Unawatuna
Unawatuna is close to a much bigger city called Galle. The Portuguese built there a fort that was later expanded by the Dutch and British. We took the bus from Unawatuna to visit Galle Fort.
I tried hard to enjoy sightseeing in Sri Lankan heat and humidity, but it was difficult. The Lonely Planet says that it is a delight to explore Galle on foot. I do not know how they did it because I could barely drag my feet around the Fort. Perhaps, noon was not the best time of the day to go. Sure, I posed for a photo here and there, rather mechanically, wishing it was over soon. The photos came out so bad that I do not post here any of them. Nothing against Galle Fort, it does look great. There are historic buildings inside the Fort and even a small military base, all are worth seeing, but probably early in the morning.
Farther on the oceanfront past the Fort a small crowd gathered on a cliff. We climbed it to see what these people were watching. Two divers jumped from the cliff top into the shallow water below, came to the surface, scaled the cliff walls like monkeys to get back onto the parapet and dove again. They did that time after time, flawlessly and effortlessly, when one single wrong movement could cost them their lives. Their dark athletic bodies glided through the air and entered the ocean water without making a splash. People were clicking their cameras to capture this unique performance. ‘These guys are crazy,’ murmured someone in the crowd. That probably was their way to earn some income, however I did not notice if the divers received money from the audience. We too took pictures and moved on in the direction of Koggala to see famous stilt fishermen.
We walked on the beach that was practically empty except for an occasional lonely fisherman. It was much better to walk by the ocean than to be in a city. Once we encountered a group of tourists with baby turtles in their hands. They told us that there was a farm up on the shore where one could pay for the pleasure of releasing newly hatched sea turtles into the wild. The tourists gently lowered the babies into the water and let them go, or rather swim. We watched how the tiny turtles disappeared in the waves.
Slowly walking, we reached a cabin with several stilt fishermen who were having a meal. For years these men used to catch fish from fixed stilts standing or sitting on narrow planks attached to these stilts. Things changed in 2008 when The Lonely Planet put their photo on the cover of its next edition of the Sri Lanka guidebook. Tourists flocked to Koggala to look at the fishermen. This became an end of actual fishing and the beginning of a new way of making money for the fishermen. Now these colorfully dressed men pose on stilts for photos and it pays more than fishing. My husband negotiated a fee; two guys left their meals and got on the stilts. Sergey took over 10 photos at different angles until he exhausted all options and could not think of another view. The guys patiently stood on their stilts with fishing rods until he was done with them.
From Koggala we returned to Unawatuna to our wonderfully air-conditioned and clean room. By that time all the construction workers left, there was no noise and we slept great.
Our last full day in Sri Lanka was spent in Unawatuna. We walked to another beach called Jungle Beach with lots of locals, visited a small Buddhist temple and in the evening watched the sunset over the ocean from the rocks.
We also went shopping. While my husband buys postcards and souvenirs that collect dust in our house I prefer to get something practical that would remind me of my trip. I wanted to bring home gifts for my friends and coworkers that were authentic Sri Lankan. Silk scarves were perfect for that. They were lightweight and took little room in my backpack. In one shop I chose 8 beautiful scarves made from natural silk and paid $16 for all eight. On the way back to the hotel Sergey also decided that he needed silk scarves as presents for his relatives, but we could not find any more of them. I mean there were plenty of scarves at the market, but they were all polyester. We talked about returning to the shop where I bought my scarves. No, Sergey was too lazy to go back.
Next morning we went to the beach for the last swim in the Indian Ocean, showered and rested in our room before embarking on the long journey home via Singapore. Then we checked out and went to Galle to take the train to Colombo.
Before boarding the train we browsed the stalls of a nearby market for silk scarves. None were available. My suggestion to have lunch caused Sergey’s displeasure. My husband views meal breaks as unnecessary interruptions when traveling and can eat once a day like a camel. He grumbled under his breath that there was no place for lunch around the station, but allowed me to scout the area. I had to admit that Sergey was right on this occasion. The only cafeteria that I found looked too filthy. Although we had no issues with the local food regardless of what and where we ate, I did not want to take risks and gave up the idea of having a meal.
All seats in our second class carriage were broken and their upholstery was ripped. We went to a third class carriage out of curiosity to see what it was like. It was battered the same way; the only difference was that the seats in second class were soft and they were hard in third class. First class did not exist.
In Colombo, we went straight to the airport where we made another attempt to buy silk scarves for Sergey’s relatives. They were $15 apiece and of course, my husband did not want them after seeing how cheap they were in Unawatuna. We flew to Kuala Lumpur, the starting point of our South Asian trip, and from there to Singapore.
