It's Wednesday. We woke up around 5:30 and decided to take a walk by the Indian Ocean. It is only a few blocks from our hotel with a wonderful place to walk. It started to rain but it's so warm here you don't get cold when it rains. We came back to the room, showered and had an early breakfast.

Ron has an all day staff meeting today and then he has a staff and board meeting tonight so I won't be seeing much of him today. He feels a bit awkward leaving me alone so much but fortunately I'm so independent it doesn't bother me in the least.

We found out yesterday that I will not be traveling with him on the first trip as there isn't room for me with two interpreters, staff and the consultant who is training Ron. I decided I'll plunge into house hunting. I haven't started yet because the staff person who is supposed to help me with finding a place to live has been working 18-20 hour days accommodating the Asia Foundation board. This is the first time the board has been to Sri Lanka although they have supported programs here for 20 or more years. They leave at the end of the week so Anton, the staff member, will be able to set me up with an agent.

The party last night was a reception not a dinner for the Asia Foundation Board and invited guests. So it was two-three hours of standing on your feet and eating very good, very fattening food. I think Sri Lankans like a lot of fried food as there were batter fried shrimp, fried fish coquettes, and fried chicken. We didn't eat too much as it really isn't on our low fat regime. The women were wearing incredibly beautiful saris. I had to be careful to not stare too much. There were lots of important people there from all over the place. Lots of representatives from various organizations and government offices. None of it meant much to me but I behaved and smiled sweetly. Ha!

Yesterday afternoon I went exploring to some of the shops that were written up in my tour books. I went into one shop that is mentioned in every book I have (4) and oh my, I wanted to buy everything in the shop. They have dedicated themselves to very fine design, they go into villages and set them up in cottage industries and then sell the wares. There were beautiful clothes, pottery, basketry, weavings, linens (sheets, plate mats, tablecloths, etc),toys. I can't wait until we get our own place as I intend to furnish it from the wares at this store. It was more expensive than the few shops I've seen but still way below what we'd pay at home.

There are a number of places where you can buy all those clothes that are made in Sri Lanka, like Polo, Hilfiger, Gap, etc and you can buy the expensive name brand stuff like Polo for $10 and other not as well know for $3-$4. (men's shirts for example). I can't believe the prices here.

I'm not buying anything at this point since we will be moving and I'm not interested in packing and moving any more stuff than necessary.

Since I have all day and the evening to myself, I decided to check out some of the shops that were mentioned in my tour books. Yesterday I had a great tuk-tuk driver. He’s about my age and drives like an intelligent, sane human being. Let me explain. So far, I have ridden in two taxis and two tuk-tuks. One taxi driver and one tuk-tuk driver didn’t bother to stop for red lights. I would NEVER drive here unless I was on a suicide mission. So when I discovered Mr. Kularathna, I decided to make a commitment. He gave me his card yesterday and I called him today. Many tuk-tuk drivers get a commission if they take you to ‘factories’ where you can buy jewelry or tourist stuff. Some are quite insistent about it. So Mr. K doesn’t try to take me anywhere other than where I ask to go and he drives at a normal speed and actually yields to other vehicles. It is refreshing. Yesterday I just had to close my eyes with one driver.

Today I went to two interior shops and two clothing stores. I found excellent quality polo shirts for $4.75 and men’s cotton plaid shirts for the same price. Unbelievable. I ate lunch in a very nice department store. I ordered a roasted chicken sandwich on a baguette. There was so much chicken in it I couldn’t quite eat it all. I also had bottled water. My bill was $3.10. Yesterday I ate at the expensive seafood restaurant in the hotel and had fried crab claws, a shrimp cocktail with a fist full of shrimp and a salad again with bottled water. That was $10 with a 10% service charge and taxes. I could get use to this place with these prices.

The weather is comfortable in the early morning. When the sun is out it’s very warm, the high 80’s I’d guess with high humidity. It is still monsoon season so it rains briefly several times a day. I like that because it makes the heat bearable. Remember I haven’t lived in the South since 1970 so I will need to acclimate to this weather. Well this is more than enough for more sitting.

We had a reception for the TAF board tonight. There was a cultural show with traditional dancing. We got dizzy just watching them twirl and turn to the beat of traditional drums. The buffet dinner was very good and was a good introduction to a variety of Sri Lankan foods.

More tomorrow.