Sri Lanka

Wednesday 20th April 2016 – We touched down in Sri Lanka around 6:30am, purchased our visas and went straight through immigration. A taxi took us the 40kms into Colombo and we drank in the new sights and smells. Our guesthouse, tucked away down a little alley didn’t look too promising as it was closed but after repeated knocking we managed to rouse the owner who, given that he had just been woken up couldn’t have been more helpful. He let us have our room early and showed us a little place where we could eat breakfast. Our first taste of Sri Lankan food was eating sweet pancakes and drinking strong sweet coffee in a shop so tiny it could barely seat two people. After breakfast, exhausted from our journey we went to our room and slept until early afternoon. Our main task for the day was to find somewhere for mum and dad to stay when they arrived the next day. As it was pouring outside the proprietor kindly lent us his umbrella, the sturdy sort that doubles as a walking stick. After looking at a few places we eventually found a lovely little guesthouse called Olu Colombo Villa, about 5 minutes walk from Independence Arcade, previously the seat of British government in Sri Lanka and now an upmarket shopping arcade. We tried some delicious kottu at a swanky restaurant in the arcade called Kama Sutra. After four and a half months hard travel in Africa we finally felt we had arrived somewhere we could relax and unwind. In good spirits we flagged down a tuk tuk and picked up some beer and wine for the next day. Back outside our guesthouse we paid the tuk tuk driver his fare plus a small tip. He seemed delighted and hugged us both. As we went inside the guesthouse the tuk tuk driver came back over offering to carry our box of bottles for us. We said we could manage but he came in and hugged me again, then Alysa. Suddenly Alysa screamed “He touched me!”. The tuk tuk driver retreated to his vehicle with Alysa in pursuit shouting “How dare you!”. He hastily drove off under a flurry of blows from the umbrella Alysa was brandishing. Within seconds a small crowd had gathered outside the guesthouse to see what all the commotion was about. The ladies were very sympathetic and wanted to call the police. I knew Alysa, who was angry and shocked needed space and we withdrew from the hullabaloo to our room. Alysa was furious in equal measures at the tuk tuk driver who had groped her breast and at me for not having done anything. Not a great start to Sri Lanka.

Thursday 21st April 2016 – First thing in the morning we moved to our new accommodation and away from the scene of the previous night’s events. That afternoon we made our way back to the airport to meet mum and dad. Just over an hour after the flight landed mum and dad appeared through arrivals looking remarkably fresh from their journey. In the taxi back into Colombo they told us they had nearly been refused entry for not having an onwards ticket but when mum told the official they were travelling overland he was so bewildered he just stamped their passports and waved them through. That evening we enjoyed delicious spicy food at Kama Sutra and caught up on all the news. It was great to see family for the first time in months.

Friday 22nd April 2016 – Mum and dad came down to breakfast covered head to toe in deet and sun cream. Before they came away the nurse at the doctors had put the fear of God into them and in order to fend off swarms of dengue and malarial mosquitoes they had armed themselves with about 15 bottles of deet, 300 malaria pills and one enormous mosquito net. Mum had forgotten her t-shirts at home so that morning we jumped into a tuk tuk to House of Fashion a few minutes down the road. Mum found a couple of nice tops and dad netted some sketching pencils, a headtorch and a waterproof poncho. We had planned to have a nice meal that evening to celebrate mums birthday but this was postponed till another day after a belly-busting lunch at a nearby Thai restaurant. In the evening one of the lads at our guesthouse taught us how to play Kabbadi, a traditional Sri Lankan board game that is a bit like taking a draughts set and then trying to play Subbuteo with it – great fun.

Saturday 23rd April 2016 – Today was a day for planning and preparation. Alysa and mum researched places to visit and got quotes for a car plus driver, I got SIM cards for our phones and dad made the tea. To break up proceedings we took a trip to the t-Lounge for tea and cakes. Sri Lanka is famous for its tea and it was a real treat to sample some unusual brews. I couldn’t resist the Ceylon Silver Tips White Tea, handpicked by Sri Lankan maidens at dawn and carried in a silk pouch while Alysa tried a Rose with French Vanilla Ice Cream Tea Shake. That afternoon we loaded some useful travel apps onto mum and dads phone, a task made particularly tortuous by the fact they had forgotten just about every password for everything.