Tourist-free zone

Yesterday, after our safari, we did what we'd been looking forward to since leaving Negombo, and headed to the coast.  We went to Tangalla, which had been recommended to us by another couple we'd met as being 'like the Maldives'.   We've never been to the Maldives (although we'd love to go one day) but I'm pretty sure Tangalla, at least the way we saw it yesterday, is not much like it.  For one thing, the weather was not very good, overcast, drizzly and windy, so the sea was very rough with huge waves crashing noisily on the shore, and looked very threatening.  The main reason we didn't like it though, and frankly, couldn't wait to leave it, was that it was virtually deserted.  Poor Sri Lanka has taken such a battering in various ways.  First there was their civil war, then that fighting had not long stopped when the Tsunami destroyed much of their coastline and meant that after Indonesia they lost the most lives, and then the Tamil Tigers, despite the ceasefire, started making their prescence felt again.  All these things have meant that the tourists are staying away, and so many people who depended on those tourists for their livelihood are struggling to make ends meet. 

01 Why bus journeys take so long...

 In Tangalla, we were hounded by a man trying to sell us one of his rooms and went to look at his place.  It wasn't that nice so we said it wasn't what we were looking for and walked away.  He followed us down the road, hassling us to take the room, and we found his behaviour really annoying.  But then he was suddenly genuine and just said 'we have no business' and I felt so sorry for him, and for all those people who have essentially lost their businesses.  It was really a desperately sad place to be so, whilst we felt such pity for the locals who had no choice but to stay, we couldn't wait to leave.  Dinner just compounded our feelings - we were the only people in the restaurant, and ordered fried fish, seafood fried rice and salad, a meal which I could easily knock up in half an hour at home, and I'm not a restaurant chef who should be used to producing food quickly.  However, over an hour after ordering, no food had arrived so we made gentle enquiries of our waitress, who went to the kitchen to check and came out telling us he had just finished cooking and it was coming now.  Sure enough, the food did come a couple of minutes later, but it was completely cold.  We were livid and just didn't understand how they could not manage to bring us hot food when we'd waited over an hour and we were the only people there to look after.  And then when we complained about it being cold the waitress said 'you want hot?' as if that was a reasonable question, and we were being stupid for expecting freshly cooked, hot food.  Then another man (the manager, we think) came over and tried to blame the wind for making the food cold.  Anyway, it was taken away and brought back about 15 minutes later warm but I can't say we enjoyed it much.  If you have to argue about your meal it rather spoils your mood.  We understand that all the restaurants there are having a really tough time and probably can't even afford to have ingredients in ready, but we really feel they have to try to look after the customers they do get if they're to stand any chance of recovery. 

02 Tangalle beach

Things felt a bit better this morning but we still wanted to leave, and got on a bus to Unawatuna, further west on the south coast.  This is still quiet, but there are at least some tourists and some life here, and the beach and sea are beautiful.  The water is a really clear pale blue and lovely and calm.  The people here have also obviously really suffered the joint effects of the tsunami and the recent terrorism, but it's not so desperate as in Tangalla.  So we'll stay here for a few days and chill out.  (R)