SRI LANKA - PART 2

It was a long drag on the bus to Galle, first to Colombo via a very hectic bus terminal then down the coast which was a lot more scenic, it gave a good "tropical island" impression.


Galle fort was an interesting place to walk round in the afternoon. A couple of obvious scammers were hovering about but nothing I couldn't deal with.


At night there was no one at the accommodation so I went for a walk round town. With the number of tourists about in the day I thought it would be easy to find a bar with people to talk to at night.

The streets seemed almost completely empty after about 8pm which was a bit of a let down. All I wanted was a couple of beers and some travel conversation. It was a bit unreal walking around thinking "where the hell is everyone?????".


The following day I walked a few miles up the coast to nearby Unawatuna a typical ramshackle, touristy beach village. I should have stayed there instead of Galle and gone to Galle on a daytrip instead of the other way round. I did get lost in some woodland but was helped out by some friendly locals.



Time was running out fast so I headed back to Negombo for the last 2 nights. Sick of buses I thought I would give the trains a go. Dirt cheap even by Asian standards and on time. I took the above video clip on the way to Colombo. Had a well need rest after all the walking and hot sun.


9 out of 10 people who I met told me not to bother staying at Colombo but I thought it would be worth a daytrip on my final day. It was a fairly typical Asian city but to be fair I could name many places with more traffic, noise, pollution, poverty etc. Even the few locals I spoke to were more likely to engage in friendly conversation (ask me about cricket) than ask for money or try and sell me something.


10 days was nowhere near enough time to "do" Sri Lanka, a month would have been more like it. I never gave the country a thought while on my 16 month trip which was a pity.


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