Dirt off your shoulders

The past 48 hours have been quite interesting as i am trying to recess all the tiny bits of the adventures !
I left anuradhapura after having lost the interest in doing anything else since i saw most if not all of it with my amazing tuk tuk driver, hope you are still following till now.

The ride to trincomalee was quite something too, i got up super early to prepare the backpack, went to the checkout and dropped the last book i finished (some thriller called Flinch).
I got a tuk tuk to drop me at the bus station and since i was a bit early there , had time to go for the spicy breakfast with some chai on the side, refilled my water supply as i know i always drink a lot in the bus and here we go !

Glad i was there before the rush because it was full right from the beginning and i had the most annoyable neighboor all the way, i mean she was large and it was just one butt too many on that bench.
In the end i manage to forget about her and start enjoying the landscape which was getting dryer and dryer but i was dreaming to see some nice beaches and the sea again.
The ride was really long, almost 4 hours for 159 kilometers but the bus is stopping everytime someone is waving at him...the magic of privately own buses !
Arrived in trincomalee downtown at the bus station and from previous reading, i only knew one guest house name which appeared to be right accross the street so here i am entering, negotiating in some weird adapted english accentuation for locals and successing at it for a room.
The room appeared to be clean at first and i was just too tired to look carefully and i went for a little nap that was really short as i woke up surrounded by bed bugs all over the place..grrr and very disgusting ! jumped back to the shower and went on for a scandal at the reception showing them the problem.
few minutes later, new bed, new mattress, new sheets time for me to relaxe on the offered beer on the house and the same story repeats itself ! even more bed bugs concentrated !
i asked for a better room at the same cost which i got.
The adress is on 23 main street, its called mansion hostel ! would not recommend it anyway but its the only one offering low rates in the area.
After such a bad start,  it was time to go see what this town was all about ! went all the way down to main street, missed the train station i was after, got lost by the lagoon and back again downtown through the maze of small streets not without being waved or whistled a few times at...
tourists arent that common just yet in sri lanka and it is slowly coming back !

7am tuesday 27th october

I am walking outside of the dirtier place i ever paid for in my entire life, still thing i should have walk out of it but they ve been very accomodating to my matter and took action so couldnt blame them forever.
Walked to the bus station nearby, ask for direction to go down south to batticaloa. Was quite happy with the first answer given which would make me change three times of bus until someone game me the inside tip that changed my day !
jumped off the bus into a tuk tuk, asked to be drop a the nearby harbor to make the boat to muthur (pronounce moutou for the french readers) and from there i ll be able to make the bus.
So i add not only another mean of transportation into my long list of already used but that was  a hell of a cool one.
once again, i am the only white boy in there, being stared at but i am getting better at managing my success over kids not to add the rest of the crowd.
ended up at the back of the boat, watching the shore getting smaller and being even prevented from taking any more pictures reason being it was a private and very secret police camp ...anyway, i got enough of them in time !
Arrived in muthur in 45 minutes after a nice talk with someone studying political science and that couldnt find anyone to match his english skills.
Got the necessary connecting info at a charming place, even got a ride to the bus station nearby and enjoyed good times before making the 11am bus.
First time in the whole trip that i am really crossing the ancient war zones and you can tell there is a lot to be made to make it forgot but no such things as bomb holes or shuttered glass or whatever, only one big indicator : the number of checkpoints and the state of the road ! i didnt count but i would have lost it anyway. got controlled once for my passport in total and once for my luggage ! and that was without the others asking whose bags were belonging too or being asked for my name just to make sure i was really french ! such a laugh.
Lets go back to the road condition most primor reason i got so late in the end here !
Its like a safari trail, no such things as ciment or where there is some, its shared between two lanes, the cows, the bikes, the guys at work repairing it.
Anyway, i made it here around 4.30pm, walked around looking for a guest house knowlingly there were a few on the way back and in the end got advised to go in that direction too.
I am finally on the east coast and will certainly chill here for two nights before heading down south or straight into the mountains at ella !

More to come soon !

ciao all

antoine