Fri 18.05.12:

I spent the day in the backpacker bar hunched over my computer attempting to find a clever way to get to Sri Lanka without flying. Now my mind had turned to the possibility of getting on a cargo ship to India (much more frequent) and then taking the ferry over to Colombo from Tuticorin.

The ferry had stopped back in the early 80s as a result of the ongoing violence in the north of Sri Lanka, but with the Tamil Tigers now effectively (and quite possibly illegally) wiped out, the ferry had resumed. After finding some ships that might suit my purpose, I decided to have a look at the ferry timetable to see how frequent this ferry was and how much it was going to cost. That was when I found out that the ferry had once again ceased operations – this time back in December last year, around the time I was in Tuvalu. WHY DOES NOBODY TELL ME THESE THINGS?!!

So it’s Sri Lanka or bust.

Since the Gold Star Line ship from Kuala Lumpur had probably already left by now, my attention turned to Singapore. Several big companies – most notably PIL, Swire and Mariana Shipping have their offices in Singapore and I’m keen to thank them in person when I get there. I’ve avoided asking these companies for any more favours, since they’ve already done so much for me, but with no response for NYK, OOCL and MOL, and with a flat ‘no’ from Evergreen, I’m now more than ever relying on a handful of companies to help me complete this quest.

I figure I’ll just head down to Singapore – from where a Hapag-Lloyd ship is leaving on Tuesday – and see what happens. But in the meantime, there was fun to be had. In the evening I headed out onto Khao San Road and let the party begin! I was filming myself eating some fried cockroaches (the things I do for fame) when I got chatting with some more Canadian backpackers (what is it with me and Canadians?), before long we were having our feet ‘massaged’ by fish…

drinking a tower of beer outside the Khaosan Palace…

…and heading over to Pat Pong for some go-go-girl action. Only this is Bangkok, so there’s a good chance that it’s not a girl. I’m not falling for that one again.