Almost as soon as we boarded the Sri Lanka Airways flight, life became more relaxed, as though everything had slowed down.  Perhaps it is the high proportion of Buddhists on the island and the fact that as yet we have been in the country, not in a city, but this is certainly a far calmer place than India.   This feeling of calmness however might be generated by our lack of anxiety every time we have to take to the road, as we no longer fear for our lives when being driven.

We had intended to spend our first couple of days here exploring Colombo, but we were both so tired that we remained cocooned in our very comfortable hotel, lazing by the pool, admiring the fragipani and coconut trees, and choosing ever more elaborate forms of seafood from the excellent fish restaurant on the premises. Yet again the hotel was filling up with wedding guests as we departed, in this case there was not one, but two weddings.

After a relatively slow, safe and stately drive we have arrived at a simple but enchanting house by a lake near Kosgoda, about halfway down the coast from Colombo.  Here, time has not so much slowed down as come to a complete halt as we drift from bed to the sea, from there to breakfast, followed by hours of reading or talking on old fashioned reclining cane chairs, before lunch is served, rests are taken and then everyone meets for drinks and dinner.  The sounds of water, birds, squirrels, gekkoes and crickets, overlaid by the whistling and rattling of the trains, form the backdrop to this lotus eating existence, that, and the stupendously verdant and vibrantly beautiful views.