Thursday 21st June 2012 - Uppaveli, Trincomalee, Sri Lanka

Although Dee Dee had managed to stay one more night yesterday, today he definitely needed to go because his parents were really angry at him for staying away for so long.  I wanted to work on my tan so we headed to our sunbed and spent the day there talking.  Sanduru went and bought us rice and curry and we just chilled eating that on the terrace. Morgan and Evan were also leaving today so everyone dumped their bags in my room and we all hung out on my terrace. Dee Dee then took me to a quiet spot on the beach to say goodbye and told me that he was going to miss me. I was sad to say goodbye to him. We switched details and planned to meet up again. Apparently his university had a rugby match in Kandy around the 28th that he was going to so he invited me to meet him there. I ended up giving him my flip flops because Sandaru had lost both his and Dee Dees ones when he was drunk so Dee Dee was going to walk barefooted. Sandaru had found some other battered 'ancient' random ones on the beach that he was using which were so funny. The heels had been worn down completely that they had holes! I said goodbye to them and Evan and Morgan and then went to sleep for an hour. When I woke up I chilled with a couple who Dee Dee had introduced me to and had beer with them and ate fried rice. Their names were Sabina and Christopher. They were in their 40s and from Austria.  Sabina worked as the regional manager for whole of Europe for a company that specialises in office furniture. She had been married for 15years previously but they split on mutual terms after realising that everything was just too comfortable. She decided she was too young to settle for comfortability so now she was dating Chris who was an events manager. They had been together for like two years and made it a point to travel for at least one month every year.  Christopher asked me if I was going to see Dee Dee again to which I replied that I would love to. He told me that it was a bad idea as nothing could ever come of it because of the class difference so I should probably just stay away. He was probably right. 

Wednesday 20th June 2012 - Uppaveli, Trincomalee, Sri Lanka

I woke up kinda late today and had a bit of a hangover. I headed to the beach to try and sleep it off and then Dee Dee came over to talk to me. He was leaving today and asked me if I wanted to go to the natural pool with him. He had spoken to me about it lastnight but I had no idea where it was and I was intrigued by him so I agreed to go. The natural pool was at the end of Uppaveli beach and was just basically a small area of the beach that had rocks in the sea that formed a pool like area. It wasn't a particularly warm day but we ended up staying there for like two hours talking.  The sun had completely disappeared so I said we should go back to near the guesthouse because i was getting really cold but he wanted to take me up the rocks to the viewpoint. It really was pretty beautiful and allowed you to see the whole of Uppaveli beach. Behind the viewpoint there was a little idyllic hindu temple right on the beach. I wasnt dressed appropriately so Dee Dee went into the temple and came out with a red mark on his forehead and red powder on his finger which he put on my forehead.  We chilled on the rocks talking for a short while and then headed back to near the guesthouse and laid on the sunbed that we had our first conversation on yesterday. Dee Dee was supposed to be leaving today but made a decision that he wasn't going to leave today now. His parents were really strict and blasted him but eventually agreed that he could stay and transferred money into his account. This boy was very reliant on his parents and Dee Dee said if his father came and saw him chilling with a foreign girl he would shoot him!  One of his friends went home but Sandaru stayed with him. A group of us ended up chilling on the chairs outside the guesthouse drinking arrack. Sandaru was always saying "love is a funeral" since last night but I didn't quite understand what it meant. Today he opened up to everyone and told us that he was from a family of high status and that his dad worked for the government. Sandaru had been dating a girl for three years but when his family found out they said he couldn't be with her because she was of a different class. When he had asked his parents about going away to Trincomalee they had said to him that it was fine but it would be the last holiday he was  going on and that when he came back they would have found a lady for him and the engagement party would be on the 28th June. He would see his bride for the first time on the 28th! It was crazy! He was so against the idea and used laughter and humour to disguise the fact that he was clearly breaking inside. He said he couldn't go against him family because they would disown him. They had even told him that they would have a house and car waiting for him after he got married. His dad was making him run for council also. Sandaru invited me to the "funeral"!  Anyway one by one they all went to bed until all that was left was me, Dee Dee, Sandaru and Craig, a guy from New Zealand.  Some local guys had moved into the room next to mine during the day and were pretty drunk hanging out away from us. They were moving closer and closer to us until eventually they were basically right on top of us staring. Dee Dee asked if I was ok and I said I was fine but after a while he got up and spoke to them in a friendly way and then they shook hands and the guys moved.  Apparently they had been speaking in Sinhala and saying they were going to kiss me so Dee Dee got up and told them I was his girlfriend and said his father's name (apparently he is well known) and the guys apologised and moved away.  I could see Dee Dee was still really uncomfortable and he said he now understood what I had told him about my previous experiences in Sri Lanka. He told me not to worry though because he was there to protect me. Such a sweetie. He was doing a very good job in proving he wasn't like the other guys here that's for sure!

