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We had a morning’s shopping in the oppressive Colombo heat. It was not helped by the fact that a large police area is out of bounds and you have to circle round it. We turned up at the agreed rendezvous with the sea pilot. He crossed the road to us when he was sure we were alone. We got his name, or at least his alias, repeatedly requested our change, which we eventually got and asked about the tea. He said it was already in the post. We made our excuses (tummy bug) and departed. I suspect that the main scam was yet to come and would have involved a donation for the tsunami. On the previous evening, he had repeatedly referred to it in conversation and to a special account. He had ‘evidence’ of donations being acknowledged, but with hindsight, this might have been bogus. He also said that Buddhist believed that the tsunami victims were paying karma for wrong done in previous lives. As for the tea, well what do you think? Put it down to experience, age and a claim to piety is no guarantee of honesty. I wonder how many tourists he has duped.
When we got back to the hotel, we had to change all our clothes because they were soaked in perspiration. We made a dash for the open-air salt-water swimming pool, which is of Olympic proportions and quite deep. It was great sitting on sun-loungers under the sun umbrellas right at the sea’s edge with a nice breeze to keep us cool and the chance to swim a few lengths now and then. The changing rooms include a power shower and towels and you get another towel with your sun-lounger too. Drinks to your lounger, by smartly dressed waiters, of course. Luxury at last. In the evening we had a buffet meal at the water’s edge. Tomorrow will be horrendous though. Allow 5 hours to get to the airport and to check in.
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