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Negombo

Sri Lanka travelogue, part 7: Negombo

Ben van den Anker
2006-05-02 01:58:43

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I’m glad to leave Nuwara Eliya; the town was too cold for me. This day will be long; I have to change buses in Colombo and apparently at another bus station than the one I have been to already. As the bus drives down the hills I take a last look at the green hills, woman are picking tealeaves, as they will do every day. Everything is so green here, it rains a lot, it’s not that hot, all good conditions for the tea plants.

I get out of the bus at the Bastian Mawatha bus station, I ask for a bus to Negombo,

Everyone I ask points in the same direction, “not far!” they tell me. The CTB bus station is actually just a roadside where buses stop. I need a local one and can’t read the Singhalese; a friendly man flags the right bus for me. It’s terribly full, and it gets more crowded with every stop. Two old blind woman get in and I leave my seat for them, there’s barely enough room to breath here now. After one hour of sweating the bus finally stops at the bus station in Negombo. I’m so tired, standing all the way in the bus, I need rest now.

Orientation seems a bit difficult, after some time I find the direction to Lewis place. Hotels are a bit more pricier here than elsewhere on the island. My stomach is giving me problems. I take a hotel that’s a bit more expensive, it’s ok, I’ve had enough of it today.

A friendly old German woman offers me a cheaper room tomorrow, today everything is booked fully, I keep it in mind. At ten o’clock in the evening I find out why this hotel has so many rooms available. The bar opposite of the road is spreading so much noise that sleeping is practically impossible. Next morning I leave and take the room of the German lady. It’s only 15 feet from the beach, every evening I watch the sun go down into the sea.. The friendly lady helped build up this place, she spends nine months a year here. I tell her I’m jealous, “When you’re over sixty you can live the same way!” ...