Hotel Francis Hikkaduwa

Hier soir avons mange au Hard Rock restaurant, rien a voir avec la fameuse chaine... Ai pris des noddles au poulet, excellents. Puis sommes alles dans un bar ou on est allonges sur des coussins a ecouter du reggae et boire des mojitos, mes premiers au Sri Lanka!
Rentre vers 23h30, lecture et dodo.
Reveil ce matin vers 9h, sous le soleil, prends direct un bus local a 9 roupies ( 6centimes) pour aller a Galle tirer de l'argent, acheter des timbres et poster mes cartes ...

... d'un hotel. Rentre deposer l'appareil et le rejoins sur la plage, allons a l'autre bout et nous installons a une table sur le sable et les pieds dans l'eau a chaque grosse vague. Trop bien ai bu un jus d'ananas, un vrai pas en bouteille, puis ai pris une crepe coco banane miel avec deux boules de glace a la vanille, trop excellent, puis un jus de passion.Sommes restes au ...

... telling me that I didn't notice that I gave him a 2000 note. He has got my business from now on. Honesty may not be easy when one is tempted, but in the end I like say that honesty is not the "best" policy, honesty is the ONLY policy. It may not bring instant gratification, but the loyalty of friends, customers, and associates cannot be earned with anything else. I tell this story to many people I meet, and that also brings business to this bearded and smiling man. Honor ...

... let alone remember. 4 kilos of the fish, and an old man to clean them for us for another 100 rupees, we had everything we needed for a proper feast. Of course, to do it Sri Lankan style, we also needed a few bottles of Arrack, the local moonshine made from coconuts. For this task we sent our security guard/rickshaw driver down to the bottle shop to save 200 rupes a bottle. Candles were a must as well, so I arranged some nicely on the tables while the ...

... the massive psychological impact it must have had. You'd feel incredibly sad, and then a child would wave like crazy at the train. We had a few days on the beach before returning to Colombo to catch India v Sri Lanka Series at Premadasa Stadium. It's hard to avoid sounding smug when talking about a beautiful surf hangout where frolicking in the sea was the only thing that one has to get done by nightfall ...

... it when the tsunami hit. It's very sad! Whilst here we have: * Celebrated Helen's 25th Birthday by- visiting Galle a beautiful old fort town, shopping lots, making new friends with some guys- (they've invited us to a 14hr party in a few days!!) Got rained on, being unprepared we both had to climb into my waterproof poncho- well it wasn't exactly waterproof, we got drenched! Ate cake for every meal that day! Made friends with 7 twins! That evening ...

... a bit of sad news here..............Emily & Rasika's dog Pongo died quite suddenly a few weeks ago which was a bit of a heart wrench for everyone. Also I stupidly dropped my camera the other day & the LCD screen broke so had to make another 3 & a half hr bus journey up to Colombo to get a new one. Cameras are definitely not cheap here!! One of my friends Jo left yesterday & headed to Thailand but I think she'll be coming back in a couple of weeks! This place ...

... of the busy main road to the beach. All day big lorries and more disturbingly state owned "murder buses" thundered down the road which ran from Colombo to Galle, the nearby town. The buses looked intimidating and were driven by half crazed looking drivers who clearly got a thrill from driving at speed and racing up behind cars and blasting them out of the way. The noise of their horns, which often woke me up at 5am when they started up again, still ...

... said immediatly we would pay him the $25 and we thought it would be the end of the issue but Oh No! He demanded we paid 1,000 Rupies extra for the inconveniance of going to Hambantota - in reality he could send anyone and the price for a return faire on a bus would be 50 rupies so we refused to pay. He starting screaming at us and physically trying to force me onto his bike to go to the police station, i pushed him away and after a little commosiuon where he ...

... me "We keep to show to visitors". Hmm, I think this particular turtle hatchery was intended for tourism more than conservation. After that we went to see traditional stick fishermen before visiting a spice garden. Seeing and smelling spices growing was great and we even took a boat trip on Koggala lake to cinnamon island where we saw the sticks being made. Being ushered into the shop was expected but the one here was pretty good. I was tempted by the cheap bags of saffron and ...