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. 

Thursday 14th June 2012 - Colombo, Sri Lanka

I was supposed to leave Colombo today to go to Hikkadawu until Saturday but I was feeling a bit hungover after the amount of alcohol I had drank yesterday so ended up sleeping pretty late. Anjali had plans to meet one of the expat ladies, Carla, and I just hung around the house eating leftover spaghetti bolognese checking emails and skyping with Miss Lahari. I was really enjoying doing nothing actually but then got a call from Anjali if I wanted to do something so I went and met her at Chocoluv.  One of the tops I had bought from cotton collection had beads falling off of it so we jumped in a tuk tuk and went there to change it.  Anjali asked me if there was anything that I still wanted to do in Colombo - I had been wanting to go to Pettah as there is supposed to be loads of market places there. We jumped in a tuk tuk and headed there with the intention of finding a suitcase to house all the extra things i have accumulated throughout my trip so far. We arrived at the market area and hadnt even got out of the tuk tuk and Anjali just kept telling me that a lot of the shops sell a load of rubbish as if she really didnt want to be there. She even wanted to pay the tuk tuk driver to take us through the market streets - I mean how ridiculous! I told her that I wanted to walk and could see that she wasn't happy about it but what was the point in coming here to drive around in a tuk tuk?!  I found a rubbish 'original copy' samsonite suitcase for just over £10 to get my extra luggage home and then we walked around some more as I wanted to find magnets for my family and sandals for my sister for her birthday. We arrived in the next area and the men were throwing the most ridiculous high prices at us but I knew what to expect so just said no thank you and walked away. However there was one stall where they gave me a price and I haggled it down but then when I went to pay he raised the price back up. Anjali got so angry and shouted at me to come when I started trying to haggle the price back down. I asked her why she was acting like that and getting so agitated and in a raised voice she shouted "because why are you wasting your time with these people". I told her to stop shouting at me and asked her to calm down as there was just no point in letting them ruin your mood. Also I said i wouldn't mind but i wanted the magnets and now I have nothing. She said if i wanted to waste my time talking to these people she would leave. I said fine. She didn't go though and we got to the next stall where they were selling nice sandals. She was talking so rudely to the man there which meant he was being really ratty and rude to me. That was it for me. I told her that she just needed to stop because not only was she being rude to me but now the market stall workers were and I would actually like to buy something but she was making it really difficult. I kept my calm the whole time and didn't stoop to her level but I just actually couldn't believe the way she was acting! She's a 42 year old woman so she should know better.  I bought the sandals and then we jumped in a tuk tuk back to Anjali's house to get ready for the monthly expat "girls night out" event that Anjali and Farizeh were going to.  We got ready and then Anjali and I jumped in a tuk tuk to go to the tailor to see if the top she wanted to make for me was ready. I tried it on but it was bad so we left it with them to have more alterations made.  We then went back to Anjali's and waited for Farizeh to pick us up. The event was on the rooftop of this building and was again chic and classy like all the places these ladies were going to.  Anjali sat talking to some other ladies while Farizeh and I sat together talking to another lady. We then got talking to these two ladies from the UK. One was from liverpool and the other was from Wales. They were actually hilarious and had me in stitches doing impressions of their young children who were attending school in Sri Lanka since the father had to come here to work. Apparently they were doing the Sri Lankan head movement and talking with a Sri Lankan accent. They were only young so it sounded adorable.  We got home about 1am and then slept.

Wednesday 13th June 2012 - Colombo, Sri Lanka

Today was supposed to be the day that I watched my first cricket match! Pakistan Vs Sri Lanka third ODI at the Premadasa stadium.  Shiran, his girlfriend and his two friends went and bought the tickets in the morning for Rs500; we would be seated in block C upper level.  We all then met at the Dutch Hospital at around 12.30pm at the pub there to have drinks before heading to the match.  We all shared a three litre beer tap and ate some food and then jumped in tuks tuks to take us to the match. It started raining on the way there but luckily stopped once we got inside the Premadasa stadium.  The stadium was pretty empty but the atmosphere was amazing. There was music being blasted through the speakers, people were blowing horns and wearing stickers on their faces, some even painted their face. I bought a sticker and stuck it on my left cheek.  We got beers and ice creams and things were just warming up when a dark cloud appeared above the stadium. About 50 guys started pulling covers over the pitch but then the rain came down hard. It calmed down into drizzle but continued that way for the rest of the day. Gayan had planned to come to watch the rest of the game once he finished work at 7pm but as soon as he arrived the match was called off after literally just 10minutes of play for the whole day! Today was the first time I met Shiran's girlfriend, Razi. I had heard lots of nice things about her and knew that Shiran loved her a lot and that she was very understanding of mine and Shiran's friendship. However the two of them had spent the whole day arguing resulting in one of them walking away with the other chasing after them and then they would come back and then do the same thing! Throughout the day I had a few issues with men whistling and hollering at me whenever I walked to get beers or went to the toilet and at one point some bastard boys followed me into the toilet but I shouted at them and they apologised and left. However when we were leaving and walking down the stairs through the crowds some stupid little kid decided to rub passed me and touch my bum. The first time I thought it might have been accident but when it happened a second time I cussed out loud and Gayan went up to the kid and confronted him. The kid's posse all tried to get involved causing Shiran to then start getting angry. Gayan calmed the situation and then had me walking in the middle of all of them. I felt like they were all my body guards and felt really bad that because of me they were all getting into drama that wouldn't happen under normal circumstances. They were all really cool though and cussed the men calling them animals and told me that it made them ashamed to be Sri Lankan to see the men acting this way.  Shiran, Razi and Shiran's two friends all went in one direction and Gayan and I headed to the Galle Face (where we had drank Arrack a few weeks before) and sat on a bench drinking Rum and Coke from plastic cups taken from the cricket game.  Gayan was super protective and caring of me and walked me to the toilet when I needed to go and was ready to confront the two toilet attendants when I informed him that they had also followed me into the toilet! I couldn't believe it. They had said 'hello, hello, hello' in a pervy way when I walked passed them into the ladies so I said goodbye and walked into the cubicle and closed the door. I then realised that the cubicle had a window that looked straight out onto where the men were standing so they could have got on a chair and looked in if they wanted so I opened my cubicle door to go into another one and the two men (who must have been in their 60s) were standing at the doorway to the ladies looking in. I shouted at them to go away and they apologised stepping backwards and closing the door behind them. What frikin perverts. Were they honestly expecting me to invite them in?! Gayan and I were chilling for maybe two hours and talking about everything as usual with a lot of time spent talking about Hugh before we went our separate ways.  I was in a tuk tuk when the police pulled us over asking to see my I.D. I told them I was a tourist so I don't have I.D. There were three men all staring at me like a piece of meat. They asked for my passport. I told them I didn't have my passport. They asked if I had a resident visa. I explained that I was a tourist on a tourist visa. They asked where I was staying. I told them with a friend in Colombo 7. They again said they needed to see I.D and that I should carry it with me. I told them that they must be crazy if they think I am going to carry my passport around only for it to get stolen and for me to be stranded. One of the policemen then stared at me like Hannibal Lector and I am honestly surprised there wasn't dribble running from his mouth and said "I am going to have to arrest you". I asked if he was serious and then one other officers said something to the tuk tuk driver and we were on our way again. I had no idea what just happened but I do know that usually they only ask the tuk tuk drivers for their I.D when going into high risk areas so it was bizarre that I was being asked in the first place. The tuk tuk driver said they were corrupt. He said some police are good and some are bad and these guys were bad. I got back to Anjali's and told her what happened and she just shrugged it off so I just went to bed.

