Sri Lanka with a Driver

In this episode 27 we go back to Sri Lanka to discuss how Malcolm visited in the early 2000's with a very young family.  Many shared perspectives and a few differences and an exploration of a different side of Sri Lanka.  This has much more cricket in it, not all of it good.

A guide to the nicest and most unusual p;aces to stay in Sri Lanka, look around there are some absolute delights to be found.

We both agree Sri Lanka is one of the few places we would both go back too, simply amazing.  It is the Jewel of the Indian Ocean.

If you have any question on this or another travel topic, just contact us at contact.unraveltravel@gmail.com

Our theme music is Traveler's Blues by Jerzy Gorecki from Pixabay (with licence)

https://pixabay.com/users/jerzyg%C3%B3recki-2233926/

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:09

Welcome to Unravel Travel, where every journey has a story.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

And and around it was a there was set around a sort of swimming pool in the middle. And the swimming pool was just basically concrete walls onto the rapids. And when we arrived at when we arrived it was empty. And we were the only people staying there the first night. And we said, Oh, would you mind swim filling the pool up? And they just opened a sort of a weir gate at the top. Sloice. Yeah, exactly, sluice, and it just filled up with water from the from the river. And after a couple of hours you could swim in it. It was freezing cold.

SPEAKER_07 0:54

It was very, very cold.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Very cold indeed. And it's quite high up. So I mean, you know, I guess if you left the water in there, it would warm up after a while. Um because there was sun on it, but um but it was pretty cold. But we swam in there, uh and it sort of you could walk in at one end, and at the other end it was ten, twelve feet deep because it was, you know, there was quite a steep slope on the weir. Come on and have an over, you know, have a bowl.

SPEAKER_06 1:26

I'm thinking, oh god's sake.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

So I chucked down some filthy, not really turning leg spinners, uh loopy, slow, and um this guy they probably got beaten by the lack of turn.

SPEAKER_03 1:38

How come?

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Not really, Dave. He he had a careful look at one or two, and then the next one which is probably one or two more than he needed to. Yeah, the next one it just disappeared. So the the ground's got quite a long boundary, then there's a big stone wall, and then there's a dual carriageway, and then there's a hotel on the other side, and it landed in the hotel it landed in the hotel car park. You're listening to Unravel Travel on Cricket Horror Stories and the filth that Malcolm bowls.

SPEAKER_04 2:15

I climbed o'er the crags of Lanka and gazed on her golden sea, and out from her ancient places her soul came forth to me. Give me a bard, said Lanka, my bard of the things to be.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Straight away. I mean, come on. That's only going one direction.

SPEAKER_04 2:44

And it didn't. That is WS Cena Senior, whoever he is, uh, from the poem The Call of Lanka. Uh it's got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, about ten verses. If so, maybe if you go through them all, you run out of things to rhyme with Lanka and down to your level, Malcolm.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Uh what what uh and and is it about Sri Lanka?

SPEAKER_04 3:09

It is about Sri Lanka, at least that was the very quick uh search I did, trying to find a poem for the reading today.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Because an olden poem about Sri Lanka I would have thought would have had Celon in it, not Sri Lanka.

