The Fortress Galle

... suis ballade un peu dans la nouvelle ville mais pas terrible et une chaleur etouffante, on va pas se plaindre. Retour en bus local encore pour 15 roupies, ca depend des compagnies pour le prix. <br>Me change et direction la plage, en chemin m'arrete manger un roti tomates ail et fromage ( sorte de crepe pliee en 4) et un jus de banane frais. Il se met a pleuvoir un peu, donc vais sur internet uploader quelques photos sur msn.<br>Puis vais au Hard Rock manger un tres bon ...

... ocean views all around (the fort occupies all the promontory land of old Galle) its edges. I passed along the main gate (more recently built by the British in 1873) and its heavily fortified walls. Originally built by the Portuguese and enlarged by the Dutch, who divided the wall into Sun, Moon and Star bastions!<br><br>Walking around, I passed the old bell tower (19011) and the old gate, with its 1669 inscription and VOC (Dutch East India Company ...

... the turtles up wanted a nice tip which kind of soured the experience (but we saw it coming ;). While we enjoyed our time in Hikkaduwa I can't imagine going back to that town since there is so little to do there and I don't surf. It was nice to be back near the beach and hear the surf pounding at night, though. While we had planned on having time to check out Colombo before we left our last minute plans to catch a flight to Thailand nixed that idea. We hadn't ...

... stilt fishermen - they climb a pole in the water and fish from it......we got a photo stop (organised for tourists i think) with two of them (poles not even in the water but on the edge)- as soon as one of us had put the camera down them climbed down the poles and came looking for tips! Aswell as the stilt fisherman we also passed a group of people fishing from rubber rings! The coast is lovely - white sand beaches, palm trees, bays ...

... on a bus to Hikkaduwa, which is about 2 hours south. I checked into a lovely guesthouse/bungalow right on the beach then walked to the dive shop to get sorted for diving the next day. Unfortunately the ocean has been too rough and no dive boats have been going out the last week or so. Oh I was so upset. I decided that since Hikkaduwa is so close to Colombo, I would just come ...

... inside the Dutch Fort which gave us a good place to start exploring. We climbed the fort wall and saw a large barge that had been blown onto the rocks and was now stuck... We wandered down to Flag rock where there was a group of local kids offering to jump from the fort wall into the water so we could take a photo -- none of us took them up on their offer. Continuing on we came to the lighthouse - built in ...

... of them." Despite the war, if people didn't talk about it, no signs of conflict existed anywhere as my journey progressed. Back at the Kosgada Turtle Factory, I had the spine tingling opportunity to meet thousands of baby Green Turtles and Olive Ridley Turtles about to be released into the ocean. There I met Kansiriyapin Abren, the loving manager, who released millions of baby turtles into the Indian Ocean and rebuilt the hatchery ...

... t see. Thankfully, this only went on for a few minutes. I soon broke off from the large group because I really wanted to see some wildlife. Each time one of the girls found a leach, they would all squeal. Squeals were heard every minute or so.... Also, the tour guide didn't speak much English and I was tired of asking for translation. This paid off, as I saw a grizzled indean squirrel, some frogs, a huge spider and so many interesting plants. I met up with the group at a ...

... around the dock, fishermen, most of them I expect. As I walked up to the lodge I saw the light from the lighthouse and because I had never seen one working before wanted to go and have a look. I walked up to the Sea front and sat on the outer wall of the Fort for a bit just listening to the sea and watching the lighthouse do its thing. Then I realised it was 3am and that I should really be thinking about bed now! The party was not that good and I will defiantly NOT be doing that again.

... Army, due to it being the highest point in Galle and only a five minute walk from the town centre. That night it rained and rained with an intensity we'd yet seen. I was convinced the final day of the First Test would be a wash-out and the England cricket team were hoping it'd be a wash-out, but after a couple of hours of sun the following morning it was game-on. Arriving at the Galle International Stadium (stadium, being a strong word, as Bigglesworth 2nd XI of the Bloggs ...