settling in...

So it's Wed 9th May and after a fairly knackering journey, I managed to get a reasonable amount of sleep last night, have had three square meals at the guest house and am slowly getting used to the sauna-like heat. Have got rest day today before starting work at NGO tomorrow. Will be working Thurs & Fri then off for weekend, so quite a gentle start.

All is good so far. Flights were fine, journey from Colombo airport to Galle was long, hot, noisy, slightly hair-raising due to style of driving here - which seems to involve overtaking as dangerously as possible, peeping your horn at every given opportunity, no seat belts, braking sharply to avoid crossing cows and pedestrians and generally being quite different from the relative placidity of UK!!

Guest house is very clean and comfortable, with good food and very friendly family running the place, who have given us lots of info about do's and don'ts and seem determined to look after us as much as possible.

My room is nice with a desk and chair, double bed and wardrobe space. Bathroom is right next door with a good shower and flushing toilet. There is satellite TV with sports and news channels, internet access with a good connection and Skype available for internet-internet phone calls - so really, I'm spoiled!

Galle itself is very pretty - we're staying within the walls of the old Dutch Fort, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is very picturesque. Walked round the walls this morning - gorgeous views out to sea and a refreshing cool breeze.

Weather generally is very hot and humid and think it will take a bit of time to get used to feeling constantly sticky. There has been a little bit of rain but the full rainy season doesn't kick in until July.

There are hardly any tourists around, which seems to be because of the security situation, but there are a few other Westerners staying at the guest house, all doing volunteer or paid work of one kind or another.

More later - have to go to sort out arrangements for work tomorrow.