Adios Sri Lanka! Well we made it out of Sri LAnka unscathed and landed back in the Maldives for a quick three hour layover we did our
best at not getting sweaty as the outer part of the terminal is not air conditioned and they do't let you in the main terminal until
two hours out. Once in we lapped up the cold air blowing around inside and sipped eight dollar milk shakes. Flying in was a treat
as we had yet to land or take off in daylight and seeing the Maldives is best done in daylight because once on the ground you
can't see much as the Maldives is only about two feet above sea level so all of the other islands look lke mirages in the ocean.

Our last days in Sri Lanka had us in Tea country I had never known what a tea bush looked like and or knew so much about the
process of picking,drying and mixing tea. The pickers pick all day with a cloth bag tied around their forehead picking and throwing the leaves over
their heads into the bag.I will never take a sip of tea again without thinking of all of the manual labor involved into it.
We drove for hours passing thousands of acres of tea they look not much different then any bush in my yard back home.Our second to last day
was spent mostly driving from the mountains back to the coast and our beach side hotel.Funny we were exactly 2km up in the mountains
and were now at sea level and when I opened our shampoo it kind of exploded as the pressure shift from up in the mountains had
caused the inside of the shampoo and my mouth wash to pressurize and come squirting out.And speaking of driving we were in a
whole new territory here and yeah I know I always come back to driving but it's what we do so we pay close attention to it.Well
if you ever wondered what it would be like to be in a Police chase this is the place for you. Our Driver Tearnace was a good driver
and seemed always in charge but he seemed to be being chased by someone.We would be passing on the right then the left dodging buses
and Tuk Tuks but it wasn't only him it was everybody.We didn't witness any road rage and people would move over to let you by or
let you back in the lane when you couldn't make it around the bus.Our car was equiped with a turbo boost button or sometimes known
as the a/c button because whenever we needed an extra boost as we passed that smokey bus he would turn off the a/c,tell you what
Tearace if we need that extra push maybe just wait an extra minute to get around the bus.Our last long day was made exciting when a guy
on a brand new motorcycle layed it down in front of us in the rain.Tearace stop opened the door and said to the guy "You alright?" in
Hindi and the guy said yes then Tearace said "To much front brake!"to the guy shut the door and off we went.

Well our last day was spent like so many others, sitting by the pool drinking beer at the swim up bar and chatting to our newest
friends of the day.Funny how that works you just start these conversations with strangers and the next day you start new friendships.
The few I can remember involved a talk in the steamroom with a guy from India about the middle east a talk in the pool with a guy about
morgages in the UK a talk at the Tea plantation about the wrong way to stop a sinking ship.Anything and everything was the topic
I never did finish or see the steam guy again as I had more on my mind about the Middle east but we were both red as lobsters when we
called it quits.Well that is all behind us as we are now in China for a 16 hour layover.

Joy kind of kept this under wraps as I thought it was a 12 hour layover, we arrived at 5:30 am to cold China neither of the
two of us remembering that and we showed up in sandals and shorts.Needless to say Joy has a new China sweatshirt and is walking around
in sandals with her socks from the plane on looking much like a old man.Me I like the cold but this might be a bit much.Now we
have gotten ourselves into another perdicument as we are inside of sercurity with no tickets issued for our next segement and they are
refusing to let us into the lounge were we planned showers and free eats.SO here we are 8 hours into our stay in China drinking
bad Americano coffee and eating noodles with chop sticks until someone noticed us struggling and gave us a plastic fork to share.
Well at six o'clock we are to be lead through sercurity and be issued our tickets.To be let out of the terminal we would have had
to pay $300 each so here we sit like that movie with Tom Hanks where he too was trapped.We take turns watching our carry on luggage
and have learned every store,cofee shop and what bathroom is the cleanest here at Gawenchow airport. The people watching here is
great couples here seem to dress like even more so then back home.Matching shorts matching shirts they seem far to young to be taking up that trait.
Then there are the people sharply dressed like in New York City on a friday night.China is a giant up and coming country just wish they would turn up the
heat in the airport a bit.Well once I post this you will know that we made it into the lounge and will try and grab a shower and
maybe a beer or two for me before we head to the next flight taking us to Bangkok for an hour layover then off to Kenya for a two
hour layover before we board a plane for Tanzania, I be looking for a bed by then as we wil have been in an airport or a plane for 36 hours by then.
Till we reach internet I will take some great pictures I hope and maybe have had a shower.Thanks for reading over and out Keith and Joy