Middle-aged flash packers

Great night’s sleep which was surprising after a flying /travel day. Maybe it was the samplings of local Lion beer which did the trick.
Breakfast included coconut and honey pancakes served with tiny bananas – delicious.
Spent the day wandering the streets of Negombo. This is not easy as there are tuk-tuks, bicycles and motorbikes coming from all directions, interspersed by the odd bus. The buses are really scary. They stop for no-one, not even their passengers who have to run alongside and jump on. The buses have had a hard life, loads of dents and scrapes, I even saw one with bullet holes.
This, along with every other person wanting to talk to you/guide you or generally sell you something, makes for a relatively stressful walking experience.
We eventually made it to the fish market where we bumped into Mr Joe.
Mr Joe claims he was filmed by Rick Stein 2 years ago when he was making a programme about Indian food. Mr Joe is a fisherman and salts and dries his fish. He took us round and showed us all his fish, and the processes it goes through. It’s all dried outside in the open air. Apparently the people in the Highland area of Sri Lanka buy the most.
Mr Joe was not adverse to taking a tip for sharing his knowledge but this was fine. It was interesting and we wouldn’t have felt comfortable just wandering amongst the fish uninvited. Some of the fishermen looked quite fierce!
We were absolutely knackered by the time we got back to our room so decided to have a head, shoulder, neck and leg massage. We’ve always found these great for getting rid of the aches and pains of flying.
All very civilised, a tuk-tuk collected us and drove us to the Ayurveda spa. Very smart building but a bit austere. We were taken to the “treatment room” which was a bit cell like but the massages were good. Unfortunately the window was open and Steve got 7 mosquito bites. Not a happy bunny! I got home and also realised my shoulders are extremely burnt. Applied loads of sun cream so don’t know how that happened. Brits abroad eh?!
Off to Anuradhapura tomorrow. Cycling and safari. Not together though. Might be a bit dangerous cycling through a herd of elephants.