A long drive today down to Colombo from the cool of the tea plantation area of Ceylon to its former capital in colonial times.As we descended the mountains we passed quaintly named plantations and wonderful scenery more like Austria than a tropical country and then all of a sudden we were back amongst coconut,rubber and rice plantations.We stopped to look at the site of the filming of the bridge on the river Kwai.Apparently they used the botanical gardens in Kandy and a hotel for the camp and hospital.In Colombo we visited an extraordinary Buddhist temple which had a huge collection of donated treasures,Buddhas,a Rolls Royce and old printing presses.It looked like an indoor antique market.Two other things caught our attention;one was the arrival of the prime minister of India tomorrow so security was being tightened and flags being put up and second was one of the oldest cricket matches taking place between 2 schools-the battle of the blues.Schools cricket is a mad passion and all the old alumni turn up to cheer their alma mater.A visit to the station to buy a ticket to Galle further south for tomorrow and a quick walk round the block of our hotel to view the old buildings before a Chinese meal and bed.Another early start as the train leaves at 6.55.