Sri Lanka

I have internet access once again and I've finally got all my photos from Sri Lanka and Bhutan uploaded. So lets start with Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is a little island just south of the southern tip of India. Its just north of the equator, and is entirely covered in equatorial rain forest. Its hot. Really hot. To get it out of the way, Sri Lanka just concluded (for the most part) a long, bloody civil war a few months ago. So, Sri Lanka is still very militarized. There are army checkpoints all over the place, helicopters circling, etc. And they aren't messing around or slacking off like the Indian army guys you see lounging around. You can tell these guys were in active combat not too long ago. The war was between the ruling government and the Tamil Tigers, and went on for 20 years or so. I'm sure wikipedia can fill you in on all of the details. The rebels admitted defeat a few months ago and thus the war was declared over, but there is apparently still rebel activity in the north and eastern parts of the island. So you don't go there. I flew into and stayed in Colombo, the capital, and against the advice of some, including the US embassy, got a car and driver and went into the north center of the island to check out some old Buddhist temples and things. Everything went fine, no incidents, although the driver did mention a few times during the drive out into the jungle "thats a bad part, we are going the long way around" and stuff like that. But if you don't let the militarization and rebel activity bother you, and I didn't, Sri Lanka is a beautiful place and I'm looking forward to going back, as the Sri Lanka Air Force will give you a tour of the island in one of their helicopters with some advance notice. That will be awesome.