The biggest problem with traveling in Sri Lanka is that there is too much to see and far from being repetitious, there are a tremendous variety of sights and experiences. Having spent six months in SE Asia, we had visited a lot of temples so were close to reaching the 'not another temple' state of mind, yet Sri Lanka's temples drew us like magnets and rewarded us with original frescoe paintings over 2000 years old, massive Buddhas buried deep in cave temples, the remains of the ancient city of Polonnaruwa and the stunning Sigirya Palace on top of a 200 metre sheer sided rock.

	In Sri Lanka there are 3000 elephants, many of which are working animals and their treat after work is a cool bath in the river.

Candy is the cultural centre of Sri Lanka where, in addition to traditional dancing shows, the temple containing the tooth of Buddha is the highlight--though you never get to see the putative tooth, merely the container which contains the container, which contains the container and so on until finally there is a container that bears the tooth. Any attempt on our part to suggest that the 'tooth' might be more symbolic than real was treated with appropriate incredulity at the ignorance of non-believers.

The wildlife is also terrific. There are monkeys everywhere, we were warned not to leave the shutters open in our hotel room as the monkeys would delight in stealing our belongings and ransacking our room. Driving down a country lane, a herd of elephants made a dash across the road in front of us and munched away patiently when we stopped the car to gawp. Then there is the elephant orphanage where we cuddled a two-month old baby elephant and watched the main herd bathe in the river. Sri Lanka's beaches are nesting grounds for a variety of turtles and we sat (not very patiently) waiting for one to arrive and lay her eggs and were rewarded with an arrival moments before we were going to give up. For bird lovers the island is a cornucopia of colourful species, many are water birds breeding on and around the numerous tanks (artificial lakes built in the 12th Century to irrigate the land).

	Tea is picked by hand mainly by Tamil women.

And last but by no means least, there is the wonderful Hill Country where Sri Lanka's famous tea is grown and old Colonial houses now offer accommodation in surroundings that seem to have changed very little. The adjacent hills looks as if they are upholstered in a lush green velvet and the tiny dots of colour turn into the lady tea pickers dressed in bright saris and carrying tea baskets suspended from their forehead. One of the things all the cruisers enjoyed about the Hill Country is that it is cool. The treat of a hot bath and a hot water bottle after months in the sticky tropics has to be experienced to be appreciated.

As you'll realise we thoroughly enjoyed Sri Lanka even though we were not able to cruise its coastline. And the island saves a treat for departing cruisers. After months of light wind sailing through Asia it really was a treat to pick up the reliable northerlies that funnel down the west coast. Even if they did only last for 24 hours, they got us half way to the Maldives in record time.