Sri Lanka – Touch and Go – Ripening Nicely

After four days and four nights sailing (not quite biblical…), we arrived in Galle in the wee small hours. It was a busy night playing chicken with the big (and I mean BIG!) boats that we began to encounter about 60 NM out as they converge rounding India and Sri Lanka between the Persian Gulf and the busy Malacca Straits. Of course, it had to be the one day that both Bryan and I were starting to synch with the night watches so hadn’t really felt the need for an afternoon’s catch up nap. Poor planning on our part as the night was so hectic and on several occasions, we were both on watch as we needed the two pairs of eyes, ears, and the radar to try and catch ships and boats coming from all directions. After one stint of a solitary watch while Bryan caught a few zzz’s. He woke with a sense of humour when he asked why I had made the radar screen look like spaghetti. I had six large vessels on track at that time, all heading in different directions. For most of the night we had constant bleeping and pinging as the radar alerted us that yet another boat was encroaching on our ‘safety zone’.

Still, at least we would be in the harbour at the crack of dawn; or so we thought! Despite weeks of emailing the local agent with details of our arrival and questions to make it all streamlined it took us from 5.30 am till nearly 9 am to get into the Navy Harbour. Though we did have some intriguing entertainment around 6 am when five smallish Navy vessels escorted what looked to be a fishing boat into the harbour. It all looked pretty serious stuff, although I haven’t a clue what the crime had been. We then had fun and games hopping round the very basic harbour that really is not equipped for yachts before finding a half-decent mooring spot.

Despite the poor start, our agent seemed to be willing to help us in any way possible including taking us to the bank to get some local currency. We were swiftly through immigration and asked to be back at the boat in an hour for customs. Our excursion into town took considerably longer than that. Three members of bank staff were needed to complete the currency exchange and seemed to need to know everything about Bryan including his inside leg measurement! So when we finally got back to the boat the customs guys who had been waiting for us were less than pleased. Still, once onboard they seemed more than amenable – though one was desperate to know how much whiskey and cigarettes we had on board. We quickly sussed that he was looking for a ‘gift’ and to be fair the other one seemed pretty embarrassed by him. Bryan prised a bottle of unopened Chivas whiskey out of his hand and he instead helped himself to a couple of cartons of cigarettes. Since we are both non-smokers, the cigarettes were actually on board as ‘gifts’ such as this occasion. As for the Chivas, though not a huge whiskey drinker myself, I could see that it had more potential value to us.

26 April 2009

We are preparing to leave Sri Lanka in the next day or so and have a few last-minute errands to run including looking for Bryan’s new favourite dish ‘hoppers’. These are bowl-shaped thin bread (like Dosai) that are served with curry. Unfortunately, today being Sunday, none of the usual places is open so it looks like we will have to leave without that final fix.

We have had to delay our departure by a few hours as, since we are moored inside a Navy port, we are restricted in moving around. Today the Navy had a military exercise just in the bay outside the base, which including firing lots of rounds of live ammunition (yep!). We took comfort in the fact we were not actually arriving today as we are not sure how we would have known.

We seem to have become local celebrities. Everyone and their dog (of which there are many!) seem to know Bryan is ‘the captain from New Zealand’. A local tour guide even bought some people to the boat this morning to ask about our ‘world tour’. It has been a bit of a nuisance as many people have been claiming to work in the port and know us from there but increasingly it just looks like word has spread

Bryan writes: We both enjoyed our brief visit to Sri Lanka. We really liked a lot of the local people we met there. There are a few with tall stories to tell or dodgy gems to sell, but for the most part, they’re happy to just have a good-spirited chat. One thing that surprised me the most was how few other western tourists we saw – probably less than twenty all up. Not that we were looking for them, but I expected a bigger backpacker presence.

I’d thought that the whole Tamil Tigers unrest was in isolated pockets in northern and eastern parts of the country. But in Galle, we saw a huge military presence. Admittedly, we were moored in a port next to the local naval base, but I hadn’t seen that many men with guns since… well, since skiing in Lebanon last year. The inner harbour has a partially submerged floating barrier ‘gate’ across it. It looks like the Navy move it several times a day theoretically foiling any unauthorised high-speed entry attempts. When you first arrive you have to wait outside until a navy RIB clears you in (“Any guns, high explosives or ordinance to declare?”), and then leads you in through the correct series of lefts and rights to clear the barriers.

We found the food fantastic. They make dosa in the shape of small bowls (“hoppers”), putting a dollop of curry inside. Another interesting dish is made from chopped up thin roti bread mixed with vegetables, chicken (or other meat) and sauces. The chef makes such an act of the chopping; using a big knife against a metal plate; that you can hear him a good few shops away. They have a number of varieties of roti paratha, some thick, thin, containing an egg… served with small dishes of fish or chicken curry, similar to the roti you get in Singapore and Malaysia. I also rediscovered buffalo curd – a slightly acidic yoghurt. I was amazed that it comes in ‘one use’ terracotta pots- evidently cheaper (and more environmentally friendly!) than plastic.

On our last night, we visited the next bay of Unawatuna where the beach is lined with cheap hotels and restaurants. It’s a bit upsetting to see the damage from the 2004 tsunami still evident. It’s equally upsetting to see that the hotels have been built back directly on the beach, albeit some (but by no means all) have sturdy walls incorporated.

I would have liked to have spent longer in Galle. It seemed a shame to travel such a distance, even if we didn’t originally intend to go there and not stay a little longer. However, after checking the internet weather forecasts we decided to leave sooner rather than later, and have some extra time in Gan before Helen heads back to Dubai.