Monday 1^st –

After falling into bed at 4am we all had a much needed sleep and woke at the leisurely time of 12 o’clock! We were cooked an amazing breakfast of French toast by Kate (smothered in marmite!) and caught up with her following her amazing trip around India for the last month! Dr Nirmali came and met us at the apartment in the afternoon to talk through our schedules and make sure we were settled in. The apartment is amazing; we have a huge lounge and dining area, a separate piano room (with a full sized piano!!) and the bedroom are simple but with beautiful dark wood furniture and a rocking chair in the corner!

We set off to explore and find some lunch. It was beautiful to walk (although so hot I think I had a permanent water moustache on my upper lip!) in the sun and soak up everything that’s around us – the area we are in is so lovely and right next to the University of Columbo so there’s beautiful pathways and parks surrounding us. We managed to get a little lost but found a beautiful shop selling handmade cards, crafts and batiks, tea and spices (and a good map of the city!) which then led us towards the British Council, where we knew there was a cafe type thing called the Cricketer’s Club (very tailored to the ex-pats) but we had a really lovely meal in the shade, before making our way to the market to stock up on water, fruit and toilet roll! Whilst on our way to the market we spotted the sea and headed straight for it – the breeze was so refreshing and it was amazing to see the train lines running directly next to it, only separated by a metre of huge boulders!

Wandering home we walked down some beautiful roads with huge exotic trees dangling from behind ornate walls – it is so green in some places then the complete opposite when you look in the other direction – from the natural power of the sea to the smoggy building of concrete sky scrapers!