Leaving Hong Kong was an experience.

We found the same express bus back to the airport, got our transport cards refunded then checked in. I was given a map of some kind with my boarding passes but took no notice of either the map or the boarding passes. We then proceeded to try to find our gate…

Turns out Hong Kong is a massive airport. We cleared immigration then found ourselves in an underground train station, um? Is this where we are meant to be? We didn’t miss a turn did we? We got on the train and went to the next station to find it was another terminal which still didn’t have our gate number, so it was back on the train to the next station/terminal. Yes, gate 203 was here, a very long walk away, we walked, and walked! When we finally got to our gate we discovered the seats all have plugs and USB ports so we pulled out all of our electronics and topped up their charge. Very handy.

 

As I was walking toward the plane I finally bothered to look at the boarding passes and map, ahh I see why they gave me a map now, but why are all 4 of us sitting in random spots and not together? I complained to the flight attendant and she managed to seat one child with one parent.

 

We had a few hours in KL to eat and mill around before we boarded another Air Asia flight, the final flight I had booked with them and had a great flight to Sri Lanka. We got a visas on arrival which was not a speedy process, found our luggage (hurrah it did it’s transfer in KL), made it to our accommodation, checked in and fell into bed, our bodies thought it was 2am 💤

 

The following day was pretty much a write off, we were staying by the beach so we had a small walk, ate at the same restaurant for lunch and dinner and were early to bed. After a day of rest we were ready to move inland. A NZ$2 Uber to the bus station, a NZ$4 bus to Colombo, and a NZ$5 train to Kandy, we’d arrived at our next city. NZ$11 total travel cost for all 4 of us for the day wasn’t bad. It was mine and BK’s 11th wedding anniversary so that evening we went to a cultural dance show and had paninis and chips for dinner.

 

The following day BK did some work and I took the kids to the botanical gardens. We saw a tree that had been planted by NZ’s Former Prime Minister John Key in 2016. We also saw the largest fig tree in the world. The gardens were really impressive to me but the heat got too much after an hour and the kids weren’t having fun so it was back to our hotel. The kids then proceeded to play quietly on their beds for an hour+ (!!!???) maybe drawn to the cool air conditioning? Maybe still tired? We’d later be thankful we stayed away from the city centre that day.

 

The next day it was up early and on the train for one of the most beautiful train rides in the world. We had a plan…I’d get on with R and find us seats then BK would ferry the luggage between C on the platform and me. The train arrived, I threw R on the train, uh oh, no seats!!!! Not even one! Back on the platform, BK wants to bail, he can’t even get our gear on. Someone tells him to go to 3rd class. I get on to the 2nd class carriage with R and sit on the floor, (this is becoming a pattern I think to myself). The train departs. I hope like heck BK got all our gear and C on.

 

As the train goes inland we all find our space, a few people get off and it becomes a little easier to move.

We meet a French family, a Chinese couple, 2 young female British doctors and have plenty of chat. R likes the two doctors and sits between them on their seats and plays games on her tablets. R also sees a little Sri Lankan boy get on the next carriage at some point and waves at him as he stares at her. She decides she wants to give him some stickers (I’d purchased kiwi pens/pencils and stickers for each of the kids to share during our trip) so cue me opening my big pack in the middle of the carriage to make this happen. She walks over gangway to the next carriage (I hold onto her firmly, Mum!) and he receives the stickers with a smile. Love our girl’s kind heart! He gets off a while later and furiously waves at us as the train pulls away from the station.

 

The train comes to a stop a while later, 40 minutes pass…one of our new friends asks a train guard why we are stopped, apparently a tree fell on the track. We eventually start going again.

 

Our new friends watched ‘the baby’ (little R) while I had 5 minutes to myself. I spent some time hanging my legs out of the carriage door watching the views go by.

The seeing tea plantations and watching the tea pickers was amazing. The 6 hour journey turned into 7 hours thanks to that tree so we are glad to arrive in Ella. (Train NZD$4 for all of us). We walk in the light rain to our guest house and dump our gear and go out for dinner, showers, bed.

 

The following day our host cooks us the most amazing breakfast, we eat a days worth of food then set off on a hike up ‘Little Adam’s Peak’ we wind up through tea plantations and up some stairs to the top. It takes us about 45 minutes. The kids are excited to see a snake charmer along the way! Beautiful views and drinks of water at the top, we also see our Chinese friends from the train. We find a light lunch and have a rest.

That afternoon Facebook, Messenger, Whatsapp and Instagram stop working…

 

To be continued…