Tuesday 12th June 2012 - Colombo, Sri Lanka

I have sensed that Gayan and Shiran are getting upset with the amount of time that I am spending with Anjali and to be honest, I feel I probably am too! So today I made a promise that I would spend some time with Shiran. He was on the early shift at work so when Anjali started rolling out the plans for the day i just had to tell her that I was going to be at Chocoluv. I did arrange with her for me to cook tonight though to make sure the ingredients don't go off.  I chilled around Chocoluv waiting for  Shiran to finish and then we headed to Cioconat to have shisha. We spoke about Anjali and it turns out that he thinks that the reason I haven't been hanging around them much anymore or speaking to them on the phone is because he was under the impression that Anjali had told me not to be friends with them anymore. I felt it was completely ridiculous for me to be having to defend myself or even play up to the nonsense but I explained to him that it was far from the case. I was honest with him and said that yes Anjali had her reservations seeing as I am a single female and they are males and the problems she had experienced in Sri Lanka with men but I had defended them and said they were good guys. I think that perhaps she was expecting me to drop them but they had been so good to me so that was not going to happen. Anyway, it was really nice hanging with Shiran. We left around 7pm because Anjali wasn't answering her phone and I didn't have keys and then I went to Gonuts (a doughnut place like say krispy kremes but nowhere near as nice!) and bought doughnuts for Anjali and I for dessert after my meal.  The spaghetti bolognese came out ok but because Anjali doesn't eat beef I had to use chicken which I don't think tasted as nice.  After food Anjali and I were just talking about my plans and I told her that I was in two minds about visiting Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage based on some bad things I had read on the internet including sitings of caged elephants. I was really overwhelmed with how strong she came across in informing me that this was a lie because she had been there and not seen any such thing. Despite me saying that I had read it in various places she shut me down which resulted in me acting out a big yawn and saying that I was going to bed. I realised that I can't spend too much time with her because nothing I say is right and I can't deal with it. I really want to leave like now but I have a wedding to go to with Gayan on Sunday and want to be here for it. After that though I am gone! I would still work with her if I was given the chance though because it is completely having to deal with someone that is your boss and someone who is a friend. I could keep in professional and then say goodbye at the end of the day. 

Monday 11th June 2012 - Colombo, Sri Lanka

Anjali had arranged to meet Farizeh today to help her with her visa. Apparently Anjali knew someone that you could pay money to that could sort it all out without the hassle of having to go through the nightmare that I went through.  Despite arranging to meet at around 8.30am, Farizeh didn't manage to  show up until around 2pm because the driver kept getting lost but also I think she woke up late - it was a late night so it was completely understandable. The problem was though that Anjali was on my case about hurrying up to get ready and then had me waiting around for like an hour. Anjali and I were talking about today and the plan and she said that we can have our movie night tonight. My response was "we will see what happens because something always comes up and you ditch the original plan. If we play it by ear then I won't get disappointed". With that comment Anjali realised she had upset me the day before and made a pinky promise with me that today we would stick to the plan which was cool. So Farizeh turned up at around 2pm and the worse thing is that after everything, she forgot to bring her passport which meant that after everything she wouldn't be able to do her visa! She also had some amazing trousers on yesterday that I really wanted to get copied so she was going to bring them as well today but she forgot them also! Lol! Our first stop today was Chocoluv. I had spoken so much about this place and Gayan and Shiran that Farizeh wanted to try it out. Shiran was there when we arrived but was acting really weird. I asked him if I could Introduce him to them but he said no. Gayan started a bit later and was really friendly to both of them when he arrived. We finished a milkshake and some food and then headed to Avirate!! That dreaded place! Anjali had put a dress in to get taken in so she needed to pick it up. I walked in and the face of the lady and the manager that had served me before both lit up. Within minutes the new stock was being brought in my direction! I was like noooo!!! You are evil, keep away from me!! I was very good and didn't buy anything! It was a day of more shopping though! We headed back to cotton collection as Farizeh wanted to get some linen trousers. I did not want to look at anything but then Farizeh found this amazing dress that she couldn't work out how to wear so she asked me to try it on. The dress was amazing but when we all realised it was the equivalent of £100 our mouths dropped open and I took it off immediately - not before having fun watching Farizeh trying to haggle the price down with the manager. Afterwards we went to a store called Kelly Felder (or something like that!). The temptation was too much and I ended up buying some things.  After the shopping we headed to a DVD store where Anjali and I chose some movies for our movie night later. I have forgot to mention before but the amount of stores selling pirates is actually nuts! I am talking  stores of nothing else but pirates existing in the malls despite them being illegal! Very crazy! Anyway, Farizeh dropped us home and we plonked ourselves on the sofa in the lounge and watched Bridesmaid. I can honestly say that I havent watched a funnier movie in a long while. The evening was really nice and relaxed, I really enjoyed myself.

