Ty and Grace thrilled to be swimming in the ocean. They weren't in long when the lifeguard said the tide was coming in and the waves were getting rough and they had to get out. So we went to the pool
The pool was gorgeous too with a swim up bar and many different areas to swim in including a waterfall Ty loved.
Grace swimming in the pool of the first hotel.
Ty just coming away from the waterfall part of the pool that he loved!
King Coconuts! So cool. We were told the locals drink this but they don't cook with it. But every place we stayed it was put in the shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel. And for the first time in a very long time, Grace and I had no trouble brushing our hair without snarls! So it's great for hair and needless to say we stocked up for the remainder of our stay in Baku! (We are hoping it lasts that long lol!)
My beautiful girl who is growing up way too fast!
My handsome boy who still loves his snoopy hat and doesn't have a care in the world if others stare. Who cares he says? I like it. I wish I had the ability to do that!
Grace loved the fish!
This is the dock where you take the boat back and forth to the resort, as it is in the middle of a river and the ocean! Pretty neat, reminded us a tiny bit of the Maldives trip.
Daddy and Grace on the boat ride from the hotel to the check out place.
Waiting for the driver to go to the next hotel.
The lady who was helping us check out begged to take a family photo. I'm glad she did, I think it is the only one from the trip that we got!
We left the first place and headed to
https://eraeliya.com/
This resort was incredible. I was nervous as we pulled through the gate and walked into the woods into a house with no one inside and no other buildings in sight. I was thinking we were staying in someone's house with them? I should learn to relax and trust Barry though. After we checked in, we walked through the woods to a cute little 2 bedroom bungalow. At this house we had our own butler who came and went bringing breakfast, lunch and dinner whenever we asked for it. Here we did nothing but nap, swim in the ocean and the infinity pool, and relax. it was pure heaven.
Daddy and the kids on the beach at this resort.
Daddy in the back of the house where we spent most of our time eating and hanging out on the daybed on this porch. We could see the ocean from here and watch monkeys.
The kids loved having their own bedroom to share!
Daddy and the kids ventured into the ocean a few times while I took pics.
Tyler absolutely LOVES the ocean waves. He is happiest just waiting for them to push him around.
Grace loves playing on the beach, the sandier and dirtier she gets, the happier she is! Until we have to get it off of her! She also was Ty's second mommy and if a wave knocked him over, she was close by pulling him up telling him to be more careful!
Ty having a blast in the ocean.
Grace likes the ocean waves too, just not as much as Ty!
A view of the bungalow/house.
Kids and daddy playing in the pool
This pool was heaven, just the right temperature to cool off but not too cold and a perfect view of the ocean.
Grace posing for mommy and enjoying the view.
Ty loved the pool too.
My sweet boy.
Grace enjoying the pool.
Ty posing for me.
A beautiful sunset.
Our bungalow had many geckos in it which thrilled Grace to no end.
Daddy and Ty watching the sunset after dinner. Ty is getting tall!
Walking on the beach at sunset.
What a view.
If Ty is not in his bathing suit and not allowed to get in the ocean, then you will find him throwing rocks in it.
Not pictured but we are looking at the fisherman on sticks here and hoping a water monitor lizard daddy saw will come back so we can see him too.
My beautiful girl.
Ty and daddy rough housing.
We saw a ton of surfers here.
My beach bum.
My twin beach bums.
Pineapple tree.
Walking back up from the beach to the bungalow, you walk into this little placed where you can wash the sand off of your feet, what a great idea!
Careful Grace, she almost lost her balance.
Headed back up to the house.
We were sitting around the house when we heard what sounded like a dog fight, then we saw this monkey!
We sat around this bungalow for 2 days just napping and swimming and eating! On the 3rd day, we hired a driver to take us to a temple.
This is in the temple.
More in the temple.
More temple pics.
Just outside the temple Grace found a stray puppy sleeping and it made her smile.
Just outside the temple.
