New Girl in Negombo!

---

Hello!
Well a lot has happened in the last couple of weeks! Alice the last remaining original volunteer in Negombo with me went home which was very sad! But she was replaced with a new girl called Frances who is from Leister (and keeps on telling me how pround she is of it!) I'm sure she is lovely i just have to stop myself from getting so annoyed with her patronising me all time. i wish alice was still here!!!
But anyway I have made a great new friend called Rosanne (from Amsterdam) who is lovely and we have decided to go to India together for 2 weeks starting the last week of October (hopefully!) we are going to get tickets and visas next weekend.
I can't believe how fast Sri Lanka is going most of the friends i made when i came out here have now gone home to jobs or uni back in England and so it is very strange to be one of the 'old hands!' I am now one of the people persuading the new homesick people to stay! I'm over half way through my placement now as well and i'm going to have 5 weeks travelling time at the end which I am planing as we speak!
Last weekend I went to Ella which is a little village about 8 hours from where i live. Ella is the prettiest place i have been to in Sri Lanka so far. We went to tea plantations and a tea factory which you have to do out here and i bought lots of tea! We then went for a climb up some slippery rocks to get to a hidden waterfall (I am very surprised that all 10 of us made it up there without any fatalities!) This was well worth the climb though as it was totally unspoilt by tourists (or even locals) and we had the place to ourselves. After swimming ther for a while we end to a hotel for a cup of tea and to admire the view. Ella is on the side of mountain and so the views were amazing!
At the hotel (which was well out of our price range!) was the end of a wedding and the photographer was taking photos of the bride and groom. We were there for a few of hours and they were still taking photos when we were leaving. I hope you have a lot of stamina Abs for all these photos this bride was looking a little pissed off with the photographer by the end!
I am doing a sports day in the south of the country at one of the largest orphages with a load of other voluteers on Thursday which should be fun and then on to another shopping weekend in Columbo (after much presuation from Rosanne!)
speak to you soon
xxxxx

---

Comments

[Mum]

Ella sounds wonderful -we'll definately put that in our itinerary! Next time you're in Negombo check out Dephani guest house (189/15 Lewis Place) The rough Guide says that the big hotels cater mainly for German tourists and they're very characterless. They recommend the guest houses as cheaper and nicer. They say this is one of the nicer budget guest houses - 'sleepy and homely, with a beautiful garden running down to the beach...' Can we have some more photos please! Lots of love Mum