Wednesday 1 September

Hello again.

J was up early on Wednesday, for which he'd like to thank the local temple who sounded their first gong at 4am.

He found himself in a jungle clearing on a cloudless night, with shooting stars above him and, all around him, sleeping on the rocks just as they have for thousands of years, the Veddah people, each covered by a thin blanket and all all snoring gently.
Life has its magical moments.

Unfortunately, on the other side of the clearing, there were 32 tents full of tuk-tukkers whose snoring wasn't quite so demure.

Around 9.30 we left on the next leg. This took us east to the coast and a long drive down the tsunami-ravaged areas and a well-earned day of rest. Here some of us are, ready for the off.

En route we had three challenges: sing a Tamil song with five locals; eat a meal with a local family and find some home-brewed toddy. Despite H's vast experience, we failed on the latter. We accidentally ate with a family but decided not to go singing. We did, however, get one of the challenge pictures - us with a rank of professional tuk-tuk drivers:

Finally we arrived at our destination and we're all looking forward to a day on the beach on Thursday. Which will mean no blog until Saturday evening as Friday night will be yet more super camping. Saturday looks fun as well, up into hills and the tea country. Will our tuk-tuk make it??

Message from Jenny, Khan, Sally, Graham, Jackie and Richard to their unbelieving family and friends,
'We are all here and we are working harder than this on most days!'

And here's one they don't know I'm showing - from the fancy dress on the first day.

Notes to families, friends etc:
N's hip NOT playing up, so he wants to move here
H fully settled in to food, time-zone etc
J struggling manfully(!) on, driving getting better (bit of self-pity there, don't you think?)

And the big news: H lost his BlackBerry somewhere on the beach on Wednesday night. Very late Wednesday night. In fact, early Thursday morning - not long before sunrise Don't ask.

I'll finish this entry as soon as I can. Internet shop closing.

Ciao