Getting Out of the Bubble

(APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE FOR THE TERRIBLE PICTURE QUALITY) I have mentioned before how nothing is ever as easy as it should be in China, but this is even more true when travelling. The combination of the language barrier and an over-crowded transport system makes getting anywhere a task that can often be overwhelming. Travelling in a big group really highlights how well some, and how badly others, can deal with the difficulties of Chinese travel. The volume of luggage a person has seems to be the major defining factor in determining how stressful a person is going to find travel. When I was travelling around China, I managed to pack well for making my life as easy as possible. My bag may have been pretty heavy to carry on my back, and it may have been annoying hanging a second backpack off my front, but travelling with my luggage was pretty easy. When luggage space is limited my bags fit easily into smallish spaces, and when the station is a maze of steps I could get up and down them...

Today you are going to learn about how to drive in Sri Lanka. There are five rules of the road... Luck - you have to be very lucky for no one to hit you Honking - no one listens if you don’t honk Break - this is very important to be able to stop very quickly Four Eyes - you need to have your assistant to see the road that you can’t see. You need four eyes. Confidence - with all these things you need confidence, then you can drive in Sri Lanka! This was the first thing our guide told us about Sri Lanka as we set out on a day of driving through the country. Safe to say my seatbelt was securely fastened from that point forward. Sri Lanka was fantastic because it is so unlike anywhere that I had even been before, it’s an amazing fusion of history, culture, religion, nature...everything that you could want in a holiday! I went to Sri Lanka with pretty much zero expectations, the reasons for choosing it as a holiday destination were vague to say the least. Once deciding that I...