All I (Don’t) Wanna Hear Is The Message Beep

Leg 2. Started in KL as you know. After a weird night in the airside hotel, checked in this morning (4Kg overweight and thank god they didn’t check my hand luggage!) and boarded my Sri Lankan airlines flight about half an hour after scheduled departure.

Apart from myself there were 3 other non Sri Lankan or Indian women on the flight, and the plane was about 70% men.

I am yet to work out whether it was blatant disregard for the authority of the air hostesses or blatant disregard for their own safety, but it became apparent as the plane flew into land, that very few of the idiots on board the flight with me had actually switched their phones off when they got on the plane, and so I (and my fellow rule-abiding passengers) were struck by a cacophony of message beeps just as we hit turbulence on our way down.

The guy sitting next to me, who I idiotically had pinned as a nice quiet Indian man (especially since he reacted so placidly to my spilling half a cup of disprin on him), turned out to be a dirty rotten mid-flight texter. I couldn’t believe the audacity of the man to sit there sms-ing (Probably along the lines of - ‘Yeah, coming in to land now bro, see you in 20….”) , when my unhappiness at the whole situation was palpable.

After getting caught in the disembarkation stampede, I followed the steps of my Lonely Planet guide to the letter (look for information desk in arrival hall 1 – ask for price of taxi – go to arrival hall 2 - engage taxi driver), only to find myself standing like piffy at the front of the airport with no taxi’s in sight (“Madam, they aren’t allowed in here anymore for security reasons”).

Cue the entry of my new friend Nimal. I couldn’t even haggle him down 50 rupees, but was getting sick of standing there, and so agreed to pay a premium price (don’t ask) to get taken to my hotel. Now Mr Nimal is like Encyclopaedia Sri Lanka and I certainly made sure that I got my money’s worth from him on the way to my hotel. He even stopped to pick me up a sachet or 4 or a herbal remedy that he assures me will assist with my sore throat and bad chest. Meanwhile he was rescheduling my entire trip to Sri Lanka for me – taking me up to the High Country as well as UNESCO sites etc etc etc. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that rain, hail or shine, I just want to be near the ocean, and so I am currently tossing up whether to engage his services tomorrow, pay about $60 to get to Hikkaduwa and risk the hard sell again or to just get a bus and pay about 1/20^th of the price.

Anyway, just had a forgettable meal in an unforgettably dowdy restaurant in my hotel – the only good thing about it was the wonderful views of the port, which is right next to where I am staying. I haven’t seen another Anglo face now since I left the airport, which is not something that I am unused to, but it’s just that when it has happened in the past I spoke the language.

I got a free upgrade to a deluxe room when I checked in (you get what you pay for, this place is OKAAAAY), and the concierge then rang half an hour later to ask if I liked my room and also to inform me that there is a nightclub in the hotel. Quite hilarious, but not for me right now. I am exhausted – my body is 4 hours out of whack – as well as sick still. My glands feel enormous – shudder.

Anyway enough melodramatic talk. Wow 2 days 2 posts. Can she maintain the rage????

Signing off from Lanka.