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Published: August 25th 2007
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Arrived in Sri Lanka early on Saturday morning and were met by Aindri at the airport. Went to her house and went to sleep almost straight away, planning on getting up early-ish the next day. Midday on the second day we finally woke and went for a mini tour of Colombo, after having lunch at the 3rd oldest golf club in the world nearby. Went out in the evening with Aindri and her brother and friends, although still quite sleepy so we only managed to stay out till 3-ish.
Sunday got up a little earlier, 11:50, and had a home cooked meal for the first time in a month, which was amazing. Had a lazy afternoon before travelling down to the south coast in the evening. We went with a friend of Aindri's and two of her friends from uni in Brighton to a small beach town called Unawatuna. When we arrived we were dropped off at the most expensive hotel in the town but were pointed in the direction of a cheaper guest house by a mystery helper. He emerged out of the dark, showed us where a good, cheap place to stay was, and then just as quickly
dissapeared back into the darkness. It still took us a while to find the place, but once we did, we had a few drinks in the room, Arrack and coke out of the bottle, before going to bed planning an early start for the next day.
Monday, we managed to get up early for a change and were greeted by the mystery man again, then went down to the beach. Spent the day in the lovely warm sea and at a bar on the beach. Mystery man once again reappeared to tell us that he was leaving, which was strange given that we hadn't really met him in the first place. Went out in the evening for food and drinks, unfortunately all the bars were a bit quiet, the big nights out were a day either side of when we were there.
Tuesday morning the others went back to Colombo and we went into the town nearby, Galle. The town is surrounded by a fort, the walls of which you can walk around, which we duly did. This town was saved from the Tsunami by the forts walls, but all of the areas around were badly damaged, with
repairs still going on all around. The cricket ground in Galle, just outside the fort, is hastily being repaired to be ready for England's visit in December. From the look of it, however, they still have a lot of work to do.
Wednesday morning we got up very early to catch the train to Kandy, arrived 6 hours later and found our accomodation. The price for the accomdation was more than double its advertised price due to the Kandy Esala Perahera, a festival held once a year around the time of the August full moon. Also in Kandy is the temple of the sacred tooth relic, where a tooth of Buddha's is supposedly held. We took a tour of the temple and then found ourselves a place to sit and watch the parade. We were advised to get a place at about 6 as the parade was expected to start by about 7:30. By the time we'd found a place the streets were almost full, but almost three hours later there had still been no action. After having an 8th and final bag check the parade got under way. By the time the parade started we, and most other
Galle Cricket Ground
Being repaired after the Tsunami and expected to be ready in time for England's visit in December people around, were quite tired and hoped that the wait had been worth it. The first hour was good and was definitely worth waiting for, however, the music was questionable. The sound is hard to describe (we tried to add a video but it took too long), kind of like bagpipes but very out of tune and each musician seemed unable to stay in synch with any of the others. Aindri assured us that this was how it is supposed to sound, but we're not convinced. After this it kind of dragged a bit, with another hour of more or less the same things. Once you've seen one set of morris dancers, you've seen them all. Finally, at almost 11 the parade ended and we went to get some food, unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you see it, the only place open was KFC.
Thursday we had a lie in before returning to Colombo on the train, the views from which were spectacular, Rosie managed to stay awake all the way to enjoy them. Back in Colombo by 6 for another home cooked meal, not looking at menu's for every meal is so refreshing. Early night as we
had to be up at 3 for our flight to Goa.
We wish we could have had more time in Sri Lanka as there was so much more to do, and we would have liked to have seen more of Aindri. Maybe we will come back one day.
(For anyone concerened as to Snowy's wellbeing, there is no need to worry, he's been resting and will feature in more photos soon.)
Next stop Goa
more soon
Neil and Rosie
xx
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Laura
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oi why didnt you get some photos of you guys wiv aindri?????