Sun, sand and sea :)

Hey! Im back in Colombo for the last time. Seems like this is the only city with decent internet connection. All other places have modem which is incredible slow. Although they all claim to have broadband. If I ask: Do you have broadband/cable, the answer is yes. If I then ask: is it modem? They also say yes....and then its obvious they do not really understand what I am asking, but it usually turns out they have modem and it costs a fortune. In Colombo they really have broadband and it is 1/3 of the price in other areas. However, I did not expect to get good access outside of Colombo anyway, so Im actually impressed by all the internet places that did exist:)
(photo: CK & Gucci in front of the house we borrowed)

Anyway, last wednesday I met up with Ida, the Swedish girl and we decided to travel together to Unawatuna for some days untill I had to go back to catch my flight. Ida has been staying with her Uncle here in Colombo for a few weeks. She was also a bit deperate for some company :) When she told her uncle that we planned to go south, it turned out that her uncle had a friend who had a house in Unawatuna... and so it happend that we ended up staying there. A beautiful house with aircondition, beautiful garden and 2 German sheperds (guarddogs) called CK & Gucci. Luxury at last ;)
(photo right: Ida, the swedish girl)

The house was just across the street from the beach. When we got there I also realised that last time I was here I had been on the wrong end of the bay...because here it seemed to at be more yong people, still couples though, so still hard to get to know people as they tend to keep to themselves. Anyway, this time I had company so I didn't care. (photo: Dog drinking water)



We spent the days lazing about, but we didn't really stay that much on the beach since it was/is burning hot. It is about 35 C in the shadow these days and from 11 am to about 2-3 pm you will burn to death if you stay on the beach. Well, maybe not, but I didn't feel like testing it. So we tried to avoid that time of the day. We still got more than enough sun though and a lot of swimming in lukewarm water. (photo: me enjoying beachlife)

We were even so lucky that we met Mr. Massageman. He introduced himself like this: "Hello, my name is massageman". "Hehe...oh really? Nice for you..goodbye"! He didn't take our ignorance as a defeat though. There were quite a lot of touts/beggars frequenting the beach, but as long as we ignored them they seemed to avoid us...but massageman was a bit funny, he seemed a bit hyperactive. Everytime he approached anyone he waived his arms in all directions claiming that the whole beach was his area. (My area, my area, you come get massage!) :o However after enough of ignoring looks from us he finally trodded off to find new victims.

Apart from beachlife there wasnt much else to do. Unawatune is a pretty quiet village. We did go into the city of Galle and look the fort built by the Dutch when they ruled...and on one end of the bay in Unawatuna there is a small Buddhist temple that we visited. (photo: Buddhist temple)

And sometimes I just went to the house and stood infront of the aircondition while drinking icecold water....it was really a good feeling. (At home I normally sit on the heater though..hehe the opposite is the case here)

Hm...what else, not a lot. We had monkeys on the roof one day and the dogs went crazy..ah and I almost forgot; while on the beach a dog peed in Ida's bag!! (both tragic and funny)




I'm heading home on wednesday so not much more to write, but I migth do one more entry with stuff I have forgotten to mention or just simple observation from Sri Lanka. I have seen and experienced soo many things everyday and I have not managed to write half of it down (then I would have to spend all my time in internet cafes) but i'll see if I can add some keywords or similar later.

Teacountry, leeches and marriage proposals

Sunday morning I caught the train to a town called Nuwara Eliya (Noo-ray-lee-ya), meaning " City of light". It is at an altitude of 1990 m and the highest city in Sri Lanka. The climate is cool, like eternal spring apparently. I have not been able to figure out why it is called city of light though...however it was an interesting railjourney...(in lack of a better description). The train was jam-packed with people and didn't have an allocated seat, but I was very lucky to find a free seat in 2.nd class. (photo: teaplantations at Pedro Tea Estate)

From experience I had now decided that if any guys tried to talk to me I would just talk back in Norwegian so maybe they would leave me alone. Well, so much for that idea... as luck would have it the guy standing next to my seat in the aile was deaf! So he used sign language and kept tapping me on the shoulder all the time to attract my attention. Then after about 10 minutes he figured out that my armrest was a good place to sit..and I couldnt really refuse either. However it took just about 10 more minutes until he was sitting on half the seat and half in my lap!!!!!!!??? I tried to show him I wanted some space, but it was no use. So for about 3 hours I had him half in my lap, while still tapping my shoulder every other second. (!)

