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  Negombo, Sri Lanka
Wednesday, October 18, 2006

at last i'm here!!

Despite my terrible nerves and nearly being in tears as we took off from Birmingham, i had a very comfortable flight with over 700 channels of music, TV and movies to take my mind off what i was about to undertake! The flight seems so long and then just as i had landed in Dubai i had to make my way to the next departure gate and get on another flight!

Dubai airport is the size of Stourbridge and i'm sure would have its own postcode. there were thousands of people bustling round the duty free mall. i decided to give it a miss and took the 20 minutes walk to my departure gate. It was here that i started talking to Sarah, a girl from Cardiff who was going to sri Lanka to teach and volunteer at the elephant orphanage. I immediately felt better and have been fine ever since!

We arrived late into Colombo but my driver, being used to the relaxed Asian time scale, was still waiting. We then drove to Negombo and to my guest house - The Icebear. The guest house is so beautiful. so much so that i extended my stay here by another day. The people that work here are all extremely friendly, much like the rest of the negombo population, and the food is awesome.

On my first day i took a walk on the beach and stopped and spoke to a few local people. i then Sujee - a tuk tuk driver who has been with me for 2 days now. we arranged the next days sight seeing and i went back to the guest house to sleep.

Later that evening i met Victor while i was eating in the restaurant. He had just arrived from Australia. He is originally from Guatemala and has been travelling now for 5 years only going home very year for 5 - 6 months (dont worry mum, i dont think I'll be doing that!). He has some great stories to tell from India where he spent 2 months in a Buddhist monastery meditating and praying. After dinner we went for a walk to see what was around and got absolutely soaking wet from the torrential rain. Once we got back to the guest house we sat on the veranda, drinking sri lankan beer, listening to the storm, the sea and Bob Marley. an excellent way to start my trip. Was also a strike of luck that i found such a hardened traveller to give me lots of tips and advice.

The second day i went into Negombo with Sujje, my driver, and he took me to a fish market. it reeked! seriously! i was trying so hard not to heave that my eyes watered and i found myself hanging my head out of the tuk tuk to the direction of the road to try an inhale car fumes!! i had forgotten what india smelt like until then. but, i soon got used to it and went trawling round the market walking in fish guts and god only knows what to much if the delight of the fish sellers. if only they knew i wouldnt by buying a damn thing cus im allergic to the stuff...ha ha.

After the vileness of the fish market we went to the Lagoon, saw some fishing boats, went to some temples and walked round the market. Sujee was very nice and made sure that noone ripped me off. That evening i went out to a restaurant down from my guest house for veggie curry and rice. got soaked again and then went to watch a DVD with Victor. Now, i was worried bout bringing my GHDs but that boy has a laptop and CD player!!

Today i went to the Elephant Orphanage in Kegalle. It was amazing. Sujee took me again and i had a 3 hour ride in a tuk tuk. My backside feels like i did the trip on a camel. We watched the elephants being bottle fed and then they were all taken down to the river to wash. There were at least 50 of them and it was an awesome sight. the only thing i didnt really like about that place was the tourists there. Loads of germans and dutch having their photos taken with baby elephants that so obviously did not wish to participate. At least watching grown adults chase after baby elephants was amusing to me!!

Im off to Kandy tomorrow morning for a few days and then will move on to Ella before heading for some relaxation on the beach.

photos will follow soon

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