Colombo to Anaradhapura

August 13

I landed in Colombo at a little after 1:00 pm, but sadly, my luggage did not arrive with me. I filed a report, but didn’t have any local contact information. I finally headed out of the airport at about 3:30 pm and hoped that my tour guide would still be waiting for me. He was!! Lal had a beautiful lei for me and it smelled divine! I exchanged some money and then we went to the van. We called the airlines to give them his contact information regarding my suitcase. What I didn’t realize was that there was another five hours of driving to get to Anaradhapura. Finally we arrived after a stop to pick up some toothpaste and toothbrush and checked in to the hotel, and then I had dinner. I was served tons of food (rice and curry) looking out at the pool and a night sky through mango trees. I invited Lal to eat with me. He declined, but sat and kept me company (this was to be the standard practice until the last couple days).

Sri Lanka from the plane

Sooo green! This is probably mostly rice.

Dinner the first night. Chicken curry with SO many toppings, all of which were delicious!

Breakfast the next morning included the tiny little banana, watermelon, papaya, pineapple, and I can’t remember what the apple like fruit was.

The view from my table with their squirrels (looking very much like chipmunks, but skittering through the trees.) in the mango trees.

So lush and tropical

This tree reminded me of the monkey tree at Lake Stevens, but this one wasn’t so fierce.

Plumeria everywhere!

The majority of roads in Sri Lanka are narrow and only two lanes (sometimes only one, and quite hair raising when you meet oncoming traffic). So, the speed limit is lower and it takes longer to get anyplace.