Day 5 Kurunegala to near Dambulla 66km

On the bikes by 7:10am eagerly heading off down the quaint roads. The road gets busier and hectic at times. Buses being the most dangerous obstacle, the craziest drivers. Occasionally the crazy drivers take our breath away but it's quickly forgotten as we zoom down the next hill and are confronted by monkeys, cows, dogs, curious crowds, monks. We reached Dambulla and headed out of town in search of 'Little Dream' family guest house out on the Kandamala road. WIth about 5km to go it's starts to rain.
We arrive wet but are quickly warmed by a cup of tea. Afternoon walk around the misty lake. There are no natural lakes in Sri Lanka. Fantastic food at this guest house. We could stay for a week!

Day 4 Kurunegala 6km

Awake to the rain, decided to stay here for the day and explore the local area if the rain stops.
The dutch couple left in the rain, we didn't.

Day 3 Chilaw to Kurunegala 76km

Tuesday 21st Dec 2010

Fresh fruits, variable road surfaces, sheltering from the rain, friendly people.
Slept at Hotel Viveka out by the lake. We meet another dutch couple on their bikes. Grand feast of fish curry, beans, dahl, potatoe curry and rice - perfect food for hungry cyclists.
Rain throughout the night.

Day 2 Negombo to Chilaw 51 km

Monday 20th Dec 2010
Alarm 6.30am, vacate the room and start to assemble the bikes. Breakfast by the sea and on the road. A culturally fascinating day - it's so like India. Lots of people waving and enthusiastically greeting us and we merrily cycle along. Found a great guest house in Chilaw 'La Mirage'. Cold shower, begin the daily chore of washing out the bike clothes and repacking the panniers for better access. 32 degrees C - lovely. I have missed the topics. Bike in top form.Culinary delights - hoppers, egg roll, egg roti, vegetable roti, vegetable dosas accompanied by pol sambol (chillie and coconut).

Sri Lanka 3 weeks in December 2010/Jan2011

I had boxed the bike / panniers and sent them ahead to the airport with ABC Narita.
Sunday 19th Dec 2011
This will be a fairly short written account of my adventures in Sri Lanka. A picture is worth a thousand words so enjoy the journey.
Alarm at 4.50am, on the first train platform by 5.27am, at Narita (Tokyo) airport by 7:10am. Grab my bike - yipeee - check in opened at 8:15am, flying Thai Air to Bangkok then Sri Lankan airlines to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Changed some money and ready to fly.
Meet up with Linda in Bangkok and on, on to Colombo for a 11pm landing. Grab a van that will take our bikes and we head the 7km to Negombo where we eventually managed to find a bed at Silver Sands. However we had to be out of the room by 7am - well at least we got a few hours sleep.

Aussie friends

To my Aussie friends and family,
Thank you for the wonderful Christmas cards and letters that have found me at my new ACTY apartment.
It only took me 11 days to figure out how to open the letter box!!!
dah!!!!
I leave on Sunday for Sri Lanka and hope to sykpe with lots of people before then
And attend the half fast cyclists xmas party, and the YIS party and the scuba diving club party.

How many days in a week???!!!

Wishing everyone a wonderful festive season.

I miss the tropics so much, I saw these lovely orchids and they reminded me of Thailand.
Oh, and did I mention I love my new apartment, love my new neighbours because I never hear them and only 4 days to go and then 3 weeks off.

What about us???

I can't explain it, but these images attract the crowds!!!
The bear lifts the lid up and down - you gotta see it to believe it.