our hotel for the night was conveniently situated right next to the main train line from Columbo, but was very close to the town and had a nice garden and very welcoming (but camp) owner, Raj
First Raj took us into the reception area/mosquito hang-out and he gave us a nice fresh pineapple juice, whilst Shelley provided her first blood donation to the locals.
The evening started off bad, no beers to be had in town!! However 1 nights abstinence is just about bearable and Shelley and I found our way across the train tracks and through a local food market into town. Eventually we found somewhere to eat (a sort of local fish & chip shop) and after a lot of discussion the only thing we appear to have been allowed to order was a family size special fried rice with dip! However for £2 you cannot complain.
After discussing whether we should get a Tuk-tuk to get some beer (Shelley not me) we decided to just head off an get an early night.
This did not go to plan as when we passed back through the market what seemed to be a docile cow and its calf seemed to take offence to the 100% Deet I was wearing or had a tip off from its Spanish cousins that I did not partake in the running of the bulls in Pamplona and decided to attack me, after taking a butt in the ribs And the wrist I managed to escape. Don't worry Mum, not that badly hurt just slight brusing, more embarrassed that a 6'3 white guy was mugged by a 4 foot cow in front of the local market traders, and you can imagine how funny Shelley found it once she realised I wasn't hurt (pictures of brusing to follow shortly). Anyway needless to say We bottled it and took the long way home, as some of the cow,s mates were lurking in the shadows further up the path!!
After some disturbed sleep we were woken, not by Shelley,s snoring for a change but by the 04.15 express train which sounded like it was coming in to our room, which was then followed by a few more trains, the local mosque,s call to prayer and the trains stations (50 yards away) Tanoy system.
Eventually gave up on sleep around 6.00 and decided to have a fag and coffee in the garden instead, lovely wildlife and noises, we saw a bat with around a metre wing span and chipmunk/squirrel things, then we were treated to a lovely traditional Sri Lankan breakfast (not too spicy)
We were then going to get the train to Unawaduwa, but just like in Blighty the train had delays (curry leaves on the tracks???), so we were pointed towards the local bus! After managing to shoe horn us in we then 'enjoyed' the 80km trip to Unawaduwa, I can safely say that I had more bum's rubbed up against me than Alan Carr has had in the last year.
Anyway after a quick tuk-tuk trip after the bus we arrived at our destination and quickly found a beach bar that sold beer! Also booked our first try-dive for tomorrow morning.
So to recap, so far in the Sri Lankan Premier League it's
Cow 1 - 0 Glenn
Mosquitos 3 - 0 Shelley
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