Just outside the temple we were initially thrilled to see some elephants. But that thrill quickly changed to sadness when we saw them both chained up: (
He is getting some water using his trunk but he is chained inside the water.
Outside the temple.
Paintings inside the temple.
Inside the temple.
Inside the temple.
This picture is of Grace and Ty running to the driver's car as that is where they left their shoes. The driver told us we could not wear our shoes in the temple and made us leave them in the car. The ground was super hot and the kids feet were burning from the ground. I had no trouble with this as my feet have really gotten quite rough from almost 3 years of walking on wood floors in our Baku house. Even Barry was running from shade to shade due to the hot ground and couldn't believe I was not complaining.
King coconut for sale on the side of the road. We decided to try some. We couldn't believe the lady selling them took a huge knife and cracked them all open on the top for us. Here she is below:
When we got back, our table was set for us like this for dinner! Beautiful!
They didn't set our table with flowers every night, that was our last night at the beautiful bungalow.
The next day we moved to a resort at unawanatuna beach.
http://www.unawatunabeachresort.com/
The kids loved the pool there too.
While at unawanatuna we took our first tuk tuk ride. Imagine a 3 wheel ATV and this is what you get. Many are decorated based on the driver's likes and dislikes. They are slower than a car but they get you where you need to go.
Lunch at tartaruga.
After lunch, time for a pic. Grace took this one.
Ty pretending to drive the tuk tuk.
We took the tuk tuk to a turtle hatchery. Grace thought it was cool.
Up front and personal. I felt the turtles needed bigger tanks to swim in:(
Then we took the tuk tuk to an herbal garden and they showed us many different types of medicinal plants. The tour guide put an onion paste on Barry's leg and 5 min later he had no hair there!
This is how they fish in Sri Lanka.....although here they are just posing for pictures for money of course. You can pose too, but none of us really felt like it.
At the stick fisherman site there was this man with a cobra, monkey, and a python.... NOT my favorite part of the trip at all.....I HATE snakes!!!!!!!
The cobra was trying to attack him so he hit it with the basket lid and grabbed him. I was screaming.
Grace was brave enough to touch the python and daddy stayed close by as I couldn't bring myself to come any closer than enough to take a picture using the zoom all the way on my camera!!!!!!!!
The monkey was CRAZY!!!!!!! Just running around but Grace got to hold him for a minute and she thought that was cool.
Ty was waiting in the tuk tuk the whole time, and said to me "mommy, you know how you are afraid of snakes? well I get it now!" LOL.
Time to get back in the ocean.
Pool at calamander unawanatuna resort. The bottom was red making the water look red. Strange but refreshingly cool water so we didn't care. They also had a yummy oceanfront dinner.
The next day in unawanatuna, we had a driver take us to Galle.
Very strange looking tree in Galle.
A roadrunner!
A momma cow and her baby in Galle, The momma was tied up, but the baby wasn't.
Cows up close.
Ty decided to put himself in jail in Galle.
He was initially happy about being in the Galle jail but we told him in jail you should be sad so the picture above is actually the 2nd picture lol.
A view from the top of the fort in Galle.
Daddy and Grace in Galle in front of the clock tower.
Circle bluey went to Galle with Ty!
The fort in Galle.
We walked along a tall fort wall and had to go around this tree to continue on our path.
In Galle, we went into the history museum which much to our dismay was NOT air conditioned and man is it hot and humid in Sri Lanka. So Ty was happy to stand in front of the fan to cool off, and I quickly followed suit when he moved away.
We found a no honking sign in Galle and liked the picture of it.
Another interesting tree in Galle.
Grace in Galle.
Grace and Daddy in Galle.
After a few days in Unawanatuna, we hired a driver for the rest of our trip. He picked us up and took us to Ella. It was a long 4 hour drive in the car. For most of the trip I really enjoyed looking out the window as we passed MANY animals! But towards the end we were in the mountains on 1 lane roads which literally scared me half to death! I was gripping Barry's hand so tight from fear we would fall off the side of the road, I am surprised he does not have bruises!
