http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Sri Lanka , Southern Province , Galle en-us Sun, 06 Dec 09 17:43:36 +0000 Sun, 06 Dec 09 17:43:36 +0000 So long farewell auf wierdersehen goodbye The boys at the pool planted a fruit tree and called it The Skipper tree at the pool so they could remember me every day. It really was incredible touching and totally unexpected Chami made me a special lunch packet and bought me a gift For people with very little money it shows what kind of hearts these guys haveIn fact everyone that made an effor http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/blog-439506.html 25 JuneNo more Sri Lankan army wake up calls just the monkeys as usualFor the past few days I have been at the pool with the Sri Lankan coaches and Dharmadasa The coaches are really nice guys and so interested to learn new things we are getting pretty good at broken English and Sinhala. They are amazed that my teaching is quite relaxed and fun for both teacher and students. The way they hav http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/blog-412388.html 21 JuneHeaded back down to the pool on Friday afternoon to see more classes and the way the coaches are teaching. The young guys that are the coaches here are really keen to learn new techniques and between the language barrier we are slowly sorting things out. I just need to be more insistent that Dharmadasa helps translates otherwise I will need to pay for a translator I have womenrsquos http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/blog-411028.html We arrived in Galle and got a tuk tuk round Fort to Khalidrsquos guest house. We had to direct the driver and felt on familiar territory especially as the 3 wheeler turned into the fort and swung right up past the ramparts. The calm solidity of the metres thick wall with the sea rushing pointlessly against it was both beautiful and instantly reminiscent of happy times. Eventually the sea http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/blog-410668.html Despite having been warned by Roy NOT to wake up before 8am I was awake at 5.45am. Mind you so was he so it isnrsquot all my fault today. We were out on the balcony having a coffee by 7.45am. I canrsquot believe the final leg of our Sri Lanka journey starts tomorrow. Breakfast at 8.30am. Eggs and beans for Roy fruit and scrambled eggs for me.Wersquove been getting bored at the beach http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/blog-395630.html I had an ominous feeling before leaving for Sri Lanka. Not only had the BBC weather forecast shown torrential rain for the last 5 weeks but more worryingly the papers were reignited with stories about the Sri Lanka governments final push to end the war with the Tamil Tigers. I'd also been giving warnings from Olly's mum about the food hygiene and made an oath that no milk cheese ice water or http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/blog-392751.html Friday 17th AprilAfter breakfast we took a tuk tuk to Galle Fort and Khalids Guest House. Chatwin would approve of this place plain white walls dark floor boards and ceilings it is calm and simple except the noise of the ice cream vendors outside.With Nick and the boys settling in the rooms I wandered. At the train station I established I could neither reserve seats nor buy tickets in advance http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/blog-391732.html Woke at 5.30am Roy still not too good. At 6.30 I was sitting out on the balcony waving good morning to our very efficient and very cheery pool boy. It was quiet everywhere so I went downstairs to take some early morning photos of the pool and beach. At about 7.30am we went for breakfast and by 9.30am we were in place on our sunbeds I went for a swim in the sea it was lovely very warm. R http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/blog-388802.html Woke at 6 again. Fed up of waking so early. Managed to get back off to sleep until 9. Roy is not feeling so great but I gave him ranitidine at 6.30am thinking he had indigestion from last night's curry he said he had pain in his stomach.Got and and got ready with Roy moaning that he felt like crap. But that he'd be ok to come down for breakfast. Bad move. I was eating my curds and treac http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/blog-388423.html Woke at 6 which was not my plan Listened to music watched the ocean and just generally lazed around until 8.30am. Last night Aminda showed us the best room in the hotel a suite called the Residence. It was huge with a fibre optic lit private pool hanging over the gardens and sea. It had a giant jacuzzi and huge Smeg fridge. He didn't tell us the room rate We like our room though. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/blog-388275.html I can't believe that today we finish our tour and head for the beach. We got up at 6 to finish packing drink our bed tea and start our walk. There are numberedsigned walks around each bungalow and this morning we're doing C2 trail which is about 6km long. What a stunning walk We passed through the largely deserted village before 7 it is Sunday no work no chanting We saw a few peo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/blog-388272.html The Galle Fort Hotel Sri Lankarsquos most award winning luxury boutique hotelStep back in time to experience the romance of an ancient fortified colonial town in its grandeur and mystery minutes away from an intoxicating beach and all the enchantment of Sri Lanka and her people at this small luxury heritage hotel. The Galle Fort Hotel is one of the finest small luxury boutique heritage hotels http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/blog-368658.html Any body visiting to shrilanka in march 2009 from pune india.pls contact me on p56kaduskargmail.com. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/blog-356930.html Well we have just returned from a very very lazy long weekend in Sri Lanka. So lazy in fact that we didnrsquot even leave the front doors of the hotel resort that we were staying in. We decided to take a little trip to celebrate the end of Ramadan Eid and booked a little package holiday to Sri Lanka. Being the wimps that we are we couldnrsquot bear to go economy and had to book business clas http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/blog-331541.html Visiting home town.... http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/blog-323056.html Wednesday 30th November 2005I woke up at 05.00 and lay in bed thinking about the day ahead and getting to Galle. I packed up and waited for the time to move on. Once I was awake I felt uncomfortable due to the mosquitos. I took a taxi to the train station and bought my ticket to Colombo Fort. I chatted to an Englishman aged about 75 whilst I was waiting at the platform. He was stationed here durin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/blog-319443.html We arrived in Sri Lanka late at night and got a ride to Holiday Inn in Colombo. It took us 2 hours to get to our hotel because of all the security check points. Our driver told us that security is a lot tighter in Colombo because of the Tamil Tigers which is a good thing I guess but still a little scary.After a good nights sleep we made our way to the Indian Embassy to apply for our Indian visa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/blog-292381.html Galle and the Southwest CoastAfter lunch at The Last House Yves left for Colombo where he had a meeting that evening and we left a little later for Galle. It was a pleasant two or three hour drive along the coast with inland views across the verdant paddy fields and seawards along the picturesque palmfringed beaches. We made a couple of stops along the way. Firstly at Sri Lanka's tallest Budd http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/blog-279919.html Hi everyoneSince we last wrote the blog we've spent 2 lovely well mostly weeks in Sri Lanka very different from India friendly people very green countryside and nice beaches. We arrived into Colombo Airport at dead of night and managed to grab a taxi to Negombo our first beach place of the travels Negombo felt like Paradise after India but was actually not that nice compared with the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/blog-272076.html 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 coasthurra http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Southern-Province/Galle/blog-263197.html