Into the East: Sri Lanka road tour! What a gorgeous island

Spent a whole week in Sri Lanka to launch our products all over the country. Been sitting in the car for hours and hours everyday! The roads here are scary to drive on, everyone ignores any kind of speed limit. There are usually only 2 lanes so the take-overs are riskyyy! But we managed just fine with my great driver :)

Sri Lanka's east coast looks amazing! Beaches as long as the eye can see. Need to go check it out someday. Only been to west, south and central parts of the country.

Then there was a loooooot of waiting at hospitals and pharmacies. This was probably one of the busiest week I've had this year so far. Getting up at 7 am every day and coming back to hotel around midnight. Too tired to think about doing any workout, just crash in bed.

We started our "tour" in Colombo, then to Kandy, Galle and Negombo. I was really lucky with the trip to Kandy because this week they had the annual Perahera festival going. The Perahera festival is a very old tradition in Sri Lanka. There is a massive parade around the city for 10 days. The parade starts after dark and goes on for hours. There are thousands of dancers and performers and lot of elephants too. Really an amazing and unique experience. Never seen the likes of it!!!!

Galle Face Green on a Sunday evening is PACKED with people. Shangri-la is building a new hotel to the back right. Looking forward to check it out next year. Took this picture from my hotel room at Galle Face Hotel.

Nice way to enjoy a coffee at 6 am

Travellers Bar: Mark Twain, Carrie Fisher, Steven Spielberg, Kings & Queens, Nixon and many many more celebrities stayed at this place! Hotel was build 1864 by the British colonials

Mark Twain

Galle Face Hotel has a nice restaurant that opens in the evening. Very nice seafood soooo cheap here!

Last night when I came back from Galle the hotel was fully booked so they gave me the Ceylon Suite. Biggest room I ever had! 2 showers, 2 toilets and 2 meeting rooms. Too bad I just got to stay in it about 7 hours then had to get up and fly in the night back to Tokyo.

Found this guy on the road while we were driving to Kandy. Almost 2 meter long! Not something you want to find in your living room or bedroom.

When you missed the bus...

Stopped for some snacks pretty much middle of nowhere. Going on these sandy, dusty dangerous roads by TukTuk can't be great.

Some crazy driving right about now

Biggest rock I've seen in Kurunagala! Very cool with the gigantic Buddha statue watching over the city. Getting close to Kandy now

Perahera Festival in many many pictures. Pictures don't do it right how massive and intensive the parade was with the fire and noise. You really have to see it! People lining up in the afternoon and wait for hours for it to begin. Thanks to Kapila's buddies we got chairs in a jewelry shop without any fee. I saw a lot of tourists pay quite a lot of money for just sitting on a sheet in the street :D

Some snacks?

Buddha watching over Kandy

The parade started with these fire ring artists

And then came the soldiers and elephants

Was really HOT here with all the live fire. Wonder if there ever been any serious fire caused by this before. There was burning coal all over the street as they moved on. Fire Walk with me....Need to re-watch Twin Peaks someday.

The elephant dresses were really cool. On the last day of the parade the elephants have much more lights than this.

So much people in the parade!! They keep coming for 3 hours!! Hordes! Like Gears of Wars

Went to meet the Head of Department of Medicine & Pediatrics

Restocking a pharmacy

Waiting for a meeting in one of Kandy's hospitals.

Tiny tunnel, 2 bigger cars barely pass here

Melons!

Amazing hotel called Emerald Hill. The rate is less than 50 USD per night. If ever in Kandy I strongly recommend this place if you want a view and quiet enviroment

Our products distributed in the biggest phamracy in Kandy. This place is run by the 4th generation already. Father and son to the left and Kapila to the right. Never been backstage surrounded by this much pills and drugs before.

Galle Town, an old Dutch fort build around 500 years ago. It's actually a copy of the fort the Dutch build in Kotchi city India. Went there about 2 years ago to meet a company.

The Dutch Hospital, they got very nice food it's nice to sit down and enjoy this historical scenery!

Lunch!

Old traditional Dutch lights decorate the inner ceiling

Streets of Galle crowded and full of life

This hospital had a very jungle feel to it, backyard full of monkeys and gigant lizards

Checking our stock at the Pharmacy

On the way to Negombo we came across some problems. The engine overheated and left us stranded on the road a while. Luckily we still made it in time for our meeting.

Thanks Kapila for the nice last dinner! This place is run by an artist, very nice open air place with great food and low prices! And they had my name St Sebastian Street sing too.