We flew in the late evening on Jet Airways back to Mumbai, which was delayed by 2 hours and then had a few hours until our 3.50am flight to Colombo. All flights were at terrible times due to the resurfacing of the runway at Colombo. In case you are ever tempted to spend any time at the Nirvanta airport hotel at BOM airport I can advise you not to do it. No soundproofing at all and the check in and check out take far too long. A waste of money, we should have stayed in the airport lounge.

We flew business class on Sri Lankan which had a fully flat bed for the 2 hour flight. Service was fine, we mostly slept.

Arrival at Colombo was fairly chaotic with long queues for immigration. We decided to take a gamble and stay for 3 nights at Kahanda Kanda, after worrying that the Amans were not worthy of an 8 night stay in view of recent mixed reviews. Overall we were happy with that decision. It's a 2 hour drive, mostly along the new highway, to Kahanda Kanda which is situated in a beautiful spot 15 minutes inland on a hill overlooking a tea plantation, jungle and Lake Koggala. It is a good compromise if you don't have the time to make the trip to the Tea Trails. The small hotel is slightly quirky in parts, but the English manager is clearly determined that guests are looked after and have the best experience possible. We stayed in the Hibiscus villa which is free standing with a large terrace and its own plunge pool with magnificent views. The villa was cool and calm and we slept very well there. Nature was everywhere and we lay in the pool and watched monkeys, extraordinary bird life, mongoose, enormous lizards and many other creatures. Dusk was particularly spectacular when many of the birds would fly overhead down to the lake to settle for the night. Food was very good and service generally attentive although there were some language issues.

One of the great advantages of Kahanda Kanda is that they have opened a new small hotel 15 minutes away on the beach called KK Beach. They take you there in a tuk tuk and you can spend the day by the pool next to the beautiful beach. Lunch there is delicious with a great wine list.

One day we took a boat trip on Lake Koggala which was interesting and involved visits to a picturesque temple set on an island in the lake. We saw Tri, the new luxury eco resort from the lake, which looked interesting.

Kahanda Kanda is not Aman level luxury but it's very relaxing and certainly gives you a different impression of the countryside and nature of Sri Lanka with a high level of service and privacy. I would return.