fly sri lankan airlines! they served a meal as we flew from kuwait to dubai. then another as we flew from dubai to colombo, sri lanka. and this was by far the cheapest leg of my trip so far. i was planning to spend the day in colombo looking at buddhist temples and whatnot, as my flight got there at 4:30 am and didn't leave until midnight. (by the way, i planned this all this way). but i remembered something from the the airline's website about them providing a free hotel if your layover was long enough, so i decided to ask them because i was sooooo tired (from not sleeping). the reason i was tired was because i had not gotten enough sleep in the recent past. the lack of sleep had me feeling fatigued (i was tired). anyway, turns out they would provide a free hotel, and before i knew it i was being whicked away by private taxi (at their expense) to what turned out to be a luxurious beachside resort, replete with multiple pools, and unlimited food!!! and it was amazing, gourmet food. might i say that it was the best day of food i have ever had in my life. also unlimited locally grown ceylon tea (ceylon is what you might think of sri lanka as if you're advanced in years). so i decided not to even go to colombo, especially after finding out how much it would cost to get a ride there (the resort was an hour in the opposite direction). turns out sri lanka is turning into quite the tourist hotspot. i was half expecting the customs guys to ask me if i was a tamil and shoot me and leave me to starve if i didn't respond in the negative fast enough (as per recent civil war related events. although i'd still probably have that done by the government than try dealing with the tamils). but that didn't happen thankfully. back to the resort, there were huge ocean waves that i frolicked in between pool, lounging and eating sessions. they were large enough that when one hit you you lost track of which way was up and by the time you figured it out you were washed 30 feet up onto the shore. and then it was time to run back in the catch the next one. it was a lot of fun. then srilankan flew me in the middle of the next night to mumbai, india, and who would have guessed - served another fabulous meal!