SPEAKER_04 3:23

Yeah, that's a good point. I didn't look into where the name Sri Lanka had. I mean, mate Sylon would have been what the British called it. Uh uh presumably they renamed it after we left and probably back to something more traditional. Um but yeah, not sure. So today is a follow-up episode on uh Lankas uh Sri Lanka uh brought to you by two Lankas. Um and today we're gonna touch upon some of the things or go into some depth on some of the things that Malcolm did on his uh couple of trips to Sri Lanka. Yes. Over to the chief Lanka.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Um like I say, it was slightly different, Jules, because I was staying uh you know, being hosted by somebody, so our time in Colombo was spent at Stuart's place and you know, hanging out with people that Stuart knew already, um going to places he uh knew about. Um and our uh tour around the island with the driver he'd lined up was based on going to you know his favourite places in the south that we could get to in a sort of sensible round trip. So it was a little bit different. Um but uh and I I I've often travelled like that with people I know, you know, or to places with people I know as a host, and I think you get a different sort of experience of things. I I said there would be quite a cricket, um quite a cricket basis going on here. Um we we played quite a lot of cricket or watched cricket or had cricket involvement. I went and bought some cricket bats. Um my shopping experience was to well we went we went to sort of outlet shopping thing because a lot of clothing was made in Sri Lanka at that time and bought quite a lot of second seconds, I guess you would call them. Um you know the gray market. Yeah, which were they were probably they probably weren't seconds, they just no, no, they were seconds that like the the manufacturing for gap and things was and um River Island and that sort of stuff was happening there, and so there were slight flaws in the stitching, so you were buying them for like 50p, you know.

SPEAKER_04 5:33

So we bought it. I thought sometimes they just they just ended up doing more than they needed and then ended up.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

I think it was just as good. Yeah, no, fine. Um so we did that. I went and bought some cricket bats and MRF bats for myself and brought a couple back for friends in England to order. Um MRF? MRF, that's an Indian cricket bat brand, okay, but a lot cheaper than you'd buy them in England. Yeah. Um and then and I played cricket one one day. My my brother, as some people will know, is a much better cricketer than I am. That won't surprise many people at all. Both of your brothers, I thought. Yes, that's true. Um, thank you. And you and you and you d and your dad. Yeah, and and pretty much everybody else in my family, in fact.

SPEAKER_04 6:22

So um so you're a far better cricketer than me. I'm just gonna resist that.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

No, it's fine. I I say it regularly myself. Um so when Stuart was out there, he played first class cricket a couple of games for one of the clubs based in Colombo, and so he moved in some reasonably good cricketing circles, and he said, Oh, we have a the there's a Sunday friendly team I play for. We've got a game, why don't you come and play? And I thought, Oh well, that sounds like it can't be too bad. I'm sure I'll be okay at that. And it turns out were you it it was at it was at the REF Club ground, which is a first class ground in the middle of Colombo, and uh on each side there were at least three first class cricketers and two people that had played for Sri Lanka A. So it the standard was somewhat above the level I'm used to, it's fair to say. And um, yeah, I mean I I can't remember who won, but I remember having a bat, and the the spin bowler bowling to me was turning it about two foot and bowling it as fast as fast as normal quick bowling I'm used to facing. And I I don't think I got a bat on it, I think about four balls, and then I was clean bowled. And then and then when we're fielding, he said, Come on and have an over, you know, have a bowl.

SPEAKER_06 7:50

And I'm thinking, oh god's sake.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

So I chucked down some filthy, not really turning leg spinners, uh loopy, slow, and um this guy probably got beaten by the lack of turn, Malcolm. Not really, Dave. He he had a careful look at one or two, and then the next one which is probably one or two more than he needed to. Yeah, the next one it just disappeared. So the the ground's got quite a long boundary, then there's a big stone wall, and then there's a dual carriageway, and then there's a hotel on the other side, and it landed in the hotel it landed in the hotel car park. It took about ten minutes to get the ball back.

SPEAKER_04 8:28

It took about ten minutes for the ball to get there.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

So so yeah, that was my that was my cricketing high and low light all in the same moment.

