Diron trip, day two and three

In the road again...

Two days in one blog entry.

Just returned to Negombo beach after a three day trip with Diron.

So glad I didn't choose a six day trip.

We have been driving for hours. A tuk tuk runs 40km/h.
And with the Sri Lankan police, you better not drive faster. Diron got a speeding ticket on 1000 rupees for going 41km/h.

We also got a ticket for a broken handbrake. It wasn't broken, put Diron was glad with only a 550 rupees ticket.
And it wasn't a ticket. The money went straight into the police officers pocket. And no receipt.

I took a photo of the officer. Dumb idea. He went straight to the tuk tuk, and wanted to see my phone. I showed him the photo, and deleted it. And kept my phone. Pheeeew....

Think we passed 20 police patrols today. A 240km stretch, on s Sunday!
5 stopped us, and only one didn't give us a ticket. Very corrupt police force. None of the policemen wanted me around when talking to Diron. I paid most of the tickets anyway, except the speeding ticket.

It's been two interesting days. We finally saw lots of countryside, but not much time for exploring.
Today I realized Diron had passed two world heritage sites without noticing me. I asked him, and started talking about elephants in the morning. ???
Never mind...

So in the end I ended up paying quite a bit of rupees for a three day tour. Not a big deal in Danish kroner though.

I still gave Diron a few good advices on coming tours. He was sorry and said it was his first long distance tour ever. Not exactly what he said at our first meeting.
That explains he was asking for directions in every town :)

Just went for a swim at sunset beach in Negombo. Big waves, Great. I was pretty much the only white person on the beach, and think I was photographed with different locals 5 times. And the same amount of Facebook requests are on my phone now. Very friendly locals.

Think I'll stay in Negombo for two nights, and get organized for next tour. Definitely not with a Tuk Tuk. :-)

Pictures:
- roadside drink
-View from our guesthouses north of Tricomalee.
- Diron before another interesting overtaking...
- Your next tourguide?
- cute little dogs near Tricomalee.