Arrived in Sri Lanka

I'm back in Asia. Beautiful Asia. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this part of the world. The people are friendly, the climate is wonderful, I love the nature and even the somewhat chaotic traffic. Yes, I know that not all countries in Asia are the same, but there are a lot of similarities and I love them all.

My arrival was not as smooth as I expected. I had booked a pick-up from the hotel, a luxury that I sometimes allow myself. I know that it is more expensive than to fix it on my own, but it is nice not to worry about the transport when you arrive after a long flight. But this time I ended up walking back and forth in front of all the drivers looking after a sign with my name, but even though I carefully checked every sign, not one of them had my name on it. Finally a man approched me and offered me to borrow a phone. The problem was that I didn't have any contact number. I had only the name of the hotel, no address, no contact person's name and no number to either one of them. Yes - I know. That was quite amateurish of me. But I just didn't expect to have any problems. I have travelled with Intrepid Travel so many times before and I have never had this kind of problem before. In the end the man that offered me to borrow the phone helped me to fix a ride to the hotel. When I finally arrived at my hotel, they told me that the driver was standing at the airport waiting for me. I think he was very late. I waited 20 min for him and that was enough for me. But I should have remembered that not all parts of the world are as punctual as we are in the scandinavian countries.

The hotel was a bit ashamed that I didn't get my (very expensive) pick-up, so they invited me for breakfast. Nice of them, but I will still claim for the pick-up that didn't show up. Btw - the pick up that was preordered cost 180 SEK. The one that the man at the airport arranged for me cost 75 SEK. Just so you get the whole picture. :-) 

I have had a quite a busy day so far. I:

• went for a run on the beach (just for 30 min, it was 11 o'clock so it was already quite hot and I haven't fully adapted to the heat yet)
• did some push-ups and sit-ups in the hotel room
• swam around 500 m in the pool
• had a great lunch overlooking the pool and the beach
• took a nap by the pool

In other words I had a GREAT start of my vacation.

One observation: there were a gang of young boys from Sri Lanka by the pool. They seemed to be in their 20'ies. All of them had a beer belly. Young guys don't usually have that, so no I started to wonder if the food here is fattening. Not good for me that need to get in shape for the half marathon that I will run the 18th of May. I think I have to watch out for what I eat.

To be continued…..