They drive on the left??????

Sri Lanka - Negombo November 26th

I write this at probably the lowest point of my trip (well so far it isn’t over yet) its 0530 on 27^th November I’ve been up all night, my flight arrived into Sri Lanka an hour late and I was worried that my driver would have lost interest and gone home. As I’m sat at the baggage claim belt I’m filled with that dread feeling you never get when you fly Ryanair with hang luggage only. The baggage carousel stopped moving and my suitcase hadn’t appeared. The next hour was spent trying to explain the exact description of my suitcase (navy blue with white poco dots, thanks mum) to the Sri Lankan Airports Ground Staff. Once this was clear I had to explain how I was in Sri Lanka for a short time and would be leaving for Australia in a matter of hours. I had completed my loss report form I was assured that once in Perth my baggage would be able to be traced and delivered to my place of residence. I just had to survive a few days without clothes. 

Clearly Not My Suitcase

How grateful I was to be back in tropical weather. After a week and a half of cold weather I was not properly attired for the 30 degree heat I walked out into, and I don’t even know where to start describing the humidity. I was wearing trainers, jeans and a long sleeved top. I was sticky I was sweaty and I wanted a bed. Did I mention I was wearing a leather coat too and had been up all night, as you can guess Mr Cranky pants most certainly did not get lost with my suitcase. Once through customs I couldn’t help but grimace at all those lucky passengers whose suitcases had been selected for search by customs authorities. Sure a little inconvenient to have a stranger playing with your dirty knickers, but at least they owned more than the one pair. I was stuck with the few possessions I had on my back, majority of those being wires. I like to think of this part of the trip as me practising my turtle impression.

My House, Clearly a Backpackers Place

Once through immigration I struggled to find my driver, great I thought, he’s done a runner. I was almost about to set up camp in the departure lounge ready for my flight that evening when I found him, clutching a printed sign with my name on. He turned out to be my knight in shining armour. He drove me to the house where I would be staying and gave me a bicycle so I could come to his home to use the internet. Once suitably rested he also offered to drive me into Negombo Centre to a shop where I could buy some clothes a little more suitable.  It turned out to be the Sri Lankan version of Primark, I loved it. Treating myself to a few pairs of underwear and t shirts I was already too excited for the world to see my new look :). After the visit to the shops He asked me if I would like to visit a local meat market and vegetable market. 

Secret Market Picture

He explained he had to buy some ingredients because tomorrow was a poi day. This is a full moon day and on these days a family would cook a huge meal and share it with those less fortunate. He quickly saw the puzzled look on my face and said, like homeless people. My eyes began to haze as I started to wonder about how we treat our homeless back in the UK. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone making them a home cooked meal and inviting them in once every lunar cycle. This led me to thinking again, if we in the west are supposedly more developed, why we seem to treat people worse than they do here in the supposedly less developed east.

Ooops, i misunderstood the exchange rate

Still pondering my last question a new question came over me, Should I become a vegetarian. I was in a Sri Lankan meat market and I was literally watching a man carve up a piece of beef in front of me. That seems relatively ok, even watching the next man behead a dead chicken and carve him up didn’t make me want to say yes to that question. However when I saw the box of live chicken behind him that were clearly waiting for their turn to become a curry, I was on the verge of swearing off meat forever. Thankfully the vegetable market was much easier on my senses, and it was far enough away that the smell of freshly carved meat was no longer wafting its way up my nostrils. Back to my house (yes the room I had booked was full so I was given a two bedroom house to stay in) had it not been monsoon season, and had I had a few more changes of clothing I would have loved to have stayed and explored the Island more. I managed to force myself to venture to the beach (ok force might be a little strong) and I take in my first ocean view of the trip. If I hadn’t been so tired and despondent I might have felt the need to play in the water, instead I treated myself to a beer and a chicken tikka kebab, well, it’s more local than a burger:) As you can tell my tiredness was getting to me now and I just wanted to be some place I could sleep without disruption, for an entire night, I’d only done one night flight and lost one bag, I don’t half whinge.

Beer and Beach

Beer done with I cycled around my local estate and watched the sunset over the tropical palm trees. It took my until this point to notice the most bizarre thing of all. Everyone on the road here drives on the left. I’ve only had 9 months of driving on the right and now I’m getting all confused on which way to look.

My Ride to the Airport

Back at the house  I packed up my one remaining bag, with the addition of my Sri Lankan goodies and watched a little only fools and horses (the house owners not mine) whilst waiting for my tuk tuk to take me to the airport. It was my most obscure trip to the airport, in the back of a motorised tuk tuk but it was cheap and let’s be honest, it’s not like I needed a lot of room for my baggage.