30th November to 2nd December, 2022
Rennie and I are back in Colombo as of yesterday evening albeit with aches and sniffles for me and Emi, and 24 hour sniffles already come and gone for Babi, Misa and Rennie. Given that only Rennie and I travelled for our three-day staycation, the illness most likely came home from school last week.
Travelling down by train for the princely sum of 500 Rupees each (about £1.12) was very hot and sweaty, but the experience we hoped-for. Leaving home by tuk tuk at about 3:50pm on Wednesday, we were at Colombo Fort railway station somewhat faster than expected at just gone 4pm. After briefly joining the wrong queue to buy our tickets (there is a separate booth for each terminal destination), it was then time to find our platform. Number five, it turned out after asking the stationmaster because our train wasn’t yet shown on the departure board.
The train was entirely second and third class wagons but there was no clue as to which end of the train we’d be located at. Other passengers had opposing views so we simply waited more or less in the middle of the platform. It turned that for our train a majority of the carriages were third class so we ended up with a sprint towards the trailing end and the first second class carriage once the melee had subsided – only to find that this one as each of them was already standing room only. The effective difference between the two classes was therefore nothing as our padded seats vs hard benches didn’t apply as we stood in the sweltering heat.
For the first time for me (Rennie’s second) I go to see our apartment from the railway line, Misa and our friend Pawel waving from the pool deck on the roof and Emi and Babi from our balcony. Then followed the sunset and clanking our way slowly South, sweat pouring off the brown and running from shoulder blades to the small of the back. A couple of hours in to the journey we were beyond Hikkaduwa and able to sit for the final stretch, arriving at Galle in the dark at about half past seven.
A three wheeler driver came up to us the nanosecond we were past the ticket collector, offering an inflated rate of LKR 1,500 (about £3.50) vs LKR 350 that it should have been for the short ride to the Jetwing Lighhouse Hotel. No doubt seen as tourists who wouldn’t know differently, the price eventually came down to LKR 700 at which point I said “Machan (brother), I’ll pay five hundred”. On hearing this and realising that we weren’t typical tourists, another driver came over and said he’d take us for this amount. Having not tried to take us for a metaphorical ride, we paid him LKR 1,000 anyway for the short journey and explained that the bonus was for treating us reasonably. He left us a happy man.
A spotlessly clean a/c room with white linen was quite the contrast to our journey, and with a soak in the bath the first call before a delicous dinner – and the usual routine described before, of these days choosing from the wine list only to find that there’s Hobson’s Choice or close to it anyway! The next time we go out for dinner, perhaps I should try choosing the wine I think will most likely be available rather than the one I’d prefer!
We had already decided before leaving home that being quite familar with Galle we would not leave the hotel and instead would just decompress, which we did perfectly. Each meal was excellent and the whole experience of tropical sea side tranquility deeply relaxing. I enjoyed the gym and Rennie a massage in the spa, and both of us the comfort and superb level of attentive service. Our friend Aruna is currently staying at Hikkaduwa, just a bit up the coast from Galle, and joined us for apéritifs and dinner on Thursday.
On Friday (yesterday) we had a late checkout for 1pm, so on establishing that the next train would be about two hours’ hence, decided to take a three wheeler to the bus stop and instead take a highway coach followed by local bus – this time for £2.36 each for the entire journey. It was an object lesson in efficient public transport; our initial three wheeler was hailed by the bell hop and waiting for us whilst we completed check out. After the short ride and the helpful driver ensuring we were on the correct coach (everything was written solely in Sinhala), we found it leaving in air conditioned comfort with a couple of minutes. If we’d missed it, another would have left within a further 15 minutes; a far cry to UK public transport given a heavy reliance on the motor car. Dropped off in to the heat at the kerbside on leaving the highway at Makumbura, a local bus (not a/c!) was parked waiting. In turn dropped off near the Cinnamon Red hotel after using Google Maps to predict as close as we were going to get given the ultimate destination of Pettah Market, we were in a three wheeler within a further minute and home within another five to round off a lovely staycation. Door to door in two and three quarter hours vs just under four hours on the way down, and with each journey an experience and a bit of an adventure. Each was far more fun than taking a car and the return journey probably quicker given how buses elbow their way through traffic and three wheelers weave theirs.
All-in-all, a perfect way to spend some leave.
Steve
