Negombo (1)

The next day. The clouds have dispersed. The black crows have withdrawn to the rooftops of the adjacent derelict building sites (you know the ones: those that your eyes and brain edit out every time you scan, thus ensuring a happy holiday). The open grass and pool area of our new hotel looks quite inviting, as does the wide, wide beach and the Indian Ocean just outside. The ghosts of Stephen King novels fade away (but the CAW CAW of the birds are still audible in the background). And bottles of beer again magically appear at our pool bar table at lunchtime (cue another gratuitous picture of the view from our latest hotel).

Our final hotel is the Camelot Beach Resort, not the most expensive on the strip but still large enough to get hit by the 30% tax hike. It's also the most modern we've had so far: a TV with actual foreign language news channels, more light switches than Christmas at Leicester Square, a bathroom wash bowel that's not in the shower room but the bedroom proper and big enough to wash your clothes in, aircon that doesn't freeze your nuts off at night, and a back door that leads to a spacious garden and pool area (and pool bar). The buffet breakfast is also a cut above the average one-size-fits-all-cultures and the staff friendly but with a dismaying tendency to throw their paying customers to the dogs every time a large group of visiting guests appear demanding all the available tables and reserved signs.

Negombo is characterised by a wide beach, permanent rough seas oft-used by wind and kite surfers, locally crafted outrigger boats perched above the shoreline and oft-targeted by photographers, and a long road the other side of the big hotels that is regularly punctuated by small bars and restaurants. Our days have descended into a habit of buffet breakfast, sunbeds, pool dip, beach walk, lunchtime beer, afternoon blogging, evening sunsets, walk to a local restaurant and inevitable old couple's early nights. Rinse, repeat, until your time runs out. The local restaurants are by and large small family-run affairs, cheap drinks and freshly cooked seafood. The other night we went to TripAdvisor-approved Tuskers restaurant: sweet and sour (very lightly) battered prawns and spicy rice and battered fish (off the skeleton, as my eyesight doesn't navigate the bone structure as well these days) cooked in the Sri Lankan sweet chilli paste style. Honestly, apart from one devilled pork dish in Mama's that was a bit chewy, we haven't had a bad meal all the time we've been in the country. A couple of drinks and a couple of seafood meals here usually comes to around £20.

Only three days (and Independence Day) left.