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America, Asia, Caribbean, Countries, Deals, Europe

Every day’s a Tropical Sky schoolday

30th October 202331st October 2023 funtime65

Now as I’ve still so much to learn I rely on the dream-makers, our holiday providers, to teach me… and I know that every day’s a Tropical Sky schoolday.

Because Tropical Sky it was who schooled me in snorkelling after earlier false starts in Barbados.

I’ve picked up a number of other attributes on the way.

Keeeeep dancin’: With Judy Murray in Portugal

Learning to play tennis like a grand slam champion from Judy Murray in Quinta da Lago on the Algarve.

Ride like Roy Rogers in the Wild West and cling onto a tub on the rapids in Colorado.

Paint like Picasso in Tobago though I kept reaching for the mixing pot to drink out of habit thinking it was rum.

Or cook like Craddock and bake like Berry anywhere between my old stomping ground of Co. Wicklow and the States.

All these skills and a few more, tobogganing, scootering, paddel (a hybrid between squash and tennis) and paddle boarding I’ve also picked up along the way.

Although I was for once tongue-tied when asked to blow my own trumpet (still to do that one) by the inimitable Marsha in Tobago.

Picture perfect: With SLM & Marsha in Tobago

When she asked our party what we were good at.

And while my colleague (and her favourite) Vic wowed her with his acumen in building his own house.

My claims of being a poet from my time at the Edinburgh Fringe didn’t impress her and she pipes up: ‘Jim, you got no skills.’

Of course I showed off me skills while seeing off Vic at the goat racing with Marsha watching. No kiddin’!

All of which came to mind while browsing through the list of activity holidays Tropical Sky have to offer in their latest mail drop.

Antigua, set and match

Curtain Bluff hotel, Antigua: Anyone for learning tennis, and the five-star Curtain Bluff Hotel, in verdant Antigua.

Look out for Antigua Tennis Week each Spring and Tennis Challenge Week in November.

A seven-night AI stay at Curtain Bluff Hotel, with flights from London Gatwick, arriving 20 May, is from £3,679 pps.

Curry favours in Sri Lanka

Anantara Kalutara Resort, Sri Lanka: Now I’ve another of my go-to holiday providers, G Adventures, to thank for teaching me the secrets of curry making.

Not all of them mind, I could still do with Spices Cooking School at Anantara Kalutara Resort to fill in the rest.

Their interactive classes see you explore the spice markets with the chef and pick out the ingredients before tucking into your meal with Prosecco.

A seven-nighter, arriving 12 June is from £1,629 pps half-board with return flights from London Heathrow.

Cookery classes can be booked for an additional cost of £124 pp.

Wild West Hero

Tanque Verde Ranch, Arizona: Now forgive me if I retell the story of how I ran into a cowboy ex-Aberdeen University classmate in the baking sun on the Great Plains.

And I asked him as he taught me how to ride a horse if he missed the sub-zero temperatures of the north-east of Scotland.

Now Tropical tell us that nestled amidst the desert and mountains of Tucson is the Tanque Verde Ranch.

A six-nighter at Tanque Verde Ranch, arriving 12 June from £2,649 pps, sharing a Road Runner Sala on full board basis.

With return flights from London Heathrow with Tropical sister company www.americansky.co.uk).

Painter Lucia

Anse Chastenet: In St Lucia is a long way from Joe Reilly’s art class painting apples that looked like men’s parts.

As it happens it took my Tobagonian pals to make an artist of me and show that I could paint… in this case a mill.

The Anse Chastenet is nestled within a 600-acre estate with beaches, coral reefs and views of the Pitons.

Let artist Naja Misaki Simeon take you on a group class on Tuesdays and Wednesdays or opt for private sessions for a fee.

A seven-nighter AI at Anse Chastanet, arriving 12 June, is from £2,449 pps with return flights from London Gatwick.

Atoll order

Fushifaru Maldives: Now what to do when you’re caught between a coral and a hard place.

As I was in Kuramathi when swallowing water I tried to stop on the Indian Ocean floor.

Only to be scolded for killing the coral while it was cutting my feet!!

Snorkelling was my limit but if you want to extend yourself to scuba diving Best Dives at Fushifaru Maldives will show you how.

A seven-nighter AI at Fushifaru Maldives, arriving 20 May is from £3,299pps with return flights from London Heathrow.

And for my Tobagonian pal Marsha’s information.

America, Asia, Countries, Food & Wine

A cup of cha for the Queen

17th September 202217th September 2022 funtime65

The Queen Mum liked her gin, Princess Margaret her Champagne, Prince Charles his Cherry Brandy but we suspect it was a cup of cha for the Queen.

The QM’s drinking holes counted racecourses up and down the country, Mags the Caribbean and especially Nylon Beach in Tobago and Chuck the Isle of Lewis.

For the Queen though it was her many palaces around Britain.

And especially those where she spent most time relaxing… Windsor, Balmoral and Sandringham.

So if you want to toast her memory this weekend raise a cup with that most British tipple, tea.

And add to the 100 million drunk by Britons every day, almost as many as are queueing to see the Queen’s coffin.

The Royal cuppa

Britain’s love affair with East Indian tea began in royal circles with a hangry 7th Duchess of Bedford.

Anna’s answer was to take tea served with light snacks which became the phenomenon of afternoon tea.

The fashion took hold throughout the land and onto our doorstep in Glasgow, the Second City of the Empire.

With the Mackintosh Tea Rooms which celebrate the high-chaired furniture and interior decorations of the Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

And that’s just the cup of tea for more modern home furnishing British institution Cath Kidston.

With Cath kindly giving us a tea-potted history of cha around the world.

