As I sit here either in our room at Lillys Palace (highly recommend as a starting and ending accommodation here in Negombo!) or at the airport waiting for our 10 hour flight home to Melbourne I start to reflect on our time here in Negombo.  But the first thing I am going to say about this trip is to my father ....
SEE DAD I TOLD YOU WE'LL BE FINE AND IT WON'T END IN TEARS!!!
Now I have that out of the way let's review our trip!

Days away = 45 (March 15 – April 28)
A break down of our cycling:
1. Days cycled = 28
2. Total distance cycled =1806
3. Average distance per day = 64km
4. Longest day = 145km (Batticaloa to Trincomalee
5. Shortest day = 27km (Ramboda to Nuwara Eliya) it probably is our hardest day!
While Sri Lanka is not everyones cuppa tea to cycle it is our first overseas cycle tour in a long time (since we last cycled Canada/USA 28 years ago!)  And although it is a poor country it is an extremely safe place to visit as a tourist.  And most definitely a safe place to cycle ... IF you can, at times, tolerate or cope or deal with immensely congested traffic conditions comprising of every conceivable motor vehicle type, pedestrians and local bicycle riders (and there are alot of bicycles  used as the main form of transport for people here) all together competing for that elusive “gap” in the road as Neil puts it!  If you are confident with handling yourself on a bike in amongst the chaos then this is the place to cycle.  Despite that most of the time here in Sri Lanka we only experienced this chaos in major cities, towns and villages where shopping/markets were frequented – every other time the traffic is fine.
And yes, sitting on the side of the road watching those red and blue buses you think – OMG I am going to be killed on this road with them – they are actually ok.  It is a bit like cycling in the outback with the road trains, you have to put your faith in them in that they know how to handle their vehicle and bit like how they have to put their trust in you in that you know how to handle your bike!  Ironically I felt safer cycling here amongst the chaos than cycling in towns in Australia!

OK let’s look at our accommodation:
1. Cheapest – in Pottuvil/Arugam Bay (20 House Villa) 2400 rupees ($12.87 AUD) this is the one where the toilet didn't work properly!
2. Most expensive – in Mullaitivu (Sun and Sand guesthouse) and Ramboda (Sicily Nature Resort – the one with the awesome view of the mountains!) both 9500 rupees ($50.00 AUD)
3. Worst – in Pinnapolegama (Luckys homestay) this is where the sewage pipes in the bathroom stunk and we only had a pedestal fan to cool a hot box down!  Also in Bentota (Villa Happy Home) yeah the one with the filthy toilet I had to clean! 
4. Best – Kandy (Smile Hub Hostel) This was a great place to stay as it had a free laundry and communal kitchen where we could eat and make endless cups of tea!
5. Ultimate value for money – in Galle (Villa Laliz) 2450 rupees ($13.10) considering this was in a major tourist town and the room and bathroom were excellent this is a great price to pay 
6. Most Luxurious (by our standards which are not necessarily high!) – in Ambalanthota (Sobaya Residence) 5000 rupees ($26.90 AUD) had really soft towels, included air conditioning and was a massive room with an extra single bed and tv to boot! 
7. Average spent on accommodation = 4800 rupees ($25.08 AUD)
Yes Neil, I know, it is cheaper than an unpowered tent site in Western Australia.  While our accommodation varied it was primarily dictated by cost/budget and if it fitted in with a distance that was rideable! 
What is interesting, for us, about this trip and aside from the necessary costs of airfare, insurance and visas was to see if we could do this trip on $50 AUD a day (yeah for both of us not each).  When we first met Neil was on a budget of $100AUD  per week so I also adopted that concept.  And, like alot of things we do, it is not everyones cuppa tea to set these limitations on a holiday BUT that it half the fun for us, or more the challenge.  The concept of $100 a week for travelling has long gone due to cost of living expenses! Fast forward to this trip and we set it at about 9500 rupees $50AUD a day ($350 per week). This included accommodation, miscellaneous spending (which is not alot!) and food.  Some days we were way over budget and some days we were well under so in the end it worked out to be an average of 9236 rupees ($48.26AUD) woo hoo we nailed it! (yeah I know I need to get a life!)
