It started with a bang....or three to be precise

We have had a few complaints that we've been a bit slow with the blog - give us a chance - this is our first week! Anyway we now have lots to report so get yourselves a cup of tea and if you fancy it, a cherry bakewell too.

Our journey to Sri Lanka was long and boring. Slight hitch with a cancelled train from Swansea but we made it to Heathrow with plenty of time and met up with Fi for a quick gossip before check-in.

When we got to Singapore we spent the best fiver of our lives (before we got to Sri Lanka) on a shower which left us feeling a bit more human again and then it was back on the plane for the four hour flight to Colombo. Coming in to land, Gareth's trusty watch broke and I've persuaded him that this is a sign that time is not important to us now. Except when we need to catch trains, planes and buses of course. As we touched down on the runway (only minutes away from Friday the Thirteenth) it was drizzling with rain. Once we'd picked up our luggage and got ourselves some rupees we met our taxi to the hotel and settled back in our reclining chairs for the journey ahead, a 2 hour drive down the coast to Hikkaduwa. The further we went, the heavier the rain got, and eventually turned into a thunderstorm that made your brain rattle. Sri Lankan driving is something else, lots of tooting, constant overtaking and our driver dodged knee-deep puddles, tuk-tuk drivers and wandering dogs all the way. I nodded off to sleep as I guessed that Gareth was stressed enough for the both of us. We eventually reached our hotel more than an hour late, at about quarter to four in the morning and climbed into bed for some much needed sleep.

Next day we woke up late (unusual for me some might say) and did a bit of exploring. Hikkaduwa is a small town which is based around the coast road that runs from Colombo to Galle. As you drive south, there is jungle on your left and the sea on your right - and the road is lined both sides by a seemingly neverending supply of places to eat, stay or shop. We stopped at Rita's, a guesthouse and restaurant on the beach side and had our first taste of Sri Lankan food, fried rice. We both had portions that would easily have fed three and it cost about 200 rupees - about a pound. The food prices here are unbelieveable - bottles of Coke 40 rupees (20p), 80 rupees for a big pot of tea (40p) and all sorts of mini-snacks (called short eats) starting at about 8p. Best of all, Lion lager in 600ml bottles for 120 rupees (60p for those of you who haven't worked out the conversion yet). We've had a few of those I can tell you!

There's not much to do in Hikkaduwa except relax really, and it didn't take too long before we realised how easy it would be to spend our whole ten days there on the beach. Everyone is friendly and easy-going and you feel at home there very quickly.

On Saturday, Gareth hired a board and hit the surf while I did a bit more relaxing at Rita's with a pot of tea. I did try to get photos of him but was being a bit hassled by two dogs who seemed to live in the restaurant so I only managed to get one of him halfway there. I'm sure I'll improve though.

The hotel Gareth had booked for us (the Amaya Reef) was great - air-con, balcony, miniature toiletries and hot water - but after our first two nights was up we thought we needed to get a bit more into the backpacker spirit so we found a place a few doors down, Blue Note, where we got a cute little cabana on the edge of the beach with none of the lovely features of the Amaya Reef. We had to use the mossie net, pegless washing line and universal travel plug but it only cost us 1500 rupees (you can work it out, cheap). Found some little bug in the bathroom in the evening but at least it wasn't a cockroach......

On Monday morning we organised for a tuk-tuk (a three-wheeler vehicle, a bit like a cable car with wheels and without all the safety features) to take us to Galle. Galle was a Dutch fortress town and we got dropped off by our driver inside the fort, armed with our Lonely Planet guide and a list of potential guesthouses. The first was no longer a guesthouse, the second was revolting and the third was Mrs Wijenayake's. We checked in for two nights at the princely sum of 900 rupees a night.

Well this is our view of Galle - there is not much to see or do. Once you have looked at the cricket ground (ruined by the tsunami) and walked around the fort you might as well leave. We were hassled all the time inside the fort by people who latch on to you and won't bugger off again. On Tuesday we got a tuk-tuk to Unawatuna, about 15 minutes along the coast and spent a lovely day there on the beach.

The water is clean and calm and supposedly very good for snorkelling. We were approached by a guy wearing nothing but swimming trunks and a snorkel and he said something that I didn't quite hear - I guessed he'd asked if we wanted to hire snorkelling kit. Gareth said 'No, we're not interested' and pulled me away but this guy persisted. I thought Gareth was being unnecessarily rude to this poor chap so I said 'Maybe later!' and Gareth grabbed hold of my arm and said 'Sarah, he just offered us drugs!'. I must get my ears syringed....

Wednesday was going to be our last day in Galle - we planned to get the train to Kandy in the afternoon. We both woke up early and were lying in bed when we heard an almighty bang that seemed to shake the roof. Then there was another one. And another one. I thought maybe it was thunder, there had been a lot but it didn't really sound the same. Next came the rat-tat-tat-tat of machine gunfire - and Gareth got out of bed to see what was going on. Turned out the Tamil Tigers had sent three suicide bombers disguised as fishing boats to attack the Navy Military Base on the edge of the fort - about 200 yards away. Pretty scary. Under these pleasant circumstances we met the rest of the lodgers at the guesthouse, and most of Mrs Wijenayake's extended family. I thought that 'tea and toast' was a very British response to crisis but they do it in Sri Lanka too. A curfew was imposed on Galle so we were stuck inside the house and our plans for getting the train to Kandy squashed. A good point was that I finally finished this book I've been struggling to read for ages! At about 3.30pm a van arrived to collect Yvonne, a Dutch girl who was also lodging there. Yvonne had been doing some voluntary work and the coordinator had arranged the van. We hopped in too and were taken to Negombo, north of the airport. It was another nightmare journey which lasted 6 hours in baking heat and included a breakdown on the edge of the road in Colombo in rush hour traffic, but at least we were out of Galle.

So all in all it has been a fun first week. We've left Negombo and are now in Kandy in the hills, where it's raining but lovely and cool. But that will be another story...........