Sri Lanka day # 4, part 1

Yikes- it's already December 18th and I haven't finished posting about Sri Lanka. Sitting here in the Istanbul airport, waiting on a delayed flight for the next trip, I decided it would be best to work on it before I forget the juicy details. So, here it goes:

After a good, mosquito-free sleep, we awoke to the amazing sound of crashing waves. We gathered all of our things and headed down for a quick breakfast, again, prepared by the establishment's owner/operator and his wife. The tea on this side of the world is nothing short of spectacular, so we were sure to take full advantage of drinking it with from-the-cane sugar. Then, to the main road we went, waiting for another bus to take us to Matara. There, we would catch the train and head back to Colombo.

In lots of third world countries, there is a local price and a non-local, "white" price. When we caught the bus, among other instances, the guys in charge of collecting money always charged Chris and I the "white" price. We literally saw people paying 10 rupees for the bus, while we were asked to pay 40 a piece. Generally speaking, Chris is good at bargaining and haggling a price. At this point though, the idea of that was relatively futile, so he coughed up the whole dollar or two and we were on our way.

When we got to Matara, we hailed our final took-took and made it to the train station. Once there, we got second class seats and boarded for the 4-hour ride back to Colombo. We sat across from a nice family of which only the father spoke English. We traded cookies and local treats back and forth, and tried to make conversation. Mostly, we just slept, and Chris' arm is still peeling from the sunburn of hanging it out the window.

After the long ride, we arrived at the hustle and bustle of Colombo Fort Station.
To Be Continued...