We hadn’t originally planned on visiting Sri Lanka, but after several people recommended it we decided to add a two-week stop over here on our way from India to Malaysia. After arriving at the airport, we moved quickly through the congestion of Colombo and jumped on a bus headed to the south coast, where we stopped in a beach town called Unawatuna.
The beach at Unawatuna was more built-up than we had imagined, and we were surprised to see that development had encroached so far onto the one kilometer long beach that portions of it were impassable because restaurants were built right up to the water. Still, the white sand and turquoise waters were beautiful, and we settled in to a lazy routine of sleeping in, lounging on the beach or on our balcony, eating as much fresh fruit we could get our hands on, and sampling various restaurants’ versions of “rice and curry” (a typical Sri Lankan meal of a huge portion of rice served with three or four different types of curry).
Of course, we varied from this routine a couple of times. One day we rented a scooter and headed inland through the lush, green countryside and then stopped at several of the south coast’s other beaches before visiting the seaside Dutch colonial town of Galle. Cobbled streets and grand 17th century stone buildings make The Fort, the fortified colonial center of Galle, a beautiful, if unexpected, site on Sri Lanka’s south coast. We walked along the ramparts at sunset, and admired several of the areas standout buildings including the Dutch Reformed and All Saints’ churches, before diving back into Sri Lanka with a tasty dinner of roti and fresh pineapple.
Another evening we tried to stay up all night to stream the NFL playoffs, which required hanging out in the restaurant/bar at the hotel (for the good wifi signal). The Sri Lankan surfer-dude bartender was in a party mood, and as soon as we walked in he started giving us free shots of arrack (Sri Lankan “rum”) and practicing his new hobby as “trance DJ.” Meanwhile, the only other customers, a drunk and loud German couple, were telling him his music sucked. Unfortunately, they were soon chewing our ears off about the how good the good ole’ days were. Around 5 a.m., the music stopped, the bartender and the German guy left, and the German woman passed out on the concrete in a corner. We moved the wifi router up to our room, watched the first half of the 49ers game (the reason we had stayed up), but fell asleep at halftime, exhausted by this strange night.
Click on the photo below for our Unawatuna photo album.
The beach at Unawatuna was more built-up than we had imagined, and we were surprised to see that development had encroached so far onto the one kilometer long beach that portions of it were impassable because restaurants were built right up to the water. Still, the white sand and turquoise waters were beautiful, and we settled in to a lazy routine of sleeping in, lounging on the beach or on our balcony, eating as much fresh fruit we could get our hands on, and sampling various restaurants’ versions of “rice and curry” (a typical Sri Lankan meal of a huge portion of rice served with three or four different types of curry).
Of course, we varied from this routine a couple of times. One day we rented a scooter and headed inland through the lush, green countryside and then stopped at several of the south coast’s other beaches before visiting the seaside Dutch colonial town of Galle. Cobbled streets and grand 17th century stone buildings make The Fort, the fortified colonial center of Galle, a beautiful, if unexpected, site on Sri Lanka’s south coast. We walked along the ramparts at sunset, and admired several of the areas standout buildings including the Dutch Reformed and All Saints’ churches, before diving back into Sri Lanka with a tasty dinner of roti and fresh pineapple.
Another evening we tried to stay up all night to stream the NFL playoffs, which required hanging out in the restaurant/bar at the hotel (for the good wifi signal). The Sri Lankan surfer-dude bartender was in a party mood, and as soon as we walked in he started giving us free shots of arrack (Sri Lankan “rum”) and practicing his new hobby as “trance DJ.” Meanwhile, the only other customers, a drunk and loud German couple, were telling him his music sucked. Unfortunately, they were soon chewing our ears off about the how good the good ole’ days were. Around 5 a.m., the music stopped, the bartender and the German guy left, and the German woman passed out on the concrete in a corner. We moved the wifi router up to our room, watched the first half of the 49ers game (the reason we had stayed up), but fell asleep at halftime, exhausted by this strange night.
Click on the photo below for our Unawatuna photo album.
you look outlandish! i mean outstanding!
ReplyDelete