The good ship "Chilli Express" sets sail in Sri Lanka

Day two in Sri Lanka is slowly coming to a close and we are now proudly in possession of a shiny blue tuk tuk that will take us (hopefully safely and with as few repairs as possible) around this beautiful island for the next 11 days. For those who don't know the details, Brendan and I are in Sri Lanka for the next two weeks and tomorrow we will embark on a tuk tuk challenge (i.e. race + challenges) around Sri Lanka with 19 other crazy, like-minded teams from all around the world. Think amazing race with tuk tuks, except we will be the drivers of our very own three wheeler. Terrified yet? So are we!

For someone who has NEVER ridden a motorbike nor driven a manual car, operating a manual tuk tuk is certainly a challenge in itself. So far my stall count is well into the double figures and that was practicing around the hotel car park so we will see what happens when we get out onto the "real" roads. Brendan picked it up very quickly so if we do move to Thailand one day, he has that up his sleeve as a job opportunity!

Our team name for this event is the Chilli express and from the photos you can see we have "pimped our ride" accordingly. Tomorrow we will break out the costumes and compete for the best dressed tuk tuk. I'm not sure my hand sewn red satin cape will stand up to the task, but we will see. It will be a funny site if nothing else.

Tonight we are staying at a hotel (The Tamarind Tree) not far from the airport in Colombo. It is a beautiful spot to de-stress after the driving lessons and everyone in the adjoining town has been incredibly friendly during our walks about town.

Oh...and boys...to keep you interested in the blog, one of our fellow competitors just happens to be Miss Denmark! There is a crew of about 20 filming a reality style documentary here with two teams from Denmark that include the beauty pageant queen herself. Game on Denmark, game on!

Stay tuned for the (hopefully) daily updates. Pray hard for us, we will need it :)

//Kate