It took about eight hours to get from Colombo to Kandy and this time there was a timeline to stick to as Araceli and Melissa were hopping a plane to the Maldives. With that being the case they needed to be at the airport to check in early so we couldn't afford another eight hour day in the car. Nanda took the back road which was a bit longer in terms of distance but so much shorter in terms of time.
Along the way we stopped to see how palm trees are planed and turned into timbers ready for home construction. Having built his own home Nanda explained that the darker wood is denser and therefore stronger so it is used for heavy loads. It was quite interesting and the men waved us over to take a closer look. After we made additional stops at workshops making architectural items out of concrete and again to see how bricks are made and fired. All these stops make what could have been a tedious morning much more interesting.
We made it to the airport ten minutes before they wanted to be there so kudos to Nanda and his kamikaze Sri Lankan driving skills!
And back into the car driving for what we thought was Galle. Turns out Nanda put us in a hotel in Bentota which is about forty-five minutes from Galle. It is a beach town, a little bit sleepy, but that's the allure. We had lunch in town, did a little shopping and then checked in to our hotel.
This is where is gets a bit disappointing. The room is big but it is poorly lit with small windows, stained linens (although they appear to be clean), and an A/C unit with a remote that doesn't display the setting so you're pretty much just guessing. Even the staff was underwhelming, not especially interested and asking a question is usually met my a blank stare and passing you off to someone else even though the person to whom you posed the question answered previous queries. Weird.
But the room is fine for a couple nights and we caught up on life in the real world before asking Nanda to take us to the beach for sunset. The sky was cloudy and a storm was coming in which meant we got a nice sunset. We walked up and down the beach, Francene made friends with a fisherman whose boat is pictured below. He has a big red smile, his teeth stained red from chewing betel nuts; he explained that they will go out despite the storm and their hope is to catch about five kilos of lobster before returning in the morning.
Sandy and sweaty we decided it was time to find some dinner. We asked Nanda to take us to a local place, somewhere tourists probably wouldn't go. He found us a little restaurant with good cheap food and we ate until we were stuff and the whole thing cost less than it would to feed one person at an establishment aimed at tourists.
Tomorrow we head to Galle to meet up with from of Francene's friends who are, coincidentally, in Sri Lanka too. More on our adventures tomorrow!
Fuji X-T1, Fujinon 10-24/f4R OIS
10mm, f8, 26 sec @ 200 ISO
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