28/8/11
Arrived Colombo and headed for the YMCA which is apparently the cheapest place in Colombo. The room is nice window and every thing but the toilet is pretty bad, not that worries me that much lol.
29/8/11
Went to the Indian visa place and waited for a while looking at the numbers not chancing, then people started running for the counters so I sat and waited while the numbers didn't change. After a while some order was restored and people where selected to go to the counters. I had been told I would need to write a letter explaining why I wanted a six month visa so had included that in my paper work, when I got to the counter the man said some of the paper work was wrong and I could get it redone over the road, but he did love the letter explaining that i'm trying to ride around the world. Once I had the paper work right I went for a feed, at McDonald's lol, and come back to find the numbers still had not changed. After waiting for about 4 hours we where told to keep are numbers and come back tomorrow as the number machine was broken. The nice young man who I had first seen had told me that the visa would be ready for pick up on the 9th, which was a problem as I had already bought a ticket to Chennai on the 8th, but he went and had a chat to the boss when they kicked everybody out and came over to tell me he would sort it for me to pick up the visa on the 7th, but when I came back in the morning I should just go to his window.
30/8/11
I rocked up at the visa place nice and early only to find the young man not there mmmm. Luckly he rocked up before my number came up and called me over, filled in the forms and said I should go to the High Commision to explain to them why I wanted a 6 month visa. So I went to the high commision and was told they couldn't see me that day and to come back tomorrow, which was a public holiday, I said ok and went for a walk around town.
Tree in an unused lot?
31/8/11
Yes it was a public holiday and yes the high commission was closed, oh well just walked around a bit checking things out and hiding from the infriquent showers. Found a super market so bought some bread and bananas for some sandwiches later on.
This is all one big tree, these bit dangle down out of the branches and if the reach the ground the root in and get bigger, making it look like lots of trees.
I meet a nice man well wandering back to the hostel and had a good chat to him, after getting his phone number etc he invited me to his place in Matale, near Kandy when I finished the visa things.
1/9/11
Went back to the high commision, which was open this time, to be told I would only get a 3 month visa. So I explained to the lady what I was trying to do and that 3 months would probably not be enough to make it across India and up to Bangladesh then back through India to Nepal. She said wait a minute and went to talk to a man out the back, after a few minutes she came back with a big grin on her face and said yes you will be getting a 6 month visa, yes, I hope will see on the 7th.
Back to the hostel and had a couple of cellabration rums.
2/9/11
Found out I could not store my extra bags at the hostel but they had lockers at the train station. So after waking up late I went to see if my bags would fit, which they did with no problem and sat and watched some movies for the rest of the day.
3/9/11
Got down to the train station and put my motorbike gear into a locker there, then got the train to Kandy to meet up with Captain Wijekoon. From Kandy train staion we headed out to his place in Matale and a nice family home there.
4/9/11
Went to Anuradhapura again this time with the family as they needed to thank Buddha for the grandson, I think, which made it more special than the first time round although not on a bike, so not such an enjoyable drive lol.
5/9/11
Went to Kandy for the day to see the bitanical gardens, which I didn't actually go into as I only had about 1 hour to visit them and although it is 50 r for locals it is 1100 for foreigners ($10-11US) which I was not prepered to pay for an hour walking around a garden.
I did make it to the Buddhist temple later that day, which is a bit similar price wise, nothing for locals and 1000 for foreigner, we even get our own special shoe holding place which cost 5 times the amount of the locals shoe holding place. The temple was nice but Kandy did leave a bit of a dirty taste in the mouth with all the rip offs going on, especially as they are so blatent about it.
View from YMCA Kandy, which is cleaner than Colombo but my bed had bed bugs.
6/9/11
Back by train to Colombo which was a nice trip as I found the second class seats that I had been charged for on both trips, although saying that I did spend a bit of time sitting in the open door watch/filming the veiw as the train went along. It was a good trip.
Back in the Colombo YMCA and they have managed to get rid of some of the smell from the toilet lol, but I need to get use to that smell as i'm off to India next lol.
7/9/11
Went down to the Visa place nice and early to get my visa, well try to, they will hopefully have it ready by 1730 today. Otherwise it will be a bit of a rush to get to the airport tomorrow.
Well next time i update i should be in India hopefully with my own motorbike again. I'm not sure what internet is going to be like in India as i hear their phone service is not the best and i don't know how much Wifi is about. Anyway i will find out tomorrow afternoon all going well hehe.
Enjoy your life.
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