Thank you.
Bye.
Boarding now?
Yeah, boarding now.
Okay.
Another trip to Sri Lanka
and this time flying in a wee bit of comfort
because flying business class.
As I navigate my way through here.
Economy priced tickets were actually pretty expensive for this trip,
for these dates that I wanted
and I looked at the price of business class flights
and they weren't that much more expensive,
so I've flicked in a wee bit more money
and gonna travel this time to Sri Lanka
in comfort.
Okay, boarding closes in 9 minutes.
I was in that lounge stuffing myself full of cakes.
Now hopefully this gate is not too far away.
D18 is the one right at the end.
Should make it just on time.
Flying in 29 minutes.
Well, looks like everybody has boarded.
And what's this? Final Call to Colombo.
Looks like I'm the last one on the plane.
Naughty, naughty.
Door still open. Aren't gonna miss my flight. Brilliant.
What's this? Nobody here?
Oh hello.
I think I'm the last one on.
Ayubowan. I'm sitting in, Ayubowan.
I'm sitting in 5K.
Okay, this way. Hi.
Sorry.
I'm making a little video. Is it okay?
No? [laughter]
Okay, 5K.
Okay.
Okay, thank you.
Well, fortunately this plane's got the new style business class.
That means I'm getting a window seat
and not having a neighbour next to me
that I have to climb over to go to the bloody toilet.
Which is nice.
Gonna sit down and enjoy this OJ.
Well, leaving Dubai just before 1 AM.
It's a 5 hour flight, so the plan is
a meal and a movie and then a few hours sleep
and hopefully get to Sri Lanka
nice and fresh with a full day ahead of me.
Oh let me look.
Ah okay, Middle East to Colombo.
Prawn Masala.
Chicken.
Okay, I'll have the Prawn Masala.
Anything to drink with the meal?
Ah, just soft drinks, yeah.
Orange or apple?
Apple, thanks.
Thank you.
Okay, what have we got here.
A selection of movies.
Let's see if there are any in Sinhalese.
Maybe with English subtitles.
What one looks good?
This one.
This bad ass guy on a motorbike.
Looks interesting.
Right, I dunno if there's English subtitles. That's the problem.
Gonna give this one a go though.
Well, none of these movies have English subtitles.
Look, again, looks like something I might want to watch.
Quite funny characters.
But here, it would tell you under "Language:",
"Subtitles: English". Doesn't have them.
So I can't enjoy this
Sri Lankan folk tale movie.
Thank you.
How many have we got? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
maybe 9 or 10.
Not too bad.
Pretty decent.
These are lovely these.
Very nice.
Good morning
and a good view, of this beautiful
green country. Look at it.
Can't wait to spend the next week exploring this.
Yes.
That's it, we're here. Welcome to Sri Lanka.
Ayubowan.
Istuti, istuti, thank you.
Thank you.
Okay, walking from the airport to the Kandy bus stand.
Further than I thought.
Yer man does have two strong legs
but is currently sweating his arse off right now
looking for this Kandy bus stand.
Been walking for, I dunno, seven, eight minutes.
Where do I go?
Hello.
Look for Kandy bus stand, Kandy bus.
Up here? Okay, thank you.
Okay, friendly guys
pointing me in the right direction.
Here we go.
I don't see any buses.
All I see is these cargo trucks.
These things,
like the place is stayed in, in Batticaloa.
The shipping container.
Hello.
Where the Kandy bus? Kandy?
Kandy? Yeah.
Look for Kandy bus, Kandy.
You go the other side.
I go this side?
Ah, okay. Thank you. Bye.
Okay, good.
Just keep asking people.
Most people friendly.
If they're not after something.
If they're not a tuk-tuk or a tout
they're generally friendly,
which is 99% of people,
which is good.
Getting pointed in the right direction
because I'd have never figured this out by myself. I'll tell you that.
This has been quite a wee adventure.
Look at this.
Should I stop for some? Nah, come on.
Let's just get to your destination Dale.
See all the buses here. There's loads of them.
I bet you could get to pretty much anywhere from here.
See a lot of people think if you want to go to anywhere
first you have to go to Colombo Fort
and then you go to Kandy or whatever. No.
You can actually go from the airport
10 minutes walk up the road and this place exists.
A wee bus station.
Very nice.
Thank you. Do you know where I get the Kandy bus?
You don't know? No problem. I'll ask someone.
Thank you.
You know where the Kandy bus is?
No?
Yeah, Kandy, Kandy.
Kandy on the other side.
Other side?
Yeah. Number 1.
Number 1? Okay, thank you.
You know where the Kandy bus? Kandy.
Other side.
Other side? Ah, okay.
Go, oh this way. Okay, thank you.
What's this?
It's all in Sinhalese. I can't read.
They don't have the names in English of the cities.
I'm looking for Kandy bus, Kandy.
This way? This one?
i dunno.
I just got pointed in that direction
and then he's pointing me back in this direction.
So I dunno, really,
and this one says "Fort" on it.
Hang on, I'll ask somebody else.
This one also says "Fort".
Every bus seems to be going to Colombo Fort.
Let's see.
You know where Kandy bus is? Kandy.
Kandy bus is, eh, there.
Ah, other side of the shop, or?
Still in here, yeah?
The other side of this?
Okay, I keep going this way until I find it.
Okay, thank you, thank you.
Okay.
It's quite and adventure.
Because here there's no, no signposts
or anything and on the buses themselves
unless it says Colombo Fort, if it's somewhere else
it seems to be written on the side in Sinhalese,
which is pretty difficult to figure out.
Jesus. That horn.
Killing me.
First thing in the morning. Too early for that.
Right.
What's this? Here we go. Number 1. Negombo
to Kandy. That's my bus.
Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello.
Okay.
Maybe I can get on this bus.
Is he gonna stop or not?
It looks like he's going out into the road.
Maybe I can chase it down though.
Let's see if I can get on.
Oh, Kandy yeah?
Okay, good. Thank you.
Here we go.
Hi.
This fun, right?
Look like some monks just got on the bus and
these guys are making way for them.
Time to disembark the Jesus bus.
Okay, somehow I survived
that third class bus.
Four and a half hours that was.
Four and a half hours, not of luxury,
like the four and a half hours I had
on the business class flight from Dubai.
Today, I have experienced both extremes.
Luxury and non-luxury.
But it's all good.
When you live life by the extremes
life is never boring, is it?
I mean, most people, they would have taken an economy flight
and then taken a taxi to Kandy.
They would have had far less fun than me
I'll tell you that.
Right.
Oh, this guy's off for a game of cricket.
Cricket? Oh, you play cricket?
Good.
Ah, you want tuk-tuk sir?
No I don't want tuk-tuk.
Never want a tuk-tuk who comes up to me and asks if I want a tuk-tuk.