Original posting after arrival home 7 April 2012
We arrived by taxi at the airport at 1.30am expecting to fly home three hours later, but we dismayed to see the final two entries on the flight board were both showing CANCELLED. Thinking this was a mistake I enquired at the Information Desk only to be sent to the Gulf Office upstairs where I learned it was indeed cancelled as the flights had been rescheduled and we would not be flying home until 40 hours later. He explained we were two of five passengers they had not be able to get in touch with promised me he would take us to a hotel at Gulf's expense and that I should make any claim for National Express Return costs from Gulf Customer Services in London. In the meantime we were to wait for him downstairs in the Departures Hall.
There were just four of us in fact and we were taken to Tamarind Tree hotel a few km from the airport where we were given a self catering apartment, complete with frig and cooker in the dining room. It was huge though rather dreary. To begin with we remained annoyed until it slowly dawned on us that we were in fact having two extra days free holiday, which put a good gloss on it. Later the following afternoon at day we went to the pool and got in conversation with an Austrian who spoke fluent Russian to his neighbours whilst enjoying the pool. He recommended us to get changed and join them, which we did and so for our first swim of the holiday and the beginning of 1.5 extra days of relaxation.
Tamarind Tree had one very ancient specimen of the tree but also was a parkland full of different types of tree all labelled with their name so next day Joan was in her element and taken on tours of the garden by the attendants including to the vegetable garden where they grew much of our vegetables.
The rooms were in fact semi-detached bungalows and well spaced to give an impression of parkland.
We were given full board all meals being excellent choices from a buffet, the only shock was £2.50 for a 660ml of beer - the highest yet and a similar high rate for Internet but when I went to pay for 2 hours the receptionist gave them at half price.
The final day I heard a young couple speaking Spanish in the pool, from the look of the man I thought he was from the Carribean and assumed they might be from South America. I was wrong he said he was from the south of Spain but the girl was Latvian. They both lived and worked in Edinburgh for several years and their English was also fluent. Like us they had been booked on Gulf Air and their flight had been cancelled. They had been on a real budget trip, mainly on the East coast including Trincomalee and a long stay in Arugam Bay (though it was out of the surfing season), so they felt particularly lucky to be swimming and lounging in an expensive hotel for free. We got on very well and later at the airport saw from her jacket that she was very keen on soccer and had obviously qualified as a referee.
The other couple from Bahrain who initially had the other half of our semi-detached bungalow had complained the room was musty and so were moved, on the flight home they had were in the business class seats - we did wonder if they had been upgraded!
My replacement bus ticket was £91 (home only, the original return fare had been £89!!
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| Flight cancelled |
We arrived by taxi at the airport at 1.30am expecting to fly home three hours later, but we dismayed to see the final two entries on the flight board were both showing CANCELLED. Thinking this was a mistake I enquired at the Information Desk only to be sent to the Gulf Office upstairs where I learned it was indeed cancelled as the flights had been rescheduled and we would not be flying home until 40 hours later. He explained we were two of five passengers they had not be able to get in touch with promised me he would take us to a hotel at Gulf's expense and that I should make any claim for National Express Return costs from Gulf Customer Services in London. In the meantime we were to wait for him downstairs in the Departures Hall.
There were just four of us in fact and we were taken to Tamarind Tree hotel a few km from the airport where we were given a self catering apartment, complete with frig and cooker in the dining room. It was huge though rather dreary. To begin with we remained annoyed until it slowly dawned on us that we were in fact having two extra days free holiday, which put a good gloss on it. Later the following afternoon at day we went to the pool and got in conversation with an Austrian who spoke fluent Russian to his neighbours whilst enjoying the pool. He recommended us to get changed and join them, which we did and so for our first swim of the holiday and the beginning of 1.5 extra days of relaxation.
Tamarind Tree had one very ancient specimen of the tree but also was a parkland full of different types of tree all labelled with their name so next day Joan was in her element and taken on tours of the garden by the attendants including to the vegetable garden where they grew much of our vegetables.
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| Another venue for wedding photographs |
The rooms were in fact semi-detached bungalows and well spaced to give an impression of parkland.
We were given full board all meals being excellent choices from a buffet, the only shock was £2.50 for a 660ml of beer - the highest yet and a similar high rate for Internet but when I went to pay for 2 hours the receptionist gave them at half price.
 |
| Sri Lankan ponies eat Jack Fruit |
The final day I heard a young couple speaking Spanish in the pool, from the look of the man I thought he was from the Carribean and assumed they might be from South America. I was wrong he said he was from the south of Spain but the girl was Latvian. They both lived and worked in Edinburgh for several years and their English was also fluent. Like us they had been booked on Gulf Air and their flight had been cancelled. They had been on a real budget trip, mainly on the East coast including Trincomalee and a long stay in Arugam Bay (though it was out of the surfing season), so they felt particularly lucky to be swimming and lounging in an expensive hotel for free. We got on very well and later at the airport saw from her jacket that she was very keen on soccer and had obviously qualified as a referee.
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| Delivering Rice |
My replacement bus ticket was £91 (home only, the original return fare had been £89!!
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