Tuesday 19th June 2012 - Uppaveli, Trincomalee

Yesterday I had been chilling on the terrace outside my room when some random guy came over to me and asked if I had a lighter. I didn't think anything of it but this morning whilst I was walking onto the beach the same guy came and asked me the typical question of where I was from. Usually when you answer briefly and carry on walking they get the hint but this guy walked with me! I sat on one of the sun-beds and he came and sat there too continuing to make conversation with me. When I stopped to actually look at him I realised he was incredibly good looking. His name was Dee Dee, he was 22-years old and was here with his two friends for a short break from his home in Colombo during his university holidays. We talked about lots of different things including my negative impression of boys in Sri Lanka. He asked me whether I liked Sri Lankan food and asked if I wanted to join him and his friends for some as they got it free from the police because one of his friend's dads held a really high position in the police force. I said no thanks because the last time i fell for that one the guy arranged a candle lit dinner! I was very brief with him because to be honest I had no interest in him. He then asked me if I wanted to go for a swim. I said I did want to but would wait until he left me alone before I go.  He didn't get upset or angry which interested me but he said he was going to prove that he wasn't like the rest of the guys in Sri Lanka and then went for a swim. As he walked back towards the hotel he told me to have a nice swim whilst looking back with a cheeky smile. He intrigued me!  The worse thing  is that when I got up to go for a swim I injured my shoulder on  one of the sharpe branches sticking out of the sun-bed. Some might say it was Karma for being mean to him! I spent the day on the beach which was just so stunningly beautiful with soft white sand and clear cool water. I walked back to my room to go and get showered and walked passed Dee Dee who was sitting with a group of guys - he said hello and handed me a shell and asked me to join them for a fire on the beach tonight. I said okay and then went to my room. I was putting my towel on the line outside my room when I noticed that two new guys had moved into the room next to mine. I said hello to the one guy that was sitting on his terrace and got speaking to him. We instantly had banter going and clicked. His name was Morgan, he was from France and was 22-years old. He was here with a guy called Evan who was from Australia - they had met in Anuradaphura and were now traveling together.   I went to the guesthouse next door to get food and was drinking Lion beer when Morgan and Evan came and joined me. We played cards and then Evan got up to go for dinner at a nearby guesthouse with some other girls from the guesthouse. They said for me to join them after I finished eating. Morgan said he wasn't hungry so sat and chilled with me and we continued to play cards until my food came (battered prawns, salad, and chips). Morgan was only working for six months of the year and then travelling for the other six months and had been doing so for the last few years.  I finished the food and then Morgan and I walked along the beach to Fernandos to join Evan and the girls. We waited for them to finish their food and then headed back to French Gardens where we joined Dee Dee who was sitting with a group of other guests.  It was a great atmosphere and the people were all really cool. Eventually we all moved to the beach where the fire was going - on one side I had Dee Dee fighting for my attention and on the other side I had Morgan. Morgan was laughing at Dee Dee saying that he thinks he likes me. There were other people there too so I tried to talk to everyone else as well. We were all drinking Arrack which Dee Dee and his friends had supplied and talking and laughing so much. One of Dee Dee's friends, Sandaru, was really drunk and kept saying he wanted to swim and catch the sun, chop it up and eat it with ketchup. Random. The night ended pretty late and I was pretty drunk and said goodnight and went to bed.