Sunday 10th June 2012 - Colombo, Sri Lanka

Anjali and I had planned to have a chilled out movie day today and then I would cook in the evening. However in the morning when I was in my room sleeping, Anjali had got a call from Farizeh asking to meet up so Anjali decided without me that we would meet Farizeh and Rudi today. I was of course a little disappointed but I figured we could meet them in the late morning/early afternoon and then come back for around 5pm and then I could still cook.  We met Farizeh at the Avirate Cafe and then decided we would all go shopping to a store called Cotton Collection to have a look. I had seen a poster for the store earlier in the week and had wanted to check it out so was definitely up for it. We all jumped in a tuk tuk and were almost there (like 2minutes away) when the tuk tuk broke down so we got out and walked. Rudi came and joined us at the store and went upstairs to the men's section to shop. Cotton collection was more my kind of store as it was more fitting to my budget so I ended up buying some beautiful basics. The store bizarrely sold Marks and Spencers and Miss Selfridge branded clothing.  While we were at the counter paying I could overhear a conversation happening between Rudi and Anjali. They were talking about heading down to Galle and Unawatana for dinner. Anjali didn't even ask me but signed us both up for it. I then pretended like I hadn't heard what they were talking about and asked what was happening. Anjali was like we're going to Galle. I outright told her infront of Farizeh and Rudi that I was kind of offended given that I was supposed to be cooking for her and because I had all the fresh ingredients in the fridge. Anjali said "you can cook tomorrow, it's no problem." I really didn't want to go and said that I was going to pass but Rudi and Farizeh weren't having any of it and insisted that I come. I eventually agreed but felt quite a bit disappointed in Anjali.  The drive down to Galle was beautiful. There is a high speed road (aka motorway) linking Colombo to Galle which meant it only took 45minutes to get there. The road cut right through green fields covered in palms and tea and rubber plantations.  Rudi had suggested that we go to a beachfront bar in Unawatana before heading to Galle but of course Anjali suggested somewhere nicer to go before she even saw Rudi's place. We drove down the road that she suggested but Rudi didn't seem impressed and suggested that we head to his place instead which made me very happy! The road that Anjali suggested actually looked really cool, not for drinking but rather it looked like somewhere I would definitely like to go back to for more than a few hours. There were cool little stores filled with hippy type clothing, wooden jewellery (which I adore), and lots of other bric-a-brac. The place that Rudi suggested for us to drink at was just beautiful. It was a raised wooden shack type-place right on the beach that had sun-beds against the railings looking right out onto the beach. The beach wasn't that great at the moment though because it was monsoon season, meaning that the waves were crazy and there was hardly any beach.  When we arrived there Anjali had to get it in there that she had came here to this place before in an attempt to try and steal the limelight but whatever.  Both Farizeh and Anjali don't drink so Rudi and I drank beer and shared a pizza while the ladies ate and drank other things. We stayed at the place for maybe two hours and then drove to The Fort at Galle. The Fort is basically a man-made fort that the Dutch built and lived on during their colonial reign in Sri Lanka. The houses there were very European with small cobbled roads. We walked around doing the tourist thing and looking inside the beautiful homes that had been converted into impressive hotels. It was dark by this point though and we had been driven to Galle by Rudi and Farizeh's driver so we all decided to head back to Colombo so that their driver could go home. His motorbike was parked at Farizeh and Rudi's house so we drove there. There house was about 30minutes outside of Colombo  because that was where the driver's motorbike was. Farizeh has previously complained a lot about her house because apparently it is too hot but I walked inside and my jaw dropped open. I have never stepped inside a more beautiful house. Of course you see nice houses on the television but this was reality and I was in complete awe!  The living area was tree storeys high with floor to ceiling arched shaped windows draped with white lightweight curtains. This is the room that Farizeh had the problem with because there was only one air-conditioner in the room and the sheer size of the room meant that it wasn't very effective. The furniture in the room was modern chic and very glamorous, which suited Farizeh's personality perfectly. Downstairs there was a gorgeous kitchen, a study for Rudi and staff living quarters (which had another kitchen, a television room, a bedroom with an ensuite bathroom and also another separate bathroom). In the study were dozens of framed photographs that Rudi had taken. Apparently photography was one of his favourite hobbies. His work was really nice - he had even did photography at Farizeh's sister's wedding which he showed us.  There were huge wooden stairs leading upstairs to a balcony type area that looked down onto the living area. There were 3rooms there, each with a bathroom. There was also another living area. The whole house was white but each bathroom was very oddly painted a different colour. They were only renting the property so didn't really want to do much to the house because it would be a waste.  Anyway, Rudi got changed and then we all got back in the car and Rudi drove us to into Colombo to the Dutch Hospital to have food and drinks. As soon as we arrived into the Dutch Hospital and took a seat at a table we were greeted by a man carrying a beer pitcher saying that we had won this for sitting at the selected table. Thanks!! Rudi and I shared the beer and we all ordered tapas food to eat whilst watching a live band playing all the really cool chilled out songs by people like snow patrol and kings of Leon. After food Rudi and I ordered shisha also.  It was a nice chilled out evening that ended around 1am. 

Saturday 9th June 2012 - Colombo, Sri Lanka

Anjali got a call this morning from the family that were supposed to be having the birthday party yesterday. Apparently Anjali had got the dates mixed up and the party was today instead. I had already made plans to go and see Shiran at Chocoluv though because I could tell he was feeling neglected and slightly jealous since I had been hanging out with Anjali. His feelings were definitely unfounded and not fair so it was my duty today to try and make him see that if it wasn't for Anjali I wouldn't even be in Colombo because I couldn't afford it so he should be happy! Anyway I had bought this amazing jumpsuit from Avirate yesterday but when I pulled it out of the bag to have a look at it again I realised there was a whole on the seam so Anjali said she would come with me to change it before heading in separate ways. I had also put some clothes on hold that I didn't manage to decide on yesterday because Rudi and Farizeh had came and I didn't want to keep them waiting so I also tried them on again. I ended up spending quite a lot of money despite feeling inside that what I was doing was wrong.  When I arrived at Chocoluv there was a competition happening - like a relay race but with a glass of milkshake at the end of each lap. It was a race to see who could drink the most milkshake in the quickest time to win a balloon ride. There were people of all ages running in and out of the toilets vomiting and the cold drink seemed to have triggered that annoying itchy cough that I had before which turned into a chest infection! Shiran had been previously been telling me to sign up to the competition so you can imagine my delight that I had refused! I spent the day chilling on the grass outside Chocoluv smoking shisha and drinking their amazing milkshake. Gayan was on the early shift so when he finished work he joined me on the grass and we spoke. He'd had a massive argument with his wife the night before and he was really upset. I had never really asked about Gayan's 6year old son before but a conversation I'd had previously with Anjali made me want to ask about him. Gayan had previously told me that the only reason he was staying with his wife was for his son but he never seemed to be at home to spend time with him so I asked him why. He told me that actually he didn't have feelings towards his son and never played with him or spent time with him. I respected that he was honest about it. I kind of understood also that he wasn't feeling great about his situation with his wife and was probably not comfortable playing with his son while his wife was around but his son was now six so it was absolutely imperative that he steps up his game otherwise his son will have no respect for him and also because it meant that he was staying in this unhappy situation for nothing otherwise. He never worked on Sundays so I told him that tomorrow he should try and take his son to the beach or something. I could see that I had struck a cord but he was too much of a thinker rather than a doer so I didn't have much hope that he would take him but at least the seed was planted. What he did now was none of my business.  Whilst chilling at Chocoluv I had decided that I wanted to do something for Anjali to say thank you for everything but because I didn't have her kind of money I decided that I would cook for her tomorrow. Gayan and I jumped in a tuk tuk together and he dropped me at the food city near Anjali's before heading off to Mount Lavinia to meet his friends for drinks. I looked around food city to get an idea of the kind of thing I could cook for her based on the ingredients they sold - spaghetti bolognese it was. Anjali only eats chicken though so I would have to make it with chicken mince. I was in the store for maybe 45minutes trying to find everything and then when I got to the checkout - the total was Rs4500 which is like £25. Frikin crazy prices. Anyway, I paid for everything and then the lady that was packing the bags at my till asked to see inside my bags. I was still carrying my Avirate shopping bags from the morning and you are supposed to check in your bags (you can take a handbag in though) when you enter stores but it slipped my mind because nobody asked me for them. Anyway because I had carried the shopping bags around the store I said sure and showed them the inside of my shopping bags. They then asked to see inside my handbag. I told them that no I would not let them look inside my handbag because you are not even supposed to check-in handbags at the entrance. They then said that it wasnt because of that, apparently their cameras had seen me stealing something. I was pissed! The cheek! I said why on earth would I come and spend Rs4500 and then steal something. I said if they wanted to look in my handbag they should call the police because it was absurd. I was absolutely mortified especially given that there were other people in the queue behind me. Surely there was a more dignified way to go about this especially given that they didn't know for sure whether I was guilty or not. They then said if I didn't have anything to hide then I should just show them. It was more the principle for me but I showed them my handbag reluctantly and then told them I was absolutely fuming and grabbed my bags and left. I walked up the street with my bags towards Anjali's and arrived at hers just as she was pulling up in a car coming from the birthday party. I told her what had happened and she marched out of the house telling me to follow her because she was going to tell them off. We got to the store and she asked me who had searched my bag. She then marched over and started shouting at the lady in Sinhala. Everyone was watching and all the staff crowded around to see what was happening. I was now even more embarrassed! When speaking to Anjali they then changed their story and said that it wasn't a camera that had seen me steal but apparently a customer approached them as well as a staff member. Anjali demanded to see the staff member and it turns out it was the guy that had served me at the meat counter. Anjali then went crazy at this guy as well. I really felt uncomfortable so I went and waited outside and then out came Anjali and three staff members apologising to me. I was too humiliated to say anything so gave a small nod of approval and started to walk towards Anjali's with Anjali in tow.  I don't know why this had happened or what people had seen but I knew that I would never step foot in that store again. 

