 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
BABY IN TOW? OR NO CHILDREN ALLOWED?
Sri Lankan Sun, baby in tow
Parisian Wandering, No Children Allowed
SRI LANKAN SUN, BABY IN TOW
by Rob Penn
Sri Lanka, like all equatorial countries, has a fleeting sunset. At 5.45pm, the sky turns lavender and the sun plunges like a burnished coin into the Indian Ocean. Minutes later, the world is black. This final hour of the day is heavenly and, as every seasoned traveller knows, it is the time to have your feet up under a coconut palm, gazing west, with a cocktail in hand.
It is not the time of day to be changing nappies, which I found myself doing on our first night in Sri Lanka with my small boy. Nor is it the time to be wrestling with a tearful baby, nor trying to cram mashed banana into a tight-lipped mouth. All of which means, if you are on the equator with your baby and you wish to savour this hour, you have to approach the evening with the sort of military efficiency more readily associated with invading a small Central American country.
Being highly organized is, in fact, the key to every aspect of travelling with a baby. Hard though it is to swallow the truth, the drop everything in Asia holiday that marked my travels from my teens to my thirties is now a thing of the past. With children your holiday, like the rest of your life, is no longer your own. However, you can still go to Asia – something which may be a revelation to many sleep-starved parents. You just have to remember that ‘Operation enjoy my cocktail’ begins immediately after lunch.
As babies use a lot of equipment, the planning begins at home. Our first list (there were many) was of the equipment we needed to take and what we could beg or borrow when we got to Sri Lanka. In the end, we flew with a travel cot, some toys, a rubber play ring and a buggy, leaving the remainder of the plastic mountain behind. The baby sling we took was too hot to wear and we never used it.
At seven months, Lucas, was an eating and sleeping machine. Vicky was weaning and we had to calculate the amount of food and nappies that we needed. Calls to the tourist board and various hotels in Galle, the small city near where we were staying, revealed a baby shop that had everything we needed, should we run out.
The other thing babies need is routine. Our ideal Asian holiday would have been loafing from guesthouse to hotel, moving between the beach and the mountains as our whim took us. We knew this would not work for Lucas so we rented a house on the coast and took day trips to explore the area. This worked well as he quickly became familiar with his surroundings.
Travelling with a small appendage has its own advantages. I discovered this long ago when I took up travelling with a bicycle, an altogether different partner but the principle is the same. My steel companion was a great ice-breaker with the locals in remote parts of India and crossing the steppes of Central Asia. A gurgling sprog, I discovered in Sri Lanka, affects a similar result.
Everywhere we went Lucas was greeted with extraordinary enthusiasm. In every bar, restaurant and hotel, waiters and managers did not just welcome us, they scooped Lucas up and bore him away to be entertained. This is, perhaps, the greatest joy of travelling in Asia with a baby: there is an army of child minders waiting for you on every street corner, in every shop and every beach bar.
Why
Sri Lankans are so adept at entertaining children is simple: ‘Though
I only have one sister,’ Mahindra, the manager of Wijaya café
near Unawatuna beach, told me, ‘I live in a house with my extended
family and I have been taking care of babies since I was five, so I know
what to do. Why don’t I hold Lucas while you go for a swim?’
And we did, regularly.
We became well known in the neighbourhood on our daily walk through the shady jungle, a short distance inland from the beach. At each gate, children would gather to stare at the pale faced baby in his mini rickshaw (buggy). Lucas loved it.
In fact, he loved everything about his holiday. He loved bobbing in the sea, he was thrilled to be out of nappies – they gave him prickly heat – and when Jayanthi, the maid at the house, insisted he move on to solid food, he relished the dishes of pulses and vegetables that she served.
Jayanthi was not the only one to advise us. A tuk-tuk driver reprimanded us for letting Lucas’ hair get wet in a storm, but we were really made to look like amateur parents when, in the last few days of our holiday, he learnt to crawl. Suddenly, Lucas was everywhere and the prospect of his parents being in position A for a cocktail disappeared as fast as the setting sun.
When to go: December to March is the traditional dry season in the south-west corner of Sri Lanka, though this seems to be changing. February is the best month as there is little rain and it is not too hot. On the coast, there is often a cooling breeze.
