Culture Shock – Jon Casey
This is the single biggest culture shock I have ever come across. Sri Lanka is an amazing place to come to; everything about it seems the complete opposite to home. The area that we are in is beautiful and Neutral Wind is just as nice. The people here are lovely (especially Leonard and his family who have been extremely welcoming) and they really go out of their way to help you despite the fact that we have witnessed a lot of the needs this country has whilst travelling through the towns and outlying areas. I just glimpsed sight of some of the left over Tsunami debris whilst travelling to Matara on the train. My first real visit into Matara is an experience in itself. Organised chaos is the way I described it today, but it seems to work nonetheless. The roads particularly, deadly though they are, were a facinating display of driving and I thoroughly enjoyed the excitement of a Tuctuc ride. The warmest welcome of all has come from the children who treat you like a celebrity. I am very much looking forward to meeting more of them as the trip goes on. All in all I have enjoyed my first real experience of the country and now this area and the highlights so far have been seeing an elephant for the first time and also high fiving a clown in Matara.