Hey, I am killing time in the internet cafe and so I thought I would send a group email to tell what I have been doing since I left England.
I flew to Sri Lanka for 1 month and it is a very interesting place to visit and I would certainly recommend it to anyone. Its cheap and there??™s much to see. Its also quite small and so its easy to travel around. At this moment it is not the peak season and so that could be a reason for the low cost. Peak season is December to March and I noticed the prices for flights then were triple what I paid. There wasn't many other tourists there and those I did see where usually on package holidays and so stayed in different hotels then me. Usually I was the only white face on any transport I took, the only guest in the guesthouse and I ate alone apart from 1 occassion. The locals were friendly but its good to meet other travellers to share experiences and exchange tips on where to go and where not to go.

When I arrived I went immediately to a beach town called Negombo instead of going to the capital Colombo. This is because it was actually closer to the airport than Colombo. I thought it would quieter and easier for me to acclimatise to being away on my own. It was nice but not much to do.

I'm a software consultant by profession. I started “serious” travelling for professional reasons at the age of 23 (in 1994) when I went to Hong Kong South Korea for a business visit for one month. I did not speak Korean and did not know anyone else who spoke Korean. Being a vegetarian compounded the problem as I struggled to get the message across in hotels.
But it amazes me how human mind works. On my second visit to the restaurant, I again faced the problem of what to eat. I took the paper tissue kept on the table and drew a chicken on it. Then I put a BIG cross on it. Then I drew a four legged animal and again drew a cross across it. Then it was turn of the fish and again a big cross.