A water monitor lizard we saw from the van!
On the way to Ella we stopped to see these cave drawings. Pretty cool.
Ty was hot and hungry and not at all interested in the cave drawings but posed for a picture anyway to make his momma happy!
We saw many rice fields from the car as well!
And TONS of monkeys! They were everywhere!
I found this statue quite interesting and it has a story about a snake keeping Buddha safe from the rain.
We saw some goats!
And a waterfall!
We finally stopped at this restaurant for lunch. it was tiny and on the top of the mountain! The floor moved when you walked on it and I was afraid we would fall off! But the food and tea were delicious! I was shocked it was so good, the kitchen was next to the tables and as small as a kitchen table! Our meals were brought out one at a time as they were cooked. And the bathroom was their own, a tiny one bedroom apartment attached to the restaurant!
After lunch, we were supposed to go to a tea plantation, but I honestly could take NO more of the mountain roads.....I was done with a capital D!!!!!!!!
So we moved on to Ella and stopped here for the night:
http://mountainheavensella.com
Ty at our mountain hotel.
Grace at our mountain hotel.
The view from the mountain hotel.
Ty and Grace had their own room which made it hard for me to sleep at night.
Grace always looks at each hotel for what little items she can take with her......travel soaps, toothbrushes...etc....
We had to get up very early the next morning to catch our 6:40am train from Ella to Kandy. Ty took an awesome video of our train trip and I posted it on facebook. I didn't take pictures. I was enjoying the view for most of the 6 hour trip and I napped a bit too.
But here are pictures someone else took:
https://nerdnomads.com/sri-lanka-train-travel-ella-kandy
After the VERY long train trip, our driver picked us up in Kandy and took us here for lunch. It was a great restaurant with nice views.
Ty enjoying the views.
School children.
The view.
Grace ordered a pineapple tomato salad! She ate most of it too!
After lunch we stopped at a woodmaking place. The man here showed us how they used to make paint. We also some some workers sanding and carving as well as painting some masks and other wooden things.
Grace really liked this woodmaking place and talked daddy into buying her an elephant (not pictured here). I bought an elephant too and a water monitor lizard and daddy bought a Buddha and a box for his watch collection!
Grace and I liked this stick fisherman wood carving but since our mail goes to Dulles, Virginia, we couldn't get him or any other large carvings for that matter.
After the wood carving shop, we continued on our journey to a golf course just outside of Kandy. There we stayed at a place called Villa Tee Four. But first we saw more animals on the way, including goats.
http://www.villatee4.com/
The inside of the house at Villa tee Four.
The kids loved swimming at house here.
Below is the house we stayed in: Villa Tee Four.
We only stayed one night at Villa Tee Four and the next morning the driver picked us up and told us to wear pants. We headed to the temple of the tooth.
The story is that when Buddha died, he was cremated but one tooth was not. It could not be destroyed and so they knew he must be Buddha.
While in the temple, there are two lines, one to get up close to the tooth and one to see it from far away. The line was chose was to get up close as why not? We waited 20 minutes to get close and then were given 15 seconds to see it. I did not see a thing! Nor did the kids. They were very disappointed. Everyone was pushing and shoving and trying to cut in line. Apparently, showings of the tooth are only 2 times a day for only 15 minutes each! When you go, you are supposed to give Buddha flowers and he will give you a good afterlife, when you leave you are to light a candle for him and he will give you good health, and at the end you should light incense to get a good life. I might have remembered that last one wrong.
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/sri-lanka/kandy-temple-of-the-tooth
The outside of the temple.
The inside of the temple.
All of the places where Buddists live.
Buddha in meditation.
Incense at the temple.
The outside of the temple.
The national tree at the temple.
Flowers you can buy to give to Buddha.
