Hello from Sri Lanka

At long last we have arrived. 24 hours- door to door! Left Bournemouth @ 8am on Tuesday morning and arrived in Negombo, Colombo at 2pm (9am, GMT) on Weds. Sat next to a young girl on the plane, she came from Botswana, South Africa & never stopped talking & asking questions during the whole flight. Good experience I guess for what's to come. The jet lag hit me late yesterday afternoon & I couldn't stay awake. Been ok most of today until this evening, another early night & i'll be fine tomorrow. In the morning I meet my contact in Colombo. Been a good day today - spoke to several people who are staying in Sri Lanka for up to 6 months. Got some good tips & ways to save money.
Sri Lanka Information...........
SL is 270 miles long & 140 miles wide.
Became independent from Britain in 1948
Main language is Sinhalese
19 million population, 72% sinhalese, 20% Tamil, 8 % Malays & less than 1% other religions Sri Lanka used to be connected to main land india by a natural land bridge 20 miles long. This is now several metres underwater & is called "Adams Bridge".
Sri Lanka used to grow Cinamon. In 1824 the British introduced coffee growing hoping for a more lucrative crop. By 1840 coffee was king. In 1869 disaster struck & "coffee rust" destroyed all the plantations over the next 20 years. There attention then turned to growing what is now recognised as some of the worlds finest Ceylon teas.
Well thati s it for today! I'm posting this from my mobile pda phone- so I hope it works ok. Can't check my email on screen for a couple of days. regards, Malcolm.