Monday 18th June 2012 - Leaving Sri Lanka to go to Trincomalee

I woke up from my restless sleep in my big comfortable bed at Farizeh's beautiful mansion at 4.30am and knocked on Rudi and Farizeh's bedroom door to wake them up as they said they would take me to Fort Train Station.  They put me on the train and I slept for maybe three hours only to wake up to see a man on the seats to the right of me staring at me. I wondered how long he had been watching me. He then started asking me questions and moved to the seat infront of me and was leaning out of the window looking back to talk to me. He seemed harmless until he told me I was sexy and he wanted to f**k me! I hit his chair and told him not to talk to me.  I turned the other way but he moved to where my gaze was and so I looked the other way. He got the hint eventually and apologised and left me alone. I arrived at Trincomalee at around 2pm and had planned to go to Nilaveli again. I was in a tuk tuk heading there and was maybe 2kms away when I decided that actually I wanted to go to the more lively location of Uppaveli. The tuk tuk driver turned around and took me to a guesthouse called Regish French Garden.  The place was basic and cost Rs1500 (£7.50) but it was in an absolutely stunning location. It was literally right on the beach and had terraces outside every room which looked straight onto the beach. I ended up sleeping all afternoon and was woken in the evening by drums and music so decided I would go and see what was happening. This place was so much more lively than Nilaveli and you could even have a beer at the guesthouse which was right next to Regish.  I ate some devilled chicken with rice and watched the fun from afar whilst talking briefly with the friendly staff at the guesthouse next door and then went back to bed. 

