Sri Lanka Day One

After a fairly traumatic split from my boyfriend of 2 years, I decided I wanted to go on holiday.  What started as a week in Italy with Becky, turned into a two week tour of Sri Lanka with both Becky and Jen. It was AMAZING and I kept a diary throughout so I could start a scrap book of the holiday when I got home. I never did that , but have decided to do a post-blog about it so that I have an online record and can match pictures with words.

So Day One...

I met Bex at her house and made her be very strict with her packing - she couldn't fit everything in and needed help culling clothes.  We then got the tube to Heathrow - both opting for rucksacks rather than suitcases, we looked like pregnant tortoises with one large one on our backs and one smaller one on our front. Most uncomfortable!

The flight was OK, not great - ten hours on a Sri Lanka airlines flight with 2 of our 3 TVs not working and Bex's night light stuck on. Thank goodness for my 99p inflatable cushion and M&S flight mask - I actually managed to get some sleep, and skipped breakfast on the plane to get even more sleep.

We were met at the airport by our guide Roland (the most lovely man you'll ever meet) who took us to our first guest house in Negombo, called the Morning Star.  The roads are a bit crazy - it seems there's no right of way and everyone just overtakes eachother whether there's oncoming traffic or not.

Our very first experience of driving in Sri Lanka

Inside our room - a bedroom and bathroom at the end, with a living area at the front with spare bed

our patio

We had a lovely welcome at the guest house, we were greeted with fresh mango juice and a wet towel.  Like the first of many guest houses we stayed in, it was individual bungalows spread around a central dining area/garden.  We dumped our stuff then headed into Negombo to explore.  The first thing we noticed was everyone wanted to talk to us - we ended up giving some guy 1000 rupees for a school he said he was starting, but reading the guidebook later that night it sadly looked like it was a scam.  We also ended up in a lady's house (well, shack) as she said she wanted to give us her address so we could send her a post card - but she also asked for money,so again I think this was a ruse to put us into an awkward position to make us feel like we have to give her money.    It's hard to tell who wants money and who genuinely wants to have a chat!

loads of stray dogs. quite a dirty beach too.


heh


We went for dinner in a restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet guidebook - it was really good food.  Jen and Bex both had a curry that was amazingly presented and came with loads of different condiments, I had a chicken soup that was served in a coconut.




We walked home and went to bed, but were woken four hours later because Jen was ill and the rest of us couldn't sleep.  We chatted for a few hours before finally managing to get a bit more sleep, waking up at 6.30 for our transfer to the next part of our journey.

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