JOINT DAYS! So.. 14th day – we woke up and had to say goodbye to the big american group, they only stayed 2 days.. And then we worked the hatchery until lunch, just standard giving tours and chilling out.. We had noodles for lunch and after that kayla and i set off for an adventure!
We got a driver and a car and headed for Adams peak – its a huge mountain with a temple on the top. It took about 6 hours to get there (including stopping for a cup of tea obviously). The ride was really nice even though i slept for the first half! Once we got to the hill country, all the roads were so bendy and uphill! We went through a town called Hatton as well haha! There were massive lorries as well which was pretty dodgy. There was also loads of wild boar wandering about because it was night time, they are so ugly haha.. Also a huge lake and LOADS of tea fields. The climate was so different, it was cold! Like jacket cold! So weird but it was very comfortable. We stopped in a town and got take away noodle things..we finally made it to the hotel, which is right at the bottom of the mountain! We had to trek up loads of steps to our room and i was knackered haha didnt know how i was going to do a mountain!
We finally got to the room and it was nice! Like a proper hotel 👌we managed to get a few hours sleep before heading off on our mission.
It was pitch black when we set off and we had to walk quite a way just to get the start line! We got to the start at 2:40am and headed off.
We were blessed firstly and got a string bracelet to have a safe journey.
The steps started alright but after about 20 mins they became SO steep. Like so steep it was an effort to lift your legs up. We just ploughed through the first hour and i was just knackered, my legs were turning to jelly and i was nearly falling everywhere. We took a good 8 breaks because we just couldnt go on, not kidding this mountain was huge. 2025 feet! Attached pictures from the bottom when we went back. So we stopped about 30 minutes from the top for a final break and had a cup of tea.. I was just dead, we had been walking up steps for 3 hours 😫. But then we got to the top, and there was so many people… Theres a small temple at the top but the main interest is the sunrise. It was just BEAUTIFUL. honestly we stood in a really good place and you could see for miles! Plus our mountain was the biggest in a range of them so there were other mountains that were slowly lit up with clouds around them. Watching the sunrise was just the best thing ever – its definitely the best thing I’ve done on this trip.
We stayed for a while and took a few photos of the landscape and then headed back down.. Only took us an hour on the way back but the scenery is just stunning. We got back to the hotel, i took a shower and had breakfast… Eggs, toast, butter and jam.. With a huge pot of tea, just perfect. We went back to the room and had a 45 minute nap because we were both absolutely knackered. We went back to the reception to meet our driver again and set off to WHITE WATER RAFTING!!
Yes thats right, rapids.. In sri lanka.
First time rafting and I LOVED it. It was a grade 3 raft and they only go upto 5 so it was pretty decent. Had a lot of fun and even went body rafting, where you actually get out the boat by yourself and ride the rapids on your own! It was amazing. On the 30 second walk back to the car, there was a snake charmer!!!! Obviously held a python, and played with cobras.
After that we got lunch which was an all you can eat buffet… So full.
Set off home and managed to stop for a quick King Coconut drink.. The woman got these orange coconuts and went at them with a bloody machete! We finally got home and had a good strong drink ready for a well deserved sleep. My favourite weekend ever.

With love from sri lanka, Jack ✌️

Today was the funniest day so far… There was a group of americans that came to stay and they are hilarious! 😹 just so friendly and good. We started by cleaning the tanks which didn’t take long at all because there is so many people. Yeah so then we went for a swim in the sea, had linch and began filling up the hatchery with sand from the beach.. We all made a train and kept to THE SYSTEM. you dont mess with the system, after a couple of breaks we got the job done. We then had dinner and went to the beach to make a fire and sit around it for a while ☺️we also got called to see a turtle lay eggs, we all went but we just got to see the turtle because she was taking too long haha.
All in all a pretty good day
With love from sri lanka, Jack ✌️

So today i got up at 1:15am, ready to get the bus for 2am to Colombo (the capital).. WERE GOING TO SEE THE POPE! We got the bus at about 2:30am, after being offered a lift from two dodgy cars with guys in them.. No thank you.
Took about an hour and a half to get to colombo and when we arrived we took a tuk tuk to galle face green.. But we had to walk down the road as it was closed.. The crowds were HUGE. And i swear kayla and i wete the only white people there.. We were walking round aimlessly through the masses, trying to protect my backpack as best as possible.. We went through security and the whole park was separated into square enclosures, we looked extremely lost so some of the ushers helped us by pointing us in the right direction.. We walked past loads of pens of people but we didnt know what to do… We found a person that showed us into a foreigners enclosure! Haha would not have that in the uk! So we made friends with some americans and turns out a couple of them and kayle have mutual friends! Small world. It was quite cold at night but as the sum rose, it became warmer. We were waiting in our little bay when suddenly a rush of people were let into ours! So we had to go to the front of the gate and wait for an hour until good ol’ francis arrived… When he cam e though it was pretty good.. We were SO close! But he literally flew past us! Must have been going about 20 mph! Managed to get some really good pics though! It was all very fast ending and lasted about 5 seconds haha..
We walked back to a hotel to get wifi and then got a tuk tuk to a local beach about 12km from colombo..
The beach was so cool! Not touristy and full of sri lankans just having fun! We got some food at a cafe as well, beach side obviously. Got a pineapple juice and chicken sandwich! 👌👌👌
While we were walking ok the beach we saw a lot of people pulling on a rope in the ocean! Very intriguing so i went to take a look – they were pulling on a net.. When they took it out it was full of tiny fish and a few big ones! Pretty good idea! The local people are so inspiring, they all work together and play together, just eating lunch we can watch volley ball.. Water towers being built with people.. Play fighting, honestly it really is amazing to watch such a community! A man also sold me a really large map of sri lanka and it seems everyone is always up for a nice conversation! Unlike England where people don’t even want to sit next to each-other!
We had more food again, and then set back home.. Just so happened when we got to the bus stop, an air conditioned bus stopped for us! Lovely trip back and can safely say this was the most random and probably luckiest day ever haha yaaaaaas

