3 April 2013

Galle is the fourth largest city in Sri Lanka and is split between the old city within the walls of the old Dutch Fort and the new city. It is almost the southern most city on the island and about 125kms from Colombo. Again the drive there by the coastal road is about 3.5 hours (in blue on map above) although there is a new inland highway (in red on map above) which we used on our return trip. On the way we stopped at a turtle rescue refuge which was destroyed by the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004. As a matter of fact, most of the south coastal towns bore the brunt of the Tsunami. They experienced 7m waves. Our guide tells us that about 50,000 people died in the Tsunami in Sri Lanka. Then we stopped at a moonstone mine, apparently the only place in the world! We bought some cinnamon oil (some diversification in the business model) which is produced on-site. Cinnamon oil has medicinal properties for toothaches and for soothing congested heads when down with the flu. We had lunch in Galle and then toured the city. I am a bit disappointed as the old structures are sometimes in a state of disrepair and renovations to old houses are somewhat piecemeal.  Galle has a huge Muslim population, about 90%.

We got a local SIM card today which was quite an experience. These were the steps:
1. Get a number at reception and wait for your turn. We waited 30 mins.
2. Show the rep your passport and he fills out a form and opens an account while you are there. He sends you off to pay for the SIM.
3. The person at the payment counter checks the forms and sends you off to the cashier.
4. The cashier accepts your payment.
5. Return to previous counter with receipt and collect paperwork left there.
6. Go back to first counter attended to finalise account.
7. Go to another counter to have SIM topped up but first you need to fill out a form.
8. Get SIM topped up on the spot by cashier here who presses a few buttons on her ageing Nokia.
9. Smile and get the hell out of there!