Turtles at Unawatuna, Galle Fort & Colombo - Our Last Days in Sri Lanka

 We opted for the simple way to get to our next destination, a private driver organized thru the home stay. We actually drove on a 4 lane highway with maximum speeds of 100 km/hr! And passed at least 5 signs warning of peacocks on the highway! We left the toll road partway as I had asked if we could stop & see the famous stilt fishermen. What a surprise - the stilts are in the water close to shore but the fishermen were hanging around near a very big sign that said “Photo costs 5000 rupees” = $22! Not a chance, so I  had to be satisfied with a photo of the sign. 

Stilts (poles) for fishermen to fish from

Since we’ve been planning on the fly, we realized a bit late that we were running out of days in Sri Lanka but a short stay at a beach was better than no beach. After some research we decided on Unawatuna area, specifically Dalawella Beach because that’s were the turtles hang out, found a hotel nearby & booked 2 nights. Jayaa Beach Hotel, triple room, $102 - they advertised beach access but it wasn’t for us “old folks”  - step concrete steps ending on some sharp rocks & water depending on the tide. Free beach access was hard to find, you either had to eat or drink in a hotel or restaurant to be granted access or pay $5 US, ridiculous. Our hotel guy took us next door to a hotel & they allowed us access, but we still had to walk on sand bags on top of the rocks. Unfortunately a lot of the beach has washed away with storms, but we made it to the turtle spot where it was all sand. We couldn’t believe our eyes, here were several HUGE turtles swimming around the people who were feeding them seaweed that the local entrepreneurs had picked & bagged, for a cost of course. The turtles didn’t seem to mind all the people but I felt sorry for them as they were being touched & “manhandled”. We visited them both days, picking our own seaweed & feeding them & just enjoyed watching them up close.  They were green sea turtles - apparently they are the largest hard-shelled marine turtles in the world, growing up to 5 feet & weighing as much as 500 pounds!

Jayaa Beach Hotel

We spent the rest of our 2 days on the beach enjoying food & beer from an upper deck overlooking the beach, floating in the nice warm ocean, a bit of walking & even a movie as we have been without TV for quite some time. 

This huge dog was having fun chasing fish in this pool

More rice & curry

We left Unawatuna March 8, used Pick Me for our ride to Galle & checked into a lovely colonial hotel, Fort Thari Inn. We chose it because it was within the walls of the old fort making it convenient for exploring. Galle Fort, located on Sri Lanka’s southwest coast is a 1588 built UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the best-preserved largest Dutch built fortress in SE Asia. It was originally built by the Portuguese & expanded by the Dutch, this “living” walled city features colonial area buildings, a historic lighthouse, narrow streets & picturesque sea views. 

Lobby of Fort Thari Inn

Up on the walls of the fort

Looking from outside the walls

Our inn had only 4 rooms plus the owners living quarters & it was so charming & cozy! 

We spent our 2 days there wandering along the fort walls, admiring some of the 400 historic buildings, finding tasty food, a trip to the small beach used mainly by locals (& where I found some nice sea glass) & relaxing in our room when it got too hot (only 28C but felt much warmer). The game of cricket is big here, seeing kids running around with cricket bats was a common sight & we watched a bit of play, but have no idea how it works! Lots of tourists in Galle & so many gem shops - the price to pay for staying in the heart of the fort. While we were there I finally booked the last days of our trip, the actual last 2 weeks were booked ages ago but we needed to book our first 19 days in Thailand. Quite a relief to have it all done!