With love from Sri Lanka, Jack ✌️

A bloody hot one today. Scorcher! I think i may have vest tan lines which isnt the best look…
We had MORE fish to feed the turtles with today! They still ate all of it too! Greedy buggers… Well at least they have got fed a really good amount this week ☺️ feeding takes up all morning and after lunch we went to teach again.. I took the monks on my own this time which was interesting. They definately recognised me as they were smiling a lot.. I wrote the alphabet and got them to come up with an animal for each letter.. They were amazing at it, a good way to gauge their english ability. I taught them syllables today as well.. Which they were ok at but need work. They know a lot more english than they let on, and now its a mission to get them to use it. I think i have become a bit of a funny guy, because they always laugh at me! I mean it is hilarious because theyre just cheeky haha but to be honest we didnt do much this week 🙈 still its pretty amazing teaching english here ☺️
Yvonne (one of my volunteer family) has a charity called myball.ch and its where she goes around the world and takes bouncy balls for poor kids, its really amazing! They were so happy to have them! ☺️🙌 we went to the village and stopped off at a shop.. We got a tuk tuk back! My first tuk tuk!!! How exciting ☺️
After that we came back, had tea and had a small cocktail India introduced to us.. SO NICE. Early to bed ready for a BIG day tomorrow.. More to follow

With love from Sri Lanka, Jack ✌️

Wow days are getting into double figures now.. The time really does fly here, seems like i haven’t been here a day but then looking back, I’ve done so much already!!
Just another normal day at the hatchery today.. Not very busy at all. A couple of tours, but nothing to strenuous.
We fed the turtles big tuna steaks, cut up to smaller chunks.. That took up most of the morning so we had lunch and then chilled out in the afternoon.. Kayla and i went beach cleaning and i added to a burn pile which i hope we can set alight one night and have an evening on the beach. We have an 8 o’clock curfew here – probably for our own good but it means we don’t get to see anything at night.. If we can stay awake!
The beauty of this country really just is amazing. I have become oblivious to the fact i am living on a beach, in the indian ocean.. With 38 degree heat, just spending all day looking after turtles and working on my tan.. You just forget!
Well, the day on a whole was one of relaxation and chilling.. We had tea and now we are trying to prepare our classes for tomorrow when i teach the monks! Yes the photo is a picture of my new harems.. The best clothing item i own. COMFY.

With love from Sri Lanka, Jack ✌️

So i worked the hatchery today because i want Wednesday off for a special trip – not telling yet. In the morning we got up normal time and had to bury 150 eggs! These were olive ridley turtles which are one of the rarer species. We also had some olive ridley hatchlings come in today from another sanctuary.. We worked tours and general stuff until lunch when we had noodles 😍 YUM.
After lunch i went to dudleys house to help him set up some security cameras in his home. The instructions were in english and i said it was fine because its just after christmas and the usual is helping siblings/family members with new pieces of kit haha. After that we came he and i went sand crab hunting again, only caught 7 but there is a delivery of fish being dropped off tonight so the turtles arent hungry for too long. We just worked the rest of the day and now we are having dinner, ready for bed to work again tomorrow!! Stay tuned.

With love from sri lanka, Jack ✌️

In the morning, we headed to a tea plantation where we walked around the factory, it was huge! So many different processes to make tea haha. It was amazing to see and we went to an actual factory, like usually tourists aren’t allowed in it.. But the manager showed us round! Would not have that in england!! There were machinery flying round everywhere haha! And then we stopped at a different one to see the tea pickers plucking the leaves which was cool, the fields go on forever, lead to believe its a very lucrative business.
We then went to Unawatuna, a kind of touristy place with the most beautiful beach! We sunbathed for hours and now i feel so refreshed, also had a chicken sandwich which was peng👌 they do a beach party every tuesday and i am SO up for that.. Perhaps a 19th birthday treat 🙌 we went back to galle and i had to stop off in the town to repair my phone because the screen smashed! What am i like 🙈 like the 6th bloody screen this phone has had, most of it isnt the same phone i bought originally 😹. At least i got to walk around galle for a bit which was nice. We picked up the girls and then headed back home for a well needed shower and feed.
Its leah and rachel’s last night so they get to release a turtle into the ocean! The little squirt took some time to start but finally got going and the tide swept him away ☺️