I was happy when the train finally reached Nuwara Eliya. Hardly off the train though a taxi guy starts nagging me to go with his taxi. However I had to buy a return ticket first so I told him no thank you. But he did not give up, so when I had bought my ticket he was still there waiting and pleading me to come along. So finally I agreed to join his taxi into town. I shared it with an English couple, Sara and Ky. (photo: people walking on the track , train going away from people !)

After dropping off the English couple, the taxi guy then decided to become my friend and offered me free rides in the van. (!) So when he later had to drive Sara and Ky to a tea factory, I got to come along for the ride. It was a 30 minutes drive through breathtaking landscape, tea plantations and teapickers.

In the evening he invited me to go to a pub, first I was a bit skeptic, but I was also bored with not meeting any people, so I accepted. It was yet another "interesting" conversation. We seemed to have A LOT in common (not). He liked van damme, terminator and A-HA :o

And of course he also didn't like Sri Lankan girls, but rather European girls (especially Norwegians). What a coinsidence. He was very kind though and I guess I should be glad that I was not a maniac rapist or something....!

Anyway, I got safely back to my guesthouse only to find out that my room was full of some tiny crawling animals that looked like leeches. They were even in my bed. I thought I would tell the owner, but everyone had gone to bed. So as a result I had yet another sleepless night watching out so the creepy animals didn't attack me. (hehe...seriously though...they were creepy!!)

The next morning I wanted to change guesthouse. However when the owner heard about the animal incident, he offered me a new room, so I accepted on condition that we check it properly for animals . Ok, so he told me it would be ready in 10 minutes. After 2,5 hours and a bit of complaining I finally got it and I got it for half price. Oooh, Im getting good at negotiationg ;) When I first told him I wanted it for half price, he said it was not possible. Then I just grabbed my bag and started to leave and suddenly it was "very possible" afterall:) So it all ended well and I spendt a few hours catching up on my sleep.

In the afternoon the taxi guy came and picked me up and we went to Pedro Tea Estate and factory where I was shown the whole production prosess and got to take some photos of the plantations and pickers.

The next morning I already had a returnticket back to Colombo, so I caught a taxi to the train station early in the morning and once again (this was a new taxi guy). The conversation started as always, where are you from? Are you married? Then I asked him back just to be polite and of course he answers; "No I don't like Sri Lankan girls, I only like European!" This is getting a bit annoying. It is not always fun to be alone in a van in the middle of nowhere with a guy who only like European girls. However most people are really friendly here, so its not actually a very real risk, just my paranoia giving me some stress ;)

I caught the train and this time I had made sure I got a 1.class seat. It was great. No people harassing me. There were in fact only 5 people in the whole carriage. Definitly worth the extra money. There was also spectacular views through half the journey, the best train trip so far!

Normally I prefer to travel 2.nd class to meet more people and see more things, but sometimes it can just get too hectic. I remember when travelling in India I never had that much trouble neither in 2.nd or 3.rd class. Maybe Im just more touchy now than then?

Well, now I'm back in Colombo for the x'th time (lost count). Im going to meet a Swedish girl in a bit. She has also been here for about 3 weeks. It will be fun to hear her experience.

I have not met any single long term-traveller and only one girl my age travelling alone. So it seems like this country might not be the place to travel the way I like to (staying long in each place and not rush around to do all the sightseeing in a few weeks). Most people I have meet are here for a 2 week holiday or sidetrip from India to renew their visa) Half the reason I wanted to travel was to meet other travellers, but that doesn't seem to happen here or maybe Im in all the wrong places (which could very well be) . Whatever the reason I've decided to cut my trip short and will go back home in one week.

