Jackfruit

Have had a really interesting afternoon - watching a guy climb this huge jack tree in our garden and cut down 7 massive jackfruits. Definitely wouldn't want one of those things to fall on my head! I love jackfruit and am guessing that one of the curries on offer when I get home tomorrow evening will be - jackfruit!

I've had the day off work today - very welcome after 2 days of placement testing. Classes start tomorrow, so I guess the holidays are officially over now, which is quite sad. Need to start thinking about what I'm doing during my April break now...!!!

I arrived back in Sri Lanka late Sunday evening, but didn't get home until Monday morning as I decided to spend the night in Negombo, not far from the airport. I didn't get to the hotel until 1am and unfortunately didn't sleep very well, so was exhausted when I got eventually got home. For some reason there were no direct buses from Negombo to Kandy in the morning, so I ended up having to catch a bus to a town called Kurunegala then change to a Kandy bus there. Luckily there are lots of buses between Kurunegala and Kandy, so it actually didn't take much longer than the direct bus would have taken. A direct bus would have been a lot easier though.

The last couple of days in Phnom Penh I did a lot of walking. I could have taken motorbike taxis, but I really enjoying walking and really feel that it's the best way to get to know a place - I saw parts of the city that most tourists never see.

Saturday morning I went to the Royal Palace. The entry charge for foreigners is quite steep, but it was definitely worth it as the palace was amazing. It's right by the river and I got there when it opened, so there weren't many people and the light was perfect for photographs. Saturday evening I spent sitting by the river again. I was planning to go to a cultural performance, but it was so beautiful by the river that I couldn't bring myself to leave.

Sunday I walked through the old part of the city to Wat Phnom, which is supposedly where the city was founded by a woman called Penh who came across 4 Buddha images floating in the river nearby. Phnom means hill in Khmer and that's why the city was named Phnom Penh. For my last meal in Cambodia I went back to Romdeng - the restaurant I went to with the Canadian guy I met - a final culinary treat, so to speak. It was a set lunch - a hot and sour soup with pumpkin, winter melon and green papaya and a wonderful stir-fried dish followed by dessert - sensational!

I got back to the hotel just after 2 and although it was a little early I didn't really have much else to do, so I caught a motorbike taxi out to the airport - there aren't many places in the world where you can turn up at the airport on the back of a motorbike! The flight to Bangkok was just over an hour, but unfortunately I couldn't check my bag straight through to Colombo, so when I got to Bangkok I had to go through immigration, pick up my bag and then wait for an hour for the check-in counter to open. On the flight to Colombo I was seated next to a group of really obnoxious Sri Lankan guys who drank way too much alcohol and were being really rude to the flight crew. I was trying to get some sleep and got really annoyed when one of them decided that he wanted to come and sit next to me. What is it with people when they fly that they think they can behave any way they want?

Maggie is very happy to have me back - I think she's been a bit lonely in the house by herself. It was so beautiful this morning that Maggie suggested that we go to the botanical gardens. The weather is perfect here at the moment and I'm really hoping that we're going to have a proper dry season this year - lots of opportunities to go swimming.

Dinner time I think. Maggie gave Danawatti and Sunil a holiday while I was away, but they were here today, so I have my usual rice and curry. Yum!