March 6, 2019
After the rainforest hike we decided we may as well take the bus down to the beach instead of a taxi. The buses are hot, crowded, and slow, but they pump Sri Lankan music videos from serious sound systems with bass-responsive colored LEDs...and it cost us $2 instead of $40. We were sticky anyway, a little more sweating on the bus wouldn’t matter. Bus from Deniyaya to Akuressa, then Akuressa to Galle, and finally Galle to Habaraduwa – a 5 hour journey – but the stop was a convenient .5 km from our hotel.
After the rainforest hike we decided we may as well take the bus down to the beach instead of a taxi. The buses are hot, crowded, and slow, but they pump Sri Lankan music videos from serious sound systems with bass-responsive colored LEDs...and it cost us $2 instead of $40. We were sticky anyway, a little more sweating on the bus wouldn’t matter. Bus from Deniyaya to Akuressa, then Akuressa to Galle, and finally Galle to Habaraduwa – a 5 hour journey – but the stop was a convenient .5 km from our hotel.
We arrived at our beach resort around 6:00 pm for a glorious few days of relaxation. We splurged on a nice room ($85 per night!!) that had a retractable wall so you could get a direct view of the private beach. Outside-inside! We mostly just chilled, but also did some work planning the next legs of travel. One night we stopped by the wine shop in Galle and had a nice white with some takeout on the beach. Lovely. It’s easy to see why Sri Lankan beaches are popular, the sand was fantastic and stretched for miles. Despite our best efforts to stay night-light-white, Tim did manage to get a mild sunburn.
This relaxing interlude quickly came to an end and we hopped on a train to Colombo, a 3 hour ride with little to recommend it other than the price ($1.50). Public transport in Sri Lanka is so cheap. From there we caught a commuter train to airport town Negombo, which quickly filled up with locals in business attire heading home for the day. For dinner we went to The Sizzle, a local chain that kept one-upping itself in bizarreness. It was well rated, but completely deserted. It had a 90s pop soundtrack and a Mohammad Ali tribute on the wall next to a small Jesus shrine. After we ordered they presented us with a goldfish to feed before dinner. We watched it sadly swam around its tiny bowl for the rest of the meal. They ceremoniously draped us with Sizzle-monogrammed bibs and delivered our meals, then insisted on taking our picture. As we left we were given a parting gift: our photo, cardboard-framed like you’d get from a fair, to ensure we’d remember the experience. The food really was good, though, so we couldn’t complain too much. The next morning we caught an uber to the airport for an uneventful flight back to Delhi and on to northern India.
No comments:
Post a Comment