I don't regret going here, it has been a crazy experience, both good and bad, but I'm not sure I would return, at least not alone. I have never had as much hassle in any other country as here (not even India (or perhaps my memory is tricking me? hehe) . Or maybe I just hit a patch of bad luck, so don't be put off by my experience:)

It is a great place for a 2-3 week holiday.
Especially if you are German and middle aged..hehe..nah just kidding. It is not that bad, but definitly not a long-term traveller/backpacker place as far as I have seen. Although If you like to surf or really just hang out on the beach forever then im sure its the perfect place to be.

Kandy - once again

Im back in Kandy (the hill city)..since I had a bit of bad luck last time I was here I didn't see a lot of the place. So I had to give it another chance. I came up yesterday. Left Colombo with the 7 am train. I didn't realise that the train had a 1.st class carriage, so I bought 2.class. When I finally found my seat the guy next to me looked at me a bit strange and wondered why I was in 2.class. "All tourists usually in 1.class", he said. Ah, well I didn't really care, not much of a difference anyway. Problem is though that I of course ended up in a conversation with this guy. He seemed nice and probably was nice, but its like they have read a textbook about how to talk to foreigners. (photo above: Buddha at Dambulla cave entrance)

It goes like this:

1. Which country?
2. Your name?
3. Are you married?
4. Where is your husband?
5. Do you have children?
6. How many ?
7. What is your parents job?
8. What is your job?
9. How long in Sri Lanka?
10. You like Sri Lanka?
11. You have email?
12. Do you like to chat? ( He says: "I like romatic chatrooms"!!?)
13. You want to be friend?
14. And on it goes....
by this time I wish the train had reached Kandy, but there where still another hour, so I had to continue the conversation...agh....its a little frustrating. I wish I was a guy when I travelled here!!!!!

These questions are more or less asked by anyone (all men) who start talking to me. No wonder I soon will be super sceptical about talking to any local men. However there are luckily also some nice ones...so I have not completely given up.

Well, enough about that. When I reached kandy I found a really nice guesthouse. The man who runs it is overfriendly and the room has HOT water (oh heaven :) ) After throwing off my backpack I went for a walk around the lake which is in the centre of the city. Its really beautiful. While walking I ran into a long line of Buddhist munks all dressed in saffron robes. It was quite a sight...I even managed to get a photo:) (I hope)

Later I had an Ayurvedic massage, which is an ancient system of herbal medicine and massage. Then I visited the Temple og tooth (it contains a relic, the tooth of Buddha, taken off his funeral pyre apparently) In the evening I went to see a Kandyan dance performance which a very touristy show but still nice to see.

This morning I rented a taxi for the whole day and went up to a place called Sigiriya. There is a rock fortress 1600 year old, a huge rock in the middle of the plains which is made into a kind of fotress. An impressive sight. I walked up almost to the top (400 m above sealevel i think) and there was an incredible view from there. Then I went to Dambulla, another historical site which has some interesting cave temples dedicated to Buddha. On the way back we stopped in a spice garden too. So I had a full on day. (photo: Sigiriya cave painting)

This evening I found a South Indian restaurant and had a fantastic dosa (rice pancake thing filled with vegetables and lassi (youghurt drink which i love) I also lashed out a bit of cash on pirated copied Hindi movies and music CD's :) So now I can torment my friends with more India stuff ;)
I also met a guy who ownes a tea estate not far from here, he said I was welcome to stop by if Iwas nearby, so I might do that.

I have still not met a lot of younger independent travellers though, it seems like the majority of people are families, middle/old aged people. Only once in a while do I see travellers my age and then they are usually couples on a romantic holiday. I did see one guy who seemed to be travelling alone though ...I was almost about to run after him to ask if he wanted some company..but of course I didn't.(hehe) But I am getting a bit desperate for some more people to talk to and share experiences with. I might meet up with a Swedish girl in a few day though. I hope that will work out. One can go slightly mental when only talking to tuk tuk drivers, their English isn't that elaborated, not to offend them, but it is a fact and my English is detoriating after too much time talking with them only :)

Well, that is more than enough writing for today..hasta la vista!

Updating a few things....