Friday 8th June 2012 - Colombo, Sri Lanka

I was in my room doing yoga when Anjali came knocking on my door saying she had agreed to meet her neighbour to go to a flower market in Sri Lanka's capital city - apparently Colombo isn't the capital city, which came as a shock to me - according to Anjali it is only the financial capital?! Anyway, her neighbour would pick us up in half an hour so I had to ditch the yoga and jump in the shower.  On the way to the flower market we had to stop at a church to pick up food to take to a poor area in Colombo. Her neighbour did this every Friday but had her driver doing it all! He picked up the food and took it to the poor people whilst she waited in the car! Kind of defied the point in my opinion. Anjali said that I should go and have a look at the houses and walked with me down this narrow lane where there were doors basically on top of each other on both sides of the lane. Each door led to a small room where usually more than 8 people would sleep. The houses had tin roofs and were absolutely tiny. There were people sitting on their doorsteps smiling as we walked past with the driver carrying the food. I was really interested in seeing these houses properly but I didn't want to impose or make a spectacle of these people's lives. They were human too so it felt kind of wrong for me to look inside their house or stare so I just smiled at the people and avoided looking passed them and into their home.  We arrived at the place where the flower market was supposed to be only to find that there was some landscaping work taking place so the market couldn't take place. Rather than just driving back we went to a place called Water's Edge and stopped at a cafe to have a snack. There was also an art exhibition taking place on the grass outside so we looked around there for a bit before jumping back in the car to head back to Colombo. We drove passed a building that was basically the equivalent to the houses of parliament but in Sri Lanka and I stopped to get a photo.  Once we were back at Anjali's we did some meditation and then she did energy healing on me. She is very spiritual and told me that she could see people's auras - apparently mine is green, meaning that I love nature but also that I get jealous.  Anjali then got a call from Farizeh asking her if she wanted to meet at the Avirate Cafe at 4pm. Anjali and I decided to walk there. It was such a nice walk and required us to walk passed the independence hall. According to Anjali it was her great grandfather who had established independence in Sri Lanka when he was the Prime Minister and there was a statue of him on the grounds around the hall.   We walked around having a look and then I could hear live music in the distance - on the field opposite the hall there were marching bands from the army and navy performing. It was absolutely amazing to watch - apparently they were practising for an event that was taking place on Sunday.  We got to Avirate Cafe early so we went into the store to look around. It was the worst thing I could have done! The staff, including the male manager, kept bringing me loads of different items to try on and absolutely everything looked amazing. Also when Farizeh joined us she was picking out amazing clothes for me. I liked Farizeh a lot as whenever she brought me an item to try on, if i said it wasn't me she would be like "yes I see what you mean but it does look stunning". Anjali on the other hand would say "what is wrong with you, get it!"  Whenever Anjali and I were alone she was lovely and would talk from the heart about life and other things but when there were other people around I noticed that she was usually quite rude to me and talked for me when people asked me a question. It was like I was seen but not heard and if I was heard Anjali would usually correct me or disagree with what I had to say in quite a forceful manner so I would just shut up and go inward. I hadn't worn nice clothes for three months and hadn't bought any with me because that wasn't the kind of journey I was on so was kind of offended when Anjali said "Basically you have been wearing the wrong clothes missus!" I know she didn't mean any harm by it but it wasn't appreciated. Anjali, Farizeh, Rudey and I then jumped in the car to go and feed Anjali's cat whilst I quickly changed into one of my new dresses. We then headed to the Hilton for drinks. It was dark so the place was lit up which seems to make these places look even more stunning than in the daylight. Gihan ended up joining us and when Rudey got up to go to the toilet he took the seat next to me and moved it closer. Cringe! He tried making conversation with me but I kept turning my attention to the ladies hoping he would stop - eventually he did.   There was a band playing live music but it was pretty dreary so we then headed to Cinnamon Lake to a club called the Library where they had a pool table and a live band also.  Rudey, Gihan and I went to play pool while the ladies danced. I beat Rudey which meant I had to play Gihan but I felt ridiculously uncomfortable because he kept sitting right where the white ball landed meaning that he would check me out when I bent over to play. To avoid him checking me out I literally stood straight and hit the ball in any way without trying to aim. Also when I was playing Rudey, Gihan had tried to put his arm around me to show me how I should position myself. I pulled so far away and said you can show me from where you are! I got really upset at this place because Rudey had again managed to pay the bill at the Hilton and at The Library. Rudey saw that it had upset me that he kept paying and he came over and told me to stop being silly and said I should spent my money on other things like clothes. Then Anjali spotted I was upset and started going into a full blown lecture in front of everyone so I had to ask her to leave it out until no one was around.  We all danced until about 1am and then they dropped Anjali and I back home. I had a talk with Anjali and told her that I needed to leave her house because I was following a path now that I didn't want to be on and spending too much money on things that I shouldn't be spending on. Also because I didn't like that Farizeh and Rudey kept paying the bill and that I couldn't afford to take a whole bill like that and that the only way I could avoid this was to stop going out with them.  She understood and was supportive of my decision but also gave me a lecture about getting upset with people paying the bill and explained that nobody had to do anything they didn't want to do. She also had both of us in tears saying that she can see that I don't love myself and that this is why I find it hard to let people close to me or accept that people actually enjoy spending time with me and that they genuinely want to pay the bill. She struck a cord inside me but I had no idea how to fix it. I know this about myself but it's something I try to push aside and avoid but it always comes out in the way I feel about certain things that happen to me and how I may react. I don't feel whole inside and don't feel like I can offer a lot to people so I get jealous or insecure and threatened when a friend has a new friend or when for instance Hugh used to be hanging out with other females because I feel replaceable. This is one of the things that I hoped I could fix by travelling as i would at least feel like I had achieved something - the problem is though that I don't see me travelling alone as a big deal. Farizeh and Anjali are constantly telling me what a big deal it is and that it says a lot about myself but I just feel numb to everything and feel unable to spark a fuse inside that looks at myself as anything other than a failure.  You could say I have issues!!! Anyway, Anjali made me talk it out so I went to bed feeling a bit better. 

