach into town. Planned to go to Pretoria Towers but there was too much smog around and it would have been a waste of time so instead we strolled through the shopping malls ...wow again! Good bargains to be had with the exchange rate and picked up some kids clothes and few things for Ali. Again we were coming back to KL so were not too worried about rushing around to do sightseeing.
KUALA LUMPUR
As Laith was really into trains (Thomas the tank Engine is a big hit with him) we decided to take the train from Singapore up to KL. We got first class seats which were comfortable but overall the service is very basic so no Orient Express here folks! The trip took about 6.5 hours but we did get to see the country side and got a little nap in. (Happy to say we got a plane back!!).
In KL we stayed a little out of the city at Sunway. There are two hotels there which are part of huge complex with a large shopping mall (includes cinemas, ice rink, etc) and a HUGE water park
http://www.sunway.com.my/lagoon/attract/kalahari.asp. The hotel was Pyramid Tower Hotel
http://www.kl-hotels.com/sunway/tower.htm and it was really good for 4 star. The Sunway Resort right next door was fully booked but looked lovely. We spent one full day at the waterpark and did not go into the city as the smog was getting worse. Thankfully we left 24 hours before it became critical and everyone had to wear masks!
PHUKET – THAILANDOur final destination was Phuket. In the few days before Phuket and after KL I got very sick and had a fever in addition to the dreaded cold. By the time we are at Singapore airport to fly to Phuket I was on my last legs and had to go to the airport doctor and get some medicine. Being pregnant of course you are not supposed to take anything but I felt near death and gave in and took the antibiotics.
Sadly I can not say much about Phuket as we did not leave the hotel. The day after we arrived I was still sick (actually had a fever for 5 days!) and then both Laith and Ali got sick too! So it was off to the doctor and then pretty much bed for a few days.
We stayed at the newly opened Crowne Plaza Hotel
http://www.phuket-photos.com/frameme-hotels.php?page=patong-merlin-hotel.htm and it was great. We were upgraded to a Pool Villa and we had our own little plunge pool...very nice. I managed to meet up with John a previous colleague of mine from Ritz Carlton days who had been working there for 3 years at the Banyan Tree … great to see him and catch up.
So that was pretty much it. We returned to Singapore for one last night and then flew home. Overall it was a great trip even though the last week was marred by illness. The downside was that Laith who was 90% potty rained before going on holidays was suddenly back to square one…but that is a whole other story!
Next year??? Well bub#2 will be 8 months old so not sure about the travel ... let’s wait and see.
Picture of the Tea Trees from our hotel (a woring plantation)
Singapore 
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