Advertisement
Published: August 23rd 2018
Edit Blog Post
AA0966EA-E3F5-4EC8-9CA9-7A2C605B7469.
The Fly Man patrolling the restaurant So here ends my 17 night stay at the Cinnamon Grand. Now I have one night up the coast in Negombo, then back here for 3 nights over the weekend before heading off into the Up Country.
Last night I made the slight intestinal error of eating in the food court in the basement of the Crescat Mall, a set plate of prawns (tiny and unshelled, just had to crunch my way through them), rice, vegetables, omelette and other stuff for 350r. It was tasty but maybe unwise. I thought I’d risk it as I wasn't working today. At least the price wasn’t inflated by 25 per cent as it is in the hotel, for tax and service charge. At breakfast the Fly Man materialised. He’s the blurry one in the photo carrying a tennis racket. He is seen around the hotel taking a swing followed by an electric snappy noise as another fly snuffs it. What a job!
The driver organised by the centre picked me up at 10, as arranged. His name’s Anton and he is thoroughly nice, although I’m not really comfortable with the idea of a private driver. I asked what the score was as he’s
7EB0E83A-9476-412E-9769-60E76F592953.
Smiley and wavy lady selling watermelons driving me around all next week, and working with me in the day. We have a few days which are just travel days, like today. So I give him my wish list and see if it’s possible to make a few detours, apparently it is, and I can pay him extra if it’s out of the way. He is so nice, kind, smiley, I feel really comfortable. I’m OK to sit in the front with him to get a better view and not feel sick.
So I said I wanted to see local people going about their normal lives and so we went on the back roads all the way to Negombo, along the coast, more or less. I had originally planned to just come early to the hotel and lounge around the STUNNING swimming pool on the GORGEOUS sunbeds, but the centre had rung me earlier to say that I’d been upgraded to a suite which would be ready at 1 and we could take in a few places on the way. Went with that plan. We drove alongside the Dutch Canal on the way out, a lot of rubbish but lovely tropical foliage too. I got out
5DD4495A-7A62-4C19-B042-77A5103A6342.
Fish for sale next to the Dutch
Canal when we got to the coast. There were a lot of hotels along the way, fairly simple, but I couldn’t see the beach. Hmmmm, well you wouldn’t want to lie on it! Plastic rubbish bigtime, huge crashing waves. A few local guys fiddling about with something. Back in the car (Anton kept offering to stop for me) and I used my phone gps to find the hotel. It was easy enough, there’s only one long road between the sea on the left and the lagoon on the right. Mine is the Arie Lagoon, spanking new and modern with one pool looking out onto the lagoon. Blimey! And this is where I’m working tomorrow. They booked a room for this purpose. I can’t wait to see everyone rock up!
We dropped my bags, then drove up towards the town, not walkable by any stretch of the imagination. I wanted to see the famous fish market. The first one we came to had long since packed up, but that wasn’t the big one. We stopped a bit further on, avoiding the many, many bicycles. Mainly ancient bicycles. There was a sort of inlet with small fishing boats and people buying and selling
so I went down for a look, feeling like a gawping tourist but nobody seemed to mind. The fish were tiny, like small sardines. The men were hauling in and mending their nets. People wobbled off with large circular baskets balanced on their handlebars. Anton had pointed out a Dutch church on the other side so I said I’d walk round to it. There was a crowd of people under an arch, including westerners, so I ambled over to join them. On the other side of the arch was a big crowd of mainly women and children, some large gates and a lot of policemen. An activity, I thought. Then realised I was at the gates of the prison and it was just before visiting time. People were going up to the policemen with visiting orders and being let in, then the gates would close. Oh blimey! Now I really was a gawping tourist. So I strolled off, trying to look nonchalant, aware I probably wasn’t amongst Sri Lanka’s finest citizens. I had seen a sign and thought Sri Lanka Prison was maybe a museum, like in other countries. How dumb is that!
Then we continued to the big fish
876D4E14-D43E-4420-8C3C-BCB4F9A92CA3.
Dutch Canal. A lot of rubbish but there were people cleaning it up market where there was still a lot happening. I walked around not breathing for 10minutes, paddling through fish guts and worse. On the beach there were big areas of small fish drying on hessian mats and boats being hauled in from the sea. Many different kinds on sale, including fish eggs the size of marbles. There were fixed stalls, tree trunks being used to chop up the big stuff, and a lot of men selying a few little sprats on a cloth on the floor, presumably their share of the catch. Outside are a few veg stalls, not many. Poor Anton had to buy an official parking ticket, 30r. We didn’t pass any shack areas. The neighbourhood looks well kept and the small houses have their own land around. A few small minimarkets along the hotel road.
I said goodbye to Anton and asked where he would stay. Drivers’ accommodation is apparently provided. I asked if it was OK and he said yes. I really hope that’s true! He will come back at 8.30 when we start work. He would have driven me out tonight if I’d wanted, I’m sure, but I said no need, it’s really nice here. So
he can have some time off himself.
My room/suite/whatever wasn’t ready yet so I said I’d find the restaurant and have a cuppa. No problem, madam (??), we will give you a lift! Golf buggies! No thank you, I can see it from here, I’ll walk! They will bring my key here. What a view, how lucky am I!
Update: 2 guys appeared next to me with the key, not sure why the extra one was there. He trotted next to the golf buggy as far as the room (they showed up in it so I had to get in). My tiny Primark case was lost in the huge room, one of 12 villas, an enormous outdoor bathroom with my own tree and plunge pool bath. Supposedly 110$ a night with breakfast. We shall see! So off to the pool area. How many other guests are lounging around? Zero. How many staff? Very, very many, with nothing at all to do.
Later I went out of the front of the hotel to see the sunset on the beach side. You can access it from the private(ish) track opposite the Jetwing Lagoon Hotel next door. They have made a swimming
B8640115-C78B-42F4-A771-9ED23DAE4E0C.
Dirty beach, wild sea. A mix of unspoilt and very spoilt indeed! pool there, with sunbeds, nobody was on them. The sea was a boiling mess of scariness, with waves crashing onto biscuit rack and an (unnecessary) sign saying swimming prohibited. Nobody in their right mind would attempt it. There was no plastic but the sand was black and grubby looking. On up the road in search of the source of the loud church service which was being broadcast over the entire neighbourhood from loudspeakers placed along the road, to the consternation of the people staying right next to one of them in a place called (imaginatively) AC Rooms. I oils see blue and white bunting and a huge crowd of people and an outdoor service. Young girls had lace head coverings. It was a mix of informality and huge respect, lovely to see, no other tourists in sight.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.284s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 13; qc: 59; dbt: 0.2097s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb