Wasswold Sri Lankan Adventure Day 8

Wasswold's Sri Lankan Adventure- Day 8

It was time to load up the bus for our last leg of our Sri Lankan journey. We headed along the coast north up to the city of Columbo which is the nations’s capitol and is home to approximately 5 million people. It is a very busy city but is very progressive with high rises and a financial district like any other metropolitan city. We found an Italian restaurant owned by an Italian immigrant and enjoyed pizza and gelato! I didn't think I would have done that on this trip! 

We saw adds for this cracker everywhere so Maleen bought me some. Dave's description was accurate- thick saltine without the salt.

We stopped to watch this man attach a container to the palm tree to collect the sap. The sap is used to make Arrack- a coconut whiskey. 

A police station 

A supermarket chain. It is owned by Cargill but we don't know if it is the same Cargill we are familiar with in Fort Morgan.

Cousins!

We also made sure to visit the famous Odel department store which is like a  Macy's with all of the inventory in less square feet. It was packed so it was a little overwhelming but I stayed with it and was able to score a few items! They have an Embark line within Odels and the sale of these items help the stray dogs in Sri Lanka so I made sure to buy something there. We have seen  quite a few of these dogs during our visit and I felt the need to do something to help those who can do more.

Back on the bus, some of us decided we needed extra suitcases (too much shopping!) and, since we would have more room, additional pairs of elephant pants to go in them! Both items you find plentiful and cheap at the roadside markets. Because the roads were so busy and like most downtowns, no places to park, we came up with a plan. The locals ( who would ensure a good price and prevent the tourists from getting run over) would jump off the bus with some appointed few, while the rest of us stayed on the bus to drive around while they shopped. While waiting for the mission to be accomplished,  Maleen took the remaining few  of us to what remains of the Colombo fort. It is just a small stone arch surrounded by high rises. The guard there directed us to only take pictures of the fort and not the bank next to it. I guess he thought we may be staking out the joint! We were able to find our shoppers again to pick them up and they were successful on their mission!

All that remains of the Colombo fort.

We checked into the Galle Face Hotel which is a beautiful old hotel built in 1864 and has housed famous people such as Mahatma Gandhi, Prince Phillip, Carrie Fisher, Roger Moore, and now the Ostwald/Wasson gang! Our tour guide used to work here and elected to sleep at his Colombo apartment because “this place is haunted!” Hmmm…. Well, there  was no time to waste on the paranormal because we had to hustle down the street to the Kingsbury hotel which is Dave’s favorite place to watch the sunset at their rooftop bar. We made it in time to watch a partly cloudy sunset. Being near the equator, the sunsets in Sri Lanka were around 6:30 pm and were very short but Happy Hour was not so we stayed awhile!

Galle Face Hotel

Rooftop bar at the Kingsbury Hotel- they know Dave by name!

Cheers Sri Lanka! We will miss you!

Later, we had our tour guide and bus driver join us for dinner since it was our last night with them. It is hard to believe that we leave for the Maldives in the morning. The nice thing is that Dave and family are going with us. After dinner they went home to get ready and we will meet them in the morning at the airport. 

Wasswold Sri Lankan Adventure Day 7

Wasswold's Sri Lankan Adventure- Day 7

After breakfast we headed south along the coast to the town of Galle. This area was hard hit by the tsunami on December 26 in 2004. More than 25,000 people were killed. 1500 were killed when the tsunami hit a train. Dave and his family had plans to come to this area that day but an unexpected visit from an uncle cancelled their trip. Thank God for the uncle! Their home was far enough inland that the tsunami did not harm them. 

Along the coast you can see the stilt fishermen who stand on stilts that they pound into ocean floor a few feet from the shore. Fishing season is in December but they hang out by their stilts in the hopes tourists will come by and want a picture which of course is not free. We stopped near them to see what the price of a picture was today. The price was high at first but when they saw  us move toward the bus, the price started reducing. After we were on the bus the real negotiations began and it was finally decided that Kate and Thilini could take a picture for 500 rupees a piece! I guess when the fish don't bite, the tourists do! 

The next stop was a small turtle hatchery. The hatchery guide spoke really clear English - almost with an Australian accent - and was very informative. There are many turtle hatcheries in this area to try and increase the number of turtles visiting Sri Lanka’s beaches. Most of them are nonprofit and run by volunteers. They go out at night and dig up the turtle eggs after they are laid before others can find them. They also buy them from fisherman at a higher rate than they can sell them. The hatchery then reburies them, keep them awhile after they hatch and then release them back into the sea. Their instinct will bring them back to the place they were released in 30 years to lay their own eggs. I've known that turtles live for many years but  I didn't realize that they are solitary creatures and never stick around to see their babies hatch. We were allowed to pick up the babies by their shells for a closer look- very cute! 

Saw some tea harvesting along the way.

This turtle was hurt and healing before returning to the ocean.

Eggs waiting to hatch.

Lots of babies!

The main attraction of Galle is the fort which was built in 1663 by the Dutch after defeating the Portuguese who had been here since 1589. The walls are still intact and you can see the Dutch influence in the architecture of the buildings within the fort. 

Alex and niece Kate pretending it isn't hotter than...

We walked around for awhile and saw the ramparts but it was a very hot and humid day and we welcomed the shady restaurant with the sea breeze for lunch! 

The remainder of the afternoon was spent at the hotel pool. Every night we created a tradition of gathering in the lobby for happy hour which was always a nice time to visit about the day. Another every other night tradition involved cigars and the solving of many world problems which I left up to the Ostwald boys!

This is how our laundry was delivered to us by the hotel! I may never leave!

Thilini and I enjoyed another cultural show put on by the hotel. These dancers were even better and the fire eater was on fire…well, not really but he was good!