Phase Two of my “have the strangest Christmas / New Years plans ever” scheme took me to Sri Lanka for a week. Once again I had a driver and private driver and car to take me around the country. Probably a good thing http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/01/06/srilanka.bus/index.html I knew the situation before arriving and had been assured by multiple people that the tourist areas were unaffected. Still, on the flight over from Doha I felt a little apprehensive when I was the only white guy on the entire plane. That said though, during my trip I did not see any evidence of the continuing civil war; most people that I talked with were just ready for the fighting to be over so the country can get back to normal.


Traveling around did seem a little dangerous but not from terrorists or bus bombs but from the chaos that is Sri Lankan traffic. Most of the roads are two lanes, unmarked, and in poor condition. In the Capitol, they change streets daily from 2-way to 1-way and back again (to keep terror plots at bay and everyone else confused, apparently). Bus drivers overtake tuk-tuks, tractors, taxi’s, and scooters with reckless abandon before either swerving out of the way of oncoming traffic or bullying that traffic off the side of the road (see diagram below). Mountain roads are so narrow, winding, and full of potholes that we were often only able to make about 25-30 km/hr. My driver was very safe though and we managed to get around the country safely despite me seeing my life flash before my eyes scores of times (not bad by-the-way).