Long time no entry. Since Kuala Lumpur I have flown to Sri Lanka, spent one night on the beach in Negombo and after that toured around the country's main tourista attaractions with a LPG Taxi. As we stayed in guesthouses in the jungle or at the mountain slopes I have not had access to proper Internet before today.

First I saw the ruins of Anuradhapura, which was the first capital of Sri Lanka until about fifth century. Then we went to a place in Sigiriya, where we stayd for two nights and went to see the Sigiriya rock castle ruins and famous cave wall paintings. Second day we went to Polonnaruwa to see ruins there. It also has been used as the capital of the country.

Next stop was Kandy, which was the last Royal Capital and currently the second biggest town of the country. Kandy is a very beauriful and green city between and on mountain slopes. The guesthouse was high on the slopes with nice views.In Kandy I saw the famous temple complex which has a very famous Buddhist temple holding the tooth of Buddha, a hindu temple and a Catholic church. I kandy I also saw a traditional dance performance including walk on fire.

After Kandy we stopped on the way at Dambulla cave temples which contain tens of beautiful Buddha statues. The following night we spent in Nuwara Eliya, which is a mountain town in about 2000 m hight and an old English colonial town in the middle of tea plantations. We stayed in Victorian style hotel which had fireplace in the room. Temperature was below 15 Centigrade so fire might have been good but I was too lazy to find out how I could have got some firewood. Part of the city where hotel was located is called "Little England" and is one of the UNESCO world heritage sites as well as Anuradnapura, Sigiriya, Kandy and Dambulla.

Our last overnight before Hikkaduwa was close to Yara Natural Park in Tissa. Yesterday morning I woke up at five a'clock and started a Jeep safari to the national park at 5.30. The park was full of wildlife. We were lucky to see two leopards and one wild elephant from about 50 m distance. We also saw a lot of peacocks, jungle c*** (Sri Lankan national bird), buffaloes, wild boar, various deers, crocodiles, tapir and large number of other birds including eagles. The safari was very expansive (About 75 euros in total) but I consider it worth it. I read in one of the brochures I have that Sri Lanka has the second highest biodiversity in the world after Amazonas, and I can believe that after visiting Yara.

On the way from Tissa to Hikkaduwa we saw the Dutch fortress of Galle, which is the seventh Unesco World Heritage site in Sri Lanka.

Hikkaduwa is one of the main beach resorts in Sri Lanka. After decades of civil war it is badly run down, but the natural environment is as charming as ever. I believe that in a few years time this and other Sri Lankan beaches will again compete in par with Thailand and other similar places after tourism picks up properly.