11th & 12th February 2012

At last a day of lounging around on the beach. Reading, swimming, drinking, it's a hard life but someone has to do it. We went into the sea to splash and jump the waves, but we underestimated the power of some of the waves. On one occasion a big wave came and bowled over both of us. We couldn't keep hold of each others hands. When Savi surfaced the power of the wave had ripped away her goggles. Lovely last evening meal with Raga and then because we were expecting a 4-5 hour journey to Columbo we got up at 4am to set off to the airport. In the end the traffic was quite mild and we made the journey in just 3 hours, so there we were at the airport at 7am waiting for a 12:40 flight. The bad news is they don't let you go and check-in until 2hours before your flight time. When we eventually got to the check-in desk the Sri Lankan airways people said I couldn't get on the flight because I had a tourist visa and could not re-enter India within 2 months. The official was adamant, we explained I had a special "double" entry visa, but he said that if he let me through and the Indians made me come back then his airline would get fined. So we continued to argue our case and got the issue referred first to his boss, then his bosses boss, and eventually they changed their mind and let us board. Needless to say we entered India without any problems, although the immigration official did keep swiping my passport over and over again I think to see if he could get it to say "no entry" So by 3pm we were at the Savera our hotel in Chennai. After a rest we walked about 1km to the beach and had a lovely evening watching all the families playing, and then ate samosas and channa dhal on banana leaves, delicious and all for the princely sum of 20Rs a plate. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Hikaduwa