We arrived at Galle just after 1 after a leisurely 1 hour drive along the coast from Mirissa. The water got dirtier the closer we got to Galle. We drove past the fort and the Galle cricket ground on the way to our hotel Taavitti which got us all excited at the exploring to come. Our hotel was lovely – it had been recommended by a friend of Deryn’s so we were expecting good thing. Once again they put us all on the same floor so Taylor got upgraded to a nice double room.
We decided to get a local bus into town (probably about 2 km) so appease Deryn who had been wanting to get a local bus the entire trip. You basically just flag a coloured one (not red as they are the intercity buses) and pay when you get off. The bus was packed so we had to stand but we all enjoyed the experience. Rp150 (75 cents) for the 5 of us.
We wandered around the outside wall of the fort – every gun rampart on the wall seemed to be occupied by local lovers sheltering under umbrellas. We then wandered the lovely streets that were littered with lots of old colonial building that were now cafes or shops. It had a lovely vibe and reminded Deryn and I of the old part of Macau when we visits there in 1996. It was bloody hot in the sun though so we thought visiting one of the museums would be a good way to get out of the heat. We made our to the Maritime Museum (Rp350 each) and spent 20 minutes or so wandering around a rather dank and hot couple of rooms that were not being kept very cool by the 3 of 4 overworked fans. So much for avoiding the heat – it felt cooler when we got back outside
It was nice seeing the famous Galle Cricket Ground which the legend Shane Warne rated as one of his favourites. So much so, the legend goes, that he contributed a substantial part of the rebuild costs post the 2004 tsunami.
We decided to head back to the beachside of the fort to an upstairs pizza restaurant where we could watch the sun set over the ocean while being cooled by the breeze. We enjoyed a few beers and the usual game of 10&1 before ordering a couple of pizzas to share. It was lovely watching the sun setting and the literally hundreds of school kids – all dressed in pristine white uniforms – wander up and down the wall. We noticed quite a few schools within the sort that appear to have 2 shifts a day. We grabbed a couple of tuk tuks back to our hotel – we were told Rp1000 each which seemed reasonable until a day later we paid Rp300!!
The hotel offered to do us breakfast at Rp3000 a piece; a bit more than we usually spent but given the convenience we thought why not. The breakfast was actually very good – not as bulky as others but certainly very tasty dal and chicken and fish curries. We headed into town around 9 for a couple of hours before retuning to the hotel to chill by the pool and in our rooms to avoid the midday heat. We headed back into town around 5 and found a bar with happy hour (not as cheap as the beach bars at Rp800 for a can of beer) and played cards again.
We decided to splash out a bit for dinner so had a lovely meal at 1710; a lovely courtyard cafe / hotel that had an expensive gem counter on the way to the toilet. The girls spent a fair bit of time exploring the stones without actually buying anything. We grabbed some gelato’s on the way home to cap off an evening of culinary delights.
Our flight out of Colombo was at 20 past midnight so we organised a taxi to pick myself, Dits and Taylor up at 7. Conor and Amanda were staying another night was they were not fly in out until Sunday am. We spent the morning chilling at the hotel before leaving all our bags in C & A’s room and then headed into town to explore the fort once again. We were all struggling with the heat so after a couple of air-conditioned stops – fruit juices and then balms before grabbing a small meal at a wind swept cafe.
We decided to grab an early dinner at the hotel as we couldn’t face the great again so the hotel agreed to provide a seafood meal for Rp6000 each. They sent someone down to the fish market to grab some fish, crab and prawns. We had out last game of 10&1 – a double ton from yours truely and the our seafood dinner at 5. The dinner was lovely but unfortunately it was spoiled by the plague of flies. They were unbelievable.
Our taxi arrived a bit early so it was a quick pack up; the usual challenges of using a credit card to pay the bill before a very sad farewell to Conor and Amanda. Although the farewell to Conor was tempered by the fact he was coming to Aus in 3 weeks for Taylor and my party. It was a 2 hour drive to the airport followed by various queues to get onto the plane. Taylor was thankfully allowed into the lounge with Dits and I which was a bonus. We then popped a Valium acquired earlier in the day from a chemist (Rp250 for 4) which knocked us all out for a good 8 hours.
My key takeaways from the trip were:
– travel with your kids. It makes it so much more fun
– curries for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
– amazingly friendly people.
– preferred the hinterland to the beaches but that’s probably because of the summer heat
– its not a place to go if everything needs to be tidy and organised
– the more you challenge yourself; the more you will get out of it.