The Lodge

 "The best laid plans of mice and men" .

It has been another great day. This morning I was up. Showered and into my best brim and tucker for a morning at the Kurunigala lodge. I made sure dear old Crispy was settled and happy with her bottle of pop and packet of crisps before hailing a tuk tuk to take me to the Masonic Hall.  I was there around 10.15 for a scheduled start at 11 am prompt. This was perfect as we really needed to be on the road for 14.30 at the latest in order to make Kandy (our next destination) by nightfall.  (The roads are scary by day let alone night. The tuk tuk has headlights but they are about as bright as a candle and might as well be powered by candles. Plus the roads get hilly and busy now)

I had been at the hall about 10 minutes before Marcus handed me his phone. " call for you Sir" he said. It was the Worshipful Master of the lodge. He explained that the mini bus they were travelling in had been involved in an accident and although, thankfully no one was hurt, they were going to be delayed at an hour and a half. That made my deadline even tighter for getting us to Kandy before dark. I was looked after well by Marcus but it was around 12.15 before anyone arrived. 

Quick introductions were made and we opened the lodge eventually at 12.45.  It was then that it became obvious that this was going to be a long ceremony. Two new members were being initiated and such the Sri Lankan big boss was in attendance. I had the pleasure of sitting next to him for the duration of the ceremony. Because it was such a late start it meant that at an opportune time I had to make my excuses and leave. I missed out on the chance of getting to know the guys a little better.

Still it was another great experience and I really enjoyed it. 

After I had left earlier than I wanted to we quickly got sorted. Checked out of the hotel and set off for Kandy. What made it worse was that today is the start of a 3 day holiday period in Sri Lanka and the roads were  very busy. Kandy is a holiday destination not only for foreign tourists but Sri Lankans as well. I think everyone and their family were on the Kandy road with us.  

Eventually after struggling up some very steep hills that utilised ever ounce of "Rubys" 2 horse power whilst avoiding oncoming traffic we found our accomodation. It's a jungle retreat tucked away up a very narrow concrete path. There's no way we would have found it in the dark even if we had made it here. 

It is a pretty amazing place. I'll get some pics tomorrow.  It's been raining today so it's been very humid. We are at an elevation of 1600 feet in thickly forested mountains so I suppose rain is not unusual. I'm hoping the clouds clear tomorrow then we can enjoy Kandy in all her jungly mountain splendour

Bare and Crispy signing off Kandy, Sri Lanka