Blogs from Sri Lanka, Asia - page 169

In a moment I was racing away from Unawatuna and the south coast, very soon into country roads passing by quaint homes with flowering gardens surrounded on either side of the road by dense, fresh green. Plants, palms and trees grow everywhere. After 20km or so, perhaps less, our path began to rise and the views changed as we passed by tea plantations. I didn’t think this area was known as the tea country. Where there was not hills of rising, layered pruned tea there were flat areas of rice fields but mainly just tea growing wild everywhere. The landscape was incredibly green, abundant, lush and tropical. I was so excited and felt so carefree watching a new world whiz by. It was a great way to travel being so close to the landscape I was ... read more

I woke up feeling quite groggy but after a shower and breakfast I soon came round. I spent the rest of the morning writing and drinking coffee. Later I got myself packed up and ready to move again. Only about 5 kilometres South East to Unawatuna this time! I had a nice surprise when I got the bill from Mrs Khalid. She had not charged me for breakfast or coffee or any extra taxes, which I was expecting. I gave her a box of Pot Pourri for her kindness and hospitality. We had a chat about each other’s family and she told me about her son’s studies. I took a tuk-tuk to Unawatuna. There was not much time to check out the landscape on this journey down Matara road but long enough to see the replacement ... read more

Wednesday 30th November 2005 I woke up at 05.00 and lay in bed thinking about the day ahead and getting to Galle. I packed up and waited for the time to move on. Once I was awake I felt uncomfortable due to the mosquitos. I took a taxi to the train station and bought my ticket to Colombo Fort. I chatted to an Englishman aged about 75 whilst I was waiting at the platform. He was stationed here during his national service and had fallen in love with the country and came back when he retired for a holiday and him and various members of his family have been coming back every year since 1990. He said that they were down in the south when the Tsunami came last Boxing Day and that they could not ... read more

I arrived home on Saturday 19th November and I am booked to leave the UK again on Sunday 27th November. I had a good few days at home catching up with friends and family and sleep. My sleeping pattern has been strange since I returned. I keep waking at about 06.00 and feeling tired by about 16.00. My pictures have come out fantastic. Seeing them on a 17” computer screen is a real treat. I have been feeling very tired this week. Currently I have absolutely no energy. Maybe it is my body subliminally creating the energy reserves I am likely to need in the next four weeks. As the departure date draws nearer I am feeling very excited about this trip. I think it will be rewarding and adventurous to travel independently for the first ... read more

Yesterday I arrived at Colombo Airport! What greeted me, though, was quite unexpected - when I walked out of the airport it looked as though the sky had opened!! The rain was pouring down by the bucketful! Even though the prospect of staying in the airport seemed more inviting than finding my way to some obscure hotel in the center of Colombo, I ended up finding the line for the public bus into the city center and crammed my way into yet another overly-full bus! The bus took me to Fort Train Station, from where a friendly Sri Lankan man showed me the way to the right bus to take me to the area of town where the hotel I had decided to stay at (the YWCA) was located. It was still raining like mad, and ... read more