SPEAKER_04 8:40

Brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

Uh nice story. So I didn't play anymore, uh maybe maybe in some back alleyways, you know, knocking a tape ball around, but uh, but no, nothing more, nothing more than that. But that was a good experience, you know, uh, you know, proper stands and all that sort of stuff. It was quite quite a thing. And then after a few days in Colombo, we went up to Mount Lavinia, which is on the sort of heading south out of Colombo, up on the cliffs, and we stayed at the the Mount Lavinia Hotel, which is it used to be the governor's residence. And it's been turned into hotel, it's one it's a very colonial looking building, all white, you know, and and airy, lots of windows and stuff, with a big pool on the cliff top, and we spent a couple of nights there just hanging around at the pool and and things, and eating and uh drinking. And the the particularly memorable things were that they did like an open-air cinema on the terrace, so we watched Master and Commander with the waves crashing on the rocks below in the in the tropical heat of uh evening. It was fantastic, just perfect, perfect, with a few ginotonics, and uh that was great, really quite a memorable experience, and probably the best breakfast I've ever had, I think. Oh, what was that? Well, it was one of these buffet breakfasts, and they had sort of western stuff, but I went straight for the Sri Lankan food. They have these chili. Yeah, they have these like hoppers or string hoppers, they're called. They're like a sort of pancake, but they're they they dribble the batter in like a sort of pattern so it crosses like a bird's nest. Yeah, exactly. And they're they're sort of slightly flavoured and quite tasty, but they they are to go with the blazing hot curries. So uh deviled fish, have you had deviled curry before? That's a shlan that's that is a classic Srillan kind of thing. So deviled fish, blime. Really tasty, but blow your socks off. And um years later, uh you know Rick Stein, I'm quite I quite like Rick Stein. Yeah. He uh when he did his Southeast Asian series and he did a couple of episodes in Sri Lanka, he did one of his, you know, cooking to camera pieces with the head chef at at the Mount Lavinia Hotel cooking deviled prawns, I think, or something like that. Yeah, that sounds good. Yeah, so it it's a sort of quite a famous place, quite a foodie place. So that was great, you know. That's a really and not the sort of place I would normally stay at, to be honest, but a really good experience. Yeah. And I'd quite recommend it.

SPEAKER_04 11:36

And I think what one of my memories of Sri Lanka is all of the colonial buildings of it. I didn't really touch upon them other than in Colombo, but uh I even in um Newellia has quite a lot, doesn't it? I remember exactly. I think we went to the golf club candy and it was like well actually I was thinking when af after we did last the last episode, I was thinking as I said I went to the Indian restaurant in Candy. Thinking about it, I think it was the where the old British club was, whatever they call it. I might have been the cricket club, I don't know, but it you know, it was an old colonial thing, and that was a restaurant in the grounds of the um I think it still was a club uh that you could join, but uh if you lived there, I guess. Um but yeah, you you could go to the restaurant in the grounds. But yeah, so you sorry, you were talking about the colonial buildings, but I've just reminded me it wasn't just Colombo, it was all over uh that you had these most amazing buildings.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Yeah, absolutely. Uh they're they're really interesting, aren't they? And and they're sort of naturally the design of them is fantastic. They're sort of naturally cooler, aren't they? There's something about the way that they're shaded or thick walls or airy to allow that sort of because obviously no air conditioning back then.

SPEAKER_04 12:48

Big, big, big uh big rooms inside, big fans, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

Yeah, for when you have to be down by the coast in the heat, and then you retire up to the mountains when it's really hot. That's that's the classic, isn't it? Exactly, yeah. When we were in Cyprus, um we were up at the top of Mount Olympus, it's two thousand metres, and right near the summit was the alternative capital when in the heat of summer they would move the capital up to the top of the mountain. I didn't know they know that it's like an India bloody hot.

SPEAKER_04 13:19

That's Cyprus as well. I suppose you know you learn it in one place, you're gonna repeat it, aren't you? Yeah, yeah. Standard colonial activity. Similar with Vietnam, I don't know if it's the the capital, but they've got um I've forgotten the name of the place now, but uh there's a big town city where everybody, all the French, sort of escaped to in the the the heat of the Vietnamese summer. Yeah, so yeah, it happens all the way around that where where you've got colonial shipping in, you've got uh new towns, I guess, being built in the cooler areas.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Yeah, absolutely. I guess the sort of goal at Gaul that fort was Portuguese, wasn't it? So that sort of pre-British colonial times. And I don't think they'd quite taken over the whole it was like just you know, it was just like one of the the early forms of colonial activity, I suppose, in that it was just a sort of trading post, defensive trading post. I don't think they'd particularly got a long way in land.

