Blogs from Galle, Southern Province, Sri Lanka, Asia - page 5

Today we were going to have a tour of Sri Lankan ‘police stations’ before we continued our journey - yes really!!! We had to go back to the local police station at Hungama to collect a copy of our statement which we had given to the police the night before. On arrival we were greeted by the same Officer we had seen previously and after some ‘conversation’ between Jaywa and him they marched off with Paul to meet the Officer in Charge. Whilst I was waiting for Paul to return (hopefully he would not get locked in the cells) quite a few families were waiting to be seen by the Officer in Charge. A couple of young lads were sitting quietly with their father - not sure what they had been up to - they were ... read more

I've always really enjoyed my cricket, attending tests, one-dayers and T20s whenever I got the opportunity. I've also always wanted to visit Sri Lanka, having heard great things about it from everyone that's been there. Therefore when I found out that England were touring Sri Lanka in March 2012, it sounded like the perfect combination!! A willing companion would be a bonus, and Chris Alger was keen too, as were a couple of the RCC team Brian and Mark, who came out for the first week to watch the cricket in Galle. Chris and I had a three week trip, of which week 1 would be watching the cricket and the next 2 weeks travelling through this amazing island. For the first time that I'd seen, the test match was scheduled to run from a Monday ... read more

Here is our last entry of a very cool trip to Sri Lanka. And yes, as you guess, it had to involve diving. You come to Sri Lanka to enjoy your time, not for a diving trip. But while you are here, you may still log one or two dives on the way. This is precisely what we did with a single dive at Hikkaduwa Gala. We dived with Poseidon diving. It was the second day of the season, so I wasn't expecting much in term of visibility. We were still lucky with at least 10 meters visibility...in a 30 degres celsius water. The equipement of the dive center was fine, but these guys are simply mad. The "boss" warned me...my divemasters don't speak much english....that's ok, I had a preview of the dive site before....because ... read more

On the way to the beaches of the western coast we stopped at a few temples and sacred pilgrim sites, one of them is Kirinda situated near the beach, there is a temple perched atop huge boulders, there are lots of people walking around the beach, mostly families on a pilgrimage during Vesak.Another is the ancient place called Situl Pauwa and like most of the other temples here it's perched atop huge rocks, apparently they did this so everyone can see where the temples are cause way back then there were no roads and people have to navigate through the forests, this serves like a beacon, a guide for them to follow directions. Then we stopped at this town called Kudawella where they have this blow hole among the rocky cliffs near the sea, I have ... read more

I was on my way to Sri Lanka - this marked the halfway point of my trip, and the first non-surface travelling. The plane was only half full, and it was only a short trip, less than four hours. This did nothing to help the fact that the flight was from 11pm to 4.45am (Sri Lankan time) so sleep was a trifle lacking that night. But what did I care, who did not have to work that day (/week/month/year)? On board I gratefully accepted a gin and tonic - my first drink since the homemade 'syrup' in Tehran. The steward obviously thought I needed fortifying, as when he poured me a glass of wine with my meal, he then said, "Have another", and duly filled a plastic tumbler for me. This was quite a difference from ... read more