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Published: April 21st 2009
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Hotel Beach
Hotel Beach 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 re-ignited 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 chicken would pass my lips. Poor Olly was in a stress because life without chicken is no life worth living in his muscle building world!
My fears didn't disappear much when we boarded the aircraft at Heathrow to be greeted by a man running up and down the aisles screaming that he needed to be let off the plane because he couldn't go home, he'd rather die, he'd slit his wrists (good luck with the plastic cutlery, I thought). We touched down in Columbo 12 hours later - minus our wrist cutting friend who'd managed to leave the plane at Heathrow - to find rifle wielding boy soldiers every 100 paces.
However, we were to discover that this was actually to do with the fact it was
Rock temple
Rock temple the Sri Lankan new year - the biggest celebration in their calendar and that the military presence was limited to the northern road into Columbo which connects that Tamil controlled north to the capital. In the three hour drive from Columbo to our hotel we were also driven insane by the same radio ad for C1C Safe Chicken repeated over and over - apparently they won a food award for their production - but at least we knew Olly could eat all the chicken curry he wanted.
Our holiday was based near Galle, which is right on the southern tip of Sri Lanka. The Dutch fort in the town is a Unesco world heritage site and is like stepping back into a long forgotten colonial world. We decided to walk from our hotel, The Lighthouse, the 2kms into Galle. It doesn't sound like much does it, a 2km walk? But the BBC had it totally wrong and Sri Lanka was having the hottest and driest week of the year. By the time we reached Galle our clothes were stuck to us with sweat and all we wanted to do was lie down and melt like a tub of soft
Stilt fishermen
Stilt fishermen scoop. I was struck with how peaceful the fort is compared with the crazy world beyond its walls, which is a riot of screeching horns and Tuk Tuks on death driving missions. The fort's churches, buildings, stylish hotels and cobbled streets date back from the 1600s and give you a glimpse of what life once was. Surprisingly the fort wasn't badly damaged by the Tsunami, where as the destruction is still very visible in the ghostly shells of abandoned houses all along the coast.
We heard much more about the Tsunami on our Magical Mystery Tuk Tuk tour. Our hotel was beautiful but I really wanted to get out and see more of Sri Lanka and experience more than just the pool and the endless buffet. The hotel wasn't very forthcoming with ideas of things to see, so we found a nice Tuk Tuk man who took it upon himself to give us two half days Mystery tour along the coast. We visited a Turtle farm which rescues injured turtles and also buys eggs from locals who collect them from the beach and releases the hatched babies into the sea. The guy who run the farm had lost his
Lighthouse Hotel
Lighthouse Hotel entire family in the Tsunami. He had a harrowing picture album to show us which really brought home the destruction - including gruesome images of piles of dead bodies. The Tsunami washed as far in land as 1km, which is hard to comprehend.
Also on the myself tour was an ancient rock temple. Monks have lived there for 1500 years and they were more than happy to give us the key so we could look around - our only audience a troupe noisy monkeys.
We also went on an amusing hunt for the stilt fishermen. I told our Tuk Tuk man that I was keen to see them, so by hook or by crook he was going to find us one. The stilt fishermen only fish in the early morning or early evening and they sit in the water on posts which have been passed down from generation to generation. But all of the posts were looking very empty. Tuk Tuk man was very concerned by this, and at one point I thought he was trying to persuade a random local on don the perch for a fly 100 rupees. Fortunately we spotted the one stilt fisherman on the south coast, so everyone was kept happy.
By the time we left Sri Lanka my ominous feeling was laughable. Not only is the chicken, milk and all other food fine to eat but it's a safe, friendly and interesting country. It's also very cheap to go to there now because unfortunately for Sri Lanka everyone is a bit like me and has that ominous feeling about going there.
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