Let's see...Monday morning I woke up to rain and thunder in Unawatuna and since I was desperate to meet other travellers I decided to try my luck even further south along the coast, in a village called Mirissa. So once again i boarded a tuk-tuk. It was almost an hour to drive there, but it was a pretty nice drive if you try to not take notice of all the bumps and huge buses careening past on full speed) (photo: Unawatuna beach, Buddhist temple in the background)

Along the way I saw stilt fishers (men standing on sticks in water fishing...they must have an incredible balance!) Finally there, I started to look for a room, but after about half an hour of walking up and down in the oppressing heat with a heavy backpack I didn't have any luck. It was all full or too expencive. I was getting increasingly drained of energy, so I sat down and had a think.

First I thought about going back to the place I had just left (Unawatuna), but in a way I couldn't face another day on the beach with old german people. And one of the guesthouse guys always wanting to talk to me. I talked with him one evening (big mistake!) after that he was like mosquito (?)..always hovering around me.... So then I decided that I would go back to Colombo for a bit. That meant another hour in a tuk-tuk to get to the nearest train staion. 2 hours in tuk tuk can be a shaky affair. I had luck though, because when I reached Galle station I was just in time for a train to Colombo and when I borded I also came in contact with another single traveller, Polona, a girl from Slovenia. It was such a relief to finally be able to talk normal English with someone for a while.

The train journey was about 4 hours, however halfway we felt a jolt in the train and after a few meters the train came to a complete stop. Then a few minutes later hordes of Sri Lankans poured out of the train and ran up along the track behind the train. We realised something bad must have happend, but there was no information on the loudspeakers. I tried to ask a few passing passengers, but none spoke English. After about 15 minutes I finally got hold of a guy who understood our question, and he said: "oh, no problem, we leave soon!" (smiling) And we were like; "ok, but what happend?" "Ah, just a litle girl, head there, leg there body there", he was pointing in all directions and waving his arms smiling?!? I felt sick. A girl had been killed and cut in pieces by the train and the man was laughing! Both Polona and me go an uneasy feeling after that. It was horrible to realise how little human life is worth here. There was no police cars or ambulance (well, i guess it was too late for the latter). The train just continued the trip after about half an hour as if nothing had happend. The stretch where the accident happend was in a shanty/shack/slum town. The tracks run straight through, the sheds being only about 2 meters from the track. Children playing outside. There must have been a lot more children killed along this track. A sad thought.

Well, to swith the subject..today I got another child and I now have 3 children and my husband has arrived here (it sounds better). I wonder how many children I can claim to have before they get suspicious ?

This morning I got a lift into town and then took a tuk-tuk to Pettha, which is the old part of town, kind of market place full of rickety houses and in a pretty messy state. The plan was to do some photograhy. However I was the only white person in sight and the huge camera didn't really make me any less visible, so after 20 minutes I left. Pettah is also the poorer part of Colombo. Many of the homeless people live in this area. It sad to walk around there as there are so many people not having anything in their life. That makes me feel very bad for walking around taking photos. It did not feel right so I did not take a lot of photos and left pretty soon. It makes you feel very helpless. I've decided to support an NGO working here when I get home though. So at least to try and be of help. I think its a better way to contribute than to give to beggars.

By the way, yesterday when I was going back from town I managed to direct the tuk-tuk driver all the way to my relatives house! (wow, I even impressed myself). Its a relief to know where I am going. It makes me feel less lost and then the tuk-tuk drivers can't fool me so easily :)

Colombo again!

Today I have been here 2 weeks, but it feels like I have been here at least a month. So much stuff is happening every day so it makes time seem a lot longer. I am back in Colombo though, due to kind of impuls. I was in Unawatuna, which was a beautiful bay and great for relaxing and swimming, but there were NO people to talk to. It was full of old German tourists and the odd romatic couple, plus some families with small children. So I became desperate for someoneto talk to. I do get a bit tired of only taking to the people in the shops and guesthouses. I can only cope with a certain amount of : "what country...are you married...where are your children" questions. I have made up some good lies though. I now have 2 children and my husband is a teacher, but he had to stay at home and work;) hehe.....well it is the only way to get a little bit of peace!

