Bali Ha'i (our first week in Bali)

Well, we’ve been here in Sanur, Bali for a week now, and it’s been a great week. Not for any sights we’ve seen, not for any glorious beaches, not for any ancient temples, just for the fact that we’ve been doing absolutely b*gger all for most of the time. It’s been so good for all 3 of us to just chill out in the villa, cook our own food, swim, and play with Curtis, rather than working out where we go next. And, it’s nearly Xmas, time to rest up.

"It's 'Child Prodigy' you idiot". Curtis dictates his autobiography. Susan at the kitchen table in the villa. Child thing!

We’re staying in the Susan’s friend Vanessa’s partner Mal’s villa while he’s back home in New Zealand….and what a lovely place it is. Open plan living area next to the pool, great kitchen, outdoor bathrooms and huge comfortable beds, and NO mosquito nets required! Can’t thank Mal enough for lending us the villa, we're very lucky indeed.

Well, when I say, we’ve done nothing for a week that’s not strictly true… we have been to the local beach and walked along the boardwalk, had some amazing food, knocked back a couple of Bintangs, and managed to leave our Travel Mastercard in the ATM of a shopping centre then spent 4 days trying to track it down, had dinner a couple of times with Vanessa and her family at their villa, and spent an hour in a cash and carry getting the Xmas food in!

Ubud - Susan in the rice fields and how to scare the wildlife. Can you guess which one is which? Just kidding darlin'!

We’ve also just spent a day in Ubud with Nessie (Vanessa), her sister and her mum. Ubud is like a hotter version of Upper St, lot’s of small posh shops selling arts and crafts for huge mark-ups to willing tourists. It’s a very popular destination to go chill, do some yoga, have organic food and buy overpriced fake antiques. We went to a lovely organic restaurant overlooking lots of working paddy fields for lunch, a beautiful 20 min walk thru the fields from the road. Although, already we passed a resort being built in the middle of all this. Same old storey I guess. Find somewhere with amazing views, then build a hotel in the middle of said views, blotting out what made it so nice in the first place. But you can’t blame some poor rice farmer who gets offered a huge amount of money to sell his land to some hotel chain for grabbing a chance for a better life… Shame tho. Money talks yet again.

View of the surrounding rice fields from the Organic Restaurant in Ubud. Me & CJ post healthy lunch, overlooking the rice fields. He got to eat Tofu and rice cakes for lunch, and he's still smiling! Brave boy.

On the walk back to meet the others at the car, a large, heavy branch fell from one of the coconut trees and crashed right beside the buggy as I was pushing Curtis. Bit of a shock to all of us, but this sort of thing does happen in these climates. After the coconut falling right next to us in Sri Lanka, and now a whole branch landing next to us in Bali I’m beginning to think the Gods are angry with me for some reason….

Meanwhile work goes on as usual in the fields. Chill out area in the Restaurant.

Bali is very different to Sri Lanka, it’s had booming tourism for many years, and is  a much more modern destination. It’s also slightly cheaper by our estimation, although you can live the backpacker lifestyle or the life of Riley, any budget seems to be catered for. You can still get a lovely Nasi Campur for just over £1 in the local Warung, or live it up in a posh restaurant. And the food! The first meals I ate here were better than ANYTHING I had in Sri Lanka.

Kuta seafront, miles of hotels & restaurants, nicely designed tho. Clearing locals from the beach, musn't scare the tourists

Went to Kuta for the day to check out the beach and visit one of the big shopping malls there to get Curtis some Xmas presents. The mall was just like anywhere else in the world, albeit somewhat cheaper. Got a new pair of Converse for £10 in the sale, plus a few bits for the boy. At least it was air conditioned! The whole beachfront in Kuta is very touristy, resorts, hotels and shop and restaurants one after the other, Starbucks, Hard Rock Café, all  kinds of stylish concrete and glass shopping and dining opportunities. Bars in pools, pools in bars, masseurs, touts, hawkers, chancers and beggars. If you’re looking for that sort of thing then you’ve got everything you could possibly need within a few minutes walk of your hotel. Once again tho you could be anywhere in the world, nothing particularly Balinese here.

