Colombo, Sri Lanka,
Another day in the metropolis here. Time is flying by but as my visa expires on July 19 in 1 week, I had to make a decision. I could either extend and stay longer in Sri Lanka, but my initial plan was to leave Asia on my way to Europe. I already planned that I will stay in Montpellier near my hometown in September, so it is better that I start to go this way since it is difficult to enter France at this time with all the protocols and quarantine. I actually have a plan to be able to travel in this direction without too many troubles, but I need to pass through other countries. Thus I just booked my flight ticket out of Asia! After almost 2 years on this continent. I will fly with Qatar Airways. I feel it is one of the most reliable companies available.
I am a little sad as I feel I could have stayed longer in Sri Lanka, I couldn’t get access to Elephants the way I wished, or any National Parc, because of the restrictions. In fact, I arrived exactly at the wrong time but couldn’t have predicted it. Now things start to go better in this country but I guess this won’t stay like that. The parks are still closed anyway, and most places are hard to reach since everything is on standby or closed. However throughout my stay, I had good experiences and discovered a new culture, I saw many interesting places on my own, I could enjoy some of Nature here, and was able to record for the bat project. It was all in all a very interesting trip, it is very much likely that I could come back in a few years from now.
Now I am in Colombo, this city is very liveable. But I am probably distracted by the number of options available here. There are too many restaurants or cafes, distances are wide too, and I have been walking quite a lot these last few days, on average 20000 steps per day, which is about 15/16 km. I think I would very much enjoy staying 1 or 2 months in this city, but I have to go.
There are some aspects though that I very don’t like here, and it is in my opinion, not the best city to base oneself.
For the next few days, I have still much work to achieve, I have not yet sent the official announcement for the big library update, I will today. I have also to prepare my exit, find PCR tests, do some map scouting, and book accommodation for the new city I am going to on Sunday. While I am still here, there is some food I want to try, especially the locals and Indian ones.
