bombay to sri lanka

I've been more excited about my journey than actually getting anywhere in particular. My hearts beating out of my chest, nervous, excited, anxious, expectant. My first day of travel and I have a bag full of too many clothes but it will take me a week to realise that infact they are too many. hahhahah...i must tell you how not to travel to Sri lanka so you understand how you can. I had a train journey planned to chennai and then cancelled. I had a little delay so to catch up on time decided to fly to chennai and then take my onward flight to sri lanka. Mistake no 1- don't get too excited, think before you book a ticket specially if you plan to travel for long...plan around your budget or you'll be running out of money only because you've spent it all on senseless air tickets. I had a layover at chennai airport for the night. I could have booked a ticket straight to sri lanka.

Mistake no 2.- don't go through chennai. I believe there are a million other options...like flying there directly. Oh and one more thing. Try not to venture out into the city. A good friend of mine, who is very well travelled specifically referred to chennai as the asshole of india but i thought hey it can't be that bad....NOT!! There was a gathering of muslims - family and extended family waiting to receive people outside the airport ...and they kept waiting...all night...... And i sat amongst the mosquitoes and flies from 11pm to 4am fighting sleep and the feet that couldn't help but trample all over mine. I started to read Napoleon... about 40 pages in installments, but the world of flies wouldn't leave me. Mistake no 3.- too much sambar. Oh yes I do believe I had an overdose of Sambar, I ate all night to keep myself awake--and when all the food had run out, this was all that was left. Note to self - it tastes great..but like everything else, too much of anything can't be good for you. The pulses have a gas trigger no one warned you about...and you'll be trying not to fall off to sleep just incase one of those noisy ones decide to sneak out.

More to come. I'm in sri lanka now.. at Negombo..very happy.. it's a quite little beach town that shuts shop by 10pm but i'll go with what i got.... the streets are not busy, the beach is secluded, serene i just watched the sun set with a few fishing boats in the distance. Too lazy to take any pics but i will take the camera out of the bag tomorrow. I believe it's collected a good deal of cobwebs by now.

.....there I have an update already...I've come back to the computer at no extra cost while i sit and wait. 2 really nice locals running this cyber cafe (one of them who speaks hindi) have helped me get me a local sim, given me advice for my travel to Galle and after ..................and most importantly...wait for it.... are arranging for some amazing local specials -home made food- that none of you tourists will get your hands on!!