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After lazing by the pool for a couple of hours reading “Sapiens” I got a bit restless so we went off to explore Negombo. Almost as soon as we got to the main road a tuk tuk driver approached us and offered a tour of the town. I thought I ought to barter, and knocked him down about 20%, which made me feel better an I’m sure he did well out of the deal.

Our first stop was the fish market on the beach. Outside the gutted fish was drying on mats. Inside fresh fish was sold by stall holders, sometimes only a few fish on each stall. The fish was caught by the substantial local fleet, which ventures out as far as the Maldives for its catch.

Our driver took us to the old Dutch fort, only the gate exists with as stone engraved 1688. On the other side of the gate was the waiting room for the prison, which holds 1,600 prisoners (according to the driver).

The town is predominately Catholic, but the locals are also Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu, so quite like London in that respect.

We are now sat by the pool as the sun goes down, but 6pm it will be dark. The local birds make all sorts of interesting noises. Fortunately the cawing crows has now gone elsewhere, they sound just like crows at home.

We arrived in Sri Lanka on January 4th, after an eventful flight from LHR. I was watching a film (Captain Fantastic starring Viggo Mortenson) when a guy in the row in front of me passed out! An appeal on the PA brought over a doctor who attended to him for half an hour before he recovered, thank Heavens! I slept a little on the plane, with my knees jammed into the seat in front and sat bolt upright, not my favoured sleeping position. The AC was on high for the entire journey, so I had to wear my coat.

We arrived on time at Colombo International and a car was waiting for us to take us a short way to the Serendib Guest House in Negombo, a beach resort just north of Colombo. The guest house is clean and comfortable, with a lovely garden and pool. The Main Street in Negombo is lined with restaurants, hotels (on the beach side of the road) and tourist tat shops. In fact it look pretty much like resorts in Thailand, Vietnam and Bali, they all have the same facilities to bring in the tourist dollar.

Avoiding the pizza and burger joints, we ate rice and curry at the Kamlo restaurant. It was fresh tasting food, without all the thick brown sauce that covers English currys, really delicious. The local beer is called Lion, and is like Tiger or Singha, typical Asian lager, and just right with curry.

I’m typing this in a coffee shop which is more expensive than Richmond, but has excellent wifi. It’s good to support the local economy!