It seems strange that a short time ago we were being awoken by the call of Peacocks in the quiet backstreets of Mirissa and now we are in the quite busy and very hot town of Galle.

The heat here is probably no worse than it was back at the beach - this place is on the coast too - but somehow the Sun is just that bit more ferocious. We both walk around now with umbrellas for shade. I suspect some of the local men think I'm a bit odd doing this (I'm the only male I have seen with a brolly up) but I don't care, anything to avoid the almost inevitable sunburn.

We have managed to be staying in the most interesting part of town which also happens to be the most "touristic" and expensive. If you want to buy jewellery this is the place. Still, there is a lot of history here, arising from the original inhabitants, the Portugeuse, Dutch & English 'invaders' through to the new version of same - French, German, Russian, English and, yes, Australian tourists. We have met only 3 other Aussies in the whole trip so far though.

Off to Colombo tomorrow by Bus.