After an early breakfast we met up Gunnel at the train station where we handed off Juni and ourselves got us on the nine train towards Colombo. This means 09:20 with delays but for 50 Rs each (0,25 EUR) since we pampered ourselves with 2nd class instead of 3rd that’s still a good bargain. That said the class doesn’t matter much since it’s a 20-30 minutes ride and we needed to stand anyway so the difference in cushioning on the seats are more of a theoretical aspect.

As we got to Galle and walked towards the fort we encountered our First attempt of getting tricked, and didn’t even realize it at first. Some friendly Tuk-Tuk drivers called to our attention that we couldn’t walk the way we were heading and needed to go around. This made little sense to us since we think we went in this time the last time, and saw others doing the same? We were told that this only leads to the clock tower, and is the exit, the entrance is the other one which shows the museum etc. Even more confused about the concepts of “entry” and “exit” into an old town with traffic going both ways we understood when they tried to sell us “new maps” for 3 USD each so we wouldn’t do the even more mistakes on how we walked around. We explained that Google Maps worked just fine and headed into Old town as originally intended.

Well there we were strolling around in shops, Mona looked at some designer clothes and found a large cockroach in one dress – not what one would expect 🙂 There were more hip restaurants than we remembered from seven years ago and although the area weren’t crowded in any way the ratio of British healthy bloggers started to gain on the Russians – there were also a significant portion of local tourists. We walked along the fort wall and had a look at the lighthouse again – very picturesque and impossible to get a shot without any strangers in…

We encountered a film crew, which was very interesting to the locals as we strolled around the wall of the fort. After some walking we decided that we would get a massage, and some quick research indicated that Fort Spa seemed like a good choice. A deep tissue massage for an hour later while Mona had a deluxe pedicure treatment we felt invigorated and started to get hungry.

Mona had during her pedicure identified what was likely the most instagram-friendly lunch restaurant (inside a health-shop) called Poonies. I got myself some vegetable Pho, and have to say it was probably on the top 5 of them – and I’ve tried quite a few during the years. Mona’s toasts with avocado and poached eggs also looked like something from a food magazine and tasted even better – so we’re likely to come back here another time. We were happy for now with strolling and head back to the train station in hope of catching a train before all the commuters were on their way back from Colombo. Again, 2nd class – and again no correlation between sold tickets and seats, but it’s nice to stand next to the exit and watch the scenery.

As we got off the train we saw four French tourists that were carrying off surf boards and backpacks – however this was likely their first time since they assumed the train would stand still until they were done. As they heard the whistle that was the signal to get start the train again and they only had half of the stuff we helped them unload. They threw some bags out the window and did a quick calculation on whether they had all bags as the train had started to move in non insignificant speed and the last guy jumped off while the some of the train was still on the platform while they all cheered that they made it.

Juni was entertaining her selves with Kalle and Gunnel so we were to meet them later for bbq. We walked home via the tracks and a quick detour to the supermarket, and again after getting inside it took two minutes before the sky opened and rain were pouring down. I went through the pictures taken during the day and then we took a tuk-tuk to Kalle & Gunnel where we enjoyed grilled chicken and rice. Kalle had to move the grill due to the rain so took shelter in the half-built house next, providing a very authentic local experience.

Another day at the beach, with new friends and also new playthings this time. Juni seems to charm the locals as well as other tourists – sometimes the competition isn’t on their top of the game to be fair but still nice.

We also documented some of he local wildlife, it seems the house just behind our spot on the beach is used as a temporary storage for wildlife that the locals wish animal rescue to deal with. This primarily is snakes they feel uncomfortable dealing with themselves so a crew goes out and picks up the animals and store them in the house and at the end of the day collects all animals from the house that are healthy and release them into the wild. So that they can get back into peoples houses the next week, it’s a very natural circle process.

We tried lunch at some random place called Simple on Galle road where we both went for some tasty Kottu with egg and vegetables. Hefty portions, although not quite as good as memory served us, we will need to keep explore this dish. Mona pointed out that given I’m often behind the camera I seldom appear on the photos – so this was remedied by a photo of yours truly well fed.

After the lunch we headed back for some slacking back at the Villa. I worked with some of the photos while Juni and Mona relaxed outside.

After a well-deserved rest from the days endeavors we decided we really ought to eat one more time today so went for dinner at Harbour, Kalle and Gunnel joined us for beers there. I was tempted to order “Jack Denials” as one of the spirits was labelled in the menu but won’t say if I actually did. Mona tried on recommendation from our landlords the Schnitzel – and was happy but would go for the properly breaded one next time. I’ve taken the plunge and started to read the anticipated second book in the Salvation Sequence Triology by one of my favorite authors Peter F. Hamilton – Salvation Lost, this is very likely to reduce the frequency of blogging updates but it’s vacation after all 🙂

We fell asleep quite late after attempting to get a not sleepy Juni to sleep, and when you fall asleep late you wake late 🙂 Mona woke us at 09:15, so we hurried in order to get to meet Kalle and Gunnel – after a nice breakfast with pancakes, curd and some fresh fruit.

We met up at Dolphin, where Kalle & Gunnel have their beer and a few game of cards at 10:00 after the first two hours at the beach every day – today included. After some time playing with the waves with Juni while the adults were enjoying the view and trading gossip we moved on to our now regular spot at the beach again.

I decided to give the electronic stores a new chance and this time found that the first shop after “Samsung-man” was open – that is the door was open with a “closed” sign. He had the adapter cable I was looking for, but only EU plug version. Tried another down the road without luck, and ended up at some Sigma shop. The same story, after some pointing and describing they find the EU-plug version. The older proprietor seemed very confused that I wanted a Sri Lanka plug – “You just put a pen in the outlet” he said and demonstrated how to bypass the safety function of their outlets. I knew this from the past and was aiming for a safer alternative but I resigned and headed back to the beach.

Juni didn’t spend many minutes outside of the water, made some local friends and generally had a great time. We headed back around 13:30 or so to avoid the strongest sun – two minutes after we got inside the sky opened up and it was pouring down 🙂

It seemed like a good moment as any to apply some after-sun in hope to not turn into the danish flag colored tourists one can spot now and then at the beach. After the family was well moisturized I started to set up my laptop for some blogging and photo management, and realizing that I hadn’t downloaded the 40-50Gb of photos from iPhoto. I decided it would be nice not to download all that at once at least. We then got ourselves a Tuk-Tuk to get ourselves a late lunch at Neela’s, another place that was recommended by the hotel. I got a noodle soup, and Mona went for an avocado sandwich – very Sri Lankan. Neela’s were located a bit south from where we had spent most of our time and there was a nice break quite close to the beach where a lot of beginner-medium surfers were trying their luck. I think I might give it a shot another day.

We went back and realized that the late lunch would most likely be the last thing we ate today as we were back and felt that getting dressed again would be a chore too extensive for this late afternoon. Juni fell asleep like a baby at 20 after a full day and we weren’t many hours later either.