Day 02 - Sunday 20th January

I woke before 6am and couldn't get back to sleep despite the fact it was a comfortable bed. Perhaps our body clocks haven't adjusted yet to Sri Lankan time.

We went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast at 7:30am and shared a table with a couple on our tour, Lorraine and Alan. The restaurant was located on the terrace at ground level next to the sea.

There was plenty of choice for food and they had a chef to cook special orders such as omelettes. After breakfast we went for a stroll around the grounds of the hotel and down to the beach. We noticed a uniformed security man with a slingshot that he was using to chase away crows and squirrels.

We needed to find an ATM to get some cash. Reception told us there was one nearby. It turned out to be a genuine hole in the wall - it was a doorway in the middle of long brick wall - about the size of a telephone booth. Suzy opened the door, walked in and screamed because there was a life size photo of a friendly bank employee hidden from the street but in your face on the left when you walked in.

By the time we'd got our cash, other people in our group had lined up to get cash too. We then went for a walk along the green to admire the view. A man approached us suggesting we catch a tuktuk for a once in blue moon opportunity to see a religious figure but we decided we didn't have time.

We had our bags packed and ready for pick up at 9:30am. Then we waited in the lounge and departed by bus at 10:15am for a city tour of Colombo. There were occasional stops to visit sites along the way.

The first stop was at the largest Muslim temple in Sri Lanka where we had a talk by a priest (after taking off our shoes). Next was a Lutheran church on the highest point in city. There was a lot of activity at the church because they were conducting Sunday services.

We visited a building that had been constructed as a memorial to Sri Lanka's independence. It was a large roof structure supported by columns in a parkland setting. Around the perimeter of the structure, there were numerous lions carved in stone.

Next was a Buddhist temple. Here we not only had to take our shoes off but we also had to cover our shoulders and knees. The congregation were dressed in white. We spent more time here than at the other sites.

Tonight we would be staying at a hotel in Galle and so, after the tour of Colombo, the bus set off for Galle. The route took us along a series of local roads and then onto the motorway. It was quite an experience. The roads and traffic in Sri Lanka could possibly be classified as organised chaos.

There was a wide variety of vehicles on the road - tuktuks, motor cycles, cars, buses, trucks and pedestrians. In smaller towns, there were cyclists. The bus driver would beep the horn frequently at tuktuk and motor bikes to tell them to move over so he could pass. Generally, they obliged by moving further to the side of the road.

Traffic drives on the left side of the road like in most Commonwealth countries and this might have helped us feel at home. However, they often drive on the wrong side of the road in which case oncoming traffic tends to move over to make space.

Furthermore, vehicles such as our bus do not stay in their lane on the motorway (or elsewhere). On highways, the bus would often cross the double yellow centre line - even on blind corners. At least on the motorway, there is a median strip separating you from traffic going the other way.

They have pedestrian crossing but you have to wonder why because most vehicles don't stop for people at the crossings. Some adventurous people would step out onto the pedestrian crossing in front of oncoming vehicles waving at the drivers. Luckily this seemed to work. At least it was better than in Italy.

I'd managed to get a seat behind the driver so I was in a good position to take photographs of the scenery along the way. So I was also in a good position to see the traffic conditions.

On previous bus tours that we'd done with other travel companies, they get people to rotate around the bus so everyone has a go. However, I found out that other people in our current tour group did not want to sit near the front because it was too frightening.

One bloke in our group commented that he wanted to sit at the back of the bus so he couldn't see the pandemonium playing out in front of the bus. He described it as like watching death come towards you. Also he felt safer at the back away from the likely impact zone.

Other people commented that they wanted to sit as far away from Neil as possible because he talked non-stop in a language that we couldn't understand. Someone made the comment that he doesn't have an off button.

It reminded me of the sign that you used to see on government buses in Sydney many years ago: "Do not talk to driver whilst bus is in motion". I wished that I could put up such a sign in our bus because the driver already had enough to contend with. Surely he didn't need to be listening to Neil rabbiting on.

Along the way, there were plenty of near misses. I came to the conclusion that the driver knew the dimensions of his bus perfectly - partly because he missed the other vehicles and partly because he could fit through tight spaces.

The bus stopped for a comfort break at a service centre along the motorway. It had very modern and imaginative architecture for such a building - much more interesting than anything I've seen in Australia.

Next we stopped at a turtle hatchery. At the front of the property there was a giant turtle building that we walked through. At the back we saw turtles at various stages of development. Some were injured turtles they were looking after. We were given the opportunity to hold some of the turtles.

Next we drove to a restaurant for lunch called Captains Table?? We sat on an open terrace next to river where boats were going past and people were waving.

By this time it was 3pm - a late lunch and we were starving. Some food didn't arrive until 4pm. There was no alcohol today (anywhere in Sri Lanka) because of the full moon holiday.

Next it was our turn to go on a boat trip along the river. We were all given life jackets to wear.

As we travelled upstream, we passed boats on the water and at their moorings. Sometimes we saw huts on stilts in the middle of the river. It was a peaceful setting made all the more attractive because the sun was starting to set.

After about half an hour, we stopped at an island for a cinnamon demonstration. They showed us how they obtained the cinnamon from the branch of the tree. We got to taste cinnamon tea and were given the opportunity to buy cinnamon products.

Before returning to our drop-off point, we stopped for some fish therapy. Anyone who volunteered put their feet in a tank of water filled with fish. The fish would then feed themselves with the loose skin on your feet. Naturally it tickled and people squealed.

Suzy and I had seen this before in Singapore but this was different because there were more fish and they were bigger.

The bus trip then took us to Hotel Amari at Galle where we arrived at 7pm - much later than planned. By this time we didn't have the patience to wait for the porters to take our bags to our room. - we grabbed them ourselves.

This a large modern hotel. Our room had a view of the hotel pool.

There was a buffet dinner in the hotel restaurant at 7:30pm. Naturally, there was still no alcohol but, as someone pointed out, we could have helped ourselves to the minibar in the room. However we decided we weren't that desperate to pay the minibar prices.

By this time, we were very tired. We were back in our room at 8:30pm to get ready for bed. We had a very early start tomorrow morning for whale watching.