Sri Lanks R & R part 2

We decided to do a day trip down to Galle, about 18 km south of Hikkaduwa. It was definitely worth the trip. We met a local while waiting for the train and he helped us by organising a tuktuk driver to drive us to different places in Galle. The total 5000R including a tip was quite cheap considering he was with us for about 45 km (we paid per km).

The rain came down during the last day and a half before heading back to Colombo. Unfortunately the 2 bedroom exotic apartment (more like a bach) we were staying at had no lounge so we had to retreat to our bedrooms. Don't get me wrong, there were long periods of dry weather in between the heavy showers and it wasn't cold. We even managed to walk along to the train station on our last day before another shower hit.

Getting to the Unique Towers Hotel in Colombo was a challenge because of  tuktuk drivers increasing their prices for tourists. After arriving, Raymond's 10.30pm transfer was organised along with a driver to take us to Kandy (the train we were hoping to catch was fully booked), then we wandered off for a final dinner at Pizza Hut. It was definitely not up to the usual NZ standard for quality and service.

We loved spending those few special days with Raymond and hope to see him again before another year passes. I will admit that Tony can't have the same in depth "league conversations" with me that he had with Raymond. Maybe he'll visit Cairo inshallah. 

Spotted this small Hindu temple squeezed between some shops.

The temple for this standing Buddha is built into rock.
Inside are beautiful paintings and statues of Buddha's life as
well as an enormous resting Buddha.

Pole fishing tourists. Not sure they caught anything.

Outside the second gate of Galle Fort.

This new Hindu temple is not far from the train station
and has taken 5 years so far to build. 

Tony and the caretaker cleaning up rubbish on the beach
outside our apartment. He buried the rubbish in a hole
he dug. Tony's went into the bin.

View from our bedroom door during a shower.

 The morning of the 16th we were transported to Kandy which is over 100km north east of Colombo. We arranged with the driver to stop at the elephant orphanage but ended up at the Millenium Elephant Foundation in Pennewala. Paying 2000R each hopefully went towards the upkeep of the elephants because both the mahouts and the helper staff expected tips as well. When we questioned the driver for the second time about the orphanage he told us this one was more fun because you couldn't ride the orphan elephants but you paid just as much to see and feed them... which is what we wanted to do in the first place. It was a shame we couldn't get a refund and leave.

The Anna Shanthi Hotel was a lovely little hotel, owned by a Sri Lankan and his Australian wife, only 5 minutes walk from the Kandy Lake. It was only about 30 minutes to walk into town so we spent most of our time walking in Kandy. Even though we only had one full day and the afternoon of our arrival day, we managed to fit in a lot. We found a couple of really good cafes to eat at and managed to dodge Burger King too. Even though we missed the big festival for the area there were still celebrations happening that we were able to observe in the Sri Dadala Maligawa, the Tooth Temple. Our other highlight was our walk up to Sri Maha Bodhi Maha Viharaya which is on the hill overlooking Kandy.

Kandy Lake.

Sri Maha Bodhi Maha Viharaya Temple. This Buddha is
88 feet tall and overlooks Kandy.

The view from the foot of the Buddha back towards Kandy.
Our hotel was at the far end of the lake.

Kandy has a modern city mall as well as the market.
Makarel, prawns and lake fish are sold here.

Monitor lizards, turtles, numerous birds, lake fish and monkeys
share the lake area with the local people.

Monkeys make themselves right at home in the trees
and on house rooves.

The costumes and dancing at the cultural show were beautiful.

 Outside Sri Dadala Maligawa, the Tooth Temple

A golden Buddha inside Sri Dalada Maligawa.

The rear view from the last photo. The walls are lined
with golden elephant heads and large paintings showing the story
of the Buddha's Tooth.

Our final day in Sri Lanka has been spent travelling back to our hotel in Negombo. The Gateway Hotel is a little bit of luxury before heading back home to Cairo tomorrow morning. We were even upgraded from a standard to a superior room. Lots of TV channels - rugby league and cricket have been covered.