Halle Fort beach

Lighthouse, 1930’s

Kids with cricket bats

Gem shops

Dutch governor’s house, 1683

Dutch Reformed Church, 1752

Amangalla Hotel, 1684

Jewelry displays, mainly sapphires

Short Eats (Sri Lankan fast food)

A nasty looking exterior but very tasty mango, that variety looks all brown & ugly on the outside

We left Galle on the train, the SLOW train, to Colombo for our last 3 nights in Sri Lanka. Our tickets were $4.33 for both, first come first serve but the train wasn’t busy & we were there early enough to claim good seats. We took the slow train at 8:50 as the other options were too early or possibly crowded. It took 4 hours to go 130 kms but it was a good time, there were over 30 stops at small stations, nice ocean views, saw fishermen & smelled fish, passed shanty town houses between the ocean & the train tracks nearer to Colombo & we both got scolded by the ticket lady for not hanging onto our bags, all while having an open window to stick our heads out of. 

King coconuts, yellowish, Sri Lankan variety

Shanty houses

Another ride with Pick Me, we won’t miss this ride sharing app as the drivers don’t seem to know where to go or where to stop, we’ve had 2 drivers who’s car & licence didn’t match the app & they like to call to confirm the ride but usually didn’t speak English or had terrible phone reception. Annoying!

We booked the Nippon Hotel Colombo as it was well rated, looked good & included breakfast but our 3 nights there were not good ones. We paid $214 & our A/C never got the room below 25C, the wifi was unusable (even after the IT guy gave us passcodes that weren’t expired) & everything on the breakfast buffet was cold (not a concern for the staff, we complained & they offered to microwave our food!) And we complained about the A/C - had a maintenance guy in 3 times, each time promising that it would be good - but it never improved. I finally demanded a fan, which we got, but never did they offer to change rooms & the hotel was definitely not full. My first 2star review of a place which I actually feel bad about. 

Outdoor terrace

We did wander around the very large neighborhood of Pettah which is Colombo’s most vibrant & chaotic open-air bazaar of narrow streets where almost anything is being sold. It was colorful & noisy & home to a few “must see” sights. We then walked to Galle Face Green, a seaside park enjoyed by locals at sunset, but not overly impressive. A quick stop in Galle Face One mall to cool off, quite the contrast from the open air markets earlier in the day & it was time to call a tuk tuk to head back to the hot hotel room.

We also took a tuk tuk tour of the city on a day when the temperature was 32, feels like 38 so near the end it was a matter of drive by, we’ll take photos but no walking around. We did walk thru the Colombo National Museum, lots to see & read about. And of course the driver had to take us to a store, “in case we might want to buy something”. 

Red Mosque, 1909

Very green water in the river, due to pollution, leading to algae blooms

Halle Face Grren, beach

Very colorful ornate Hindu Temple 

Lotus Tower

Colombo National Museum 

Stone sculptures 

Oil lamps

Another beautiful Hindu Templa

Lotus Tower

Cargill Building, 1906

We found a nice restaurant nearby & had our dinners there, trying some new things & enjoying Lion beer. I had hoped for one more meal of rice & curry but surprisingly not available. 

Robin is really loving eating with his fingers!

Watalappan, Sri Lankan custard

Lamprais, food cooked in a banana leaf, rice, chicken, egg, spicy onions

Looked messy but it was tasty & spicy!

Nasi Goreng, Dutch influenced Indonesian fried rice

Peacock up on a roof across from our hotel

There’s the peacock, & a peahen as well, probably nesting

We left the hotel Friday March 13, used Uber this time, much better service, same price & rode in a Toyota Prius, fitting as they are everywhere! Colombo airport had so much armed security - we had to show passports & boarding pass just to enter the building and our luggage went thru 2 separate security scans. We flew with Air Asia to Kuala Lumpur & then on to Bangkok, Don Mueang airport, long day, cost $683 total including extra carry on luggage. Definitely a budget airline, no free beverage, hard seats with minimal leg room & they make no effort to seat people together. We arrived at 8:45 pm, pretty quick thru immigration, thankfully I pay attention so we had done the mandatory pre-arrival forms online, a SIM card for Robin, money exchange & out into the 30C heat to wait for our prearranged ride. 

On to the next adventure, Still Living the Dream!