Sunday 17th June 2012 - Colombo, Sri Lanka

Today was the day that I would go to a wedding with Gayan. I needed to meet him at 9am as the wedding started at 10.30am outside of Colombo so I got up at 7.30am to try and give myself enough time but somehow still managed to be late. It was 9am and I was still at Anjali's house so I had to quickly grab my bag and run out the door leaving my room a mess but closing the door to avoid Anjali seeing it like that. I jumped in a tuk tuk to Borella Junction where Gayan was waiting. He jumped in with me. It took maybe 20minutes to get to the wedding as opposed to a supposed 45minutes so we were like an hour early.  Gayan took me up to the hall to take photos before everyone got there. The hall looked nice and was decorated with white and red accessories but there was a sign saying "The homecoming of..." I asked Gayan what that meant and apparently this wasn't the actual wedding, this was the welcoming home party after the honeymoon. The hall was set out like a wedding reception though. It seemed like a lot of effort and money for a homecoming especially given that they had already done the wedding and reception weeks before but this was the Sri Lankan way and I got to have a great day out of it so who am I to say anything. So Gayan and I sat at a table and waited for the bride and groom to come. Their arrival was signalled by drumming in the distance. The drumming got closer and closer and louder and louder and then through the entrance came five Kandyan Dancers performing the traditional dance whilst the bride and groom followed behind. It was a pretty cool entrance. The groom was wearing a black suit with a reddish coloured tie to match the bride's red saree. She looked beautiful. So apparently after a couple marry and go for their honeymoon they are supposed to bring their bedsheets out of the room for the family to see to prove that the girl was a virgin. If she passed the test she would then wear red to the homecoming. If she failed she was chased out of the village by the people!  The bride and groom took their place on a sofa surrounded by immitation flower arrangements and guests could go and say hello and give monetary gifts. After maybe an hour they went around to all of the tables and welcomed each guest as the photographer followed them around capturing the moments.  The food was delicious and was served buffet style. There were loads of different dishes including plain rice, vegetable rice, pea curry, vegetable chop suey, black chicken curry, devilled fish, fish sambal, salad, eggs, poppadoms, and all the different cakes for dessert that you can imagine.  Throughout the day all of Gayan's friends were coming over one by one and introducing themselves. We ended up moving closer to them and they kept making sure I was ok and asking if I wanted to dance. I already stood out like a sore thumb and had loads of people looking at me curiously and I didn't want to bring anymore attention to myself so I said no. I noticed throughout the day that random people were taking photos of me from afar and then Gayan's friends started but they atleast asked. The homecoming was finished by around 3pm and I was supposed to be going to meet Rudi and Farizeh as it was Rudi's birthday today. Gayan only gets one day off a week though and today was it and then tomorrow morning I would be leaving Colombo for a few weeks so I wanted to spend some time with him before going to meet Rudi and Farizeh. Gayan had told me before that he had never tried bowling so we planned to go bowling and have some shisha.  We first headed to Cioconat to have shisha and then we jumped in a tuk tuk and went bowling. Bowling was a lot of fun but after teaching Gayan how to play he ended up beating me at both games!  I called Farizeh after bowling to see if her and Rudi wanted company and whether it would be okay to bring Gayan. They said they would love the company and were at Ministry of Crab at the Dutch hospital so we went and met them there.  We were having a lovely evening chilling and drinking beer when I got a call from Anjali saying that she was feeling really sick and wanted to know what time I would be back. I told her that I would finish my drink and then go to the train station to check my train times for tomorrow and then I would come. She said 'oh so you are leaving tomorrow, but are you packed?' I said that I was pretty much done. She then said well why can't you check your train times in the morning. I explained that I would be catching the first train so needed to make sure I was there at the right time. She then said 'well why don't you check the times online'. I said that my phone was dead and also that I didn't have Internet on it either way. She was like 'But i'm sick, i really need to sleep. Rudi has the Internet on his phone - you should use that.' I was really quite shocked that she was acting this way. I didn't think it was reasonable for her to just call me and expect me to drop everything and be back within minutes. I calmly responded that I would see if I could find the train times online but that if I couldn't I would need to go to the station (which was only 5minutes away from where I was).  Rudi and Farizeh had heard the whole conversation and were like 'wow!' Farizeh told me that Anjali had come out with them during the day to Mount Lavinia hotel to hang out at the pool. Anjali had laid there like a damsel in distress the whole day saying she was too sick to join them in the pool but as soon as they saw one of the other girls from the expat association Anjali apparently jumped up so fast and was magically better. Drama queen came to my mind! Rudi and Farizeh said they would drop me back but it was really unfair for them to do that especially given that it was Rudi's birthday - I didn't want them to cut their night short because of me. As usual they insisted and said they would take me to the station first. Gayan came to the station with us and helped me try and find tickets but everywhere was closed. I had been feeling really fluey for the past week or so but since cricket I had started getting worse. The plan originally for tomorrow was to head to the hill country but because it is cold there and I was feeling ill I decided I would go to Trincomalee instead to try and see the whales and dolphins. My train was at 6.15am though so I would have to get my tickets in the morning. I said goodbye to Gayan and then jumped back in the car with Rudi and Farizeh.  On the journey back to the house Anjali had texted Rudi saying she was feeling really bad and needed him to come into the house when we got there. Rudi and Farizeh both told me to keep calm whatever happens because it is only one more night and then tomorrow morning I will be leaving first thing.  We got to the house and I rang the bell. She opened the gate and pulled Rudi into the courtyard and then just started shouting at me!  "Rudi, I need you to be here to hear this. Natalie how can you tell me that you are packed and leaving in the morning when your room is in such a state. How can you expect to leave your room like that. This is not a hotel, this is a home and you have left empty bottles everywhere and a coke bottle. You know how I am about leaving rubbish in the room and you left a coke bottle which is going to attract cockroaches. You know the rules of the house. After I introduced you to all my friends and took you to all these nice places, this is how you treat me! Rudi, come and have a look at the mess. Come and see!'  I tried to respond and explain that I was in a rush this morning and didn't have time to tidy my room that was why I closed the door. She screamed at me that I should arrange my timetable better so that I have time to tidy my room. Also that my bags had been a mess in the corner since I arrived.  I just thought it was ridiculous. If she had a problem with how I was keeping my room since I arrived then she could have spoken to me on a level and I would have fixed it. But to shout at me like this infront of Rudi at 1o'clock in the morning and try to parade my room to him was just obscene. She even said she has taken photos.  Everytime I tried to speak she cut me off and said she didn't want to hear it so I firmly said to her: 'shouting at me and saying everything you want to say but not letting me respond is not how communication works. I do not need to put up with you talking to me like this, I will pack my things and leave.' Rudi said I could stay at his but I told him it was fine and that I would go to the YWCA. He said he would wait and drop me there.  I packed up all my bags and put them in the car and Rudi and Farizeh said they were taking me to their house. I insisted that I really wanted to go to the hostel as it would make it easier for me to get to the train station in the morning. They said "no way, you will stay at ours and we will drop you to the station in the morning." Farizeh hadn't seen anything that had happened because she had been in the car but she said that she felt that Anjali was just sad because I hadn't been around while she was sick and hadn't stayed at the house to nurse her. I think she was probably right but I was just glad that I hadn't been completely stupid and spent all my money based on Anjali's promises of work and accommodation because I would be completely screwed right now! We arrived at the house and Farizeh showed me to my room and told me not to be upset. She also opened up to me and said that she noticed that Anjali was always speaking for me and some other things too.  Farizeh told me to wake her up at 4.30am for her and Rudi to take me to the station. I really didn't want to because it was now like 2am and they had helped me enough already but I had no idea to get into Colombo at that time of the morning because they lived quite far away. She said  I could leave whatever I wanted to leave in the cupboard and could stay at the house whenever I wanted. She is such a beautiful person.  I arranged all my bags and tried to sleep but my mind was just all over the place so I slept for maybe an hour in total.

