Sri Lanka photos

Chillin' Midigama style at Ram's
The Proof - yes, I can now stand and ride, sort of. No, it ain't pretty. Yes, wearing a t-shirt that expanded enough to fit Shaquille O'Neal after 3 waves instead of a rashy was a hindrance. No, I will not be entering the Billabong Pro as a wildcard entry anytime in the near future.

Galle Fort wall, en route to Colombo. Had to take dopey tourist photos to remind ourselves that yes, it really was that underwhelming.

Midigama, out the back of Ram's guest house, complete with resident bovine and reef breaks front, left and right. This is where every sunset was spent while we were here. Ahhhhh. How's the serenity?

Surf saturation

View from behind Sri Lanka's biggest Buddha's ear lobe.

Oooooo, colourful! Sarah inside the temple.

Sereneley contemplating how much to tip the dude "minding" our shoes...

Temple wall. They lurrrrrrve them some elephant decorations in Sri Lanka.

Writer's island retreat. Gorgeous. Apparently you can stay there. If your last name is Abramovich. Or Buffet.

How Sri Lankan mums keep their kids on their best behaviour. "Sanji, put the cricket bat down or I'll get the doll out again!"

Stilt fishermen on the way back to Midigama from Unuwatuna (I think)

Sarah out the side of Ram's (in the background)

View north to Lazy Left break (popular with a gang of French surfers staying just up the road) from Ram's

More Ram's / Midigama. Can you tell we liked the place, perchance?

Your typical Sri Lankan grocery store - thick on the ground in some towns.

Westerners: exciting. Check out the utter excitement on the face of the girl in the blue t-shirt!

Military recruitment, Sri Lankan style. Note the fake gun barrel jutting from between the "camo pattern" sandbags.

Snake Farm. Cobra - v - Tortoise. Result: 0 - 0 draw, relegation for both

Mr. Bitey sizing up Mr. Open-At-The-Bottom-Sarong

Python neckwear: comin' to a boutique menswear store near you in '09.........

........ along with All New TreeSnake bracelets! I make this look good.

"You don't bite me and I don't rip your head off - deal?" In all seriousness, we got along like a house on fire. We're now Facebook friends.

Fresh tuna / seafood stands on the main coastal road between Midigam and Welligama. Fresh off the boats that pull up onto the beach directly behind. Tuna-licious.

Sarah and I atop Parrot Rock at the southern end of Mirissa. Speccy. Well, not me. Sarah and Mirissa. You know what I mean.

Some tourist on top of Parrot Rock. Looking back towards our guest house directly behind amidst the palms.

Same guy spoiling our view up Mirissa's main beach
(god he was everywhere, this guy).

Train journey through the hill country, Kandy to Colombo, aboard the BLT (Blo*dy Loud Train)

Sarong-clad Tamil ladies picking tea in the lower hills around Adam's Peak.

Punk monkeys at a Buddhist temple on the way down from Adam's Peak

And the Lord said unto Matt "Yea verily, thou shalt bless the Earth by wearing a fetching sarong over thine garments and squinting this day". Cold dawn atop Adam's Peak after 3-hour climb.

Sarah and I at dawn on Adam's Peak summit. I'm the one with the s*x-bomb hat hair. Stylin'.

Anyone for limes? Con-ji the Fruiterer near Hatton's bus station.

Temple of the Tooth, Kandy.

Did I mention they like them some elephant decorations in Sri Lanka? More Temple of the Tooth (main hall).

The Perpetrators. Sri Lankan traditional dance troupe in mid-swindle.

Hindu temple, Kandy. Fantabulous little find off a busy street, completely unexpected.

Kandy Mosque. No, really. Just up the road from the little Hindhu Temple in Kandy.

Road-side commerce and elephants. Doesn't get more Sri Lankan than this.

Best ladyfingers I've ever tasted are to be had in Sri Lanka. Anyone who smirked at that should now go to the corner and stand there for the next ten minutes before writing "I will get my mind out of the gutter" on the board 100 times.

Tuk tuk a-flyin'

Surf right on the doorstep of our guest house in Hikkaduwa. Can't claim this is me, much as I'd like to.....

............ but this is Sarah carving it up on the reef break in Mirissa (talented little b*gger). The surf really was a bit bigger than it appears in this photie, but this was the best shot. I was standing on the reef at the water's edge surrounded by sea urchins to take this shot. I'm so hard-core I can barely stand it.

No, really, it was bigger than this too. Sarah heading out to take on the locals.

Mmmmmm banana fritters. They do good dessert and sweets in Sri as well. Mirissa again.

Yet more Mirissa.

Too much Mirissa is never enough. Down "our" end of the beach, near our guest house.

A man and his dog. Parrot Rock.

The view from our front door at the guest house, Mirissa. Excruciatingly tough to take.

Join The Military And Get to Look Like a Bad-*ss Wearing Bandanas and Camo Paint & Heaps of Machine Gun Belts.

Hill Country tea plantations from the BLT.

Sarah lovin' every minute of it.

The Adam's Peak Aftermath. My 10-year-old hikers finally and inexplicably decided to disintergrate on a gentle stroll around Kandy's streets. Cue gaffer tape. Wondrous Gaffer Tape - is there nothing you can't fix?

This from the balcony of our guest house, looking up to Adam's Peak in the background.

Dawn at Adam's Peak, Sarah feeling mystical and at one with the clouds.

Pilgrims, Adam's Peak.

Standard Sri Lankan fare. Although the EGB (Elephant Ginger Beer) is outstanding.

Sarah capturing sunset over Kandy's central man-made lake.

Snazzy elephants, Colombo

Sacred bodhi tree in Gangaramaya Temple during the above festival, Colombo.

Seeking divine enlightenment as to how they got a tree that size to grow on a second-storey platform.

Gangaramaya Temple, Colombo

Gangaramay Temple courtyard - serene. Sarah's standing on the platform the used to load up the First Elephant.

Gangaramay Temple

Lanterns lining the roads outside the temple

The First Elephant, leaving Gangaramay Temple and bearing the holy relic on it's back.

Radicalised skinhead Oompa Loompas protesting against the working conditions at the Wonka factory.........okay, yes, they were Buddhist monk trainees in the parade. But can you imagine?

Traditional drummers. Blurring courtesy of digital camera, not their awesome superhero-like speed.

Me. Pagoda. Colombo. Sunshine. First-day-off-the-plane-from-London tan. The start of it all.