SPEAKER_04 14:12

Since since you brought up the Portuguese, well, I've had a chance to look up the origins of the names. So Ceylon uh was the name the British used, as we knew, but it was derived from the Portuguese and the Dutch colonizers. So Sri Lanka combines the ancient Sanskrit word Lanka meaning island or resplendent land with Shri, a respectful honorific prefix meaning venerable or holy, and wan meaning Obi-Wan can obi. Yes. There you go. That's where so Lanka is actually the original uh or Sri Lanka, the original name. Alright, good. Well, that's that's very um erudite of you, David. I I like is it entomology? The entomology, yeah. Yeah, I'm not sure if that's what this is though, but anyway, the origin of words I kind of like to understand where it all comes from. But anyway, so we were we were talking about your cricket experience and uh your um my colonial experience, cricket colonial yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

And then um and and then we we met up with this driver at Mount Lavinia, um, who was somebody who'd taken Stuart on various trips. I think they they used tuk-tuks around Colombo, but they they didn't drive anywhere. They they used the driver if they went off exploring any further, so we knew a few people. And uh and it was the best way to travel with little kids for sure, because if you needed to stop toilet emergencies or just everyone's tired or whatever, you can you know it would have been terrible on public transport, almost impossible, or on a coast of little kids or me. Oh, I need the toilet! I've had two beers Although I I think I remember that there weren't seat belts apart from in the front. So I think Megan was in a car seat. I think she had to be in the front and the rest of us were in the back because um there's the only one that would take a car seat. But it was nice, you know, air conditioned and driving around and you know, in a fairly safe what we feel is a relatively safe environment on those sorts of roads and certainly comfortable, which is uh very nice. And the ability to stop, I mean we stopped and we bought stuff from the side of the road, not just drinks and things, but um and food occasionally. But uh I've got these camping stools, these sort of wooden carved three-legged stools which which flip out to three legs crossing each other with a leather sort of saddle on top. Oh right, yeah, yeah. Which I've still got, yeah, you you've probably seen them. I've I still used them, they were at the cabin, which were bought there from the side of the road from some guy for you know, I don't know, not very much, a couple of quid and made.

SPEAKER_04 17:04

Well, uh you're never gonna pay an awful lot when on the downside of it is you need to pack them up and bring them home. So it you know, it's it's gonna either be something amazing that you can't get anywhere else, or very good value for you to be going through the hassle of bringing furniture home.

SPEAKER_00 17:19

Yes, uh, when I came back from Singapore, I had a uh I paid for like a quarter of a shipping crate and brought a load of stuff back. And I know when Stuart came back from Srick. I know how big uh what those shipping crates that we see now. Yeah, you can pay for like a quarter of one work paid for it. I'd been there for two years and I'd accumulated so much stuff. So and when Stuart came back, he brought a load of colonial teak furniture back from Sri Lanka, which he's got in his house still, which is you know, I mean it's worth it because you can pick it up cheap out there if you know the right people and places to go to. And the cost of shipping it is probably not particularly coming out of the way.

SPEAKER_04 17:53

You don't need it immediately, uh, as in it can take its time, and as long as you get enough of it, you'll average over all the pieces that you're bringing, it won't cost very much.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Those sort of places I always like to go with relatively empty bags. Yeah. You don't want to take full suitcases out and then see all the stuff you want to buy, and then you can't bring it back with you. I mean, that's mad.

SPEAKER_04 18:13

Well, I uh you know, I take sort of like half a bag of coffee, so I've got a bag to bring stuff back. Even when I'm going, I said before, even when I'm going to places that are famous for their coffee, I still take my espresso coffee. I know.

