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Asia » Sri Lanka » Western Province » Colombo
October 30th 2008
Published: October 30th 2008
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RoadRoadRoad

Quiet road in Colombo
Although half way across the world, getting here wasn't all that traumatic. There was some confusion over how I managed to check into my London flight at Aberdeen airport (and thus whether or not my luggage would be transfered through) but I was just happy not to have missed the flight.

The London to Colombo (via the Maldives) flight was alright, generously paid for by the 'Wood Family Trust'. 10 hours without air conditioning sitting beside a guy with a tendancy to cough all over me wasn't so good, but this was redeemed with all the free food and drink, not to mention SEATBACK TV's (!). Although after watching 'Kung Fu Panda' 3 or so times in a row I challenge anyone not to find Jack Blacks voice a little grating...

I'm spending the rest of this week with friends of my dads, allowing me to acclimatise to the heat and catch up on all that lost sleep. Getting driven there from the airport gave me a chance to see some of Sri Lanka for the first time. First impressions are; there are more armed soldiers on the streets here than there are in Britain, it's very warm, the scenery is very nice and everyone using the road is either very stupid or completely fearless; Busses cutting up mopeds, tri-shaws cutting up cars and pedestrians cutting up everyone else. I'm not sure why they even have traffic lights; it's not like anyone's paying attention to them!

I got a Sri Lankan sim card yesterday (if you want to send me a text then go for it, it only costs me 2 rupees to reply!) and went for a wander today. I'll be going south to the charity in Seenigama on Saturday so look out for an update.


Oh, almost forgot. Woke up at midnight on the first day because of the heat (a/c had switched itself off). Turns out there had been a power cut; the Tamil Tigers had flown into Colombo with a couple of planes and were dropping bombs. The Government thought it best to black out the city, but the night was lit up with searchlights and the pitter patter and tracer fire from the anti-aircraft guns. Very exciting. There was a small artical about it in the paper then next day, but because the newspapers here are all state contolled it was
Precarious scaffoldPrecarious scaffoldPrecarious scaffold

Health and Safety?
fairly played down...

I'll update again if anything nearby blows up!


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Tri shawTri shaw
Tri shaw

They all want to give me a lift. I don't want a lift. They don't care.


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