Touch down! Hurrah, I am finally here! After a few weeks of rushed preparations I have landed in Sri Lanka.
I get off the plane and am immediately hit by the heat and humidity, what am I doing where all these layers of clothes? Two seconds off the plane and my hair turns into one giant frizz ball - definitely must be rainy season.
I race towards immigration (as everyone else seems to think it is the thing to do) and once there, peel away the ten layers of clothing that have been keeping me warm during the flight.
After a good hour of queuing, I emerge out the other side of immigration a little tired, hot and confused and am met by Dias, who has been waiting patiently to collect me. Dias is part of the i-to-i travel team, and I am relieved to see him, as at this point I just want to be taken to a bed.
It’s about 1 am as we drive through the dark streets of Colombo to get to ‘Ranveli Resort’, where I am staying the first two nights. The first thing I notice about the city of Colombo is the visible military presence. Before we even left the airport compound I noticed a number of armed soldiers nursing AK47’s.
The military seem to be everywhere. As our van queues up at the second military checkpoint, with about 100 cars ahead of us, I notice that even the young solider who is controlling the traffic with his stop/slow sign has an AK47 slung over his shoulder.
We finally make it through the checkpoint and are cruising the empty streets of Colombo. There is no life in sight, except for a few groups of young men and a whole lot of military! Dias assures me that come morning this place will be teeming with life. As he says this, a rather large herd of cows comes sauntering down the road towards us. A little hard to imagine busy streets just at the moment.
As we make our way through Colombo town, I notice a number of signs in bright neon lights advertising ‘Sporting Times Turf Accounts’, (after the first 10 sightings I give up counting). I can’t quite put my head around what they are until Dias explains they are betting agencies (Sri Lanka’s local TAB - nice).
Just as I’m about to nod off to sleep, Dias pull up outside Ranveli Resort, where he wakes up the security guard who escorts me too my room. The word ‘resort’ might be a stretch of the imagination, but clean and comfy and there is a bed! After a quick cold shower I collapse into wonderful bed.