SPEAKER_00 18:29

Next you'll be taking pasta to Italy, Dave.

SPEAKER_04 18:32

I bought a pasta machine. Oh, yeah, you said that, yeah. It's a bit heavy to be taking it to Italy, man. I'm sure that I'm sure they can manage to do a good job of it. You're listening to Unravel Travel on Sri Lanka Part 2.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

So we got we got this driver and we headed down the sort of in the opposite direction to you, anti-clockwise, down the coast. And probably uh I mean we didn't take quite so long to get down there. We went to Unuatuna first and Gaul for a few days, and then we buzzed most of the way down to Yala, but we did we stayed in uh and then we came up to uh Newelia and back over to Colombo, so we didn't go quite as far as Candy. And did but presumably the driver stayed with you the whole time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:21

Yeah, he did. I've never done that. That's uh that's probably quite a nice way of doing it.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

He didn't take us on the safari, we got a special safari vehicle, but he knew the one, you know, he booked it all and stuff. Right. Um and he was you know acted as a translator when we needed it, although pretty much you can get by with English in Sri Lanka. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:40

Um I I always found that not a problem.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

Yeah. So that all worked very well, and we stayed at a a couple of really fantastic places. I mean we we probably st we we stayed at Mount Lavinia and then and we stayed somewhere else as well, but the two I particularly remember Well it's some one on the way down to Yala, so it must have been after Unawatuna somewhere, and it was this sort of exclusive hotel which was carved into the rock. So it only had maybe ten rooms, something like that. And they were all carved into this rock face, so you had your window was a window out of the rock face, yeah, yeah. With with shutters on it or whatever. Sounds like the room was in uh very cool, of course, because it's all inside the rock. And these they built these sort of corridors out of stone between the various spaces. Ah, fantastic, unbelievable place, really, with a swimming pool carved into the jungle, and then a a sort of eating area which was overhung by a rock w undercut into to a cliff, basically. It looked like a rock just sort of suspended over it. But I mean it went back I don't know, twenty metres under this cliff overhang. It felt like you were sitting under a massive pile of stone. So uh and that that was a a really cool place, and I think it might have been owned by Stuart was a teacher out there, and I think it might have been owned by one of the parents of a somebody at the international school where he taught. But anyway, I don't think it was easy to stay at, and uh we stayed there, which was which was fantastic. And then another place we stayed, which was up near Neurelia, was again a little sort of hotel. I think I think it only had six rooms, so we're getting getting smaller each time, and this was in the middle of a uh a rubber plantation. So they've got all the trees scored and the little cups underneath collecting the rubber. And uh you drove quite a long way into this rubber plantation, and it it's this that there's a sort of mountain um stream, but it's going quite fast and it goes over a sort of cascade so it's like a mini waterfall uh um a rapids I guess a set of rapids is what you'd call it yeah uh and there's quite a lot of water going so it's quite noisy but they'd built this hotel on top of the rapids so there was like a kitchen area and then there were like three pairs of rooms and and around it was a there was set around a sort of swimming pool in the middle and the swimming pool was just basically concrete walls onto the rapids and when we arrived at that when we arrived it was empty and we were the only people staying there the first night and we said oh would you mind swim filling the pool up and they just opened a sort of a weir gate at the top sluice yeah exactly sluice and it just filled up with water from the from the river and after a couple of hours you could swim in it it was freezing cold okay it was very very cold very cold indeed um and it's quite high up so I mean you know I guess if you left the water in there it would warm up after a while um because there was sun on it but um but it was pretty cold. But we swam in there and it sort of you could walk in at one end and at the other end it was ten twelve feet deep because it was you know there was quite a steep slope on the weir and and sort of a a a a sort of balcony out of your bedroom just walked straight onto the edge of the pool. It was brilliant brilliant place. Cologne it looked sort of it was looked like a colonial build sort of wooden big verandahs and all that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_04 23:35

Yeah amazing how did you find that place Stuart found it somebody had recommended to Stuart and Stuart had booked it for us um because these days it'd be easier because you you know you got online and everything but when you because it's online people would know about it and it would be busy that it's probably all the time. Exactly um but yeah so you were kind of like travelling back when having personal recommendations for stuff was almost essential to see everything or not not to miss some of the good stuff.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

And I'm sure I mean I I can't I the internet must have been around back then but you know there was no mobile phone signal up there that you know there must have been a phone line into the place.

