Hilton Bash

On Saturday the 18^th of June, Hilton Colombo held its annual bash for secretaries. I was one of the lucky people invited to this fun filled day out.

We met up at 7.30 in the morning… yup, 7.30 a.m. at the Ill Ponte for breakfast. I was lucky that Kumari offered to pick me up at Rajagiriya, so we were well in time to be warmly welcomed at the entrance by the Manager Asoka and introduced to Chris and the Hilton team. We were then given ribbons of varied colours to put us into groups, duly name tagged and then led in to enjoy a lovely breakfast buffet. Many of the SLAAPS girls were there, so we were right at home.

After breakfast we were loaded into four large luxury coaches and driven to the Dolphin Hotel in Negombo, where we were welcomed with garlands of gokkola and araliya flowers and then led into to the lounge for a welcome drink.

Then on to our day rooms for a quick change to gear up for the games. The way to the rooms was ‘decorated’ with guys painted as gold statuettes posing all along the way. Of course all our girls had a wonderful time posing along with the statues who tried very hard not to smile!

After a quick change it was the games……And what games they had! They started off with the hotel entertainment crew doing a couple of dances for us including ‘Greased Lightening’ oh it was marvelous and had most of the girls trying hard to copy the sinuous moves made by the guys.

Then they played the Macarena for us all to try out. We must have looked a sight and a half with our arms waving about in every which way!

Next we had a treasure hunt. Little parcels of cookies had been hidden all around the hotel grounds. Soon all the girls were fanning out checking the loungers, the dustbins (??!!) the towels, the trees, the shrubs, the tall umbrellas and even ousting the guys behind the bar to rummage around the bottles and ice cubes! I think the only places not checked out would have been the tops of the coconut trees.

Wine, cocktails, beer, fruit juices, cold drinks and accharu was being circulated throughout the day for steady refreshment. They had a long red marquee under which were loungers with pillows and roll cushions thrown in for anyone to sprawl in and talk, there were shaded tables around the pool for those who wanted to sit there.

Next they had a ‘blanket race’. The four groups were given four blankets. They had to put two people into each blanket and race to the finish line. That was NOT as easy as it sounds with so many people carrying the blanket and running into each other.

There was then a beach volley ball game, tug-o-war, and pool games - dive for spoons and again a ball game. For those who didn’t want to get into the sunlit pool there was music for dancing.

There was an absolutely fabulous luncheon spread, (my favourites being a crab meat salad and the handmade chocolates!!).

The last event was a ‘beauty contest’ There were 15 contestants, who were then asked to introduce themselves, do five poses and a catwalk. They were of course tutored by the ‘famous’ Siriyalatha, with his blond curls, extravagant bosom and hairy legs showing them some ‘sexy’ poses which had everyone rolling around in fits of laughter.

The girls were reminded that most men are nagged at for leaving the toilet seats up in their homes, and also for not ‘aiming straight’. As penalty or trial if you may, they were each given a water filled coke bottle to be held between their legs and a beer mug placed a between their feet. Their mission was to release the mouth of the coke bottle and try to direct the ensuing stream into the beer mug without splashing the immediate environs.

That was absolutely hilarious. We spectators had so much fun with the concentrated looks on the girls faces. Priceless! The poses and cat walks had us giggling too. There were self-conscious poses, funny ones, haughty ones, confident ones and course some real beauties.

They finally picked a winner and two runners’ up, gave them bouquets of flowers, sashes while the winner was crowned. The ultimate triumph was the huge pastry crown placed oh so carefully on the winner’s head, while garlands of buns were gently placed around the necks of the runners up. One thing I really really liked was that though many of the girls from the Hilton were there, and very pretty they were too, they did not take part in the contest. As an aside I may add that they would have won all three spots hands down. But Hilton was the perfect host in every single way making each and every invitee feel special indeed.

We then had a draw where all the invitees names had been placed in a bowl and drawn out. There were LOADS of winners as there were so many prizes to win. There was also someone calling out for things which we had to find and be the first to take it up to the compeer, Gigi. She just seemed to draw inspiration out of thin air. A pink bra, she requested with the men waiting impatiently to see the person wearing one. Purple underwear, silver nail varnish, stiletto heels, black slippers, a scarf, blue jeans (oh there was a stampede for that one!) a glass (those seated nearby were generously splashed with water by those rushing past carrying water filled glasses), salt and pepper shakers, a gold sash, a silver sash, a chair (I got a prize for that as I was seated right there!) and so on.

Finally each and every invitee was given a huge gift from the Hilton (a business set) Yes, it was been a wonderful day indeed, finishing up with was a delicious spread for tea and then onto the buses to go back to Colombo.

Well done Hilton Colombo!