Week 2 Sri Lanka-exploring history

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Our last two days in Mirissa flew over. Our family at the guest house invited us to eat with them on Saturday. A very kind and welcome invitation for some home cooked food. Fist thing was a shave for Chris and a trip to the tailor for me. I had spotted a shop that made clothes in a couple of hours and after my disappointing trip to Barefoot thought I would get something made. I walked in and the female owner was on the phone, chatting in English about hiding tax from the authorities! She didn't respond to me at all, her stiff was pretty boring and after 5 minutes browsing I left and she didn't stop for breath. Instead popped into “Aldi" and bought a cheap throw on dress and some flip flops. Had a fabulous iced coffee at D Ceylon cafe and waited for Chris. We had a chilled afternoon, I walked to the beach for a late afternoon dip.

We got ready and had a beer on the beach and bought a Bounty bar and Mars bar for the children at our guest house. People in Sri Lanka don't usually take alcohol when invited to a house and flowers are only for funerals and temple offerings. Ranjan had been delayed so we are alone but the food Siri cooked was delicious. Mushroom curry, dahl, green beans, fish, rice and cucumber salad and poppadum . The youngest daughter was happy to engage with us and show us her toys etc. We had little Indian style sweets for desert.

Our last day was a bit of a catch up, we changed some money in the rasta shop! Bought something to sterilize our water bottles with and more mossie spray. We decided on our last night to eat fish on the beach. We ended up being upsold to lobster- about as much meat as a large langoustine, but nicely cooked and we were on the edge of the Indian Ocean. It was our most expensive meal too ! We were still hungry but our favourite bar had chocolate brownie.

Monday and off east to Galle Fort, in a taxi organised by the son of my mama from my cookery class. We arrived in the Fort to our guest house , Rampart View and it was in a fabulous location and the people were lovely but .......for 40€ night our room was pretty basic. Probably 6 or 7 out of 10 for most things cleanliness just about, the shower leaked, the aircon took hours to cool the room, we had ants , you get the idea. Sadly the alternative at Galle fort is boutique style accommodation at 100 -900$ a night. Most people day trip to Galle but we wanted to stay to enjoy exploring the fort in the cool of the morning and evening. We had a little wander , some cold drinks and then a siesta . In the evening we wandered as the sun was setting . I spotted Charlie's rooftop bar in the Charleston hotel, the Conde Nast recommendations were an indication of the type of place. As usual we walked in , said we just wanted drinks and then wandered upstairs. The reception guy had rung up and we were greeted at the top, the terrace was way too hot so we sat in the comfy air conditioned bar and had our drinks. It was still hot so we opted for sandwiches instead of dinner, in a place called the cakery- we saved cake till the next day.

Tuesday we were up and out at 7.30 to walk the whole length of the ramparts. The fort was started, as a wooden structure , by the Portuguese then built in brick by the Dutch. Once the British took over they just tweaked a few things. It was a fascinating walk and most of the time we were cooled by the sea breeze. Breakfast was served on the terrace, with people walking on the ramparts and 2 monitor lizards playing and we had Sri Lankan, string hoppers, dahl, egg curry, coconut sambal and fruit , washed down with Ceylon tea. There were another English couple, over 75, still travelling and off to India after 2 weeks in Sri Lanka. They had been married 57 years , had their silver wedding at Annapurna base camp. All very adventurous but fuelled by Ribena, Cheddar cheese and hobnobs carried in their luggage !

We made the most of our day by getting a tuktuk to the Dutch Reformed church, the national museum and a cup of tea in the Amangalla hotel. A beautiful old colonial building , rooms 900$ a night. Very nice tea and beautiful surroundings but despite the huge numbers of staff still very slow service. Next stop was a private museum in a restored house that had belonged to the Dutch governor. A local man paid for the restoration and donated his life's collection to the place. It was a hotchpotch of everything from valuable stamps, Chines pottery to a collection of 1970’s telephones. As with everywhere in Galle there is a jewel store, always tempting as they are cooled but we didn't buy anything. We had delicious cake and iced drinks instead of lunch and dinner was in a backpacker's hostel but we waited an hour , it was good , eventually.

Wednesday we opted for Western breakfast, toast, omelette and fruit and our next taxi arrived on time. A six hour journey with a stop for lunch at a “family restaurant “. These are roadside places on major roads , equivalent of a motorway stop. Most people were eating curry or a variation, we wanted a snack so eventually has cheese on toast. Chris asked for iced coffee, and was greeted with a shake of the head. He went to the loo and I asked again as there was a picture of it on the menu, “Iced coffee, no sugar" . Of course madam, we had forgotten the shake of the head doesn't mean no !

Our young driver was shattered when we got to Anuradhapura, 320 km from Galle and we arrived at Kutumbaya , our hotel. It was pretty chaotic so I asked to check the room before we said yes. It was fine, large, clean but everything made from formed concrete. It had no outdoor space, no hanging space so not for us for a base for a week but a pit stop for 2 nights till we found another place. After a long day we just had food at the hotel, very simple but freshly cooked kottu.

Thursday and I ventured into town to find a new battery for my watch, at the third attempt we found a young lad with a little stall in the street. Spent the morning lazing in the pool , an absolute necessity in the heat of the town, no sea breeze here. We asked about lunch, not possible chef gone home ! Chris then spoke on the phone to the lady who runs the place and speaks English , she said lunch is only if you pre-book. When Chris pointed out there was a big blackboard outside saying lunch, dinner and takeaway, that was lost on her. She did us a favour as across the road was a South Indian street food place with plastic tables and chairs, we had vada ( lentil fritter) , samosa and potato stuffed roti. That and two drinks was 750LKR about 2.25€

We found a tuktuk driver to take us in the evening to see the Sri Maha Bodhi, it is the oldest historically authenticated tree in the world, it came form India. It was quite a calm and soothing place, people making offerings and chanting. Buddhists are a very gentle people and there were obviously pilgrims from other countries. Just when we though things had improved there was no sign of our tuktuk driver and despite messages and waiting half an hour we headed back to our hotel. He eventually messaged 2 hours later to say he was coming and turned up at the hotel to be paid insisting he had been there. His loss we had another trip planned for the next day.

Checked out of hotel and moved to Bella Vista, in a much quieter area. Swimming pool, friendly and helpful staff , we have lovely big room with balcony looking onto the pool, fridge, tea and coffee making AND a wardrobe for clothes. Feels more settled. Found lovely tuktuk driver who took us exactly where we asked. We visited part of the sacred city , first the archaeological museum- interesting overview but every room was like a sauna – no fans switched on. Then we went to two dagobas, Thuparama which is the oldest in Sri Lanka. A place with pilgrims worshipping and presenting gifts to Buddha. The second , Ruvanvelisaya, much bigger , much busier and apart from the circle of 344 elephant statues much less interesting. We finished the morning at the old British governor's house for tea but it was pretty disappointing. Our tea was served with hot milk, delivered in a gravy boat .

Our evening was spent eating out at Little Paradise, a guesthouse that does food. Only one item on the menu, curry plate. We had rice then little plates of aubergine, okra, banana flower, jackfruit, dahl and cucumber followed by curd and coconut honey. A beautifully prepared local feast.

That's week two over, till next time

Norma

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