Thursday 7th June 2012 - Colombo, Sri Lanka

Anjali had a friend's relative's daughter's birthday party to go to tomorrow so our mission today was to find a birthday present for her. Anjali hated going in tuk tuks so decided she wanted to pay for a car and driver to take us around.  During one of mine and Anjali's past conversations I had for some reason mentioned that when I get married I want a dress with a low back so somehow from this conversation Anjali had decided that today she wanted to get a top made for me with a low back. We firstly needed to stop off to get the material from a store called fashion fabric. We were walking towards the store when a man, a lady and two children stopped Anjali and gave her this story about loosing all their money and their house and told her they were hungry. They asked if Anjali would buy them food. We were standing right outside McDonalds but apparently they only eat curry and rice so that wasn't suitable but then 2minutes later we went past an expensive bakery/patisserie and they pointed at that place to eat!!! The light still didn't turn on for Anjali that they were dodgy and despite me cussing her saying that if they were that hungry they would eat anything she still went ahead and bought them food! When she told the Sri Lankan driver what she had done he cussed her too and said he was surprised he hadn't invited them into her house to have them rob her of everything.  Also following on from our conversations about making her house into a guesthouse she wanted to show me Casa Colombo, a hotel that was once a house but was converted. Casa Colombo was so elegant and chic. There was a pink pool out the back with silver balls floating on the top. Around the pool was modern silver sun loungers with little side tables with white towels neatly rolled placed in the middle. The place was gorgeous.  She had set out with the intention of buying the little girl some kind of arts and crafts set or makeup but after looking around the whole of majestic city, a large toy store and Arpico with no luck, she was instructed by a lady to go to this other store for makeup sets. One thing about Sri Lanka is that most shop assistants are useless and not willing to help. In the first toy store we went to in Majestic City we had asked the shop assistant for arts and crafts sets and they said they don't sell them so I continued looking around and found them. Also when we were at this store that this lady had told us to go to we asked where exactly the sets were. Despite asking a few members of staff (in English and Sinhala) all of them had said that they don't sell makeup sets so we found a makeup bag and starting looking around for individual items to make up a makeup set. Then after we had been in the store for maybe an hour and Anjali had paid for everything I spotted makeup sets! The guys first refused to give a refund but Anjali caused a stink and they gave in. This shopping trip lasted maybe 6hours.  After the shopping Anjali got the driver to drop us at Cinnamon Lake where we going to eat Chinese at a restaurant called Long Feng. The food was delicious!!! We ordered loads of different dishes and shared them. There was a live band playing the classic singalong type songs from the 80s and 90s that had Anjali and I singing out loud and bopping our heads. On the lake there was a stunning floating restaurant that had thousands of lights that cast a beautiful reflection onto the water.  Again Anjali took the bill leaving me feeling really bad. I kept letting Anjali know how I felt about her paying but she insisted that it was what she wanted to do.  We caught a tuk tuk back to her place and chilled talking for a few hours before going to bed. 

Tuesday 5th June 2012 - Colombo, Sri Lanka

As mentioned Anjali was not brought up in Sri Lanka and only came here to sell her grandmother's house and ended up staying in Sri Lanka to restore the house instead. She told me that she has been feeling very isolated here and has had a few problems with the local ladies and them hating on her, so she did some research on expat associations and found one that had a meeting today and so she wanted to go and check it out. I had always wondered what an expat was and apparently it means someone who has migrated to another country either to live or to work. We got up in the morning and had smoothies made from mangos fresh from the trees in her garden. We then jumped in a tuk tuk and headed to a hotel called the Taj which was such a grand looking hotel. We were directed into this room where there were lots of ladies of all nationalities. We registered and then were told to sit in an area in the corner as that was where the newcomers were going to meet with a lady to hear about the organisation. Everyone talked amongst themselves and asked each other's stories - nearly all of the ladies were wives of men working in the country and had no work so were obviously lonely.  The meeting was cool and the organisation seemed to offer a lot of different activities to keep these women occupied (the association is not just for women by the way but there was only one male member!). Anjali signed up to become a member.  After the meeting Anjali and I went to the Galle Face hotel for a drink (Anjali doesn't drink alcohol by the way) and shared a meze platter. We sat there for hours talking and then moved to another area in the hotel, right on the beach front, to watch the sunset. We were both really surprised when out of nowhere we saw one of the ladies from the expat meeting! When we all spotted eachother we had wide smiles as this lady had seemed very nice in the meeting and Anjali had spoken to her briefly about the restoration work that she was doing on her house. The lady's name was Frizay and she was with two men; her husband Rudey and his cousin Gihan. They all joined us at our table and we talked and laughed but the cousin Gihan, who was a huge guy (width wise) aged in maybe his 40years, kept trying to divert me over to a conversation with him and whilst I was taking photos of the sunset stood up and kept standing really close to me and putting his arm around me to position me. Disgusting. Then at one point I showed the group a photo I had taken of an old guy mounting a tree to get Toddy and this guy Gihan held my hand which had the phone in it with both of his hands to apparently get a better look. It was completely inappropriate and unneccessary and annoyed me a lot because I had spent a lot of my time with these people telling them about my bad experiences with the men here and this guy took note and now was troubling me in the same way! I pulled my hand away and passed him the phone. I tried hard to avoid any conversation with him from then. We had all been chilling talking for maybe an hour and a half and then Rudey paid the bill!!! Anjali and I had been there drinking before they came along and I had drank a lot of pimms both while they were with us and before so it was completely wrong for him to pay but he wouldn't hear of it. It made me feel awful. Rudey then asked if we all wanted to go to dinner together and so we headed to a restaurant called Lemon in their car. Lemon was on the same street as Anjali's favourite clothes store 'Avirate' so because Frizay had only been in the country for 3-weeks and didn't know the best places to shop Anjali wanted to show her the shop and the attached cafe. This was the worse thing that could have ever happened because I had restrained my shopacholic tendencies for all this time because I had kept away from the type of life I live in England but these ladies were pulling me right back into it! The clothes were amazing and my senses were going crazy as I looked around at all the beauty! Luckily the men were waiting so we had to leave but the shopping seed was now sewn in me :-(  Anjali had been talking about Lemon a lot and how she wanted to take me here so she was really happy when she made the suggestion to the group to come here and they all agreed. Lemon was located on the rooftop of a building and was just so beautiful. The lighting just made the place so magical and made everything look beautiful and created a warm yet crisp and modern ambiance.  The food was really good as well!! I ordered baby ribs which came with a side of rice and salad. It was nice and spicy and really well seasoned.  During dinner a conversation had come up about Facebook and Gihan asked to see my phone. Why did this random guy need to see my phone?! He then bought up Facebook (I signed out before I handed him the phone) and stared at my email address for a long time like he was trying to remember it. He then said he had this beautiful photo he wanted to show me and that I should add him on Facebook there and then. What could I do because he was watching! I added him and then after we left I cancelled the request!  Again though, Rudey took the damn bill. As explained before I could never afford to just go and take a bill like that but I would at least like to go Dutch so I am paying my way.  Rudey and Frizay were so lovely though. Rudey was Sri Lankan and Frizay was Pakistani and they had lived in London for most of their lives in Notting hill. Rudey's work meant that they had to move around a lot though - they had come to Sri Lanka from Hong Kong. Frizay was a bit of a diva though and couldn't go anywhere without air-conditioning. She was absolutely lovely though and so funny.  After dinner Rudey dropped me and Anjali back home. Gihan got out of the car to say goodbye and basically cornered me and blocked my route into the gate so I walked around him - he then touched my hair and flower and said "beautiful". Yuk! Once inside the house I told Anjali what he had done throughout the day-she apologised that she hadn't noticed and then we stayed up until 5am talking!  I had never felt more lucky because not only had this wonderful lady taken me into her home and introduced me to all these beautiful places, she also said that she would love to have me working on her projects with her. The next project was in the Gaza Strip and was to develop sustainable farming. It sounded amazing and would be exactly the kind of work that I would want to do. Anjali said I could be based anywhere in the world as long as I hit the deadlines and could fly in and out as needed. Also during dinner Rudey had told Anjali that a fantastic idea for her house would be to turn it into a hotel - Anjali loved the idea and was also saying that on the side of the projects I could manage the hotel. Managing a hotel was not my dream but it would allow me to be based in Sri Lanka and still get money when there were no projects. Everything was all just talk at the moment so although inside I am screaming like a little girl at a dream come true, I cannot get ahead of myself I see something tangible.  Also Anjali and I spoke about travelling around the rest of Sri Lanka together. She seemed really up for it. I still needed to do the whole of the south coast and the hill country. Also I really wanted to do whale and dolphin watching - I had wanted to do it in Trincomalee but the water was quite rough towards the end of my stay so I am thinking to go back there when the water calms.  All in all it was a great day :-) 

