At Dambulla we stayed in Oasis Tourist welfare centre - a crumbling guesthouse run a lovely cheerful old lady who made us tea. At 900 rupees - £4.39 for the two of us, it was also the cheapest room we've had in Sri Lanka. The room was pretty much a box with a double bed built into it but it was so colouful and there was a strong fan to cool us down. Her dog tuttut was also very cute and playful. The living area was beautiful and had lots of family photos and we ...

We arrived in Sri Lanka at around 8. At the baggage pick up we met Sergei - a funny Russian guy who had no idea where he wanted to go. We got the free shuttle bus to the bus station with him where he got a bus to Colombo. T the bus station we met a Czech couple - who we have seem several times again along our journey so far and, as terr were no buses got a tuktuk to Negombo with them. Star beach negombo guesthouse was very nice and rigt on the beach. There was ...

One very eventful flight from Gatwick to Dubai - which included a 1 and a half hour delay due to patches of "weather" ?! And a full on fist fight complete with tomato juice slung everywhere between a mother while holding a baby and looking after 4 others and the man in front of her about him putting back his chair. We sat next to a nice Spanish lady on her way to Mauritius. The next flight wasn't as exciting/entertaining and mostly involved sleep but we ended up ...

After initial disappointment at there not being a Pret in the airport we were quickly won over by the sandwich selection in Eat. Vietnamese chicken, salmon and prawn baguettes, crisps and coffee later we are now waiting in the terminal for the gate to open so we can start our mammoth journey - 27 hours via Dubai and the Maldives before reaching Sri Lanka tomorrow evening.