We are back in Colombo. The idea of this diary was to follow with short stories the various stages of our trip in Sri Lanka, but it did not work out very well. One reason is that during the Christmas and New Year we ahve been in very small places and tried aslo to choose guesthouses not directly in the town or village. Access to internet has therefore been reduced and so the possibility to update this diary with what we sawa nd what we did. Tomorrow night we will fly out to London and the Helsinki. We checked in the web and a temperature of 0 C if waiting for us. Not too bad I must say. Olga will see and experience the snow for the first time as well as the cold air entering her lungs and making the nose dry. We will see how she will take it.

We have had some cold weather in the mountains in Neuwara Elaya (1.800 m) and Haputale (1.000). We needed jackects and Olga put a wollen hat (pippo). We had great views during the train journey of the tea plantations that the British started in thsi country about 150 years ago and that still today represent a large share of the country exports to the world. The green hills and the white mist that covered them in the early morning will remain in our memories.

The trip down to the coast went well and smoothly, feeling the air getting warmer and warmer and the sun stronger and stronger. Familiar feelings for us. We reached the coast and this also meant to reach the effects of the Tsunami of last year (26.12.2004 9:20 am).