There is by the way a LOT to update from the last few days, but just now I am soo tired, so will try to do it tomorrow. Today is my birthday though and by accident 2 Norwegian girls I met on the plane down here where in Colombo today, so we did some shopping together and they treated me to birthday lunch at the Hilton!! Very nice indeed. No Im off to the house for some relaxing. Will probably go uphill again in a few days. I'll do a more detailed updating tomorrow if I get time.

Unawatuna - enjoying life

Finally i have found a place that is not too hectic. After Ambalagoda I went down a little more south (I'm moving south all the time now), to Hikkaduwa, a beachtown. However the place was incredible hectic with a motorway running right through it, inflated prices and way too many tourists. So I stayed only one night. Spendt most of the day reading a book I borrowed from my guesthouse and watching surfers on the waves. A lot of surfers here:) Often very good looking too, but they seem to be a bit ubercool. So I didnt get to know any of them. (photo: Unawatuna beach)

I had a room which wasn't in the greatest shape, but it had a nice balcony with a view to the beach, so it was great for watching the sunset . In the night though I realised that the fan in the room only had effect on one specific area and the bed was not in that area! It was sweltering HOT. I thought at one point to drag the bed under the fan, but then the mosquito net would not fit, as it was attached to the ceiling. So I had to choose, mosquito bites or overpowering heat. I chose heat and as a result I slept only 2 hours on and off that night. So was pretty knackered this morning.

I decided to get out of that town and took a tuk-tuk down here to Unawatuna, a small village by the beach. It is more quiet and has a great beach. I was so lucky to get a really good room for a cheap price only 10 meters from the waters edge. Right on the beach. The people owning the guesthouse are really friendly too. So after I arrived I made myself comfortabel on the beach, I even got to borrow snorkling equipment for free.

The snorkling was not great, but I did see a few fish, which is always an experience. In the afternoon I had to go hunt for a bookshop and then later I had a massage. Ah, it is a hard life ;)

Ambalagoda and baby sea turtles

Im now in a small village 2 hours by train south of Colombo. Not my plan, but then again, I dont really have much of a plan. Yesterday morning i took a tuk-tuk (small three-wheel car) to the train station and bought a ticket to go to Galle. A city almost on the southern tip of Sri Lanka. Famous for some Dutch fort. Anyway, while waiting for the train, this old, kind looking man start to talk with me and of course he wants to tell me he has a guesthouse in a very nice place and is hinting that I should come with him. Normally I don't follow people trying to convince that their place is great, but this time it sounded really nice and since I didnt have any specific plans in Galle I thought i'd give it a try. (photo: Kumari & her friend buying fish)

And I was not dissapointed. Its a very nice guesthouse in a quiet village, owned partly by a German guy. The Sri Lankan family who lives here are also very kind. After I arrived here two of the girls invited me with them to go to the market to buy vegetables and fish. That was pretty interesting and chaotic. One has to haggle over each litte item and since I was with them they got bad deals (since I am a foreginer) so sometimes I had to pretend I didn't know them. Hehe..!

In the afternoon I was back at the guesthouse reading, when two more guests arrived. Truck drivers from Germany, they looked pretty rough. One of them almost scary, but they were ok and invited me to drink arrack (sri lankan coconut spirit) with them. I only had a taste, but they apparently had drunk 3 bottles during the evening (I went to sleep before they finished them all) ! Not really the people I want to hang out with, but fun for a chat.

This morning I went with Sena, (the old man I met at the trainstation). He took me to a turtle hatchery/rescuing place. There I saw newly hatched sea turtls and was allowed to hold them . They were incredible cute! I also saw them in bigger sizes, but normally they release them into the sea after 3 days, unless the turtle is sick or something. We also went to see some mask carving and a mine. So I really did my bit of sightseeing today.

This afternoon I went with Kumari (a Sri Lankan girl) to visit a Buddhist temple in the jungle. We walked along the railway tracks (all Sri Lankan's do this). When there was a train we had to jump down obviously ;)

On the way to the temple we saw a big varan
(somekind of a lizard), it just crossed the road a few meter ahead of us. The temple was really deep into the forest, in a very quiet area. Around 60 munks lived there. We had a look around and Kumari made Puja (offering).