Just like being in Skegness! The old and the new in Kuta. Hard Rock Cafe, just about summons up Kuta for me.

"Yeah, one step closer bald man, just one....". Various co-habiters in Sanur, Bali. Check out Narcissus the Grasshopper.

It’s Xmas Eve here as I finish the first part of the Balinese section of our blog, we all had a Festive splash about in the pool this morning after we took our Xmas card photo. We’ve been lounging around listening to the Clash (as you do at Xmas) and lying in the sun. Curtis, of course, hasn’t got a clue that today is different to any other, he’ll be 8 months old tomorrow (Xmas Day) so I reckon we might have one more year before Xmas becomes the best day in the year of any child’s life. Guess I’ll have to re-assess my opinions about Xmas before then! At the moment he’s oblivious and is being his usual inquisitive, energetic, happy self and we love him for it. Best Xmas present I could ever ask for…. 

One of these monkeys is our lovely Curtis. Can you guess which one. I think the one one the left is Homer Simpson.

Road to Ruins (Arugam Bay to Batticoloa & Polonnuruwa back to the beach))

Curtis: "what have you got to look so fed up about, I'm stuck in this thing!". A tank in Polonnuruwa

So the next morning we had breakfast (Porridge & Banana, no eggs, heaven!) and around 9am hopped in the back of Fiona & Nilanka’s car. The day turned out to be one of the most enjoyable so far, much better than we though it would be. The drive from Arugam Bay to Batticoloa was very easy, the road was very new and a vast improvement on the old one, so the journey only took us around 3 hours. There’s nothing really in the guide books about this area at all, being under LTTE control for so long it was kinda unknown territory, so we had no idea what it would be like. We did think it would be little villages and towns, maybe slightly poorer than the South coast, when in fact there were lots of fairly big and quite nice towns en route. As we left we passed some very unusual ‘Tsunami’ houses of a type we’d never seen before. They were like giant teapots, or Hobbit houses, built supposedly to withstand another wave should Sri Lanka be unlucky enough to be hit again.

Strange tsunami houses on the East coast. "Bilbo, are you in there?" OK, a token designer photo. Roof in Polonnuruwa.

In fact, inbetween the towns there is still a great deal of Tsunami damage still visible all along this section of the East coast. From buildings still left as they were, to great swathes of completely flat countryside, with little shrubbery or trees, the only trees growing are post tsunami, less than 8 years old. This side really did get hit bad, in fact, Sri Lanka as a whole was very badly affected in 2004, with around 75% of the coastline reduced to rubble, over 40,000 people killed, a million people displaced and half of the islands fishing boats destroyed. 

Another leftover from the war, a Save The Children building and a 'No Weapons' sign. Curtis and our Bus-train driver.

We arrived in Batticoloa (Batty) a couple of hours before our train was due, and once gain Curtis became the centre of attention and practically the whole of the station staff came out to say hello, including our next driver. We were getting the 2.30pm Bus Train, which we were informed was a half train, half bus hybrid. I imagine like some kind of transportational she-male, but I’m guessing I’m alone on that one.

Batticoloa station. Station workers form an orderly queue for a bemused Curtis. This is how train timetables should look.

Anyway, we grabbed some Rice & Curry and a few pastries in the local curry shop and headed back to the station. Sure enough, into the station & dead on time rolls this very strange contraption. Basically, it’s two bus chassis welded together and the wheels adapted to fit the train line. Brilliant! A Bus-Train. A Brain? Truss?

The Bus-train. Errr.OK... View thru the train front window, not quite the 8.15 from Victoria. Two very happy passengers.

It was all very open and we sat at the front with our driver & conductor friends and had a great view thru the front window. The only snag was, this beast could only travel at around 20mph, so the journey was very slow, but absolutely beautiful, and we learned a lot about this section of the coast and inland area. Again, a lot of damage still visible, and land flattened and not rebuilt as yet, We had several herds of cows on the line, peacocks, people, even we were assured wild elephants cross in certain areas. Less appealing was the minefield clearly marked out either side of the train lines that we VERY slowly trundled through, another left over from the war, and a sharp reminder as to how relatively recent these events were.

