Sri Lanka is one of Char's favourite places in the world, however there has been something which has played on her mind since arriving that has made her feel uneasy. Last time we were here, there was a guy who carried around a snake in a bag and a monkey on a lead around the beach, and used them to make money from idiotic tourists who thought it was a good idea to take a photo with them. What Python in its right mind allows a little monkey to jump about on it or ...

We gravitated to the beach bar selling the biggest, most tropical breakfast. It even came with a free sun lounger for the day. Then worshipped the sun until sunset. After combing the sand for Char's rings we headed out to sample some of the local cuisine. Mounds of curry, beer and cocktails later we encountered the most fascinating night sky, witnessing at least 20 shooting stars in a period of half an hour. We promise it wasn't the alcohol.We couldn't believe ou...

After reading a few stories about the packed trains in Sri Lanka, we got a 5.30am tuk tuk so that we would be at Colombo Fort train station in time for the first train of the day at 7am. We booked the tuk tuk with a friend of our hotel owner who had sat at our hotel all day waiting for us to crack and to give into his price. Seen as we are traveling around Sri Lanka, we wanted to go for the cheapest option which was a tuk tuk and then train, however we did not un...

The tremendous monsoon that drowned Negombo today cancelled the pool day we had planned as this city is just a stop over on our way down south. So what to do in a city where there is nothing to do/see? As you all should know by now there is always something and today the something to keep us occupied was self indulgence. We achieve this by eating a tonne of Sri Lankan curry, drinking Sri Lankan Lion beer and having a Sri Lankan Ayurvedic massage at a nearby spa. ...

An early start gave evidence to a second day hangover but being the brave courageous northerners that we are we cracked on. Packed for Sri Lanka, uploaded the blog in an Internet cafe and caught the shuttle to the airport. It is worth noting that at this point only a select number of people know about our journey to Sri Lanka and our pending Xmas day surprise to the family. That is if Sheila and John can hold their water. The flight was not a good sign of what...