SPEAKER_04 24:17

Yeah you must have had to phone up to book it's a send them a letter 2002, 2001 that's 2004. Yeah. So yeah I didn't have a mobile phone then uh so the internet definitely was around because we used internet cafes when I was travelling in Asia 2003 2004 uh but you literally had to go to somewhere specific and people generally didn't have the internet on their phone in fact I don't even know if the internet existed on people's phones back then it may that's why that's why I'm sounding quite hesitant because I haven't I didn't Google it.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

But but you know you there was certainly no phone reception in it was miles from anywhere it was a quite a long drive up a track through the junk the plantation to get there you wouldn't have even known it was there you know so yeah that was uh that that was a couple of amazing places to stay I mean that was you know the whole the whole journey and there's probably loads of places like that and and it was like saying oh you should have gone up to Jaffner there was let you know it's fantastic up there Candy and Jaffner and but we didn't have time to do it yeah well as you said to me in the previous episodes uh we can always go back yeah that's true you can always go back yeah exactly and you know sufficient time it'll be different even if you end up doing some of the stuff that you did before it'll feel different.

SPEAKER_04 25:38

Yeah um so yeah so where where was this place again?

SPEAKER_00 25:41

You said it was up in the hills is it Ella or Newelia it was near Neurelia yeah I mean we went to we did the same sort of tea tasting in in Ella and we went I think I think I think we had lunch at the golf club in Neurelia it was or or the or the or the could have I think it was the golf club but it could have been like some sort of colonial club a bit like you were in Candy. Yeah yeah um those places are knocking around that's not the sort of place I would necessarily choose I think nowadays I'd probably go for some sort of street food but Stuart recommended it it was on you know our arranged itinerary and we went there and it was yeah that was pretty impressive experience a bit like going to a high end restaurant in New York but you know crisp white waiters and all that sort of stuff buttoned up yeah and so where where did you go after that? And then we headed back towards Colombo and we stopped at some sort of elephant sanctuary I'm not really sure I mean at the time it seemed quite good but they've got in all these countries those sort of places elephant sanctuaries have got a sort of rep bit of a reputation haven't they for not necessarily being so good.

SPEAKER_04 26:55

They're getting better uh but I you've always fear to what extent is that because they that's what the the tourists want and what's going on behind the scenes. I think as long as you research you can find uh some that are are pretty good for the elephants.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

I mean I think I take my brother to be pretty ethical when it comes to wildlife related things yeah and he suggested it but it might have been before he got fully invested in all that and researched a lot of things a long time ago yeah and maybe he'll mention it at some point do you know whether any of these elephants had been in the aforementioned Jaran Jaran video I don't or or whether any of them had been in the filming of the bridge over the river Kwai which was filmed in Sri Lanka in figure was it? Yeah I didn't know that up near Candy Yeah yeah so I don't know if any of them were famous probably not yeah probably were had Nick Rhodes sat on its back yeah I I shouldn't I I always knew I knew if I started with anything Duran Duran that we'd never get to the end of it I guess other please tell me now I I guess other particular things I was I was thinking that that come to as back as memories were buying tuna from the side of the road I didn't do that but I'd love to do that.