Monday 4th June 2012 - Colombo, Sri Lanka

I made sure that this morning I woke up super early so I could pack my things up and head to Anjali's house. I jumped in a tuk tuk and was taken past amazing houses and big important looking buildings guarded by security and police. We then pulled up to a big green gate that was on the same road as all these mansions and embassies - Anjali's house! I called Anjali to let her know I was outside the gate. She opened the gate and was wearing a vibrant white summer dress that was covered with pink flowers. Her smile was beaming as she opened the gate wide to welcome me into her garden. My first thoughts were "wow!"  There was a massive white house with a large driveway and a beautiful green garden that was lined with gorgeous bright flowers and different trees. I can't lie I felt a bit like a tramp walking into this amazing property with my big chunky backpack and grubby self especially given that I had been staying in basic guesthouses for the past 3months, but I thanked her as she led me into the house. The house was huge and absolutely beautiful! It had black granite flooring and white walls throughout with antique looking wooden furniture. There was a statement winding staircase which led up to three massive rooms, each following the decor of the rest of the house. I was shown to a room downstairs and told "this is your room". I had a room! Woohoo!  My room was a large room, again following the decor of the rest of the house, and had an attached modern bathroom with a shower that had hot water!!! I was in heaven!  Anjali asked me if I wanted a smoothie and then made me a beautiful mango smoothie before offering to take me out and an about.  The deal was that she was actually 43-years old but looking absolutely amazing for it! She was brought up in L.A in Beverly Hills but was born in Sri Lanka because her mum had come to visit Sri Lanka when she was 3-months pregnant but had a horse riding accident and had to be put under bed arrest until the baby was born to ensure the safety of the bubba. She used to work in the US Government for the ministry of justice. She was now "retired" but running regeneration projects across the globe on the side both through her foundation (non profit) and privately. She comes from a very well known and wealthy family - on her father's side her great grandfather was a former prime minister and the street that she lived on was named after her mother's side of the family (I am not 100% sure what they did). And here I was in this lady's house! It actually wasn't her house but her recently passed grandmother. Anjali's mum had inherited the house after her mum passed so Anjali and her mum had booked a two-week trip to Sri Lanka to sell the house - that was a year ago. Anjali's mum decided she actually didn't want to sell the place but then went back to L.A leaving the burden on Anjali. Anjali has spent the majority of the time restoring the house but even though the house is now finished she can't leave it because someone may take over the house if she leaves it alone. The house was previously taken over by a former minister and his mob with machine guns! She and her family had to negoiate to get these people out of her house. Her mission now is to find trustworthy staff to look after the house so she is free to leave at her will. The problem is that she has had many different people looking after the place but they have all screwed her over. If you haven't noticed already she is extremely kind (she took me into her house!) and was brought up in the states so she is used to talking with her staff about hers and their personal life, paying them well and building friendships with them. Anjali has said that you can't do that in Sri Lanka because from her experience people have seen this as a sign of weakness. Some people look at foreigners really badly and assume that they are rich so it doesn't matter if they con them or steal from them. From my previous posts you may see that this is true especially in the case of Sri Lankan men and their views and opinions of foreign women. So Anjali had a guy that was doing construction on her house and she made friends with him and used to take him out to all these nice places because she wanted to show him another side to life. He was a married man and Anjali had even met the wife and taken them both out so had obviously trusted his intentions with her. However this guy ended up trying to attack Anjali in her own house and now calls her threatening her.  Also she had many housekeepers but all of them stole from her. She paid for some of their children's education, bought computers for them, gave them cash advances, paid for weddings and even had worker's families move in with her to support them but each and everyone of these people cheated her in some way.  Anyway, as you gathered we spent a lot of time talking today! The talking was all done in many different luxurious places that Anjali decided to take me to.  The first place was the Cinnamon Grand hotel. She walked me around the place showing me the various restaurants including one that was built outside and made to replicate a traditional Sri Lankan village and cooked the food in pots on fire. The hotel was so grand and absolutely stunning! The next place we went to was the Gallery for lunch. The prices were nuts and cost more than I usually spend in a week on food but I had let Anjali know the situation and she had said that she was paying. I felt extremely bad but what could I do because there was no way I could afford to take a bill like that! The Gallery was a very upmarket cafe which attracted the middle and upper class and mainly served European fusion food. I had ordered butter chicken curry, recommended by Anjali and honestly it wasn't that great. I would have definitely preferred to eat in one of these cheap "hotel" cafes and paid a lot less but what to do?!  Anyway the next stop was Cinnamon Lake, another hotel with multiple restaurants but located by a big lake. We stopped there and had virgin mojitos whilst watching two men in a traditional looking longboat fishing using a net. The venue was gorgeous and got better as the sun went down as the lights reflected off the lake and the swimming pool making everything look stunning.  After drinks we caught a tuk tuk back to Anjali's and talked and chilled. 

