Gorgeous Galle

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Hi Everyone :-)Sorry for the delayed blog but the internet cafes in Sri Lanka were pretty bad so we had to wait until Bangkok to add pictures, worth the wait I hope.

Hope you are all ok back at home. Sorry it has been a while since the last blog.

I think we last blogged from Ella so will carry on from there. After the unfortunate rain in Ella we had to get a taxi to Mirissa on the south coast-hurray the weather gets better! On the way down we followed the A2 (eastern road) so we saw the heavy millitary presence which seperates the east from west! Think soldiers with mounted machine guns every mile or so. Also saw the heavily hit tsunami areas including the parts effected around Tangalla. We really wished we could of stayed in the East because that is where the money is needed to most to recover from the problems. Tourists still couldn't enter that area at the time so we carried onto Mirissa.

Mirissa was beautiful. We stayed a little way from the beach, only a 5 minute (jungle) walk, at a place called Amarasinghe's. The family running the place were lovely to us and cooked up a great curry and rice for us on most of the nights we stayed. Our room was great value, four pounds a night brought us a huge room/bungalow with an enormous bed (equivelant to 3 big singles). When we were walking back and forth along the river to the beach we were welcomed and waved at by all the locals and greeted by several very large (3/4 ft) water monitor lizards! Cheeky monkeys also made an appearence (with babies, arrr), the locals were telling us how they go into the kitchens to steal food- naughty monkeys :-)

We intended to only stay 3 nights but ended up being there for double! It was too hard to leave. Everyday we went down to the beach (after eating our tropical fruit plates) to play in the waves which meant Dean was very happy. I had my first proper body board experience and well enjoyed it, could become hooked :-) The waves were a bit too strong though and it was a battle to keep my bikini! We also had a Baywatch moment one lunchtime as we helped a french lady and her two children to get out of the surf-makes you realise how powerful currents can be! The rest of the time in Mirissa was spent eating a lot of seafood, having a cocktail or three and avoiding the hottest part of the day-it's a tough life! Also managed to become book worms and make our way through a few novels. Another funny thing we noticed were a comical 'honeymoon' couple having their daily roasting on their sunbeds. Every time the new husband dragged his new wife into the sea she got battered by one of the many big waves so then she came out in a huff, tears and all - to recover she baked herself again but little did she know that whilst face down tanning another big wave was to come right up on the beach and surprise them! Bitter lemons would be the only other thing to create such a face! The only non-sea activity we did was to make the mistake of going on a cycle ride to Weligama. Bit too hot to be cycling!

On our way to Unawatuna I managed to find Grandma some lace back in Weligama :-) See pic. Grandma - I took a picture of the ladies making the lace (attached) and I will bring you the doily when we return. We have posted a parcel today (sorry Mum, another parcel should be with you within a month) ... We found a great place to stay called Thilak which had a room literally right on the beach in Unawatuna (see pics). It was like heaven, we have never seen sea water so clear! You could see your feet right at the bottom!

We spent most of our time here snorkelling/swimmming around the reefs infront of our room. There were loads of tropical fish which included most of the cast from Finding Nemo-Amazing! Everyday we saw a turtle in the water but never whilst we were swimming. Just as I thought we would have to be too lucky for it to happen whilst in the water, on our last full day, Tommy the turtle as I called him, made an appearence whilst we were swimming. Soooo excited, we were swimming around with him for quite a while and he didn't mind, he just gave us a glance now and again-I feel so lucky and grateful, they are such amazing animals. Again we were really lucky, Dean went for a swim on the morning just before we left and saw another huge turtle under him-I was soon in aswell with goggles and we were swimming around for a while whilst he was chomping on sea grass, then he went out to sea. Wow! Dean managed to get a good underwater video for you to see when we get back :-)

So we ended up staying a lot longer then we intended to-nine nights in the end! We scraped our plans to go to Hikkaduwa but we did do a day trip up the west coast. Our first stop was Ambalagonda where we had a look at the traditional mask museum and workshop. We ended up buying our mask from a small shop down a little bumpy lane. The guy there was very appreciative that we found his little shop as he had had some misfortune recently. We found out that the masks all mean different things, we ended up buying a peacock design one as it represents good luck. Mum you will love it! he he. After we went onto Kosgoda to visit the turtle hatcheries trying to recover after the tsunami. It was brilliant to see all the little baby turtles waiting to be released. Got loads of pictures as you can imagine! The second place, the Turtle Farm, was much more organised. The owner had a very sad story about the tsunami. He explained how he had lost his whole family whilst working his day job in Colombo. He now continues his sisters good work saving the turtles. It was very saddening and he showed us some awful pictures of the aftermath of the tsunami. I'v got an email address if anyone wants to donate to the causehe told us jow he wants to open a museum to educate the local children. A very brave and dignified man!

After spending the majority of our time in Unawatuna there are two nights for Galle. We are staying at a very authentic colonial guesthouse run by a very eccentric Mr Kodikara. Galle is very pretty, the ramparts are great for strolling around and the fort has a calm atmosphere. There are lots of very good shops here too! Unfortunatly we are leaving early tomorrow to get the train up north to Colombo. Then it will be our last night here before we get a very very early flight on Monday morning to Bangkok.

Sri Lanka is such a great holiday destination-there is so much to see here and the people are very friendly. We have loved every minute and would like to come back and visit the Hill Country minus the rain :-)

Hope you are all well back at home. Miss you all!

All our love, Sarah and Dean xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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Comments

[Marc Jennings]

Kodi's guest house
Glad you enjoyed your time in Sri Lanka, specifically in Galle. I was there doing aid work in '05 and I stayed for 4 weeks at Kodi's place (seems from the photos I was in the same room). It was a harrowing yet magical experience, and without Kodi, I would have felt very lost.