SPEAKER_04 28:16

Did you cook it yourself or you bought it slightly char grilled.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

We we bought it from the side of the road from I mean there was a there was a whole well what what had obviously started as a whole tuna on some rickety wooden table at the side of the road yeah and we were going back to Stu's place and he said oh shall we have tuna for dinner tonight and we sort of screeched to a halt and and they just hacked off the size of lump that we wanted. Brilliant ah that'd be so good. Because then you can get it home and it's a square of it Oh it was fantastic and and you know and and it cost nothing Yeah I mean and I think I think in the end 'cause the tune the kid you were trying to find something for the kids to eat trying to find things for the kids to eat was was a bit challenging um and uh and but they you know they would eat tuna or Joe was eating tuna uh tuna mayo so so we bought we boiled we boiled some of it and mixed it with mayo I know and then and then he wouldn't eat it it it was like this is well this isn't like it is coming out of a can. I'm not eating this you've got to love Joe. That's right it's not like it is in a can you know and I think every two year old would probably have been the same but uh it's certainly different experience travelling with small children. Yeah so that was uh that was a food was a bit of a challenge I think.

SPEAKER_04 29:51

But then another advantage of having your own driver because you know if you're on a bus you're not gonna suddenly get off it just to buy the tuner and then have to wait for the next one to come along. So it just gives you that flexibility in ways that you wouldn't necessarily uh think of beforehand.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

Yeah and I guess you know if you're in a hostel you could have they they have cooking facilities don't they you could have probably cooked the tuner but you'd have had to buy some oil and you'd have had to buy all the different things that you needed to go with it which is not necessarily quite so straightforward. No I mean we we cook in our accommodation quite a lot these days I mean on that tour we didn't cook at all I I I don't think maybe apart from Stuart's house. But normally we we cook as much as we eat out and it's always a bit annoying because you have to buy more than you need because often the places don't have the basics there. Sometimes they do sometimes they don't so yeah that's always a bit of a challenge and and it's okay if you're in a car because you just take it home with you but if you're backpacking you're not gonna take your three quarters bottle of or nine tenths bottle of olive oil with you are you?

SPEAKER_04 30:53

Exactly you're gonna leave it behind although I I think Izzy uh took a bag of sh I know she forgot to take it in the end but she was going to take some milk powder just in case they didn't have milk in the hotels which didn't actually they didn't but they gave us it but there was it wasn't in the rooms. I said I don't think it's in the rooms it often isn't uh so she was going to take this little baggie of white milk powder on the plane through customs.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

I'm going yeah you might have some fun with that Petra often makes cheesecakes when you go to check and uh it's difficult to find digestive biscuits for the base. So um she grinds up digestive biscuits into a bag uh into a plastic bag and we take it with us and it just looks like a brick of heroin yeah it just that's exactly what it looks like exactly she hands it to me could you just stick this in your bag yeah no problem luckily obviously these new x-ray scanners um can tell the difference because they can tell digested just need a sniffer dog yeah anyway I feel we may have got off the the the topic somewhat yeah well to to come back to Sri Lanka then it's it's fantastic it's one of the best places I've been yeah me me too it was one of the first one it was the second one I went to and I was gonna go back uh but then they had uh that economic crisis that I referred to before and several wars about that yeah so it that it's never felt like it's been the right time but I'll start looking again because as I say I'd really like to go there with Izzy so uh hopefully in the next three four years we'll get to go out there and the political climate and everything will be uh will be good for that to happen. Yeah I think we might look into it as well although I think Stuart's knowledge has probably slipped a bit but he does have for anybody that's interested he he does have a number of cricketing friends that's that he's still in touch with who live there in particular Gaul and so um and I know a guy in Gaul as well so if anyone wants to be hooked up with any locals with local inside knowledge just ask.

SPEAKER_04 33:11

Yep always always good just put a comment down there any questions. I think we're gonna do an episode on questions coming up aren't we Malcolm We are yes although it might be recorded before this goes out so yeah good point but we'll always stock them up for the future so exactly have you um anything else to add before we wrap this up no I don't think so yeah well thank you everybody thank you yes speak to you all soon