The eerily barren landscape left after the tsunami on the East coast. A minefield, another sad legacy from the war. Both sides of the track I might add. Best not hop off here then.

Some of the ‘stations’ along this stretch were little more than bus shelters next to the line, and I think there were 6 passengers including us for the whole journey. And, to be fair, the suspension on this thing left a lot to be desired, so after the initial thrill of travelling on such an unusual beast for an hour or so, for the last hour we were numb in the wrong places and keen to get to the hotel. Although, seeing the sun go slowly down while trundling thru the Sri Lankan countryside was something very special.

Polonnuruwa - This is how I dance after a few Lion beers. Well, well, well. Old carving. Nice hat.

On arrival in Polonnuruwa, we got a tuk tuk straight to a hotel, which wasn’t great, but was close to the ruins and would do for the next two nights. After some very bland food and a cold beer (sadly still only Lion, no sign of the very drinkable 3 coins for some weeks) we went back to the room, killed as many mozzies as we could and hit the sack. Next morning we headed off for the Polonnuruwa ruins, via the very interesting Museum. After the usual haggling with the tuk tuk driver (and the eventual heated discussion when they try to charge you more at the end), we spent most of the day driving round the ruins. The site itself is very interesting, not cheap at $25 to get in, and not as beautiful or stunning as Angkor Wat, Chichin Itza or Palenque, but definitely worth seeing.

Is it me or does this ancient carving look like one of the Banana Splits? Co-incidence? Ruins in Polonnuruwa.

Polonnuruwa - Temple ruins, or UFO. You decide. Temple dedicated to Otto, the German helmet god.

We went for a rice and curry buffet at the Rest House, where Queen Elizabeth stayed fact fans, turns out it was way back in 1954. Unsurprising, as judging by the state or the restaurant toilets, I couldn’t see Prince Phillip taking a Royal leak in those! Still the setting was stunning. More below par food, a couple of 30 Rocks and sleep.

We ordered a full breakfast for 8am the night before, and surely enough at 8.05 it arrived, all of it stone cold, including the fried eggs and toast. Still, we were hungry so we wolfed it down and headed off to the train station to get the train back to Colombo. We discussed it and decided against going to Nuwara Eliya, mainly because we would be spending 2 days and nights going back on ourselves just to travel the very beautiful train journey from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya. You can’t do everything, even in 6 weeks.

Susan (or is it The Penguin?) in the walls at Polonnuruwa. 1 train track, 2 levers, 2 directions, I can just see the job interview now... Doing the commute from Colombo. 

So the next morning the hotel has added an extra 12% VAT onto our food bill, first time that’s happened in 6 weeks, but after a couple of minutes I realise I can’t be bothered to question it anymore. Our laundry bill was also ridiculously high, and when I questioned it the bill miraculously went down hugely, a ‘mistake’ they said. Sri Lanka is like that, the local people you meet, who aren’t after anything, are really lovely, we’ve meet some very kind people, but the rest just see you as tourists, as ‘money’ and are always trying to find another way to get some more out of you. Not in a nasty way, it’s just nothing comes free in Sri Lanka, if someone offers you a lift, or stops to chat on the street there’s always a cost or a hidden agenda, and it gets you down after a while. Were leaving at the right time I think…

Just how much of the bed does one boy need? All of it obviously. Good lad. Mum and son back in the sea.

The train journey the next day was fine, pretty uneventful, around 6 hours to Colombo, where we got a connection back to Althaguma and a short hop to Ypsylon Hotel on Beruwala Beach one we passed on earlier in the trip, for a bit of relaxation before we leave Sri Lanka. It’s a nice enough mid-range hotel, fine for doing nothing in, and whilst not perfect, it allowed us to switch off for a few days.

Curtis Van Zant. Rockin' the baby bandanna look. Beruwala beach from Ypsylon Hotel. Curtis puts his best feet forward.

