louiseinlimbo

The second part of my month in Sri Lanka turned out to be very different from the first, being based much more on the people I met than on any sights.  Yes I wandered around Colombo, seeing monuments, museums, mosques, temples, churches, lighthouses and old architecture, and I visited the fort and a couple of temples in Jaffna, but it was all about the people. This started when I checked into my hostel in Jaffna, after a night on the train.  One of my room-mates was a Sri Lankan lady who’d spent most of her life living in London, but who was currently visiting ‘home’ to help get over a few relationship problems.  She offered to guide me around the city for the day, but clearly did this so that we could continue the conversation we’d started in the dorm.  She went into considerable detail about her woes, and asked me some quite direct relevant questions – for example she wanted to know when I last had sex, as she hadn’t wanted to be celibate after her relationships en...

In Sri Lanka I was joining an old Australian friend of mine who does not ‘do’ hostels, or indeed backpacking-style travel.  So I’d agreed to up my expenditure for a couple of weeks and join her on an organised tour that covered much of the island – run by an Australian company that she was comfortable with.  & we agreed to arrive at the tour hotel a little early, so that we had a day to catch up with each other before meeting the other ten people we’d be travelling with.  It was a nice hotel, with all the comforts that I usually miss in my cheap hostels (private shower with hot water, TV, buffet breakfast – and in this case a swimming pool!!), although on the flip side there is no shared kitchen so you do have to spend more money on eating out.  It was great to see Rhonda again (and to use the swimming pool and wash a few clothes in our private bathroom). But I was in for a big surprise. On the evening of the second day there, we stepped out of the room to make o...

I’d read several reports that Alleppey should be avoided as it is now so over-touristed and so no longer offers the quiet, peaceful backwater experience.  But it was rather easier to get to than the alternatives, and I’d had a hostel recommended to me, so I went anyway.  & then extended my planned five-day stay to ten, as it was such an easy, relaxing place to be! Yes, it helped that my little hostel on the beach cost me just £2 a night, that the owner was a lovely man who ran great kayaking tours through the backwaters, and that a number of nice and interesting people stayed whilst I was there – but Alleppey was a really nice place.   It has miles of beach to walk along, fishermen to watch, a good mix of local and comforting Western food, and those beautiful backwaters.   Not to mention an outdoor Olympic-sized swimming pool which I intended to utilise but somehow never found time to.   I watched birds, saw sunrises and sunsets, spent days in conversation w...