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Published: March 1st 2017
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Today we had a really lazy start. We were packing up as Don and I were going to Galle and Caroline was going back home to Manchester. Her flight was scheduled for the late evening. Jagath was paranoid about getting her to the airport early. For some reason best known only to the government, the airport was closed all during the day time (and this was the height of the tourist season) for alterations and only open overnight when all the flights and checkin activities were crowded together.
We lazed around the hotel finishing the Boggle competition and chatting. Today was the only day we had any serious political conversation. I am pleased to say that we are all mature enough (at last) to appreciate the others' views. Caroline won the Boggle tournament. In fact her score was more than Don’s and my score added together.
We had a lunch in the hotel cafe and at 2 pm Jagath came to the hotel and packed the three of us and all of our luggage into his car and we set off for the airport. I escorted Caroline as far as they would allow (which was
the front door) and we had a tearful goodbye (at least it was tearful for me). Then I decided that I would take a loo break. Big mistake. I was directed to the public loos across the road from the airport. I forgot to take a peg for my nose. It was a pretty gross experience.
Then we set off for Galle. We drove through Colombo (which took well over an hour) to the motorway. There are two motorways in Sri Lanka and they do not link up, although they are building a link road. The northern expressway E03 runs from above Colombo to the airport. The southern expressway E01 to Galle is a toll road with one motorway service area. Don't ask when E02 will open.
We passed the only shanty town which we saw in all of our travels around Sri Lanka. The government is “ashamed” by this and so they have built a wall to hide the sight of the town from the drivers. Inside the city of Colombo itself we did see some begging in the street but nowhere near the numbers we see in Europe or we saw in
New Zealand or South Africa.
After a four and a half hour journey we arrived at our hotel, Aditya, very tired. We pulled into the drive of our hotel and were shown into the reception area where they greeted us with freshly squeezed juice, a taste of more to come. The lobby area was very large and very clean. The staff were absolutely delightful. Then we were shown to our room. This was in a block close to but separate from the main hotel. We were in the Sky suite! The block was a duplex and we were on the first floor (second floor to any Americans reading this). We walked into a room which, together with the bathroom and hot tub was 25% larger than our 100 sq m apartment. At my request they brought a mosquito net and we experienced even more impressive 'glamping' than at Lake Lodge. The net was like a tent covering the bed!
We then went down to the restaurant. We couldn’t see out very well as it was dark, but we were in for a real visual treat in the morning. The vegetarian menu was extensive and because there are not very many suites in the hotel, the service was amazing.
Then it was time for bed. We went to sleep listening to the sound of the waves pounding onto the sand.
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