From there we went back Negombo to get the early flight to Bali the next day. We stayed the night (our last) in a nice home stay, highly recommended on TA The lady who ran it was very friendly, the room lovely, and after I said about getting a tuk tuk to the airport, said her husband was going past the airport the next morning and could give us a lift. How very kind we said. Next morning sure enough a 1200r Airport transfer appeared on our bill, the tuk tuk would have been 600r. Oh well, who cares, were off to pastures new…..

Road to Ruins (Arugam Bay to Batticoloa & Polonnuruwa back to the beach))

Curtis: "what have you got to look so fed up about, I'm stuck in this thing!". A tank in Polonnuruwa

So the next morning we had breakfast (Porridge & Banana, no eggs, heaven!) and around 9am hopped in the back of Fiona & Nilanka’s car. The day turned out to be one of the most enjoyable so far, much better than we though it would be. The drive from Arugam Bay to Batticoloa was very easy, the road was very new and a vast improvement on the old one, so the journey only took us around 3 hours. There’s nothing really in the guide books about this area at all, being under LTTE control for so long it was kinda unknown territory, so we had no idea what it would be like. We did think it would be little villages and towns, maybe slightly poorer than the South coast, when in fact there were lots of fairly big and quite nice towns en route. As we left we passed some very unusual ‘Tsunami’ houses of a type we’d never seen before. They were like giant teapots, or Hobbit houses, built supposedly to withstand another wave should Sri Lanka be unlucky enough to be hit again.

Strange tsunami houses on the East coast. "Bilbo, are you in there?" OK, a token designer photo. Roof in Polonnuruwa.

In fact, inbetween the towns there is still a great deal of Tsunami damage still visible all along this section of the East coast. From buildings still left as they were, to great swathes of completely flat countryside, with little shrubbery or trees, the only trees growing are post tsunami, less than 8 years old. This side really did get hit bad, in fact, Sri Lanka as a whole was very badly affected in 2004, with around 75% of the coastline reduced to rubble, over 40,000 people killed, a million people displaced and half of the islands fishing boats destroyed. 

Another leftover from the war, a Save The Children building and a 'No Weapons' sign. Curtis and our Bus-train driver.

We arrived in Batticoloa (Batty) a couple of hours before our train was due, and once gain Curtis became the centre of attention and practically the whole of the station staff came out to say hello, including our next driver. We were getting the 2.30pm Bus Train, which we were informed was a half train, half bus hybrid. I imagine like some kind of transportational she-male, but I’m guessing I’m alone on that one.

Batticoloa station. Station workers form an orderly queue for a bemused Curtis. This is how train timetables should look.

Anyway, we grabbed some Rice & Curry and a few pastries in the local curry shop and headed back to the station. Sure enough, into the station & dead on time rolls this very strange contraption. Basically, it’s two bus chassis welded together and the wheels adapted to fit the train line. Brilliant! A Bus-Train. A Brain? Truss?

The Bus-train. Errr.OK... View thru the train front window, not quite the 8.15 from Victoria. Two very happy passengers.

It was all very open and we sat at the front with our driver & conductor friends and had a great view thru the front window. The only snag was, this beast could only travel at around 20mph, so the journey was very slow, but absolutely beautiful, and we learned a lot about this section of the coast and inland area. Again, a lot of damage still visible, and land flattened and not rebuilt as yet, We had several herds of cows on the line, peacocks, people, even we were assured wild elephants cross in certain areas. Less appealing was the minefield clearly marked out either side of the train lines that we VERY slowly trundled through, another left over from the war, and a sharp reminder as to how relatively recent these events were.

The eerily barren landscape left after the tsunami on the East coast. A minefield, another sad legacy from the war. Both sides of the track I might add. Best not hop off here then.

Some of the ‘stations’ along this stretch were little more than bus shelters next to the line, and I think there were 6 passengers including us for the whole journey. And, to be fair, the suspension on this thing left a lot to be desired, so after the initial thrill of travelling on such an unusual beast for an hour or so, for the last hour we were numb in the wrong places and keen to get to the hotel. Although, seeing the sun go slowly down while trundling thru the Sri Lankan countryside was something very special.