Sunday 3rd June 2012 - Colombo, Sri Lanka

I was supposed to be checking out today at 10am and heading to Anjali's but I was dying and after arriving back to my hotel at 7.30am I didn't wake until 2.30pm - the only reason I woke up was because my phone was ringing. Annoying!  I was puking my guts up and still felt drunk every time I stood up and my head was pounding. I stayed in bed all day long sleeping only waking up to be sick and then at 5pm there was a bang on my door - it was the lady from the hostel asking me what was going on. I told her I didn't feel very well and would now be staying tonight and closed the door and went back to bed. Gayan had called me throughout the day wanting to do something as it was his day off but I couldn't imagine doing anything! I finally started feeling a bit human at 9pm but still stayed in bed! I texted Anjali apologising for not coming and asked if it would be ok to go to her house tomorrow instead - she was absolutely fine and said no problem. 

Saturday 2nd June 2012 - Colombo, Sri Lanka - REVISED

I had a nice lay in then got ready and headed straight to chocoluv. Shiran didn't start until the afternoon and the place was really busy so I didn't really get any time to talk to Gayan. Instead I just chilled, drank milkshake, ate spaghetti bolognese, then went and sat outside the cafe on the grass smoking shisha. When I had finished I came inside to pay my bill and there were two ladies sitting on the table opposite me -one of the ladies seemed to notice that I was waiting a long time for my bill and made a joke that I would be waiting for another year. I told her it was fine because they were my friends but then we got talking and she invited me to join her and her friend. Her name was Anjali, she was Sri Lankan but lived in Los Angeles. She was very elegant and wearing very sleek and sophisticated clothing - she looked around 30years old. We got talking about our different experiences of Sri Lanka - mainly the bad ones. She told me she travelled a lot by herself so could totally relate to me when she saw me on my own. She asked me about the places I had been and where I was going and when i said I wanted to go to the Maldives but that i couldn't go because they don't exactly have guesthouses there, her reaction was that I could go with her. She said she stays in the most amazing five-star hotels and that I could stay for free! I asked her how she manages to do so much travelling with work but then she told me she is retired! She was only like 30 so how the hell did she manage that! Anyway, she invited me to stay with her in her "massive house that she has to herself" that was literally around the corner from Chocoluv - the area (Colombo 7) is the wealthiest area in Colombo so I couldn't believe my luck. I was really overwhelmed! She told me I could come by whenever I wanted so I told her I would come tomorrow. She gave me her address and phone number and then invited me to an interior design show that she was going to with her friend - however tempting it was I had to refuse because of my plans with Shiran and Gayan so I said goodbye and then she left with her friend and I left with Gayan. Gayan, Shiran and I had arranged to go out but Shiran didn't finish until midnight so we had agreed that Gayan and I would go and have some drinks and Shiran would meet us later and we would all head to Mount Lavinia together to a bar.  Gayan and I were supposed to go to Heladiv for cocktails but given the prices there Gayan came up with a great idea - we would buy a bottle and head to Galle face.  We first had to head to my hotel so I could change clothes, Gayan waited in the reception as men are not allowed in this place.  We then went to the supermarket in Cinnamon grand shopping mall and bought a big bottle of Arrack and then ate Chinese food in the food halls below.  We then headed over to Galle Face where there were hundreds of people chilling on the grass, some flying kites, and took a seat on the sea wall drinking and talking.  Time flew while we were there and before we knew it, it was time to head to Heladiv to meet Shiran. The three of us then jumped in a tuk tuk and headed to a really cool chillout bar in Mount Lavinia. It was a wooden structure located right on the edge of the beach. We took seats right on the beach, ordered a snack and just chilled talking. Despite going through a whole bottle of arrack already the boys wanted to order a bottle of rum.  Some idiot boys tried hassling me a couple of times but Gayan told them to leave me alone and that I was his good friend.  Time went on and before I knew it the sun was coming up. I had drank so much alcohol that I ended up sitting on the beach with the water completely soaking me crying my eyes out because I missed Hugh. Gayan came over to see where I was and was so concerned when he saw me crying and ended up sitting there crying with me - him over his wife and me over Hugh. It was a really emotional moment and completely touched my heart that we could share a moment like that together. We were both completely soaked from the sea, shoes as well, and covered in sand. Shiran had ditched us already so at 7am Gayan and I had to do the most humiliating walk of shame to get a tuk tuk. It was 7am on a sunday so who would be out right?!! We were walking through quiet streets to get to the main road but then all of a sudden there were hundreds of people up ahead! It was a Sunday Market!! Both Gayan and I were holding our shoes in our hands, were completely soaked and covered in sand and looked out of place to say the least!!! I already stand out as it is but this was awful!! People turned and looked at us and I just put my head down laughing to Gayan that this bought a whole new meaning to "walk of shame"!  We finally got a tuk tuk and Gayan dropped me back at my hotel before heading to his house. It was really funny because I tried to give him money but he wouldn't take it so I put it in his shoe as I got out of the tuk tuk and ran inside, passed the security guard, and straight upstairs whilst laughing hysterically. He had seen the manoeuvre and tried to run after me to give me the money back but the security guard stopped him so he couldn't come through!! I then sent him a text saying "Hahahaha! I won!!" before passing out on my bed!

Friday 1st June 2012 - leaving Arugam Bay to go to Colombo

I was supposed to get up at 5am to catch my bus to Colombo but I felt like death after my drinks with Ananiyas last night.  I eventually crawled out of bed at around 10am and opened my door to see how Ananiyas was - the boss was there and Ananiyas was sweeping. I shouted "good morning" laughing at him because he looked rough. He started laughing and covered his mouth with his finger indicating that I should be quiet and ran inside the kitchen! Too funny!  I got ready, packed my things then chilled with Ananiyas outside my room for about an hour or so. He was hungover and had a bad head!!  I said goodbye (we had switched details already) and headed to the bus stop. I was sitting there in the blazing hot sun for about 15minutes when Neesh pulled up infront of me with his other surfer friend. They asked me where I was going and offered to drop me to Pottuvil to catch a bus to Monoragala.  Neesh didn't say very much but held my hand when I got out of the tuk tuk and said thank you for everything while staring deeply into my eyes. His locked eyes made me a bit uncomfortable so I pulled away and said not to be silly. I said bye to them and went inside the bus station.  While I was sitting there this guy started talking to me - his name was Shanaka (this is Shana's name!). I really didn't want to talk but he obviously couldn't read my abruptness and unwillingness to hold conversation so he kept asking questions.  When the bus came he sat next to me. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep but the dirty man kept trying to touch me! Like he would cross his arms but make his hand touch my arm or slip it down to touch my stomach or leg. It wasn't really blatant, just very subtle touches, so I just kept pulling further away. Eventually he got the hint and stopped.  I finally arrived in Colombo at 11pm and jumped in a tuk tuk to go straight to chocoluv to see my boys. I was so exhausted though and the boys were really busy so I said hello, caught up a bit and then pulled out my guidebook to try and find somewhere to stay! None of the guesthouses would take me so late so I reluctantly called the YWCA, who I know from previous experience charge a lot (Rs.2500 per night), but luckily they would take me at this time. I would only stay one night and find something cheaper tomorrow. Gayan called his tuk tuk friend and directed him on where to take me and said "treat her like a flower!" So sweet!  I got to YWCA at 12.15 where the women kindly said that because I arrived after midnight it was technically a new day so I could stay until the next day - meaning I would get two nights essentially for one! Yay! The room was big with three beds and a bathroom. I was exhausted and jumped straight into bed. 

