Sri Lanka

Hello from Colombo

We arrived here two nights ago and have been staying at the 'AAA' Guest House here in Sri Lanka's capital(although we may rate it just one A.)

Yesterday we got in at 2AM and crashed hoping to sleep off the jetlag of the flight from Bangkok. At 7 there was a knock on the door. It became more persistent. Must be important. Hilko pulls himself out of bed and there was a girl at the door with our tea. Hilko smiled and took it, put it on the table and was asleep in a few minutes. It wasn't long before there was another knock with the same vigour. This time it was our breakfast. We were running out of room on the table. Thankfully, we were not bothered again and slept into the afternoon. After getting up and watching a few rounds of the English Asian news, we caught seperate tuk-tuks(they have them here too) into the city. Hilko and GE's decided that he needed some gas so he stopped off to fill up and completely lost us. A few hours later, after looking around the city to no avail, we doubled back to the hotel to find Hilko and GE waiting for us. We discussed the pointlessness of trying to find eachother in the market downtown. First of all there are hundreds and thousands of tuk-tuks and they all look about the same. Second, Colombo is so confused and busy and crowded that it makes Haiti look like Switzerland. I guess I thought I had seen busyness but this city sets a new standard. Thankfully, we did find eachother. It was a tense moment since I was the one with the money and the passports and all the information. If they would have had to find their way back to the hotel without any help, things could have been pretty desperate. Thankfully, it didn't come to that.

By the time you read this, we will have checked out of the 'A' Guest House and will be on a five-day tour of the southeast coast of the country. Sri Lanka is on the brink of civil war and as such, heading north from Colombo is unsafe for travellers. As I was checking out websites before we got here, there were things saying not to go north because the roads are mined(as in there are explosives there, not they are digging for buried treasure) and the north is were most of the tension is. Everywhere we go there are signs calling for peace. And rightfully so. This place has a very distinct feeling of unrest. Today I glanced at the calendar here in the office and beside the number for car accident services is the number for bomb disposal. This is definately not Thailand anymore.

Back to the tour. Mostly we will be seeing the coastline but toward the end we will head inland to see Kandy, which is a holy place in Sri Lanka and is famous for its temple. Should everything go as planned, we will be at the airport on Wednesday in time to fly out to Bombay, India. Your prayers for our safety are coveted as this will be by far the most dangerous leg of our trip. We don't anticipate any of the tension up north to come our way, but 'on the brink of civil war' usually means that it can strike any time, anywhere. We hope to give updates as we go, but aren't sure if Internet will be as easily accessible on the countryside as it has been here in the city. Ideally, we will be able to post some text and maybe even some photos. This country is one of those places you have to see to believe. More from us soon.

Cheers,
E