We are leaving Sri Lanka tomorrow morning, for Dubai, and I must admit I am very happy about that. I'm left with quite a bad feeling about this whole country. I am not too impressed. Not that I regret coming here at all, I mean, I want to have been everywhere, and now I can cross off Sri Lanka on my list of countries. I always divide the countries I have been into either places I'd like to come back to, or not. Sri Lanka falls into the latter.

I don't really know where to start, but it kinda topped itself this morning when we got our hotel breakfast, and there was a bug on my fried egg. Quite a big one as well, so not so difficult to spot. But obviously no one who worked there saw it, or maybe they were just too lazy to do something about it. Needless to say, I didn't eat my fried egg. They just don't seem to care much about hygiene in this country, at all! Every hotel room is dirty, the people are dirty, there are bugs in the food. I know they are a poor country, but that does not mean you can't have a wash, or put on clean clothes, or sweep the floor of the hotel room before new guests arrive. And how about giving the shower a clean once in a while? It's just common sense really, well…for most people.

The Sri Lankan people have not charmed me much at all either, sure, some do smile and give you a wave hello. But most people just see you as money, and will try in any way to scam you out of as much money as possible. Ridiculous prices like 15 dollars/ 75 kroner for a load of laundry! Give me a break, that's even more expensive than Norway! If you ask them a question, you often need to repeat yourself three times before they come up with a good answer or do something about it. It's not that they don't understand, they just can't be bothered. They'll have 10 people working in a hotel with only 4 guests, and still they can't bring you a clean glass to drink out of, or wash the dirty mirror in the bathroom. That's just pure laziness! Some of the boys here are quite sleazy too, they'll laugh and say stuff in their Sinhalese language, and I am probably better off not knowing what they say about me, coz I don't think it would be something nice!

All right, there is my little rant about this country. It's not like we've had a bad time, but I am not coming back any time soon. There are just too many other places in this world that are much better. It makes me think twice about ever going to India too, which I can only imagine as being even dirtier and more crowded! Yikes!

We stayed in Unawatuna one more day, relaxed on the beach, and did some souvenir shopping. Friday morning we jumped on the train along the west coast, up to Bentota, which according to Lonely Planet was supposed to be the best beach in this country (and Lonely Planet has been pretty correct as far as this country goes). It was nice, and very empty and quiet, but also very windy. I must admit I liked the touristy scene at Unawatuna better. We soon realized there was not much to do around there, and decided only to stay one night. It was the sort of place where grossly rich white people go to stay in one of the many overpriced resorts. We saw some of them running around on the beach in their speedos, and that is definitely not a pretty sight for anyone!

Before we left Bentota yesterday, we went to a turtle hatchery. It was a volunteer place, where they keep turtle eggs to hatch (klekke), and then when the babies are a couple of days old, they let them out into the ocean. Because so many people steal eggs and animals eat them, there are not so many that are born in the wild anymore. It was a nice experience, and the babies were very cute!

We came here to Negombo yesterday afternoon. It is a beach town only 20 minutes away from the airport, and as our flight is on Monday morning, it is nice to be close by. I haven't felt so well today, so we have been taking it easy, just a small trip into town and reading on the beach.I think we are both quite ready to leave this country, for something (hopefully) cleaner, with nicer people and not so many mosquitoes!

I don't know what to expect from Dubai, in some ways I think it is one of those places that you should have been to once, but you don't want to come back to. Now, I know that it will definitely be a relief to be in a clean , somewhat westernized place after 10 days here, and I am really looking forward to it actually. It will also be my country number 40. Yes, that means I have been to 40 countries! That's pretty good isn't it? I'll keep you updated from the United Arab Emirates!