Bats, crabs and turtles

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Day 11/12

Our day started with a reasonably late traditional Sri Lanken style breakfast of toast, fruit juice, coconut milk rice with onion timbal, pancakes with honey and coconut, buffalo curd with kitul (made with Palm sap) and a fresh fruit platter. Not quite the cooked breakfast that we had been expecting, but nice all the same.

We grabbed some beach towels and headed off to find a spot to lay out. We were offered sunbeds outside one of the beach bars, no charge he said, so we took advantage of the offer. There was very little room on the beach because the tide was so high, and every now and again a big wave caught out people walking along, and came upto our sunbeds. We had a drink in the bar whose beds we were using, but decided against any lunch. We did see a lot of little hermit crabs scuttling along, some of which were squeezed into quite tiny shells.

As it got to 4pm, we had had enough, and didn't wasn't to overdo the sun, so packed up and headed back. We stopped at one of the many shops selling woodcarvings, the difference with this one being the man was actually doing the carving outside the shop. Treasures purchased we continued to the shop where they were making a tuk tuk charm for me, but it wasn't ready. Instead we went back to the hotel, showered and changed and hurried back again to the jewellers where they tried to get us to buy other things as well as the charm! From here we got in a tuk tuk, having heard that the sunset at "Secret Beach" was worth seeing. On our way there, we passed a house we had noticed the day before that had a lot of people outside of it. The driver explained that there had been a big accident with a bus, and the 33 year old driver had died, and his two passengers were in hospital. These were people coming to the house to pay their respects. Each of the tuk tuks had a white flag in its window as a mark of respect.

Secret Beach was uphill, and it was a step incline, not helped by the quality of the road. The driver told us that there had been heavy rain two weeks previous and it has caused big deep cracks in the mud road. Quite how we stayed upright, and he didn't ground it, we weren't sure. Overall it was a disappointment, as whilst the sunset was a brilliant red, the place itself was a bit of a dive, and we didn't hang around long. As we walked back towards the hotel and the light was starting to fade a bit, we noticed what we first thought were birds overhead, only to realise they were huge bats. Looking round, they were coming out of the trees in the forest flying directly over our heads.

We walked along the beach to see what looked like a good prospect for some tea, and picked one that had a happy hour on the drinks. Whilst we surveyed the menu, and state of the kitchen, I picked a jumbo prawn off the selection at the waters edge to have for my meal. It was very tasty, and there seemed to be a fair number of diners selecting something fresh off the iced shelf - the red snapper did look fab. After a couple of drinks, we decided to move on, and looked at Zephyer which appeared to be suffering a power cut. The tide was rising, so making a well timed strategic dash across the sand to the next set of bars, we picked one that had been really busy the night before, but was less so tonight. As we sat on the veranda, the water was coming beneath the bar, meaning any new guests just had to get wet. The music playing was the same CD that all the bars seem to have- Bob Marley, but it did improve.

In the morning, with no prospect of a cooked breakfast, Russ abstained, opting to remain in the room and pack, whilst a went to see what Sri Lanken breakfast was today - no rice, instead it was hoppers which are gluten free baskets of batter with a poached egg in. To our surprise, when the driver arrived to collect us, it was Indy.

We set off towards Colombo, and the first stop was to see some of the traditional fishermen that stand on poles in the sea and catch fish using a rod. It's a tourist attraction now rather than a way of fishing, as things have got more commercial with nets and boats, but to be fair, if you are going to stand there, you may as well have a go and catch something than not.

We continued up the coast towards Galle, and on the way Indy pointed out lots of derelict buildings with walls missing. These are from the tsunami that hit Sri Lanka and the rest of SE Asia on Boxing Day 2004. The building have stayed like that because there are no families to rebuild them, they were lost in the waves. More that 50,000 lost their lives in Sri Lanka, and we visited a large statue of Buddha donated by the Japanese to the people, and also saw a piece of art depicting the tragedy.

We stopped at Galle, which has fort and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1988. The large colonial buildings are the product of Dutch occupation, and many of the original buildings are still used today. It was also damaged in the tsunami, and the Dutch government and private donations paid for wall restoration. Some school children were being entertained by a snake charmer, but I don't think the snake like the tune he was playing!

The final stop on our journey to Colombo was at Kosgoda, to a turtle hatchery. Five of the seven species of turtle come ashore to nest in Sri Lanka, and this 4km stretch of beach has the highest density in the country. Our guide explained that they pay the fishermen to tell them when the turtles have been ashore and they dig up the eggs so they can be reburied at the hatchery. The just laid eggs are pliable but heavy a bit like a ping pong ball. There were lots of mounds with a code saying what type of turtle was under there and how many days until hatching. The majority that they have a green turtles. We went over to a concrete tank, and in it swimming about were lots of tiny turtles just a day old. We each got to hold one and they promptly fell asleep on our hands. At birth they are checked for abnormalities and need no food at the beginning. After 3 days they are given fish flakes and then graduate to tuna without the bones. In the next tank, were some older turtles, and they are kept here until they are 5 years old and then released to the wild. 99% of those born are male. We also got to massage their necks, which are surprisingly soft given the hard outer shell. In a separate tank were ones that had been brought in injured, mostly caught in fishing nets. They stay in the hatchery as they cannot be released back. One had no fins at all, but because the water was shallow, used its stumps to move along the bottom. They had also lost their shell colour. They also have the only albino green turtle in Sri Lanka. Again it cannot be released back, mainly because its lack of colour means it is too visible to sharks and would be eaten. They release approx 20,000 turtles back into the wild every year.

We drove into Colombo, which like any major city is plagued with traffic, and Indy took us on a whistle stop tour of the major sights of the city, including parliment square, the lotus auditorium, the cricket ground, parliment buildings and then finally we went to "high tea" at the Uga Residence hotel.

They confused us slightly by sitting us in what looked like the lobby. We were asked if we would like tea or coffee and were served this followed by a scone with jam and cream. There was then quite a wait until anything else, by which time we had drunk our drink, before two 3 tier stands were brought out. The waiter explained each of the dishes - there were 5 warm savouries on the bottom, 5 cold ones in the middle and 5 desserts. We had to ask for another drink! Out of 10 I'd give it a 6. We headed to the hotel which wasnt far away and said our farewells to Indy for a second time once he had confirmed our pick up time for the airport. We went to the room before heading out later for something to eat and checked the guide book for a bar recommendation.

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