After the first good sleep in what seemed like forever I feel fresh and relaxed and thought I’d start writing an update from our adventures here in Sri Lanka.

It took us about 16 hours to get from Rockingham to Colombo last Monday. We both hadn’t slept much the night before or on the two flights. So walking through the airport half asleep we were lucky Chris saw the very small counter selling visas on arrival.

We might have told you before we left. I had read online that visa lines could take up to 4 -5 hours. I also read that the Sri Lankan government sells them online.
Happy days - I thought we’ll beat the crowds...
Well, I got scammed into buying a visa only for US $104 .
(Note to self: Not all website stating “gov” in the address are actually governmental own.)
I got the money back eventually even though they charged me an administration fee...

Well it didn’t take the 4 hours - more like 10 minutes and they were 65 Australian bucks each.
We had to wait another 30-45 min to get through the actual immigration. This was slowed down a lot by Chinese trying to sneak in front of us (with their whole families).
A Sri Lankan man behind us started telling everyone off (“Don’t they teach you anything at your school?!”). If it wasn’t for him it probably would have taken a lot longer... we really should have said something ourselves.
Next time better.

Our luggage was already waiting for us and so was the hotel owner outside (Kamal).
I had messaged Kamal the day before asking if there would be enough room in the car for our two backpacks and the coffin with surfboards. “No problem.” , he said.
Fully packed in a tiny Suzuki Wagon, Chris sitting in the front not being able to see Kamal or vice versa. Kamal drove us to the airport hotel, which luckily was only 3 km away.

The room was very nice and clean and after a nights rest and a lovely breakfast we started our journey to Arugam Bay (this time a bigger car).