Sri Lanka Mirissa

---

Tuesday 11 February, 2020 cont'd

We really had quite a long day out in the heat yesterday, so our plans for the rest of the day were to do very little. Pat did manage to get some washing done in the machine we were allowed to use.

Lights out 10.00 pm.

Wednesday 12 February, 2020.

A good nights sleep. Stirred 7.00 am.

We plan to do some research for our transfer tomorrow and another visit to Galle.

Breakfast location was moved due to ants. Omelettes and toast, with coffee was on the menu.

I found a train to our next location tomorrow afternoon from the train station close by. It is not a stop for the first class trains, which is why we didn't arrive at it. We will try 2nd or 3rd class and see what happens.

Pat sorted some more washing and hung stuff up to dry. So we left about 11.15 am.

As we had not actually seen the train station, we thought we would familiarise ourselves with it, on our way out this morning.

We can see the station from the house and went round the back road. It wasn't as straight forward as it should have been, but we found our way and spoke to the ticket office man. He confirmed the train, but mentioned there was only 3rd class. We couldn't buy a ticket as it was greater than 24 hours before the train time.

So, we now headed to the main road to get to Galle and within a couple of minutes along came an air conditioned minibus for us.

Dropped us in the bus depot area by the cricket ground, so took a few minutes to be nosy. No actual game on, but youngsters practising in the nets. Some fine players.

Then off into the fort. Found a little cafe and had an iced latte and ginger beer.

We had more of a stroll on the battlements this time and watched the world go by.

Pat had seen signs directing to an Italian place yesterday, and it was now 12.30 pm, so we tried to find it. We found the signs again and made our way to the restaurant,, called Pasta factory. It looked good.

Pat had the Tagliatelle ragu and I had spaghetti carbonara, with drinks of soda water, ginger beer and water. All came to LKR 3320. It was lovely food.

We were both getting weary now. So decided to head back. The school kids were going home and the traffic was very busy. We found our bus and after a lot of horn beeping we left.

We stopped at the petrol station and walked back again to the foodcity supermarket. Picked up some water and stuff. Arrived back at 2.45 pm.

The rest off the day was spent quietly. Lights out 9.45 pm.

Thursday 13 February, 2020.

Transfer from Villa Rosa Blanca to Moody Moon, Mirissa.

A good nights sleep, stirred at 7.20 am. We started to think about packing and gathering things together.

At 8.30 am we had our first experience of real Sri Lankan food with a local breakfast. The items were all named for us, but I can't remember them. There was chilli in at least two of the dishes, so Pat didn't go near them.

We spoke to the guy about our check out. Our train is 14.22 and he will let us stay a little longer, then arrange a Tuktuk for us to the station. It is not far, but we have luggage.

After breakfast we showered and completed our final packing. At 10.45 am we took a stroll towards the beach. We stopped at a surfer cafe and had some drinks, watching the world go by. We walked further along and watched the fisherman bring their boats ashore.

Back to the room and the Tuktuk took us with luggage to Katugoda station. At the ticket office we purchased our third class tickets for LKR 40 each. We had imagined it might be busy, but things were quiet. Our train arrived on time and was nearly empty. Our carriage had nobody else in it. The rolling stock was many years old, but it was fine for us.

We got to our destination after an hour or so, mainly following the coastline. The train station was Polwatumodara and we disembarked. The path to the road was a worn track with stones, so for us with wheeled luggage was a complete pain as we had to carry the luggage for a couple of hundred meters to the road.

There were tuktuk's at the road,but they didn't know our accommodation, so we had to show them on map app.

We found the rooms, and were shown to the room eventually. We needed some water and stuff so headed out.

It turns out we are pretty much in the middle of nowhere. When we got to the main road we decided to head right. We walked for a short while and could still really only see road heading off into the distance.

After a short review we decided on a bus and to go in the other direction, which happened to arrive straight away and we headed to Mirissa. Bus fare LKR 15 each.

The town is not known to us yet so we got off at a busy bit and walked. Our initial priority was a drink and something to eat.

It seems to be a pretty basic place with a bustling main street. We didn't see much of what we were looking for, but finally spotted an Italian restaurant. We ordered a Hawaiian pizza, a beer and a ginger beer.

The food was fine, and whilst we sat it rained. Next we needed a few supplies and went to food city. This was also busy with tourists. Bought our supplies and got a tuktuk back to the rooms, arrived 6.00 pm.

There are a number of issues with the room, we did look at alternatives at this place, but they weren't any better. We sorted out one or two things and stayed where we were.

Lights out 10.00 pm.

Friday 14 February, 2020

A bad nights sleep. Dogs barking, music, other guests and insects, all contributed to a poor night and a very early morning.

Went down at 8.00 am to a simple breakfast. Toast, fried egg and chicken sausages with coffee.

Following our shower we got our stuff ready and departed. Two objectives for our trip to Mirissa today;1, to book a whale watching trip, 2. find a laundry.

We went to the bus stop and soon enough we were off. These buses take no prisoners and you need to hang on for grim death while getting to your seat.

We got off in the main street of Mirissa and then headed to the coast, it took us quite a while, but we found our way to the harbour, saw the tourist boats, made a choice and booked in the office.

The whale watching is an early start we have to be at the harbour 6.15 am. The cost is LKR 6500 (GBP 27.42) each.

As we were walking away from the harbour area we saw a laundry sign and made enquiries. She charged LKR 400 (GBP 1.69) per kilo.We offloaded a small amount of washing we had brought with us, in the hope of finding somewhere. Pick up tomorrow. Both objectives achieved.

Then wandered through the town, with a small problem that they were having a power cut. A coffee shop had it's own generator so we went in and had drinks. More wandering and we went further than we had gone before along the main road. Then Pat spotted a restaurant / bar place, she liked the look of, so time for a little something. It was an odd, but delightful place, built of containers, but very chic and a cut above. The place was called Petit Petit.
We sat upstairs overlooking the sea and an infinity pool. We ordered some tapas and drinks. It rained and we ordered more drinks. We left at 1.30 pm, to find a cash machine for our ticket money for tomorrow. It then struck us that with the power cut the cash machines were not working!

Plan B was that we would come back later into town. An inconvenience, but not a problem.

Foodcity must have a generator as it was lit up, so we got some water, then a tuktuk back to the rooms for 2.00 pm.

A quiet afternoon, I slept for a while, then off out again at 5.15 pm. I asked the guy if he could arrange a Tuktuk in the morning, he said he would try.

Walked to the bus stop and as always not long to wait for a bus. This one was trying to break the land speed record and nearly succeeded.

Dropped at the early part of town and the cash machine was working. Pat wasn't really hungry so we chose the Italian restaurant, Maleena again to share a pizza.

More purchases from foodcity and then back again for 7.00 pm.

Looks like we have a tuktuk for the morning. Got stuff ready for our early departure and showered.

---