Polonnuruwa - This is how I dance after a few Lion beers. Well, well, well. Old carving. Nice hat.

On arrival in Polonnuruwa, we got a tuk tuk straight to a hotel, which wasn’t great, but was close to the ruins and would do for the next two nights. After some very bland food and a cold beer (sadly still only Lion, no sign of the very drinkable 3 coins for some weeks) we went back to the room, killed as many mozzies as we could and hit the sack. Next morning we headed off for the Polonnuruwa ruins, via the very interesting Museum. After the usual haggling with the tuk tuk driver (and the eventual heated discussion when they try to charge you more at the end), we spent most of the day driving round the ruins. The site itself is very interesting, not cheap at $25 to get in, and not as beautiful or stunning as Angkor Wat, Chichin Itza or Palenque, but definitely worth seeing.

Is it me or does this ancient carving look like one of the Banana Splits? Co-incidence? Ruins in Polonnuruwa.

Polonnuruwa - Temple ruins, or UFO. You decide. Temple dedicated to Otto, the German helmet god.

We went for a rice and curry buffet at the Rest House, where Queen Elizabeth stayed fact fans, turns out it was way back in 1954. Unsurprising, as judging by the state or the restaurant toilets, I couldn’t see Prince Phillip taking a Royal leak in those! Still the setting was stunning. More below par food, a couple of 30 Rocks and sleep.

We ordered a full breakfast for 8am the night before, and surely enough at 8.05 it arrived, all of it stone cold, including the fried eggs and toast. Still, we were hungry so we wolfed it down and headed off to the train station to get the train back to Colombo. We discussed it and decided against going to Nuwara Eliya, mainly because we would be spending 2 days and nights going back on ourselves just to travel the very beautiful train journey from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya. You can’t do everything, even in 6 weeks.

Susan (or is it The Penguin?) in the walls at Polonnuruwa. 1 train track, 2 levers, 2 directions, I can just see the job interview now... Doing the commute from Colombo. 

So the next morning the hotel has added an extra 12% VAT onto our food bill, first time that’s happened in 6 weeks, but after a couple of minutes I realise I can’t be bothered to question it anymore. Our laundry bill was also ridiculously high, and when I questioned it the bill miraculously went down hugely, a ‘mistake’ they said. Sri Lanka is like that, the local people you meet, who aren’t after anything, are really lovely, we’ve meet some very kind people, but the rest just see you as tourists, as ‘money’ and are always trying to find another way to get some more out of you. Not in a nasty way, it’s just nothing comes free in Sri Lanka, if someone offers you a lift, or stops to chat on the street there’s always a cost or a hidden agenda, and it gets you down after a while. Were leaving at then right time I think…

The train journey the next day was fine, pretty uneventful, around 6 hours to Colombo, where we got a connection back to Althaguma and a short hop to Ypsylon Hotel on Beruwala Beach one we passed on earlier in the trip, for a bit of relaxation before we leave Sri Lanka. It’s a nice enough mid-range hotel, fine for doing nothing in, and whilst not perfect, it allowed us to switch off for a few days.

From there we went back Negombo to get the early flight to Bali the next day. We stayed the night (our last) in a nice home stay, highly recommended on TA The lady who ran it was very friendly, the room lovely, and after I said about getting a tuk tuk to the airport, said her husband was going past the airport the next morning and could give us a lift. How very kind we said. Next morning sure enough a 1200r Airport transfer appeared on our bill, the tuk tuk would have been 600r. Oh well, who cares, were off…..

Highway to (H)Ella

The barren Red landscape at Usangoda. Sooner or later you'll get a group of cheeky kids come show you round...for a fee.

So, we get a tuk tuk into the town to barter a taxi to Ella, and of course the driver says he’s got a friend who would drive us. So we agree a price and waited with some trepidation to see what would turn up. What did, in fact turn up was this pimped up minivan with a video screen on the front dashboard! Very comfortable indeed, but even more so when he switched that damn screen off! Whoever came up with that idea in a country where the driving is so erratic needs their head seeing too!