Although it is very nice in Ambalagonda, it is a little too quiet, so tomorrow I will go to Hikkaduwa, just south of here. Its supposed to be a travellers hangout, so it might be good to meet some people.

Strike of bad luck!!

Unfortunately I didn't get very far on my trip, instead I'm back in Colombo. It all started really well. Friday early morning I went to the trainstation and got on the train to kandy (the city in the hills). It was a 2,5 hour journey up through fantastic landscape. The observation carriage on the train was at the back and my seat was so that I had a 180 degree view of the scenery (photo right is view from train)

When I arrived in Kandy, it was a bit of a problem finding accommodation, but after a while I finally got a room in a hotel in the center. Unfortunatley they only had the most dodgy room free, so i settled for that. I spent the rest of the day with an English girl I met. We went to a botanical garden and then to see some elephants. I even rode on the back of one "Mowgli style". In the evening I just relaxed on the veranda of the hotel talking to other travellers.

The nightmare started in the night, around 1 am I woke up feeling a bit weird all over. I also felt that my nose was swollen. I got up and turned on the light to have a look in the mirror. My nose was trippel size (not kidding), it didn't look good, so I took some antihistamin, that I luckily had with me (for allergy). I then started feeling worse, like i would faint, so I grabbed my bag with the most important things and headed for the door to go and look for help. I then fainted outside the door. I woke up pretty soon and tried to hurry as fast as i could to the room of the English girl I met earlier. I managed to get there and knock hard on the door, then I fainted again. When she came out, im flat out on the floor. I woke up again and told her that I didnt feel well (obviously!). We went back to my room, where I laid down, I was ice cold and shaking. It was really scary!! Im so glad I managed to wake her up or else I have no idea what might have happend. After a few hours I began to feel better. The next morning I went to the hospital and they told me it must have been a strong allergic reaction and that I should not travel alone if I react like this to insects. Hm....well what can i do, I can't just grab people and force them to travel with me, so I guess I just have to try and be careful with protecting myself against those creepy insects.

Since I felt pretty crap after this experience, I took a taxi back to my relatives in Colombo to rest for a few days. And if this whole thing was not enough, I woke up this morning with an eye like a ballon, because of a mosquitobite (argh..)
Im getting so fed up with insects.

However I don't plan to give up yet. How much bad luck can a person have in one go? Well probably a lot, but I hope I've done my bit for a while. Not sure where i'm heading to next, but will probably go south in a few days.

Hopefully my next entry will be more positive :)
So far it doesn't sound like I'm having too much of a fun time :s

Ant invasion etc...

Im still in Colombo, which is a noisy and hectic city. However after being here almost 3 days now, it isn't really as chaotic as it may seem at first. Compared to the cities of India, it is a lot more organised, cleaner and not as much poverty and beggars.

I am in the center again now, I had to get some travellers cheques and a special electric mosquito killer to plug into the wall...it is very effective, so it is a "must have". So now I should be prepared to battle the mosquitos. (photo: Dragon flying in Colombo)

Talking about insects, I already had a few incidents in my room, first there was a kind of centipide in the shower, but luckily it was not a dangerous one. Then the next day i noticed a few small ants on the wall in the bathroom, I tried to brush of a few, but there seemed to just come more as i did it. I then lifted me eyes a bit and got a bit of a surprise. Half the window/curtain was black with thousands of tiny ants....iiik! I have no idea which ants are good and which are bad, so once again I ran out for help. The girl that is helping in the house, Syria, dealt with the problem like it was a everyday happening...hm..maybe it is?)

(wow, im at an internet cafe and they just gave me free pizza:) Lets hope it is not poisened...hehe!) The people in Sri Lanka seems so far, to be mostly very kind, smiling and helpful. People just smiling at you from everywhere. Its very contagious, so I go around smiling more too.

