Photo link here. Not many today - long car trip: https://photos.app.goo.gl/c3drJ36zWAfHVfjs7

The drive today was long but pleasant, much calmer than Indian trips, and the roads are smooth.

Very little horn blowing, unlike much of Asia. A few spots showed damage from floods, and it was incredible how high they were - looked like 15m in places. Not many photos today.

Sri Lanka appears very clean compared to my India experiences, with very little roadside litter evident, and seems nowhere near as chaotic.

Next stop Anaradhupura was a capital of Sri Lanka around 500BC, and is a site of much Buddhist significance.

Stopped for a roadside corn cob.

Saw Avukana Buddha statue - 13m tall, 5th century. It was very impressive

Next nights are at Lake Forest Hotel, a very modern quite swish place, on a lake with a refreshing breeze. I chanced a macchiato here, and it wasn’t too bad, but quite bafflingly, more expensive than a cappuccino - perhaps next time I’ll order a cap with less milk? Would they detect me trying to game the system?

All the hotels offer yoga classes. I seek fruitlessly for sessions named ‘Yoga for the Inflexible’, ‘Yoga for the Unyielding’, and ‘Yoga for Statues’. The closest I get to successful yoga is tying my shoelaces. Yoga class for me would be like sending a preschooler to study quantum physics. Hotels always have massage sessions - I wonder if I booked for a 12hr massage I could then manage beginner yoga?

Enormous numbers of stray dogs. Locals feed them scraps. They do nothing but lie on the road. Took a video of 2 dogs in a tug of war with a sandal stolen from outside a temple. The owner will return from prayer to a single shoe.

I wondered if I should leave a note on his shoe, like you do on a car window at the supermarket: ‘I have a video of who took it. Call me +61xxxxxx and I will help you arrest the thief.’

At dinner they offered me a menu of only western options. I asked for Sri Lankan food. They made some nice curries, but toned down chilli wise - they just couldn’t accept a white guy would like spicy food.

The feeling you get when you outsmart a menu is peak smug. I gamed the coffee order, with a request for a ‘low milk cappuccino’, and got more macchiato style coffee for a dollar less!