The Martello Tower and checkerboard lighthouse outside Tangalle

Again, we agreed to stop off at various places on the way. We stopped off first at a place called Usangoda, a large flat plateau, supposedly formed when a meteor struck in ancient times, leaving the whole area a strange scorched red colour. After this, we checked out the new harbour and drove past the site of the new airport in Hanbantota. People are hoping that when this opens next year that this will open up the whole country to tourism, a mixed blessing maybe… We also went to see an old British Martello tower and strange checkerboard painted light house near the town, plus a quick visit to an old dam, where the guy on duty showed us round, then a nice waterfall before we hit Ella around 5pm.

The dam on a lake on the way to Ella. 

We checked into the Ravana Heights guest house, very nice, although the owner was a tad annoying from the start, explaining how wonderful their $6.50 breakfast was and kinda insisting that we have (and of course pay for). Still, it was a very nice place with stunning views over the surrounding hills, and our most expensive breakfast so far (it’s been 5 weeks now!) was admittedly very good. Ella itself, was surprisingly small, seeing as it’s so visited. The main attraction here was Little Adams Peak (a much smaller and easy to ascend version of the real thing) and the surrounding countryside itself, all luscious green hills and tea plantations.

The stunning countryside full of tea plantations around the hill town of Ella. The tree at the end of the Universe?

The Uber-quaint train station at Ella. Won't be long before there's a Burger King. Only 2 trains a day and one set of tracks!

After, we checked out the train times for Nuwara Eliya the next day at the very quaint Ella train station  and headed back to base. We met a German couple who we’d met a few days earlier, and an Aussie/Swiss couple who’s recently married and had been living in Jersey, We’ve met some really nice people along the way on this trip, you always do when you’re travelling, but I’m glad to say that it’s still the case even if you’re with a small babe. We met another really nice couple the next morning at breakfast, Both British, he was an Essex copper who’d managed to wangled 4 years travelling and they still kept his job open for him. He also worked out of Stoke Newington station in the bad old days, and said he’s only recently been back, for work during the riots in Dalston! Susan did politely mention that it was well known that ‘people who went into SN police station didn’t come out again’! And I thought I was the one who usually puts my foot in it. He took it good humouredly tho, although admittedly when I came back from the room a few mins later, Susan had accidentally ‘fallen down the stairs’. Strange, as there were only 2 steps….

Curtis had discovered the joys of sticking his tongue out, were hoping it will go back in at some point...
The view over the Ella Gap from our guesthouse. "God, where did it all go wrong, I had dreams once..."

Anyway, we changed our mind about going to Nuwara Eliya, and decided to go straight to the old Surfer spot at Arugam Bay and visit there on the way back. We splashed out on another taxi opting to stop at several places on the way again. It costs us around £40 each time for a taxi, but it makes things so much easier, and you do get to see a lot more of the country this way. There are no ‘tourist’ A/C buses or coaches that you get in most Asian countries, so it’s either the trains (which are very slow), local buses (which are hot, sweaty and teeth-clenchingly nerve wracking), or minivan taxis. Buses are ok with Curtis on short hops with just our day bag, but with a rucksack, back pack, buggy AND him, it gets a little daunting.

The are paddy fields all over Sri Lanka, mind you they eat a LOT of rice.Temple

 A wild Elephant (I think it saw us first). "Oi, pay attention at the back, there's a test on this later". Susan in ruins....

The drive to Arugam Bay was a little uninspiring, although we did see some wild elephants, a mongoose and some nice temple ruins, and we did it in pretty good time. We got our driver to take us round 5 or 6 lots of rooms before deciding on the cheap and cheerful Arugam Bay Surf Resort (formally the Arugam Bay Hilton, but renamed after receiving a cease & desist from the real thing last year). On the plus side, I had my 2^nd veggie burger of the trip at Gecko next door, and although only passable, it was still a blessed relief from more Vegetable Noodles. We spent the next day exploring Arugam Bay, which admittedly, didn’t take long. It’s off season here, and supposedly monsoon time, but we were lucky, but the place was deserted. It had a kind of dying Wild West frontier town vibe to it. Half the hotels were closed, most of the restaurants the same, and not a surfboard in sight. The beach was taken over each day by hundreds of fishermen & their boats bringing in the catch of the day and chatting animatedly. I’m guessing they’re not there when the surfers are out trying to catch a wave in high season. So the afternoons tended to bring an aroma of discarded fish and a few extra flys, or was that Curtis.....