Crowning glory: Cath Kidston in Southampton

Of course all the tea in China isn’t all the tea in the world but it was where we first got the taste.

When Emperor Shen Nung went for a seat under a Camellia sinensis tree in 2737 BC.

The story goes that a few leaves fell into his boiling drinking water to try the accidental infusion and tea was born.

There’s more to this tea

His tea rituals he mapped out in Ch’a Ching (Tea Classic), the first book about tea written during the 8th century.

Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian in its philosophy, Chinese tea ceremonies are centred around peace, mindfulness, and appreciation.

And as many as the tea leaves in a cup, their most famous ceremony is the kung fu tea ceremony, sometimes known as gong fu.

Of course the tea we all know and love in the UK is from the Jewel in the Crown.

No, not the curry house.

But where Our Little Corner of The Earth, or OLCOTE, the hotel retreat of my old Sri Lankan-Irish force of nature Tess De Kretser will pour.

But from Assam in India, and Ceylon, which we all know as Sri Lanka.

If the British love their tea then the Irish love their tay double.

Only be sure to know which brand to order where…

So that’s Lyons in Dublin where it must be Bewley’s Oriental Cafe on Grafton Street and Barry’s in Lafayette’s in Cork.

Rockies tea

The benchmark: Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse

Just like cats and dogs we’re told that you’re one or the other, tea or coffee.

Only we’re both, and even in the cwaffee-loving Oo Es of Eh, or especially, tea can be a delicacy.

As we found when we rocked up in the Rockies and discovered the links between Boulder, Colorado and Dushanbe, Tajikistan .

It’s 35 years since the Mid-West of America and the Mid-East of Asia hooked up.

And they built strong foundations from the off with architect Lado Shanidze leading more than 40 artisans in several cities of Tajikistan.

To create the decor for the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse.

Including its hand-carved and hand-painted ceiling, tables, stools, columns, and exterior ceramic panels.

Like the best artists our Tajik pals have carved their names into the teahouse’s history.

With Manon Khaidarov and Mirpulat Mirakhmatov, who helped reassemble the tea house, in signing their names in the ceiling.

A message carved in the ceiling reads “artisans of ancient Khojand whose works are magical”.

All of which you can dwell on when you’re sipping your Chai.

Colourful ceramic

Eight colorful ceramic panels, created by Victor Zabolotnikov, grace the building’s exterior and display patterns of a “Tree of Life”.

And that’s enclosed by a mihrab motif (a niche in a mosque indicating the direction of Mecca.

Did we mention the Seven Beauties? Och, you’ll just have to get out there to find out for yourself.

We have to get back in the queue… we left it to get a cup of cha for the Queen.

Asia, Countries, Deals

OLCOTE, a palatial Sri Lanka retreat

9th July 2022 funtime65

We’d not recommend storming the head of state’s pad, instead we’d prefer to flag up my pal’s OLCOTE, a palatial Sri Lanka retreat.

All that said, you wouldn’t surely deny the impoverished Sri Lankans having a pool party at the Prez’s expense.

As we’ve witnessed in the TV footage of the Sri Lankans dive bombing into President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s swimming pool.

Tess de Kretser is a pal from Dublin days and without doubt the best-known Sri Lankan in Ireland.

From her days married to Ryanair’s Cathal Ryan whom she bore two of her eight children.

Tess of the Dublinvilles

Hostess with the mostest: Tess de Kretser

Tess’s story is one from the derring-do pages of adventure books having skipped her parents’ home in Sri Lanka to join a airline and see the world.

And more, much more of which we relived over lunch in Ballsbridge and a cultural night in Iveagh Garden Hotel.

All of which we’re raising here to remind ourselves how important we are as citizens of the world to crisis-hit countries.

Tourism is the third biggest contributor to Sri Lanka’s economy.

On the ball: In the Maldives with a Sri Lankan pal

But it has been hit badly by perceptions, post the 2019 bombings, Covid and now the cost-of-living crisis.

And we are in danger of overlooking, or never hearing of Sri Lanka’s charms.

Or its people whom I got to know and play football and cricket with in the Maldives.

Marco’s fave island

But don’t just take my word for it (well, do) but the most famous explorer of them all, Marco Polo, was transfixed by the island.

And he called it: ‘the best island of its size in the country.’

Had it been available to Marco in the 12th century he would surely have stayed in OLCOTE.

Or Our Little Corner of the Earth as Tess christened it.

Our Little Corner

Ya dancer: The colour and peace of OLCOTE

Tess describes OLCOTE as the perfect marriage of Sinhalese traditional culture and modern luxurious accommodation.

And you can rely on a team of private staff, the Olcote shuttle, gourmet chefs, European wines perfectly chilled and your every need catered for, you can expect the holiday of a lifetime

As you can see by the pictures.

The extended house and suites we’re told are surrounded by lush gardens, fruit trees and quiet spaces.

And hammocks (I would hope so), herbs and vegetables abound. While monkeys (and cheeky monkeys) often visit.

Sweet suites

It’s good of Tess too to name the eight suites after places in Dublin, including my own working stomping ground of Ballsbridge.

Although I would be prepared to stay in Sandymount, Killiney or Dalkey.

Now, of course, OLCOTE has all the wellness and yoga that you would need, while they will put on excursions to surprise and delight.

Prices start from €2,500 for two people staying a full week, with all expenses, transfers, food and entertainment included.

Olcote can comfortably home 16 people at a time and you and your pals can book the whole shooting match as a oner.

SriLankan Airlines will fly you non-stop from London Heathrow to Colombo with flying time 11 hours.

Plenty of time to fit in a few films.

And you’ll be feeling nice and relaxed by the time you get to Sri Lanka.

Ready to chill out at OLCOTE, a palatial Sri Lanka retreat.