Columbo

7:30 am—we were in a deep sleep- only to be awaken by our taxi driver from yesterday- wanting to know if we needed his services. How he got to our room was a mystery- since he didn’t have our name. John registered a complaint with the hotel manager. Sri Lanka is definitely more expensive than India—the hotels have a 10% tax plus a BTT of 12.5% (we decided that BTT = Big Tourist Tax). There were soldiers stationed everywhere- all with AK47’s…protection from the Tamil Tigers.
Our day was spent trying to get what we need from the tourist industry in Columbo. Everyone had something else that they wanted to convince us to do…even though, we had a firm list of exactly what we wanted! Out of frustration, we gave up on the “total travel services” and went directly to the train station- got our ticket for the A/C First Class observation coach tomorrow a.m. – for $4 each! Then we arranged for a car to meet us in the mountains and take us around, with a driver, for the next week—at the same price as renting a car on our own! Lunch was Big Macs at the Columbo McDonalds – and, of course, we had to try the veggie burger!

Back to the hotel for a rest before dinner…we decided to try the Australian run “Cricket Club”—it was a wonderful bar/restaurant filled with ex-patriates drinking wine and having western food. Aussie wine and a great dinner…and we crashed.