With love from sri lanka, Jack ✌️

Well you will probably be getting this late as the house that we are staying in has not got wifi!
This morning we worked the hatchery but it was slow again today! It was the elections last night and i think everyone is busy celebrating or commiserating! After lunch we set off to galle for the weekend, kayla booked us a house to stay in and it was really hard to find. On the way we saw lots of temples and what was interesting is that wije had to stop at one of the temples and pray for a second.. They are so committed! Even the buses stop to let people off and pray at them! Also i might not have said that all sri lankans bless everything before they use it; cars, buses, engines etc… Pretty cool stuff.
We visited a mask museum on the way which very pretty interesting, its all about their culture and how they use the masks to tell a story. Also some of them are demon masks which can cause disease, and some are for good luck etc etc. some of those bastards are well scary though haha.

After that we headed to the house.. had to go up this dirt track in a kind of shanty town, we were anxious the place we were going to stay in was a bit of a dump… But once we found it, it was good! The house was big and my rooms alright ☺️ good choice! But no wifi 🙈 the host is very welcoming as well.
At night, we headed to the local town for dinner, we had dinner on the beach! Candle lit, music, beautiful food, it was paradise.. India suggested a cocktail of vodka, malibu and orange juice and my god it is worldly. Its so drinkable. So we named it the india.. After 3 of those and a pina colada, i was ready for bed…

With love from sri lanka, jack ✌️

Because I worked on sunday, i got today off work so me leah and rachel went to a town called hikkadua. Its a little town that has a really beautiful beach. We went by bus, again the buses are just so weird, everyone is just packed in and there’s indian music playing loudly haha its a surreal experience.. We got the for about 10am and went to go snorkelling! We went to this shop and he rented is some snorkels and we followed one of his colleagues to our boat.. It was one of those bloody small fisherman ones!! I helped push it out and the guy said i was very strong 👌 already getting hench 😹 the waters were so clear at the shore as this guy and i rowed the bloody thing all the way to the coral reefs.. Rowing them is SO hard. Was shattered by the time i got there haha.. We put on our snorkelling stuff and dived in!
5 minutes later we saw a wild green turtle!!! Me and the guy chased after it and he dived down and grabbed it! Never seen a wild one before so that was amazing.. We then swam through the coral reefs which were booming with the most beautiful fish 🐠 some were huge! There was a couple of parrot fish that were massive. It was amazing to see all the different species.
After that we went back to the shore where there are shallower coral reefs.. We went to get in, put my mask on and went underwater… BOOM. millions of fish, literally never seen so many fish it was so strange!! Went swam round and saw even more species, then as the went further out there was a guy with a huge ass turtle, you could properly stroke and play with this one so that was incred. The guy said it was 180 years old but i dont believe that haha with my new found knowledge of turtles 😏.
After that we dried off on the beach, little sun bathe and then we headed to get food.. We explored the town a but and its just amazing to walk through, cars flying past you, the buzz of the people, the heat, everything is so colourful. We ended up at this restaurant which i ordered fish and chips oooh yeah. We presumed it was the local fish, it was so fresh! And the chips were to die for. By this point we were all dying for hydration as well so that first sip of water was bliss haha.
After that rachel and leah both went shopping and bought some stuff, i picked up a couple harem pants.. Most comfortable things ever invented. Can tell i will be that gap yaar guy at uni who wears harem pants all the time hahahaha.
Then we got the bus home and i jumped in the shower and put so much after sun on 🙈 i am a little burnt on back of my legs and shoulders so i think a shade day is needed tomorrow 👌we have now had tea and my god i am sooo full!

With love from sri lanka, Jack ✌️

After the rain yesterday, this morning was really humid. A lot of bugs about as well but it was alright. After breakfast we had to clean the tanks.. Omg it is the most energy consuming task ever, we have to take the turtles out, empty the tanks.. Then scrub with wire wool the sides and bottom to get all the shit and algae off – thats the hard part. My arms are absolutely wrecked, but at least i will come back to the uk with ripped biceps haha. No it is fun but i don’t think it will be fun after twelve times 😫 after that we had a chill out in the sea and because its quite calm today then we could go out further and ride the waves.. That was cool. The ocean was so warm and clear, it was so fun. 🏊🏄 i went for a shower which was heavenly, getting all the salt and sand off me was just beaut. We had lunch at 12:30 and chilled at the hatchery. Its surreal how the weather changes here, within hours it can be quite cold and then clear skies and 40 degrees. The hatchery was really quiet today so all the volunteers sat outside and planned the upcoming weekends. Not giving anything away. Towards the end of the day i sat and watched the sunset, beautiful as always.. I took a time lapse which i will upload to facebook. Then as the sun set there was a tour to take! I took it and it was a mother and son from mexico, my confidence with tours has grown a lot and now i can tell them all about the turtles 👌 we had tea and now we are off to bed because all my limbs are KILLING ME. Honestly underestimated the amount of labour it is running this hatchery! No photos for today as we didnt do anything interesting (as if working here isnt interesting haha)
With love from sri lanka, Jack ✌️