Off season on the beach at Arugam Bay. Fishing it is then......

I think we only met about six other foreigners in the two days we were here, two of whom were staying in the hotel. We got chatting to Fiona & Nilanka over dinner on the second night, they were from Leeds, but she had done voluntary work in Sri Lanka 8 years before, met Nilanka, and they eventually moved to the UK, but they still come back regularly to his home. He told us lots of stories about life during the war, that there were many places, as a Singhalese, that he couldn’t visit as it would be too dangerous, places that he is only now getting to see. Stories about the local fishermen in the small villages, they were the hard working, hard drinking, tough guys that you didn’t mess with, they can be dangerous people if you get on the wrong side of them, and have been known to kill each other over fishing spots and vendettas. They very kindly offered us a lift to Batticoloa with them the next morning, and as we were unsure of our next destination, we gratefully accepted.. It seemed like an excellent way to see the rest of the East coast before heading back inland.

Small fishing boat on the beaxh at Arugam Bay. The worlds oldest tuk tuk....

Tangalle'd up in Blue (the Tangalle area)

Two chairs, a palm tree, a beach and the sea....more views along the coast around Tangalle

It was raining hard again as we got into our tuk tuk but it cleared up as the day went on. This time we got our driver to take us around a few places on the way, so we had a drive round Matara Fort, which was ok, but nothing compared to Galle. We also wanted to check out the beaches at Polhena & Medewatta, which were nothing to write home about, then onto Dondra to see the lighthouse which is at the southernmost tip of Sri Lanka, again nice, but I guess once you’ve seen a few lighthouses, you pretty much know what to expect. We tried to explain to Curtis what a lighthouse was, and more importantly, about The Lighthouse Family, and that if we ever caught him listening to them he would be ostracised and his inheritance given to a donkey sanctuary. Some parents keenly await their childs first words wondering “will it be Mamma, or Dadda”. Me, I’m kinda hoping for Motorhead, or Anarchy…. Is that so wrong?

The many faces of the Curtster (Pt. 2). Delirious for some reason, lost in cushions again and it's all too much for some...

We wanted to spend some time along this section of the coast, as it’s supposed to be lovely, so we thought we’d find somewhere to stay in Dickwella (just before Tangalla) to check out the beach there, but after looking at 3 or 4 well below average hotels, some wanting $60 or $70 for a basic room, we decided to keep going till we found somewhere we liked (and was affordable). This turned out to be an old resort hotel (the Maharani) on a pretty, small beach called Nakulagamuwa. Again, there was one other couple we saw there. It wasn’t cheap ($65 half board), but it was ok with a small pool, which we didn’t get the chance to use as it rained again late afternoon. At dinner we had three waiters standing around waiting to serve us, which was a little uncomfortable, but I guess they were going for the attentive vibe.

The Goyambokka Guest House an interesting sign outside a posher resort along the way...

Next day we left for the Tangalle area proper and ended up checking into to a lovely little guest house at Goyambokka Beach called, wait for it…. The Goyambokka Guest House. obtuse, or what? At 3000R a night, it was cheap and very good value. Mind you they showed us the best room in the house, which was lovely, but had about 30 mosquitoes chilling on top of the mozzie net, just biding their time, and after splattin’ about 20 of them, and still finding more, we opted for the room next door, which was mozzie free and cheaper anyway. Too late for Susan, tho, she got bitten several times, and Curtis got his 2^nd proper bite. We knew the little fella would get some bites whatever we did, but with each one you feel a bit sorry for him, and 2 bites in a month was better then expected. Susan seems to attract biting insects (I think they can taste the Scottishness), while I seem to repel them. Maybe I should bottle my own sweat and sell it online. It’s Organic ya know! When I was travelling with Shay it was the same story, I could be lying naked covered in chocolate sauce (easy ladies… and some gents), and Shay could be in the next bed inside a mosquito net, wearing a diving suit and they would still find a way to bite him and then come and lie next to me for a sleep.