Next we went to the cave temples. Ty and I waited in the car as my feet were swollen and there were a lot of stairs up to the cave temples. The car was surrounded by monkeys!
This monkey has Donald Trump's hair!
Stairs up to the temples.
After the cave temples, we went to our last hotel:
https://www.amayaresorts.com/amayasignature/en/dambulla-accommodation/
The first day after staying in our last hotel (we stayed there 2 nights) we went on a safari. Above Grace is standing in front of the safari truck ready to go minus sunscreen as I didn't realize the truck would be open on the top. (It wasn't when he picked us up.)
Ty ready for the safari and already bored with the whole idea of it.
The first animal we saw on the safari was this gigantic water monitor lizard! He was in the middle of the road and not happy about having to move out of the way of our jeep!
Look at the size of this guy!
An eagle.
Another eagle.
Elephant crossing.
I was starting to feel a bit sick sitting in the jeep so I decided to stand up and hold on tight. (It was quite bumpy.) Here is my partner. Pretty cute.
An elephant far away.
Ty was very bored and hating the safari so I told him come up here by me!
He was still bored so I said ok pretend the jeep is a roller coaster! Then he really got into it!
Some cranes and pelicans and storks.
Water buffalo! We saw them and starting singing "everybody has a water buffalo, yours is fast but mine is slow" from veggie tales. Then we got stuck in the mud! Seriously! The jeep tried to go forward and couldn't then back and couldn't and mud was flying everywhere. The tour guide and our driver (not the jeep driver) got out and pushed us out.
This elephant is 10 years old we were told. We thought he was a baby and were surprised he was alone.
Looks like he is headed towards us.
Barry buying a ton of peppers we can't get in Baku.
Buddha.
On our last day in Sri Lanka we stopped at an elephant orphanage in pinnawala.
Grace and Daddy up close with the elephant.
Grace touched him!
Daddy and Grace posing with the elephant.
I was just standing there ready to pose for my pic when the elephant starting moving his trunk towards me! I got a little scared and nervous. I have heard elephants can be dangerous. I screamed a little and moved away. I then saw as we left tears in his eyes and his chains. I felt horrible for him/her.
Ty tried to be brave and feed the elephant but he chickened out. Grace was cheering him on but he said he was too scared.
Grace was not scared at all. She fed him/her pineapple, watermelon, and a banana, all of which he/she swallowed whole!
This baby elephant was looking for some attention I think.
Grace and Ty watching the baby elephants.
This baby was loving the water.
This baby was trying to get some leaves.
Time for a bottle feeding of milk.
All done.
Time for lunch, Grace enjoying her favorite orange Fanta.
Ty happy to be out of the sun.
While we ate lunch, we had a great view of the elephants enjoying the water in the river. Might look dirty and muddy to us but to them it was quite refreshing.
This baby was squirting himself.
Grace and I loved watching these two hug with their trunks.
And that was it. After the elephant orphanage our driver took us to the Columbo airport and we headed to Dubai. The airport didn't have many restaurants at all but it did have a foot massage shop that Grace and I took full advantage of while Barry and Ty waited for us! Then we had a lovely pizza dinner and boarded our plane. We had a 10:30pm flight to Dubai for 6 hours. I had hoped to sleep but as I posted on facebook the Czech man behind me didn't think I should have my seat reclined! Every time I tried he pushed he back up. Harder and more forceful each time:( I complained but didn't get anywhere with the first stewardess so I continued to ask for stewardess help until finally one told him I could put my seat back. A different one gave into him again though at dinner time (which I didn't plan to eat) and I hate to begin the battle again after dinner and yet again find a stewardess who would make him let me put my seat back. He had the nerve to give ME a dirty look as we finally landed in Dubai 6 hours later at 2am! Thank God we had a 12 hour layover and a hotel room in the Dubai airport. We slept it off and had a nice breakfast before flying back to Baku. So all in all, a great trip, and one I would recommend to all!
