For my last day in Sri Lanka, I have been getting some final things done. A tuk tuk into Negombo to get some medicines just in case I need them over the next few weeks. Then a visit to the hairdressers to ensure I have short hair for the next leg of my journey. A cut and a head massage thrown in, all for £2. It's 30 degrees here most days and even the local people find it pretty hot and humid. Thunderstorms are forecast for tonight and tomorrow and so I hope...

I was up before daybreak for the short tuk tuk journey into Negombo to visit two fish markets. At 6.30 in the morning, the area was bustling with activity and the fish came in all shapes and sizes including hammerhead sharks and giant tuna. It's at times like this that you fully realise that we humans really are at the top of the food chain. I managed to get another tuk tuk which took me over to the beach market which I had visited at the start of my time here. I...

I had a great morning heading out to sea on a catamaran with three local fishermen. They are such brilliant characters, all enjoying what they do and with a love for the ocean. They operate their boat for tourist trips at this time of year or during the monsoon, for fishing trips to gather calamares, prawn, crab and lobster. After a big push to get the boat into the sea, we are soon underway and the sail picks up the wind overhead. From time to time, they throw w...

The first thing to do today has been to find somewhere to stay for tonight and the next week. I have decided to base myself here in Negombo and not to travel too much but give my body a chance to recuperate. Therefore I am staying in a beachside hotel with a pool and will chill here for a while. I move back again tomorrow to Hotel J two doors along from where I am tonight- in between is the construction site of a new hotel development. It seems strange to be comp...

I arrived yesterday in Sri Lanka and am staying at the coastal resort of Negombo on the Indian Ocean. The duty free area at the airport was one of the most unusual I have experienced - ovens, washing machines and fridges for sale and many people are seen at the taxi rank with huge fridge freezers in their trollies! The ocean is benign and the sunset truly spectacular but only ten years ago this country was badly affected by the Boxing Day tsunami. Fifty thousand ...