The beach along from Goyambokka & let's face it, you've got to have the obligatory palm tree shot....

Anyway, Goyambokka Beach is really nice, one of the best we’ve seem so far, small, undeveloped, a nice stretch of sand too, with just two small food huts and a small cabana resort fronting the beach. Even better, the coast east of here consists of lots of small coves with nice beaches, easily walkable until you get close to Tangalle itself. One to watch I think.

This is also where Susan decided to give Curtis an unscheduled dunking by falling over in the surf close to Tangalle Bay Resort. Apart from getting a bit of a fright the little fella seemed unfazed by the experience and we walked through the foyer of the fairly posh hotel dripping sea water and trailing sand behind us – nobody said a word!

Fishing boats near Goyambokka. The tres posh Tangalle Bay Resort with their infinity pool. We get the same at home if you fill the bath right to the top and then lie right down low, and it's cheaper.

Tangalle town itself is quite nice, a fairly easy going place compared to some Sri Lankan towns, they even have a cinema, but the film didn’t have English subs. Shame, I would have quite liked to check out a Sri Lankan film. The poster showed a boy, a young monk, a tank with loads of people on it. Intriguing, but I’ll bet you they still find an excuse for dance rountines and a nice wedding….

The local cinema in Tangalle, was very tempted, but my Sri Lankan wasn't up to it! Me and the boy...

After another night in  Goyambokka we headed on to check out Medaketiya beach just North of Tangalle with a view to staying there for a couple of nights. This is the backpacker area around Tangalle. Nice enough area strung out along the beach road, cheap fan rooms, you wouldn’t exactly call them clean, but ok if your on a budget, plus cheapish food. Nothing much appealed to us tho’, so we had some lunch and went straight on to our next destination a little further along the coast.

We were due to meet a friend Stuart and his family at the Mangrove Gardens Resort in a couple of days and he’d stayed there before and had recommended it so we thought we’d just go straight there and hole up for a few days. We stayed in these big, very high ceiling-ed chalets, a bit of a treat but it was really nice to kick back somewhere for 4 or 5 days. We didn’t really do a great deal for the 4 days we were there, it’s nice to slow it right down sometimes.

Yet more deserted beaches. Curtis "oi. I can still see you baldy". Curtis loves a sleep in a tuk tuk. Strange boy.

We did go and look at Rekewa, one of the last South Coast beaches mentioned in the guide book and it was lovely, nothing on there at all apart from 2 private villas, but no guest houses or food shacks. In fact the beach was empty until one of the guys working on one of the villas came out to chat to us. It’s a famous beach for turtle watching, they come up the beach around midnight  to lay their eggs and head back to the sea again. But this is one of the stretches of beach we were told that had quite a bit of land for sale on, seems that once again money takes preference of nature…. We also went to look at some land back in Goyambokka as we’d liked it there, the last 2 plots on the beach. One was very small and dropped down steeply to the rocks and the other was way too big, the owner was asking for $1 million US. Bit out of our range!

One of the cabana resorts North orfTangalle. OK. can call it a Lizard, or a Water Monitor, but to me it's a damn crocodile!

The next day we checked out some of the other resorts, Ganesh Gardens was very nice as was Lagoon Paradise, where I saw a Crocodile in the lagoon, well, it might have been a big lizard (se below) but the setting was really nice. All the cabana resorts have done a great job of providing a really relaxed, back to nature (at a price) feel. All wood bridges across the lagoon and little food huts on the beach.

We met up with Stuart, his wife Heather and 2 year old Jake a few times over the next few days, nice guys. We didn’t do much but chill for the next 2 days but had a great time dong it. After that (and some internal debate) we said our goodbyes, and started off for Ella in the Hill country and ultimately our last beach destination, Arugam Bay.