RockyB and I were excited to meet up for our 7th trip together and so far it has already been filled with adventures. We spent a couple of days in the capital city of Colombo, where we put in 30,000 steps per day exploring. Highlights included:
- The Lotus tower
- Buddhist temples, including one on the water and one with a massive Bodhi tree
- The red and white mosque: our tour was led by the sweetest Muslim guy I could have imagined. We wished we could have done a recording of him singing a verse of the Quran. The mosque’s red and white colours and dome shapes are representative of a pomegranate, which is featured in many verses.
- Figuring out the different transportation systems like tuk tuks and the bus!
For distance travel in Sri Lanka, trains are the way to go. We hopped a 2.5 hour train to the seaside city of Galle (pronounced Goal) and loved every second of it: tasting the foods being sold by hawkers, clapping along with a group of young people drumming and singing, and seeing the coastal views out of the open air windows and doors.
One of Galle’s main attractions is a walled fort town that has architecture from Dutch, Portuguese, and British colonial days. We walked around on an afternoon where the humidity was so high I felt like I could have taken a bite out of the air. In a Rock-Awn first we have been having to say ‘uncle’ and duck into air conditioned shops and cafes to cool down!
This morning we visited a sea turtle hatchery and recovery centre. They take in sea turtles that have been sick or injured, as well as protect eggs and babies. It was heartbreaking to see turtles that were sick from eating plastic, blind, had abscesses, or got caught in a boat motor. We had the chance to release some babies back to the ocean. I hope the little guys do ok out there.
After our time with the turtles we were walking along the beach and it was SO hot and SO beautiful that we did another Rock-Awn first… we stripped down to our undies and spent some time in the waves. The surf was rough and it was my first time getting sucked into the rip and pounded into the sand. When we got back to our hotel and into the shower I realized that I had about 3 cups of sand in my undies and another cup in my hair.
We’ve been tasting a lot of Sri Lankan foods and have had some hilarious ‘lost in translation’ moments along the way. I’m looking forward to more Rock-Awn moments!
You got what Rocky and I call, ‘gettin’ rolled’. Getting beat by the waves and current, and taking all the sand home! “knock your top off” kind of waves. Haha! Love the turtles!