Galle Fort, Sri Lanka 07/10

On Thursday, Ruvi and Shereen's friend Jean (from Arizona) and I went to Galle. Michelle and her husband Surain lent us their driver for the day, which was incredibly generous of them. He drove us out early in the morning and we walked around the old Dutch and Portuguese fort. We saw old government buildings, churches, and houses (which many are now little shops). The Portuguese colonized Sri Lanka in the 1500s and built this fort, then the Dutch came in and changed it. It's now the best preserved Dutch fort in Asia.












The night before, I had gone to the Hilton with Michelle and her husband to watch World Cup, and they introduced me to their friend Jeffrey. He has a couple of hotels in Galle, and he invited us to have lunch at one of them. His friend Henri was there to show us around the two hotels he has there. The first one was The Sunhouse, and that is where we had lunch in a gorgeous garden, complete with little gray monkeys. The house was built in the 1860s.











After lunch, Henri took us across the road to see The Dutch House, the other hotel Jeffrey owns. It was an old orphanage built in 1712. This one was really cool and it had this great pool in the back that looks like it drops off into the jungle. The tours were really cool.










Henri told our driver where a sea turtle hatchery was, so he took us there next. The hatchery buys turtle eggs from people who sell them to eat, then re-bury them in the sand there. They keep a few turtles to show people and schoolkids.






The rest of the day was spent lying on a beach, drinking ginger beer, then going back to the Fort to see the lighthouse. At the lighthouse I was surprised at how the young Sri Lankan boys all wanted photos with me! I must have stood for at least 5 cameras. It was pretty cute.









On the way home, the driver was showing us the damage from the tsunami in 2004. The island lost 30,000 people that morning. Also, Michelle and Surain knew people who lived right on the beach. They woke up to the dogs barking like crazy and got up to see what was the matter. Luckily they got out in time. Apparently, the water receded back a kilometer, leaving fish flopping around and shipwrecks appeared out of the water. Then the waves hit, coming in-shore over three kilometers and just destroying everything. Everything but Galle Fort, whose high walls protected it from the waves. It was amazing to see the leftover foundations of buildings, now overgrown with grass.

Sigiriya, Sri Lanka 07/10

On my second day in Sri Lanka, we drove inland so we could climb Sigiriya and continue east to some beautiful beaches in Trincomalee. We stayed at a gorgeous hotel in a grassy jungle area. The rooms had flowers on the beds and a Sri Lankan and Dutch-type jungle style. I felt like I was on an Indian safari. The rooms had little patios with small pools, showers with skylights letting in the sun, and even frogs in the toilet. Yep, that's right, your very own toilet frog! In the second picture down, you can see Sigiriya through the hotel lobby. Cool view.

We had breakfast at the hotel, then hurried the kids along so we could climb up Sigiriya before it got too hot and all the school children on field trips choked the stairways. Of course, traveling with families, we failed at both those things. Either way, we had a nice time climbing this gigantic rock in the middle of the jungle.

Sigiriya's use has changed over the years, from monastery to prince's pleasure palace. The gardens around it are a maze of pools and walls enclosed by a moat. On the way up, there are restored frescoes and a mirror-wall, that was said to be shined up so well the prince could see his reflection in the rock. The top of the rock also had ruins of walls and baths the prince must have used to relax in. One of the baths still had water in it because it was rocky underneath and the water doesn't filter through. Also, over halfway up the rock, there's a staircase that starts at the base of a huge lion statue. Only his feet remain, but you can almost see where the rest of his body should be in the rock.

On the way to and from the rock, we passed a lot of beautiful trees, monkeys, and people selling food (I tried the unripe mango slices covered in salt and hot spices - not bad!)