* After a dispute with the hotel over their ‘creative’ charging techniques for rooms (a hefty ‘service’ charge and doubling up on the drivers room charge really was ridiculous!) we headed to a little cafe for a traditional Sri Lankan breakfast – although fish curry and chilli’s really was too much for me in the morning so plain roti’s with marmite it was (which in hindsight was a good idea as Beth and Kate got really dodgy tums!)

* We found an amazing handicraft initiative ran by a lovely woman who taught others to make lace and crotchet, it was all beautiful and with the right marketing could be amazing!

*The Power of Hands initiative had just come to an end but we visited the store still employing the same women under the name of Shoba, the women sit in a brightly lit area creating lace, whilst behind them a brightly coloured shop beckoned us in, it was lovely to see them working and being able to buy their products in front of them, and it should be interesting how Kate can help them with a Western perspective when she returns for work experience.

*A nice relax by the harbour was greatly needed after the past couple of days of hustle and bustle, and a very cute baby was thrust upon me for a photo opportunity with a white blonde girl which amused Saida, Beth and Kate!

*The afternoon was spent exploring Sri Lanka’s coir industry, we visited an amazing cottage industry size plant who retted and cleaned the fibres, and also a small household of women who made lengths of coir rope used in agriculture. Trekking through the tropical forest to get there we spotted huge monkeys swinging from the trees as well as a kingfisher and a huge lizard!

* The night was finished with a great meal in a beautiful restaurant right on the beach, sadly Kate was really ill by this time and had to be taken to the pharmacy and back to the hotel for a good sleep, but Dr Lacdas did a very good job of entertaining us with his exciting journeys across the globe and penchant for a glass or two of Arrack!

* After driving to Hydramarni, we had a great tour of their facilities with a presentation documenting all their work on the sustainability front – environmentally and ethically – it was interesting to see their developments and achievements.

* We stopped at Bentota Beach hotel which had a patch work ceiling covered in Ena De Silvas batik art – the colours were beautiful, we also saw a giant two foot lizard scuttle under the car on our way out!

* We stopped at an amazing turtle sanctuary, right on the beach, ran by a man totally dedicated to turtles and the safety of them, it was beautiful to watch 1 day old, 2 day old, and three day old turtles swimming around, we even got to see a few newly hatched turtles pop out of their sand homes!

*This was our first real morning off so we had a slight lie-in and then me and Beth headed for Barefoot to make use of their cafe and WIFI – it lasted until we’d uploaded the blog but cut out after there was a big power cut – ah well!

*Barefoot Iced Tea tastes amazing with spicy potato wedges!

*We travelled slightly away from Kandy and headed to an ancient wooden Temple which was set high on a hill – it was beautifully preserved and fascinating to see the detailed pictures etched in wood.

*Painfully hot steps led us to our next temple, a friendly tour guide showed us round and let us look at his paintings – they were beautiful and we each chose our favourite one!

*The afternoon was spent at the Elephant Orphanage seeing baby elephants guzzling masses of milk, later on we managed to see them going for their daily walk to the river for a bathe in the cool water!

*We picked up fruit from various village stalls on our journey home and had a lovely tea cooked by Saida and Kate!

*Beautiful ride to the Tea factory through hills filled with tea plantations, teac trees and tobacco plants – it was amazing to see them still making it with the same machinery they used hundreds of years ago.

*We went to The Botanical Gardens and I spotted Beth’s infamous Upas Tree – we were all very excited and glad it wasn’t a figment of her imagination heehee!

*Lunch was served under a giant Banyan tree which sheltered us from the sweltering heat.

*We then travelled to Kandy’s big market and saw everything from fruit to pigeons on sale!

*A bumpy drive led us through paddy fields to a dye plant that dyes cotton for Selyn Handlooms, they produced beautiful colours but we were all left a little puzzled at the effluent management programme – so hopefully some research into that will clean things up.

* Selyn handlooms was an amazing experience, with a showroom/shop at the front and the weaving factory at the back – Kate had a go on the handloom and picked up the rhythm very fast making 14 cm in about 20 minutes!

*We headed to a toy factory, with brightly coloured fabrics draped everywhere – and found Kapok being used to stuff toys which was great to see!

*Ena De Silva’s batik workshop is set back in the hills surrounded by beautiful sculpted gardens and jaw dropping views. It was amazing to see the batik and embroidery workers intricately creating such beautiful pieces.

*Dr Nirmali took us to a friends restaurant to eat and we enjoyed an ice cold beer and good food whilst unwinding from a hectic few days!

*Slight giggling hysterics when I was shaking my pillow after a cockroach had scuttled across the bed, and felt big lumps in it – Beth started to examine them and a horrible crunch was heard – needless to say a towel was a lovely substitute for a pillow that night!

*This was an intense day with amazing factory visits crammed together back to back

*First stop was the MAS eco-factory – it was so beautiful there and the people that took us round were amazing at answering any questions we had!

* For tea we had fermented coconut hoppers made into baskets and stuffed with caramelised onions and fillings which were amazing.

*We were then invited for drinks with Nike executives from across the globe who were there on a training programme –after a bit of dancing and compulsory karaoke we were definitely ready for our beds.

*First factory day – we had so many nice welcomes off every company we visited – and a selection of snacks and drinks at each stop  - which was amazing!

*The day ended with a trip to a button manufacturers where we got to see just how lots o lovely little buttons are made (and we got toffee cake!)

*We arrived at MIST fabric park which MAS Holdings own – its like a big factory park set in the countryside with tropical forests all around – we were staying in a beautiful chalet with huge rooms and massive bathrooms which had open top showers so you could look at the stars whilst you washed your hair!

*We presented at the University of Moratuwa in the afternoon – it was a little disappointing as our film didn’t work with their systems but we had a great tour around the facilities afterwards.

*The facilities at the university are amazing – from the testing of fibres and fabrics laboratories filled with interesting machinery to the commercial standard cotton yarn production equipment – fully accessible to the students – I am so envious of them!

*We stopped off at Barefoot near Majestic City in the afternoon – and were amazed by the variety of textiles and gifts available – all beautifully hand crafted in Sri Lanka.

*We found an amazing DVD shop in Majestic City (a ‘shopping complex’ full of little stalls and shops) so can now chill out in the evenings when we are in the apartment and watch a film.