Getting there: Sri Lanka Airlines (020 8538 2000) have a ‘Child Care Assistant’ on all flights to Sri Lanka. There are seven direct flights a week. Return flights cost from £415.
Getting around: For long journeys, from Colombo to Galle, we hired a car and driver. Around Galle, we took the bus and used tuks-tuks, which Lucas loved.
Health: Ensure that you have a good medical health policy that allows you to be evacuated in the event of an emergency. Lucas had a tuberculosis jab in addition to the NHS recommended child immunizations. All three of us took homeopathic malaria prophylactics. The region we were in is not high risk. We went to great lengths to prevent being bitten. Lucas had a child-friendly cream called ‘Mosi-Guard’. Mosquito nets for the cot are essential.
Where to stay: To rent a house along this
stretch of coast, contact Carolanka
Tel 01822 810230
email: carolanka@btconnect.com
PARISIAN WANDERING, NO CHILDREN ALLOWED
by Clare Scott
If the long summer break has been too much for you, one answer may be to take you and your beloved to Paris – let the City of Lights work its magic and provide the perfect antidote to the school holidays.
From 28 September 2003, the new Eurostar rail link is operational, shaving half an hour off the journey time. Take the 4.18pm train from Waterloo and you will be in Paris before 8pm. Consider paying the extra for first class (from £139 return). Sit back and indulge in complimentary champagne and smoked salmon whilst digesting Pariscope (available from WH Smith at Waterloo).
On arrival at Gard du Nord, make a beeline for the taxi rank, just to the right of the terminus. Unseemly haste is required, if only to look smugly at the long line of bemused passengers that will pile up behind you. Transfer to the 6th arrondissement, in spitting distance from St Germain des Pres – essential for morning croissants and general observations of Parisian life. Check into your hotel and head for a nearby café to soak up the atmosphere. Café des Flores, Les Deux Margots or Brasserie Lipp are recommended for typically French fare. Follow dinner with a cognac or eau de vie in one of the side streets off the rue de Buci.
On Saturday, lie in completed, try a café au lait at the Café de la Marie close to the magnificent church of St Sulpice. If you are a shopaholic, today is your day as most shops are closed on Sunday. Head towards the 7th, a good base to explore many boutiques, antique shops (try the rue de Lille) and booksellers (La Hune is legendary).
Then, over the river to the Right Bank, past the Louvre and into the Marais for lunch. Les Philosophes is a typical Parisian brasserie with mildly offensive waiters, or try le Petit Fer a Cheval. Take a right down the rue des Rosieres into the heart of the Jewish quarter and smell the falafel packages emerging from Chez Marianne. Eventually, you find yourself in Place des Vosges, a stunning square complete with fountain and manicured lawns.
If you are looking for some gentle sightseeing, you could do worse that to take one of the uber-touristy Bateaux Mouches or stop off at Saint Maritaine (a department store) where the top floor restaurant offers unforgettable views.
That evening you could go up to Montmartre. Don’t be put off by the touristy feel; after supper in any of a number of bistros there is nothing better than to climb the steps of Montmartre up to the Sacre Coeur and look out over Paris at night. The air seems noticeably clearer up here and the further you get beyond the church, the less touristy the area becomes. There are endless cabaret/jazz/funk clubs in Montmartre (consult the trusty Pariscope).
Sunday morning, croissants finished, why not visit the Rodin Museum, which is close at hand. The famous flea markets at the gates of the city are open on Sundays but take some guts to attack with sufficient gusto. Better to try a local brocante (Periscope again) or the book market, Marche des Livres Ancien, in the Parc de Georges Brassens just off the rue de la Convention.
Hopefully, by now, you’ll be beginning to miss your children and – fully rejunventated – ready to catch the train back from the Gare du Nord. There is always the Eiffel Tower to visit ... don’t ... save it for next year.
Recommended hotels:
Top end:
Hotel duc de St-Simon
14 rue de St-Simon
Paris 75007
Tel 33 1 44 39 20 20
Mid:
Hotel Seine
52 rue de Seine
Paris 75006
Tel 33 1 46 34 22 80
Getting there:
Eurostar
Tel 0870 5186186
First published in angels and urchins, Autumn 2003*
*A version of the Sri Lankan
article appeared in The Times Newspaper earlier this year (2003).