Even though we were constantly hit up to reach into our wallets we did enjoy Sri Lanka. The people we have met have been very friendly and helpful. All have had some degree of spoken English which they had either learnt in school or through their interaction with tourists. My highlights were the range of  food on offer, the beautiful Buddhist temples and being up close and personal to the elephants. There were really only two disappointments - the inconsistency with tuktuk prices (even with the "government approved" ones) everywhere we visited and the rubbish on the beach at Hikkaduwa. Sadly the rubbish on beaches seems to be a recurring observation...

Our summer is just about at an end. We started our journeys through Morocco, Portugal and Sri Lanka at the end of June. We've experienced so much packed into these two months and yet it's only been a taste of the world we live in. "Where shall we go next holidays?" I started to wonder as we drove towards the end of this chapter this morning ...

Sri Lanka R & R

At the moment I am sitting on the deck of a "bach" looking out to the Laccadive Sea watching the waves crash on the beach while I sip my glass of red wine. Jealous? We've been in Sri Lanka since the 8 August, mainly to catch up with Raymond but also to have a look around another country. I haven't seen so much rain in a long time! Don't get me wrong, it's not cold heavy rain but it's still wet and you don't really do wet in Cairo.
Anyway I digress. We arrived on the 8th and managed to fit in the National Museum, Viharamahadevi Park, Town Hall, hunted down some cashew nuts and visited Barefoot, a shop of local crafts. We figured Raymond wouldn't be interested in any of these. He arrived late on the evening of the 9th so we were already organised for the next day. Tickets had to be booked for Hikkaduwa, then we hired a tuktuk driver for an hour visited a temple, a gem shop and a tea shop. The cost of 200R was well worth it. Funnily enough we saw the sightseeing bus outside the Dutch Hospital district and it wasn't leaving for another 3 hours which is why we hired the tuktuk. The afternoon was spent searching for the lighthouse then heading back for a nap before dinner.

The Museum - not well sign posted but worth the visit.

Would you believe this is the sign for the ""New Town Hall"?

A Boy Scout Memorial.

Catch up time is quality time.

At the entrance to a Buddhist temple.

We found the lighthouse and it wasn't on the coast.

View from our apartment window.

We had to be up early the next morning to catch the train to Hikkaduwa. Two and a half hours later we were standing outside the station waiting for Chanaka to pick us up, ended up being a three minute walk to the "2 bdrm exotic apartment" which I would call a bach. Let's just say it doesn't look as immaculate as the pictures on Trip Advisor. It's comfortable and relaxing and right on the beach and that's really all that matters.
Our first day was just spent lazing around here, napping and watching rugby league on the laptop. The Number 1 Roti shop was closed for the off-season so we went next door for curry and rice which was just as good.
Day Two, we'd organized for Chanaka to take us to some local sights after breakfast. First stop was to the memorials for the 2004 tsunami. There was a small photographic museum on a side road, being maintained by a local woman who was keen to share her experiences and knowledge of the event with us - approx 50,000 died in Sri Lanka. Next stop was the moonstone mine & cinnamon plantation. They were still using basic technology to mine the stones, OSH would have had a field day. They also cut the stones, made jewellery and sold them to tourists. The side business the family had was the production of cinnamon. Luckily I'n not a fan of jewellery so we save some money. I did buy cinnamon oil for headaches and pain though. My favourite part of the day was the boat trip on the river. We spent over an hour out there, stopping off at the fish massage and the Buddhist temple. The turtle hatchery was not the one in Hikkaduwa, this was further out and supported by the NGO (whatever that is). Turtle eggs are delivered by local fishermen, who no longer eat them, then they are hatched and returned to the sea after 3 days. Any turtles that are malformed are kept and raised at the hatchery until they die. There were a few blind ones and turtles with missing limbs. I have to say I was far more impressed with this place than the exhibition in Lisbon for the four turtles. Our last stop was the spice garden. After listening to the young man tell us all about the different spices and what they were for, he herded us into the shop to purchase some of these wonderful miracle creams and oils. Unfortunately for him I'd bought some cream in Colombo and cinnamon oil about 2 hours earlier. He was really friendly though so we gave him a tip.

Waiting for the train at Colombo Fort Station

The view from our bach deck / lounge / dining room.

The Tsunami Memorial. 

The memorial donated by the Japanese.

