2 days of absolute fun with the bestest bunch of friends... life just couldn't get any better!!
The trip to Yala was awesome, full of fun and moments of madness. The drama started off with a message in the wee hours of the morning from one of the guys telling me that the cab he had ordered for us to go to the train station was an 8 seater... but there were 11 of us... plus our luggage. Knowing us, this type of incident is expected!! So myself and two others decided to go ahead to the train station in a tuk and get the tickets. There, we encountered an extremely rude man who let us keep our luggage on a chair that was just lying around nearby but absolutely refused to let us sit in it!!! We made our way to a bench and settled down to wait for the others.
The rest of the gang finally arrived 1 hour later and we all greeted each other in loud excitement. Got a lot of stares from the people around who were probably wondering where we had landed from!! When the train made its way to the station we did not know which the 2nd class compartments were and there was a mad dash to find it. On the way, Lady Divine had a bit of an encounter with an old lady who in turn tried to take out her anger on Drama Queen!! Finally we made it inside the train only to find that it was packed and there were hardly any seats. Though myself and the rest of the gals got seats, some of the guys had to stand for most of the ride until seats became available.
When we reached Matara we had a cab waiting for us and it was off to Cargills to buy the food. Stopped for lunch after the shopping and then took off for Panthera Lodge. It was quite a long ride but we finally made it there. Panthera Lodge was a lovely place, with a big hall that had all the beds lined up together, clean bathrooms of which one had an open air shower and even a very friendly doggy that we decided to call "Soma." That first night we played all sorts of fun games, laughed our heads off, had an extremely yummy chilli filled dinner and then it was off to bed (under the nets to keep away the bugs) which took some time since there were episodes of giggling and trying to scare one another and basically us just doing our usual crazy things.
At 4 in the morning we woke up to get ready for the safari. I had never been on one before so I was quite excited about it. Turned out to be just awesome!! We caught a glimpse of the leopard, saw a lot of deer, plenty of crocs and even a fox that ran away with a carcass of a deer. I've never really been the out-doorsy type but this was just fabulous. I wanted to stay in the park with all those creatures and just live there in the wilds without a care in the world.
We had a yummy, out-of-this-world BBQ that night and then sang (well tried to sing cos we didnt really know a lot of song lyrics) while one of the guys played the guitar. Then we filmed a very hilarious home movie which had us all in fits of hysteric laughter while acting it out. At around 12.3o am the cab to take us back to the Matara train station arrived. The train ride back was on one of the newer trains so it was more comfortable than our first ride and wasnt as crowded either so we all got seats this time around.
It was sad to leave the gang when we got to the Fort station. The trip brought back a load of memories of times when we all used work together and have so much fun. It made me realise yet again how much I miss them and all our madness. No place can compare to it and no team can compare to what we had... and still have.
Someday... we WILL reunite. Watch out, world!!! :)