Last night I went with Solveig & David (my dad's cousin and her husband) to a seafood restaurant on the beach. A really great place and perfect sunset plus food. Solveig and David have lived in Sri Lanka for 19 years. I have never met them before, only got in touch with them a few weeks before I left. Im happy for that, because it feels a bit safer to know I have somewhere to go incase there is an emergency.
(photos: sunset and beach seen from seafood place)


Tomorrow I go to Kandy, the next biggest city, which lies in the hills. Its a good base to explore the hill country. I also managed to get a seat in a special observation car in the train, first class, for only 14 NOK (about 2 $) !! Im excited about the trip, since the scenery is supposed to be really beautiful.

Ok, I better go and find a three-wheeler to get me back to the house. Not an easy task, since they always say they know the adress Im telling them, then around half way they turn around and start asking me (!) for directions...hmm....the can be frustrating as I have no clue where I am. Ususally they do find the right place in the end though.

Colombo and still alive !

Finally Im here. The flight down was pretty exhausting. I left home at 5 pm sunday and didn't arrive in Colombo until 2 am Tuesday morning. Then i don't think I had slept for almost 30 hours.

It's great travelling again though. I had to spend the first night in Oslo airport. However it was pretty good since I met some great people, Anne Torhild and Raadmund, from Mandal (Norway). They were off to Uganda to make a documentary about the civil war. We spent the night talking, had a lot in common, so im excited to hear how their documentary will turn out. They were doing it on their own initiativ, so a pretty risky thing..anyway, very impressive.

Next morning i flew to Prague, where i waited 4 hours. Then on to Dubai where there was a 30 min wait in the airport..and what an aiport! No need to go to the beach, one could just stay there; fake palmtrees deorated with lights, carpet imitating sand dunes and a lot of other glittery things. Oh, and one more thing, Dubai was an amazing city to see from the sky at nighttime. I have never seen soo much light ever before. The wole city was like a christmas decorated american house, multiplied by a million!!! Pretty awesome! (photo: Dubai airport)

Well, from there we flew straight to Colombo, arrived around 7 am local time and luckily I found my relatives outside the airport, once i stepped out. They picked me up in a car. I have never met them before, but they are really friendly and helpful.
(photo: driving through Colombo early in the morning)

Yesterday was mostly a hazy day, because of my huge lack of sleep, but I did manage to see a bit of the city. Solveig (my dads cousine) took me to a club where we had lunch and did some swimming. Later in the day i basically collapsed on the bed.

Today I feel a lot better. First time on my own in the city and it seems to be ok. Not half as stressful as India was.

I went to the railway station to buy a ticket earlier and a guy aksked if I needed help. I was super skeptic, because when this happend in India there was always a scam coming up. However this guy really just wanted to help and showed me where I could buy my ticket :) So im happily surprised.

Ok, I am off into the heat, can't complain about being cold anymore ;) Enjoy work, you people at home! (photo: Solveig & David, Solveig is my Dad's cousin)

9 days left

Today was my last day at work. It was weird, I felt both happy and sad at the same time.
I got goodbye cake and a gift. A survival hanbook for travellers.
How to handle the worst "What if ..." situations you can imagine.
Although the book is supposed to be serious, it is also very funny.
I wonder who came up with all these scenarios ?

How to tame a runaway camel
How to get out of the trunk of a car
How to jump from roof to roof
How to walk through a minefield
How to avoid being abducted by aliens (!?)
etc...

I hope I wont get paranoid now then :)

Take off in 10 days

Hey...as you see I have put in a litte description of the country I am travelling to. And as you probably have guessed, I have not made any specific plans, but instead will opt for serendipity to take place. What better place to do this than in the country where the word was born :)

All I know is that I will arrive in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, early in the morning on Tuesday the 10th of February. Im also lucky to have distant relatives living in Colombo, who I have actually never met, but when I told them I was coming to Sri Lanka they were very helpful and I will visit them at the start of my trip. After that, time will tell what happens. My return ticket is at the moment set to May, so I have 3 months available for adventure and unexpected experiences. I am soooooooo looking forward to it.
Once again I am travelling alone, since none of my friends at home have the same desire for travelling. It can be hard travelling alone, but it can also be amazing.

"A degree of loneliness sharpens the perceptions wonderfully whilst traveling." (Phillip Glazebrook)

I hope to update this diary regularly, I also hope the peace negotiations will not break down and that chicken flu wont go crazy. Crossing my fingers :)