Blogs from Galle, Southern Province, Sri Lanka, Asia - page 3

I går fant vi ut at vi måtte være litt kulturelle og finne på noe annet enn å ligge på solsenga. Vi dro derfor inn til Galle by og gikk ut til Galle fort. Dette er et fort som hollenderne bygde på 1600 tallet. Det er nærmest som en by omringet av festningsmurer. Utrolig flott arkitektur i kolonistil. Alt det gamle er befart, men samtidig masse små butikker og kafeer. Veldig koselig. Når vi gikk derfra kommer det opp en mann til oss og brøler: Hallooo, remember me from yesterday? Me making food for you. Did you like the food? Aldrig sett mannen før vi. Men han hadde sikkert noe veldig fint å selge oss vil jeg tro.... Etterpå tok vi en tuk-tuk tilbake til heimen, for så å gå på en VELDIG bra strandresturant med ... read more

Geo: 6.0334, 80.2184So glad we have a driver! Sanjeewa arrived as we checked out of Casa Colombo and drove us to Galle (pronounced Gawl). The distances look short on the map but the traffic is horrendous especially after a holiday weekend. The buses of which there seem to be hundreds are all hail and ride so they stop at a moment's notice without signalling. Then there are loads of tuk-tuks weaving in and out as well as motorbikes and scooters. It took 3 hours to get to Galle. We are staying at the Tamarind Hill hotel- another 200 year old Dutch mansion which only has about 10 bedrooms and 2 suites and twice as many staff. We were greeted with cold towels and herbal tea then shown to room 10 off the courtyard- very nice and ... read more

Sri Lanka is famous for its beautiful beaches, especially the southern coast. Some of the most famous beaches are Unawatuna, Hikkaduwa, Beruwala and Mirissa. All of those beaches offer different attractions. Unawatuna offers beautiful sea bathing conditions, Hikkaduwa is perfect for the adventurous with coral diving and beach parties. Beruwala offers luxury hotels and Mirissa is one of the worlds best places for whale watching. With so many beaches its easy to forget that there are many other lesser known lovely beaches in the southern coast. And today we're going to talk about one of the loveliest ones of them all, The beautiful Thalpe beach. What makes Thalpe so special is its location. Its just 10 minutes drive from Galle, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Sri Lanka. Whether you're a history lover, adventure ... read more

This morning we went for a walk through the rice paddies. Sujee had been talking about this during our trip and we had passed many of them, so he would tell us about the rice paddies. Except he called them 'faddy fields'. I knew what he meant, but I didn't realize other people on the tour didn't understand him. When we were taking pictures in the faddy fields, I heard some people in the group talking and I was cracking up when I realized the whole time he was telling us about the faddy fields they didn't make the connection. The rice paddies were actually really beautiful and while I had seen a lot of them in Asia, I had never walked through one. Got some great photos. I would really like to try planting rice. ... read more

A few kilometres up the road from Unawatuna is Galle, declared as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1988. It's a beautiful old city dating back to around the 13th century, but most famous for the Fort built by the Dutch when they took over from the Portuguese in the late 17th century. It's very picturesque, with streets made for aimless wanderings, which is exactly how I spent the day. Its colonial history make for a fascinating architectural hodge-podge, and a surfeit of museums and historical sites to visit. I only visited one, the National Maritime Museum. Set in an old warehouse, the building itself is beautiful, and the museum wasn't too bad either. Then I drifted up and down the streets, admiring the buildings, looking at jewellery, art and crafts shops, or walking around the ... read more