Last night we stayed in Galle Fort. The room was in a restored Dutch house within the fort walls. Somehow the ancient walls of the fort withstood the major force of the tsunami in 2004. Otherwise the coast near here was very badly hit with large numbers of casualties. 33,000 people were killed by the tsunami in Sri Lanka and 500,000 made homeless. The room we are in now has been rebuilt since the wave hit Hikkaduwa.

Sri Lanka is full of surprises. Our driver Mr Gama Ounago has taken us to many amazing places already. The very high security in Colombo, the ancient cities of Anuradhapura and Mihintale, the scary climb up a volcanic plug to see ancient ruins at Sigiriya, a cave temple at Dambulla, the elephant orphans at Pinnawala and the glorious botanical gardens at Kandy - especially the orchid house! Tomorrow we leave Kandy and it's Sacred Tooth Temple, [we dare you to loo...

We arrived in Colombo yesterday evening after a week of reorganising and frustration. The problems were precipitated by the Tamil Tigers and the fallout from their recent activities. Not long ago the TTs used a light aircraft of some sort to drop two bombs over Colombo airport. So Cathay Pacific decided to cancel all flights until october 2007! Stuck in New Delhi for the rest of our lives we decided to find our own way to Sri Lanka. If you've ever been to Delhi y...