Saturday 16th June 2012 - Colombo, Sri Lanka

There was another cricket match happening today and seeing as the last one was a bit of a disaster because of the rain I decided I would go to the match today as well.  Both of my boys were working today (well Shiran was off sick!) so I would have to go alone. I had every intention of doing so until I realised that it was a Saturday meaning that the stadium would be packed and I would probably have a lot of problems going on my own. I mean I problems even though I was with locals but I figured today would be worse because it was a weekend. Gayan was on the early shift at work today so he would finish at 5pm. The match started at 2.30pm but it would go on until 10pm so I decided I would wait for him to finish work.  Anjali was still not feeling well in the morning so I went to meet Rudi and Farizeh at Chocoluv. Rudi had never been to the place and Farizeh had raged about the place so he had wanted to try it for himself.  They went off to buy a fridge and I headed to crescat to try and buy Mosquito cream. I had wanted my hair permed for a long time so saw a hairdresser and decided to go in to see the prices. I ended up getting my hair permed there and then.  I then went to majestic city to get the blouse for my saree fixed - it didn't fit right and had pointed boobies like the outfit Madonna wore back in the day so I arranged to meet Fareena at Saree Kingdom for her to have a look. I then headed to the tailors to change some of the details on one of my designs before heading to Chocoluv to wait for Gayan to finish work.  It was a beautiful day with no rain so we hopped into a tuk tuk to take us to the cricket.  All I can say is that I am happy I didn't come alone because it was awful! The first time I wanted to go to the toilet Gayan walked me there because he wanted to make sure nothing happened to me but the next time I insisted that I would go alone. It was all fine until I got into the stadium and was walking through the crowds of boys to get to my seat and a kid of about 12 reached through the crowd and grabbed my boob. I didn't even think about it I just punched the kid in the head and shouted at him. I was absolutely furious and walked through the rest of the boys with the biggest screw face on ready to fight the next person to touch me - they all cleared the way for me.  I got back to my seat and Gayan had seen what happened and wanted to go and talk to the kid but I told him to just forget about it.  Things just went from bad to worse! Some boys moved to the seats behind us and were purposely blowing the horn right into my ear continuously. After maybe an hour of them doing it I got fed up and asked them to stop. This seemed to excite them so they got louder and even more people joined in. Even the people infront were turning around to see what was happening but they still continued. Eventually Gayan got annoyed and stepped up to the main guy and told him to stop. This then caused another guy to get involved - he was squaring up to Gayan and telling the guys to carry on blowing their horns. Even more people then got involved and were dancing around laughing and blowing their horns in our direction. I just started laughing because it was a battle that we were not going to win but Gayan was really angry and said we should move. At first I said no but then I saw a really concerned look in his eye that made me realise I should stop being stubborn and listen to him. We got up to leave and it felt as if every single person in our section stood up and cheered and blew their horns as we were leaving. It was completely humiliating! As I walked passed the guy that had told the boys to carry on blowing their horns, he stood up and blew the horn right into my ear. Again, I didn't even need to think, my arm just automatically raised towards the horn and wacked the end of the horn so that it hit him in the mouth. Gayan was behind me though so the guy started on him instead of me so I walked back shouting that if he had a problem he should take it up with me and pulled Gayan away. The guy was making sexual gestures towards us as we were walking away as if to say that Gayan was a traitor because he was apparently getting in on with a white girl. I can't emphasise how packed the stadium was while this was all happening.  We went to sit elsewhere in the stadium but my mood was completely ruined and also, I was pretty scared. I said to Gayan that I think we should leave now because if we leave at the end then I think there will be a big group of guys waiting to start on us. It wouldn't be right to put Gayan in that predicament. I have to admit I am usually pretty stubborn and have the attitude that if anything is going to happen then so be it, because I won't let anyone spoil my fun, but after seeing how many people were against me, I knew that now was the time to get the hell out. We left the stadium and although we had arranged earlier that we were going to a club neither of us were in the mood so we headed to Galle face to have food (chicken shawarmas) and then I got in the tuk tuk to Anjali's and Gayan went home. Gayan and I were going to his friend's wedding in the morning so we arranged to meet at 9am at Borella junction. 