An overview of Sri Lanka:  (I generally do this as I have all these thoughts and ideas about what worked and what didn't and if I don't get them down somewhere I tend to forget over time!  So what better place to put it than on this blog I write)
We loved visiting this place and have no regrets coming here. We don't need to come back here as there are too many other places we want to visit (yes by bike!). The people are incredibly friendly towards us and loved to say hello, good morning or hiiiiiiiiiii to us even if that is all they could speak – they were happy to acknowledge it and they were even happier if you managed to say it to them before they could say it to you!  And for those that could speak a little more English they were always willing to speak to you even it it is just a few more sentences more than hello.
It is damn hot here and no you won't get use to it! (maybe if you spent a year here!) you will continually sweat 24/7 even if you are just sitting in the shade ... YOU WILL SWEAT, even if you think you don't sweat ... YOU WILL SWEAT! (aye Neil!!!) There is no such thing as best type clothing in this sort of weather!  I felt comfortable riding in a light loose cotton shirt and unfortunately the lycra knicks could feel hot while riding but loose shorts and a clean light loose cotton shirt for after cycling worked well for me.  Light merino also worked ok as an after cycling shirt as you can wear that for days and still sweat but not smell.  Both merino and light cotton shirt dried the same rate after washing.  One thing I tried for the first time was merino underwear for after riding and that was better than cotton lycra undies.  Bras! Something told me to take 3 on this trip, so I did and it was the best decision I made!  After a days ride or even just walking down the street to dinner, that bra will be saturated and be coming through your outer shirt! So I was continually washing and drying those 3 bras – taking 4 would be overkill!
Food is very cheap here – except the stuff that is imported.  So you go to the supermarket and the yogurts, biscuits, shampoo, milk powder etc are very expensive by local standards.  But the fresh fruit and veges is ok pricing.  The fruit is everywhere especially on the sides of the roads – whatever is in season you can buy it along the way quite easily.  But beware the TOURIST TAX! This is a term we gave to when we know they have slugged us their own personal tourist tax on the price because we are foreigners – but we don't begrudge them that as it may only be a couple of 100 rupees more than we expected which in a nut shell is an extra $1 so who are we to haggle them!
What we found underwhelming was the dinner food – or the lack of choice.  You go anywhere to eat and you have a variation of 3 choices:
1. Fried rice
2. Kotthu
3. Rice and curry
All 3 have the option of chicken, egg, fish or vege.  That is it.  So we ate alot of fried rice – vege or chicken.  Kotthu was ok but not great.  Rice and Curry was, for us, mainly vege – we loved this.  But the variation between places was great and some were delicious and some were so so!
We developed a liking for vege roti and samamosas– lovely and spicy.  We developed a tolerance for chilli (Neil more so than me – I can eat some but unlike Neil who tends to go overboard with condiments, especially sauces at home, he really piled it on sometimes – me I just like to flavour not drown my meal!)  We loved the tropical fruit here and that would be the thing I will miss the most!  We developed a liking for black flavoured tea and are coming back with packets of strawberry tea!  Also didn't mind black tea (we have milk with our tea at home).  Have gone the entire trip (except on our 2nd day) without coffee!   I never thought I could do it, start my day without a coffee, but I did and not by choice but coffee is not commonly served at homestays probably due to the cost of it as black tea is cheaper (no milk as that too is expensive).
If I can say 2 things about the food – food handling can be atrocious here and don't eat the fish unless you know its history and time line from shore to restaurant!  A delicate tummy wouldn't survive here.  Eating with the locals and from the local places is fine and I encourage anyone that comes here to do that rather than seek out the western restaurants.  At some of the places we ate we did have the option to eat burgers and chips but I always believed that why would you come away from home and eat food you can have at home!  Admittedly we did eat a Pizza once, albeit Tandoori, but we were just so over fried rice and this place didn't offer kotthu or rice and curry!
OK that is a wrap – thankyou to all that read our journey and thankyou to Bill Shaneyfelt for your wildlife identification help again!
Until the next cycle tour ....