I became aware of the buses and their uncivilised honking around 530am. Accompanied by a pesky mosquito whistling in my ear their trumpeting dawn chorus made for a slightly earlier start than we had originally planned. It also became apparent that my airborne friend had had a midnight feast on my flank so inbetween sporadic bouts of scratching we finished our packing and headed up for breakfast. At 845 the Killidove guy appeared and apologised, Josh was still ba...

Having been woken unacceptably early by an unwanted political party's policies being broadcast by a loudhailer on the back of a pick up cruising painfully slowly up and down the main street we met Charlie and Hattie on the roof top for breakfast. Having demolished the coffee, cereal and toast, accompanied by some worryingly liquid peanut butter, we spread out the maps and guidebooks on the big table in the bar and started planning! Charlie had the framework of ...

We came in to land close over the Indian Ocean and could see the array of pristine islands and vast ships waiting at anchor in the wide blue bay. Immigration was mercifully swift and resulted in some more passport stamps and a lighter wallet before we were spat out into the arrivals hall which was a much more comfortable temperature than Sri Lanka had been! It didn't take long to realise that we were miles from anywhere and that grabbing a 'quick bite to eat' w...

An exhausting day of endless travelling. The TukTuk took us to the train at Matara and so started another 4 hours of sweaty locomotion. We changed trains at Colombo fort, giving Bob time to practice her public loo induced apnea and for me to forage for some local lunch. The slow train on to Negombo lived up to its name and whilst most of the time was spent watching the tracks passing underneath us, through the gaping hole in the floor, we had to keep our eyes pee...

Having slept with the shutters wide open and only the ancient vertical iron bars between us and the rainforest I woke gently as sunlight began to illuminate our lush surroundings. The white mosquito drapes billowed gently as the cool breeze moved across the bed and the room was filled with the sound of unfamiliar birdsong. Columns of sunlight highlighted the charismatic features of the room and I could not have been more content so having Bob insist we get up for...