24th July2006

Hello Girls and Boys..
You might be wondering where am I now. in the Jungle ridding elephants? On a lost Island some where in Thailand or Sri Lanka?...Naaaa… Back to the real world... yeaa I am back to Italy!!! I can’t remember where I left you last.. Probably on the Island of Kaoh Chang many weeks back in Thailand when I did the jungle trekking with the Elephant and the mad man in charge of the elephant. After that I went with the motor bike I rented around the island to take pictures and see the wonderful white sand beaches with palm trees. I also went for a hair cut, the women in the shop did not at all speak English so you can imagine how the hair cut came out… went also for a proper Thai massage in the Island before I left.. I was in pain for two days after the massage! They just twist and turn you in such a chaotic way and with such a force.. I had tears in my eyes but took the pain thinking that it is normal.. When they press on the pressure points.. the pain is just Indescribable!!! I think that it was the first and last Thai massage in my whole life!

Then I returned to Bangkok with another bus journey and stayed in Bangkok for another 2 days to do shopping and relax a bit and recover from the massage! Well after that I was back to Sri Lanka… It was sad to leave Thailand, the people, the amazing places and the experiences I have made behind but I was glad that I have lived those days to the fullest possible. My holiday was already more than half gone and I had only two more weeks left in Sri Lanka before leaving to Rome and then to UK for work. Time was just flying by, especially when you are having fun and doing something new every day….. Coming back to Sri Lanka was good.. and in a way I was looking forward to it… during my stay in Sri Lanka I made few more trips to down south to see amazing beaches, coral gardens and turtles, including Lagoons and wonderful sceneries of which I have pictures. I also went to Negambo, a town living on the fish market.. there I took some amazing pictures of people selling fish and some fantastic fishing boats… this place is a bit further north from the airport and many people from different towns come here to buy fresh fish. The market is near the beach and you have the typical sri Lankan women selling the fish fresh from the sea on a wooden table or on the floor on top of plastic sheets.. Protecting themselves from the high heat with umbrellas or just a paper bag on top of their head…

My time in Sri Lanka passed in a relax but busy way as I was also there for my cousins wedding… The wedding took place in 3 events.. One day there was the engagement party, the second day was the wedding and on the third day there was the home coming. It all went absolutely well and it was a great wedding… I passed the days by going to have drinks in the hotels during the evenings, meeting friends and going clubbing and pubbing…Especially on the 9th of July when there was the Finals of the world cup! I watched the game with loads of Italian fans in front of the big screen.. as you can Imagine after the final whistle we went absolutely mental.. We partied like mad that night.. no sleep at all and had an Excellent night!.. We were in an Italian Embassy Jeep.. in Sri Lanka there are checkpoints and police everywhere.. We were speeding and hooting at the police and they could not do anything about it as they could not stop the jeep. It was protected by the Italian government!! The Sri Lankan police do deserve it as they are quite bad and strict for no reason and they use their power too much! But thank god they did not open fire on us… knowing them!

My last days in Sri Lanka was spent meeting friends and having dinners and just chilling, saying bye to everyone and enjoying the last moments in my country and in the places I love…I met soo many people during my stay in Sri Lanka which was just amazing….some by chance and some through others…but made so many new friends in Sri Lanka and around the world…..

I am writing this final chapter of my amazing Journey hoping that it will not be the last….This year has been quite a different year for me.. I have decided to leave everything and run after a dream I had for many years.. Travel and see many places and meet new people.. get experience of real life… see the poor side of the world who even without money have a happy life…. I wanted to travel for a year…take my sleeping bag and just go without destination.. Take day by day.. Decide on the spot where to go and what to do.., leave the modern world behind…. I left my old job with the intention of travelling but soon after I got an offer for another job which I could not reject. It was too important to my life and to my career and it was a job and a place I have been wanting to go for many years (UK)… but sometimes I wonder. what if I rejected it and followed my dream….. I had to take this journey many years back, maybe after University but money was important and It was more important to find a job than to travel, but I was blind I guess as I did not realize the importance of travelling for me at that time. I never realised how wonderful would be to travel until I did it…I love seeing places and people.. Getting to know different cultures and the way they think.. Peoples attitudes and the way they live.. in the western world we are soo encapsulated in our world that we don’t open up to see the real world… the world with many faces and cultures. the world with many problems.. the world which is not perfect.. the world where children start working at the age of 6 to help their families, the world where justice sometimes depends on the power and a money person has…the world where having a car is a life time dream.. the world full of poverty but also the willingness of the people in this world to make the most out of their lives..

This year has been an amazing year for me.. From the decisions I have made to the things I have done to people I have met…I needed a change in my life and glad that it all went soo well.. life can be good or bad but it is all up to you to make the best out of it and to make the life you want…I also believe that nothing happens for chance.. There is always a reason… I have met soo many people in this journey of 3 months… some have just touched my journey through life like the old man I met on the bus from Bangkok to Kaoh chang.. some have made a big impact ..and very few have become soo special to me and have left some amazing memories in my life… but I have learnt something from every one of them… and its wired how sometimes your life can be influenced by people you meet through your life.. you might know them for years.. Months. or just seconds but they can leave a very deep trace in your life depending on how intense that time is used and how much you open up to them…

I have some amazing memories of my trip.. From Milan to Rome to Doha to Colombo To Singapore to Bangkok to Chang Mai to Bangkok to Colombo back to Rome…… Have you ever wondered how it would be to sleep in the jungle with the screaming sounds of the insects.. how it would be to walk through the untouched forests of Thailand.. to walk on the white sand beaches of Sri Lanka… to see the amazing colours of the sunset on the sea side.. to hear the pondering sound of the sea at night.. the unworried faces of the children in the forests of Thailand.. the peaceful faces of the people from the Asian continent and most importantly the harmony and peacefulness they take life with… this is all changing with the technology and modernity taking over their life’s and places they live in… soon these places will be just memories of the people who lived it and just sceneries in a pictures for people who didn’t… it’s a shame that the need for money can ruin these amazing places in our beautiful world. But man for money would do anything from destroying the untouchable to polluting the unnecessary to destruction of whole countries using war….

Sometimes I close my eyes.. put tequila sun rise by Eagles and all the memories are back again… I can see the bright colours of the Asian sunset. the white sand beaches.. the pondering sounds of the waves.. the night sky…soo relaxing .. the breeze from the sea… the smell of the earth…at the moment soo far away and at the same time just a memory away…..

till my next trip.. Which I hope it is going to be sooner than later.. I am going to end this mail..I know that I have written you guys some pretty long emails during this 3 moths. Trying my best to make you live the same emotions that I was living.. but you cannot ever live those emotions fully unless you are there living it with your skin.... some might have not appreciated my emails and my journeys. some might have.. but I don’t think that anybody could appreciate it more than I…
Take care….
be good and live life to max
Lakmal.. Dilhan..Lucky