One of the workers coming up from the mine.

Part of the boat ride involved ducking under bridges and mangrove branches.

Stop off for a fish massage and crocodile holding.

Some were pretty big. Apparently they are lake fish
and wouldn't survive in the river.

Prawn traps.

Another stop at a Buddhist temple on an island
where we tried to feed some squirrels.

A monitor lizard decided to sidle up next to our boat.

At the hatchery we were about to hold the 3 day old turtles as
 well as some of the bigger ones.

These markers show where eggs have been buried ready for hatching.

So, the day is nearly over. Time to wake Tony from his snooze and start thinking about dinner before it gets too late...

Last Stop: Porto.

Porto is where we planned to meet up with Jase and Chloe. Chloe and I had decided on an apartment found on airbnb, cheaper than a hotel but nicer than a hostel. It had to be the hardest place, out of all of Portugal, to find because of the multitude of one way streets. It took over an hour, and a couple of phone calls to Tomas the landlord, to get from the bridge into the city to the actual carpark. Then came the 81 stairs up to the apartment - thankfully I had Tony to carry my bag up for me.
Jase and Chloe caught the night train and weren't arriving til the next morning which gave us some time to unpack, stock the fridge, have a look around the neighbourhood and get our bearings. Tomas had met us when we arrived and gave us some suggestions for places to eat and visit, as well as a map.
Once our "engaged couple" arrived the next morning, with their own arrival tale to tell (You need to ask them) we headed out to return the car to Europcar. We had no need for it in Porto and the carpark was going to cost 15Euro a day. Jase proved to be a much more relaxed navigator than his mother, getting us to our destination without getting lost. Our next step was to locate the nearest Metro to get ourselves back to the old city and find the sightseeing bus. So much easier than driving!
Anyway, the next three days were spent on the bus, boat, gondola and wandering the streets of the old town. We even managed a couple of free port tastings. I'd never heard of white port before this trip, not a  bad drop at all. Afternoon siestas were a ritual, even if it meant only one or two slept while the others watched movies. As long as our feet were up and we were resting we were then able to go out to find a restaurant / cafe to eat. Portuguese Reds, Super Bock and Sagre beer were standard accompaniments to whatever we ate.
I'm sure the others will be able to add to our three days in Porto but I think a photo tells a story better than me babbling on. Here are a few I took over the three days ...

The gang's all here.

Not all of us wanted to be photographed.

The best way to see Porto is on a sightseeing bus (any colour). The drive out to the
beach is a bit too long  but it's worth it if you want to compare the new city with the old.

The "engaged couple".

I love this photo.

This bridge has two levels, one for the Metro and below is the road.

View from the top level of the bridge.

The gondola ride started at the bridge on the right, behind Jason...

... and ended at the riverside behind Jason's right shoulder.
How did Jason get in both photos you ask?  You probably
already know the answer.

The boat cruise gave us a totally different perspective.

There are 6 bridges in Porto.

Free port tastings at two different cellars. The first was close to the
riverside. They made a nice white port.

We decided to walk up a very steep hill, instead of
waiting for a bus, to get to the second.

Well deserved! Managed to buy a bottle
of Ruby Port to bring back to Egypt.

Climbed Clerigos Tower, just around the corner from
where we stayed. This is the view back towards the
apartment.

Tony & Chloe, taken from halfway up the tower.

Top of the tower. Didn't even build up a sweat.

Jase and Tony sharing a joke with some locals at the park.

I met this paperboy at the Main Square.

Chloe has a soft spot for puppies and gave a handful of coins
over to help support them.

View towards Clerigos Church, from our lounge window.
The tower is behind the church.

Pedestrian only street in the background. Loads of shops!

View towards the Main Square from our lounge window

The lobby to the Sao Bento Railway Station is tiled with Medieval
Scenes in traditional blue as well as colour.

Just in case you didn't believe me about the
stairs.

If you asked me which place I liked the most from this summer journey I would say Porto straight away. All the other places throughout Morocco and Portugal that we visited have been wonderful but the time we spent in Porto was quality time with family.

We return home to Cairo for a few days to rest up for our next trip ... time out with Raymond in Sri Lanka. Can't wait.