Sri Lanka

Since I joined my company, they have paid me peanuts but on the bright side I get to travel the world and see many different places and cultures. I do not think that I have travelled as much as some but I guess I have to count myself lucky to be able to see a few countries which I will never go on my own.

About a month back, I was air dropped into Sri Langka for 3 days of packed meetings. I have a total of 14 meetings in the span of the 3 days and there was one meeting that lasted only 20 minutes before the customer kicked us out of his room.

This trip was also the first time I ever go to a customer's place and the whole building didn't have AC. I was in a full suit with a tie somemore. Moreover the Sri Lankan weather is just as bad a Malaysia. I sweat so much that on the day and I wore a black shirt, there were sweat stains on my collar. Haha

The good thing about being sent to a developing Asian country is that the hotels are relatively cheap and you get bang for your buck. My company put me in a hotel called Cinnamon Grand Lakeside. Initially I thought it sounded seriously dodgy but after getting into my room I was impressed.

The colourful bottles of shampoo, shower gel, conditioner and body lotion was too good not to take a picture. By the way the shower gel actually smells like cinnamon. This is the first hotel I stayed in where they actually have turn down service and at around 6pm each evening, someone comes knocking on your door to ask if you need any supplies.

Right opposite my hotel is actually a Air Force camp. Well actually it is not really a camp or base. They just house the Air Force Personnel there and all I see they do is play football in the evenings. I was offered a lakeside view for an extra 30USD. However since we were on company trip and we didn't  have much time to spend in the hotel anyway, we declined. However the views are quite spectacular.

Surprisingly the hotel had quite alot of tourist and I felt so jealous looking at them lazying around the pool in the mornings and evenings. We were so jammed packed with meetings we never got to use any of the facilities at all other then the restaurants. They had a really nice Thai Restaurant called Royal Thai there. We were told by the Sri Lankan partner that is the best Thai Restaurant in Sri Lanka and man it was fantastic. One of the best Pad Thai I have ever had.

In between one of the meetings, the partner actually took us too....

Never would expect them to have a Coffee Bean in Sri Lanka. It taste exactly the same but it cost quite a bit. I wouldn't mind going to Sri Lanka for a holiday. With the Tamil Tigers defeated, it is a much safer place now and apparently they have really nice beaches and also the mountain areas are really nice and cool. I was told it is like Cameron Highlands but better. The best thing is that is it only 1 hour flight to Maldives.

On the way back while we were at the airport, we saw quite a few Japanese people checking in surf boards and they were as tanned as the Indians and Sri Lankans. There was one guy who was peeling so badly that I dunno how he can stand it.

The only problem with going to Sri Lanka is the flight. I always died from the smell on the flight both going and coming back. Then again we took Sri Lankan airlines. Haha