Friday 15th June 2012 - Colombo, Sri Lanka

I woke up this morning and was really concerned that Anjali hadn't knocked on my door like she normally did every morning while I was relaxing writing my blog. I had got a text from Farizeh asking if i wanted to meet up to go to the tailor as she had the trousers that I wanted to copy, she wanted to get some trousers taken up and I wanted to have some clothes made so I agreed to meet her. I walked up the stairs to see if Anjali was in the house - she was curled up in the bed sick. She had apparently been up the whole night with food poisoning.  I asked her if there was anything I could do for her or get her whilst I was out. She just asked me to get her water and some medicine sachet from downstairs so i did. I headed to chocoluv to meet Farizeh and then we jumped in the taxi she came in as her driver was with Rudi today.  I needed to buy material for the clothes I wanted to have made so we first headed to Fashion Fabrics. I found such gorgeous silk but it was really expensive so we were advised by the really nice boy that was helping us to head to Pettah to see if we could find it cheaper.  We first went to the tailor to see how much material I would need for the items I wanted to have made and to get prices. We then jumped in a tuk tuk and headed to Pettah. Although Farizeh hates being in places with no AC and seemed like the kind of lady that would hate somewhere like Pettah (as Anjali obviously had!) she was absolutely amazing there. She was friendly and having friendly banter with the shop keepers to get the prices down. It was really pleasant and an absolute pleasure to spend time with her alone. It turns out that Pettah was a hell of a lot cheaper but they didn't have anything like one of the amazing fabrics I had seen at fashion fabric so we headed back there.  We then went to the tailor to hand in my designs and fabric and Farizeh handed over her trousers. Rudi then came and met us briefly but he was heading to a dinner with his landlord so we jumped in the car to drop him there but he ended up inviting Farizeh and me to join him. It was the top Japanese restaurant in Sri Lanka. We had our own room which was really nice and the food was so good. As usual Rudi paid! Damn it!  After dinner we all headed to cinnamon grand for dessert. I called Anjali to see how she was and asked if there was anything she needed me to bring back for her - she asked for an energy drink so I got her a red bull.  They all dropped me back at Anjali's where I gave her the red bull but apparently it was not good enough as she needed a sports drink. Ah well. I just went straight to bed.