Trip to Trincomalee

Well we made it to the east coast finally. Now I've seen all four coasts as well as the central island. Still lots to see but I think I've been fortuante as a lot of people from Colombo have never been to either Jaffna or Trincomalee from what I hear. It was a wonderful trip that started before 5 AM. We drove as the sun rose and had a spectacular view of the country. We saw a troop of monkeys cross the road and a peacock sunning itself in the morning sun.

There were a few highlights to the trip though, first was the beach, absolutely incredible but absolutely empty. The ocean was so warm and full of great fish. We snorkelled on an island that we took a 40 mintue boat ride to and had a blast playing in the ocean. There weren't too many people there just one or two other groups of people. When we arrived Cher was literaly swarmed by this group asking to have their photos taken with her. It was a bit overwhelming but they were so happy and having such a fun time it was infectious. The tsunami has wiped out all the hotels in the one area and there is nothing left. We were told not to take our cameras to this island which was a real shame as it was so beautiful. I did take some video though and will try to post it. Unfortunately I have this stupid damn PC and not my Mac... On the way home Cher spotted two wild elephants on the side of the road so we stopped and watched them for a bit, truly amazing!

We would love to take Wayne and Delcie there in a few months but there are a lot of travel bans on and it is apparently on the do not go list for Canadians. We did go through a lot of checkpoints for the military and the police. I felt just as safe there as I do here - if not more, but we'll see if we can find a spot where we're all covered by insurance....More photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robmctavish/