The idea of having a quite place a but away from traffic worked well – except for the fact that the ocean 50 meters from our open balcony easily could have drowned any noise from traffic. The fan dutifully rotated but only lowered the temperature marginally so open doors it was. In the morning we had a nice breakfast just by the ocean before figuring out what to do this tropical Christmas Eve.

First we wanted to take a swim and check out the beach, it turned out to be a bit uneven ground and quite a few sharp rocks which combined with decent waves and currents was so-so. Luckily we found a patch more suitable for swimming nearby and enjoyed the salt water for a while.

When the power (and thereby also wifi) died we decided we would try the local bus to Galle. Again, way more fun and cheaper than a taxi. Galle Fort had a lot of colonial architecture, not unlike Hoi An, and quite a few places were under renovation/reconstruction. We had a late lunch a this small place called Lucky Fort Restaurant, it was a few tables in some family’s garden which had an offer with 10(!) curries and rice for two people for about 7 EUR. This proved to be an excellent Christmas buffet replacement 🙂

A little more strolling inside the Fort before heading back towards the bus station and Galle in general. This included a visit to “The Spice King” in his shack in the Dutch market where Mona sampled spices and bought a few mixes as well as re-stocking or supply of fresh vanilla. A few friendly locals who wanted to show us their “special local handicraft shop” later we took the bus towards Weligama and managed to spot the sign to our place and get off quite close to home despite this being an express bus.

The wifi was now back and we arranged for Whale safari through EcoWing/Mirissa Water Sports which had a safe boat, sustainable mindset and decent price just about 50 EUR. This meant Tuk-tuk 0545 so an somewhat early night – after finishing Marauder by Gary Gibson which was really nice…

The breakfast was like a copy of the previous ones, not in a bad way except I am still surprised and confused about the level of service. Surely anyone can see that it would be more efficient to e.g. bring tea and coffee at the same time as cups, or at least cups at the same time as cutlery when only setting up one table? The quality is really good and we’re in no rush so it’s not irritating as much as tickling my curiosity how the staff fail to realize they miss orders in some way about roughly half the time.

We checked out, settled our bills and gave our luggage to the staff who would secure it in the luggage storage. A couple of hours reading and splashing in the pool later we decided we would head towards the train station and left Avani, but realizing that the staff had had yet another miscommunication and left our luggage at the hotel entrance rather than inside the locked luggage storage. Well well, we were on our way.

We walked 100m and thus reduced the price for a tuk-tuk by 67% and arrived at Aluthgama Railway station, secured our two tickets to Weligama for less than 1 EUR each riding in 2nd class #whatcouldpossiblygowrong While there we also secured 1st class tickets with observation windows for the Ella->Kandy.

The train was packed, and I mean packed. After Galle most passengers left so in theory we might have been able to steal a seat from someone but by now had made friends with most of the people we shared a square meter with and there were so many great opportunities to photos. I think this may have been my best spent 1 EUR ever 🙂

After arriving in Weligama, we located an ATM, had dinner at Catamaran restaurant and then took a tuk-tuk to Villa Naomi Beach were we had reservations. This was “just outside Weligama” and chosen since it was a bit away from the traffic. A room did exist, although no door to the bathroom and for a higher price than expected but Mona managed to get the price down and the wifi was good so we stayed, they did have a lovely balcony with a great view and a mosquito net over the bed…

We woke just late enough to make it for the breakfast, but without the alarm. I skipped the early running and instead we hit the sun-chairs early. While playing in the waves and the pool we tried out the GoPro camera my brother so kindly borrowed me, and now I know that the mode I used need to have a computer to playback – I learn things every day 🙂

We decided to have lunch today and I broke away from my vegetarian diet for one meal, only to wait 45 minutes for a burger. Mona enjoyed a club sandwich herself – in general the quality of drinks and food at the hotel is good, the only thing I think they could improve is their bad habit of forgetting orders and/or the preparation times. A little more slacking/reading until I finished “Final Days” by Gary Gibson, OK but not as good as the previous trilogy so the next one will be Marauder, another book set in the same universe as the Shoal triology.

After the food settled I went to the gym again, this time completely empty so I took my chances and went running and exercising in shorts only and with music from the jambox – felt great. While showering I realized that the waterproof sunscreen had not been applied as through as I intended and now I sported spotted areas of sunburn – felt less great. We ended up too lazy to get dinner and the rest of the evening was spent reading except another short break to FaceTime with Java, who unfortunately still don’t grasp the concept of video chatting but at least we can look at her and see her react to our voices.