Thursday 31st May 2012 - Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka

Lahari and I had made plans to Skype in the morning at 5am gmt (9.30 SL time) as she is going on holiday on Saturday and I haven't skyped her for ages. It was so good to see her face!  Neesh was supposed to come at 10am to pick me up to go to the national park but I didn't hear anything from him until 11am so I decided not to go anymore. I thought it would be too awkward anyway given lastnight's occurences and I didn't want to lead him on. Instead I chilled at Tsunami talking with the owner Lee, the manager Lee and Lola (one of the Russian girls). The manager Lee has a big crush on Lola and on my first day in Arugam Bay he had taken her up the coast to one of the bigger towns because she wanted to buy silver and he wanted sheets for the hotel. She didn't seem interested in him like that and I think was just being friendly. However Lee had created this huge romance in his head and was hung up on her bad. Everytime I spoke with him the first thing out of his mouth would be about Lola and the latest happenings - which was either she was wonderful or she was a bitch! Today he didn't like her because lastnight he had been desperately trying to make progress with her and apparently had been made to feel like an idiot by the Russian couple who spoke in Russian and laughed which made him think it was about him. Lee is a nice enough guy but is a bit of a psycho! It's like he has split personality and is really rude to his staff - I told him off many times during the day about how rude he is. At one point he got really pissed off about Lola and stomped over to the kitchen shouting "wheres my fucking juice".  Lola, him and I were talking and at one point I asked her about her boyfriend. Lee was so rude and turned around and said "Let's be serious Lola, we both know that you would cheat on your boyfriend". She looked completely shocked and had no idea what he was talking about. During the tuk tuk ride with Lola a few days before, Lee had called me saying that Lola was so beautiful and how he really wanted to kiss her and that they were close to kissing at one point - again I think he had created the scenario in his head and that is probably wasn't the case that they were close. I think when today Lee said that he knew Lola would cheat he was referring to this scenario.  When it came to me paying my bill Sri Lanka Lee and said that I should give the change for staff welfare. I was shocked and turned around and said "there is service in the bill so why am I giving more money!" SL Lee replied that service did not go to the staff - only to management (Lee and his partner). I couldn't believe it! I walked straight over to the owner Lee who was placing poker with the Russians and asked him if it was true. His response infuriated me! "I don't agree with service charge! I only took over the running of this place 23days and haven't decided what to do with the service yet but I don't like it." My response was that if you haven't decided what to do and don't like it then why are you taking the money - that's not fair! I want to give money to lee for his great service but that means paying service and then a tip on top! He told me to fuck off and stay out of his business.  Do you know why it bugged me so much?! Because SL Lee was a 57year old man only earning Rs.10,000 per month (£100). Service would help him and the other staff out massively. Also he gives great service and is such a friendly lovely guy that always talks with me and has taken me under his wing like a daughter. For what reason should he do all this and not get rewarded?! Instead the arrogant, rude, and greedy managers who rarely deal with the customers and are certainly not serving them food get the SERVICE charge?! If owner Lee didn't agree with this and actually cared about his staff's happiness and wellbeing this should have been one of the first priorities on his list - and if it wasn't he should have just stopped charging service charge until he worked out what to do with it then people could tip and it would go to the waiters.  Owner Lee called me later to offer a really bizaare apology but it made me want to physically hurt him! After apologising his words to me were this; "when we were giving the staff the service they were sometimes earning four times their salary and earning the same as a teacher. You should be proud of me anyway, it's like modern day colonialism!" Oh my frikin god!!! So what if they earn good money?! Why should you want to repress them and keep them at the bottom. It should work the same way as retail in England - the people doing these jobs are usually fresh out if school and just stay in these jobs to earn money while studying and then move onto bigger and better things and then the new generation comes and takes the job - the cycle continues. You should want to do the same here - nurture your staff, help them achieve, let them have enough money to save and perhaps set up their own business! Not give them so little that they can barely survive nor progress.  I was leaving Arugam bay tomorrow to go to Colombo to go and chill with my boys Gayan and Shiran for a few days and to pick up my suncream that had arrived from my papa's girlfriend Angie in England. I had lots of invitations to go out with different people today - Sergo had invited me to dinner with the group and wanted to pay for me, Neesh wanted to meet, and some random guy asked me to come out but all I wanted to do was chill my boy Ananiyas. This boy was now to me like Gayan and Shiran. I loved him a lot like a brother. I gave him money to go and buy beers for us and we chilled in the dining area eating Kotu Roti and talking and laughing. I told him about my argument with owner Lee and then found out that Ananiyas also doesn't get service! I hated this! What kind of BS corrupted rubbish is this?! It has really made me determined to start a business here and do things differently for people.  After a while I told Ananiyas I would be back in a bit because I wanted to go and see SL Lee to say goodbye. I walked into the kitchen at Tsunami where all the staff were working quietly. They all smile when they saw me and thanked me for speaking up for them. The word had obviously spread! SL Lee was supposed to be doing a barbecue tonight for all the guests (it had been planned for days) and had bought a massive barracuda fish in the morning for it so I was shocked to see nothing was happening. SL Lee said to me that he cancelled it because he didn't care to do anything to promote the business. I think I had really struck a cord with everyone today. I felt really bad but the staff all looked at me admirably. Lee told infront of everyone that he really Luved me. He explained that because it was love with a U and not an O it was not a romantic love but a caring luv and one that means that he loves me as a person and respects me a lot. He said I had such a good heart and thanked me for caring. He took out his phone and called his daughter and told her about me and introduced her to me over the phone. He took my email address and gave me his and his daughters number and hugged me goodbye. It was such a beautiful moment.  I then went back to my hotel and continued my evening with Ananiyas. It was really good fun chilling with him - he also called him nan and told her about me and let me speak to her.  Ananiyas told me that this was only the third time he had ever drank - the first time was because his friend was leaving to go to England, and one other time. He was so drunk it was hilarious. He couldn't stand up and I had to help him into one of the rooms and tuck the mosquito net around him. He then ran out of the room and vomited everywhere!!! The poor guy had work at 8am as well! I got him some water and left him to it and headed to bed aiming to be up at 5am to catch the bus to Colombo.