With the sunset the night before I could feel that I was on the back nine of my vacation. As I packed my luggage and left the Red Lobster in Hikkaduwa, Dubai was waiting off stage. There were seven hours remaining, more than enough time to drive the 82 miles to the Bandaranaike International Airport where I started my journey six days earlier.

I told Manog that I needed to be at the airport at 5:00 P.M for my 6:20 flight. I should have told him earlier because the acknowledgement of time seems to be but a concept and not a steadfast rule in Sri Lanka. I also told Manog that I want to buy a Sarong and maybe do some shopping in Colombo. I still was looking for postcards. When we had passed through the walled Portuguese/ Dutch city of Galle I had found a tuk-tuk pillow that I was kicking myself for not buying (http://www.souk58.com/).

I also mentioned wanting to see turtles so I was kind of curious when Manog pulled the car off the road to a tropical port along the Maduganga river. Were there turtles? No, it was the offer of a river safari. A bit touristy but with Hoài Anh we were able to get the skipper to half the cost of the two hour tour to only $10 a head. I stepped onto the speed boat half thinking about Dubai and the airport and half thinking about the theme song to Gilligan's Island. Was that a two or three hour tour before the Minnow was nearly lost? "Just sit right back, and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, That started from this tropic port, Aboard this tiny ship...Five passengers set sail that day, For a three hour tour". A three, not two hour tour; how far away could you get away in three hours, or two?

I tried not to think about the airport and focused on the journey up the Maduganga River. According to our river guide the river and the surrounding Madu Ganga wetlands were home to over 300 species of plants and nearly 250 species of vertebrate animals. It was also one of the last remaining tracts of pristine mangrove forests in Sri Lanka. More monkeys, more monitor lizards, no elephants.

We stopped off at the Cinnamon Island to watch people strip and dry cinnamon bark. We spent about ten minutes touring the Kothduwa Buddhist temple; it was isolated, on an island sitting in the middle of a lake. The temple was home to seven monks, and more importantly home for some of the largest squirrels I have ever seen. They were the size of cats and had no fear.

Opposite the temple, on the other side of the lake was a floating fish hatchery, and for 200 rupees the hatchery attendants let me stick my legs into a pool full of tilapia so the fish could eat the calluses off my feet. They called it fish massage. It tickled to no end and I did not last long before I clambered back onto the boat for the journey back to the dock.