Day 14 - Sri Lanka

Long day.  We had time to eat breakfast though.  We had hired a driver to take us on a day trip to Galle.  After breakfast, he was there waiting for us with his Tuk Tuk.

Side note:  We found out something interesting.  It seems a lot of people hire drivers to take them to many places around the country.  So much so, some hotels and resorts (Avani included) have rooms available just for the drivers.  That way they don't have to drive home at night (which in our driver's case would be Colombo, 2 hours away) and they're there when you need them.

So off we went.  It's about a 2 hour trip to Galle.  Along the way we stopped at tsunami memorial.  A lot of monuments, temples, shops, etc.  We kind of saw the famous Sri Lankan stick fishermen too.  By kind of I mean we saw them, but they now know they're famous and a tourist attraction, so they won't go on the  sticks unless you give them money.

We had lunch at a place in Galle fort called Fort Dew.  I don't know why it's called Fort Dew.  We didn't choose it for any particular reason.  Turns out it is a very nice place.  Rooftop restaurant, we didn't know that.  Great views all around and very good food at good prices.

After eating, we began our return to the resort and learned something else new.  Our driver got pulled over for a traffic violation.  By pulled over I mean there about 3 policemen were standing on the side of the road.  One of them waved his hat and our driver pulled over.  Our driver got out and went to see the police.  While he was talking to them, in less than 2 minutes, 2 other vehicles were pulled over.  When our driver came back, we left.  But we weren't heading back to the resort.  He was looking for a post office so he could pay his citation.  Once he did that, we had to return to the police with the receipt to prove he paid the citation AND to get his license back because the police took it.  Once we did that, we were on our way again.  We did do another stop along the way, turtle hatchery.  After that, back to the resort... with a quick detour to another temple.  I was templed out by this time, but the driver offered, and kumi said yes.  Then we returned to the resort.

I am guessing we returned about a half hour before sunset.  We dropped off our stuff in our room and went to Chatters.  It wasn't our intent, but we chose good seating to view the sunset.  kumi went to the beach to get a better picture of the sunset.  I decided walking the 20 meters to do that required too much effort and stayed where I was at.  I think I made the better choice.