It is still dark outside when my alarm pierces the silence, well not quite silence, the mosquitoes that were in a buzzing frenzy last night when I went to sleep are eagerly waiting for the mozzie net to be lifted so they can attack the exposed skin, but now they hover like minuscule drones, I am tempted to sleep a little longer but the sunrise beckons and I want to be standing on the sand when the sun peeks up over the horizon on Nilaveli Beach in Sri Lanka.

The beach is a quick walk from my guesthouse, rusted razor wire tangled with vines edge one side of the path, it really is just a line in the sand separating the Navel Base, and a tranquil beach, but it is a harsh reminder that this area was part of a war zone only 8yrs before. I walk past the military checkpoint and greet the lone armed guard with cheerie Hello, he smiles and nods. Crows on the roof of the hut squawk and startle me as I trudge passed in the dry sand.

The waves send tendrils across the wet sand…filling the hoof prints of the cattle that are meandering along with a kind of nonchalance in front of me, they let out a melancholy moo. This alerts the stray dogs sleeping under the fishing boat, and they come bounding toward me with a flurry of barks but they seemed quite harmless, as they trotted along beside me.

Almost simultaneously I can hear the call for morning prayer at the mosque that rings out throughout the sleepy village via a speaker system and morning bakery tuk tuk trundling along the streets playing ” It’s A Small World” to alert it customers the it is nearing their home with freshly baked goods.

The sun finally makes an appearance sending out a golden pathway across the ocean.

As i wander back along on the beach, singing “It’s a Small World After All”