You don’t need to inform the tourist police

When you check into a hotel in India, immediately you need to give over your passport for them to make a copy of, and often fill out a huge tome of travel info. This does not seem to be the case in Sri Lanka. 

We checked in later than anticipated at our hotel in Ella, after our scenic train was quite delayed en route. The guy had a a list on his phone and then we said room for Sarah and room for Emma. After a great nights sleep I checked my WhatsApp and had a message from the owner saying he had reported me to the transport police as I had made a fraudulent booking and not turned up. Imagine his surprise when I replied that I was in room no 2. 

Turns out there was an issue with booking.com and his list showed 2 rooms for Emma and one for me, so he assumed I never turned up. Panic over and no need for him to inform the tourist police!

Be careful, the monkeys might come in

 I was told to be careful as monkeys often decended onto my balcony at my hotel in Kandy. It was situated a few minutes walk from the beautiful central lake and opposite was a huge hill densely covered by trees and palms. 

I was careful not to leave anything out but twice when I was getting ready in the morning a group of monkeys descended and came up to the bedroom window to peer in. They jumped around, pulled at the window bars and then scampered onto the roof.