Wrapping up Sri Lanka

A week in Sri Lanka probably doesn't deserve 3 posts but oh well...

The beach at Unawatuna was wonderful! Highly recommended. I got up wicked early to do sunrise picts (first two). Had breakfast at my hotel; Sun N Sea which is now a living tribute to the owner's wife who died in the tsunami - including photos, paintings and the piece of door she clung to. The rains meant visibility for scuba diving was bad so they didn't want to take me out. Too bad - I haven't been diving since 2001! Instead I laid on the beach.... all day... Seriously. The ocean was wonderful - the first day it was what I'll call Grandma-appropriate waves (totally mild and perfect for floating for hours). The second day was Grandpa-appropriate; rough enough for good body surfing. Mom, correct me if I've reversed the labels:)

For sunset I thought I'd head into Galle, which is surrounded by a fort built by the Dutch in the 1600s. While the tsunami devastated Unawatuna, the fort walls totally protected Galle. It also has shops and nice restaurants (Unawatuna has almost nothing except beach huts). And while it was lovely, I realized I'd much rather continue lying on the beach. One of the surprises of Galle was all the different religions co-mingling. You see the pictures of monks and young muslim kids and there were also tons of churches. Nice to see.

Final thoughts on how Sri Lanka is different than India:

• didn't see anyone peeing on the street
• far less horn honking
• my rickshaw (called tuk-tuks) had a sun roof; plexiglass and all
• much more catering to western food tastes; did I mention that all my colleagues found thai food too hot to eat:) Now they see what I mean!
• A store called Baghdad Gifts (okay not really different than India but it struck me as funny)
• 5 hour drive - only 2 McDonalds (and with beef!)
• Dogs aren't scared of my patented pretend to throw a rock at them trick - don't know if sri lankans are nicer to their dogs or the dogs are just tougher.