Day 13 – 08APR2014: Unawatuna -> Mt. Lavinia (Colombo)
Distance: 120 km
Time on bike: 5h 41m
Avg. speed : 21.0 km/h
Total (km) : 941
I made it to Galle this morning. A cultural highlight on most peoples’ Sri Lankan itineraries. After cycling along all those semi-deserted beaches and in the rugged mountains of the centre of the island, Galle is a fine change of scenery. Despite the heavy traffic.
Hanging out with the locals, drinking some kind of herbal wonder drink that most men seem to dig really hard around here.
It was a little too herbal (think: algae) for my tastebuds, but a fine way to male bond the local way.
Galle Old Town:
The southwestern part of Sri Lanka was badly hit by the 2004-tsunami. Some 35.000 people lost their lives on the island.
This buddha statue is part of a memorial park dedicated to those people.
Almost 10 years after the tsunami, hundreds of concrete ruins along the road still bear witness to the catastrophe. Quite depressing looking inland (right):
…and quite joyful looking towards the sea (left):
Juice stall in Kalutara, south of Colombo.
Kalutara seemed like a pretty lively, upbeat little town. No (other) tourists at all.
Gangatilaka Vihara (temple) in Kalutara.
Shantytown along the rails south of the capital Colombo.
Dehiwala Railway Station.
Fairly long day in the saddle. In the southern suburb Dehiwala, I find a bed for the night at the motel-like New Dehiwala Inn. It’s just 1.000 Rp (7 USD). A price that sort of explains why I chose not to complain when – after check-in – I found very suspicious, short, black hair on the sheets in the centre of my bed. Oh no, a hooker hotel, I thought to myself, but I was too knackered to do anything about it (apart from removing those pubic hair). It’s just one night. It’s just 7 USD.. What seemed like a great deal just minutes ago, now seemed like not such a great deal. Oh, well. On the plus side, I’ve got a fine view of the Indian Ocean from my bathroom.
TODAY’S RIDE: