Thursday 24th November - Galle, Sri Lanka

Today we woke outside the little port of Galle (pronounced gorl).  The ship was anchored in the bay as intended and the passengers were taken ashore by tender. (i.e. ferried across in the lifeboats).  As is often the case, the swell of the sea caused problems and passengers trying to get on the tenders were faced by a bucking lifeboat.  Well....... that may be a little bit of an exaggeration, but there was certainly a fair amount of rise and fall, and it meant that getting the passengers across for the tours took a little longer than usual.

Due to a couple of timing problems on our part, Peter and I missed boarding two of the tenders before they sailed across to the port, and in the end didn't get onto dry land until about 11.30.  We'd decided that once there, we'd walk up to a nearby fort, have a wander round and then come back.

So we ignored all the tuk tuk drivers and headed off, but it soon turned out we'd underestimated the walk and, realising we didn't have the time to complete our plan, finally agreed to get into one of the tuk tuks that kept pulling up alongside hoping for a fare.  I remembered what I'd been told by the Sri Lankan lawyer from Candi yesterday, and offered the tuk tuk driver $1 as a fare to the fort.  He tried to get a little more out of us, but capitulated very easily to the $1 and we climbed aboard.

So Peter and I have been driven around in various taxis in various cities all over the place.  And we've often described it as mad.  I remember the lunatics in Athens, and the race car taxi driver in the Canaries, and a few more - but I don't think any of them can compete with what we've seen in Sri Lanka. In Colombo we observed how it was quite normal for two road lanes to accommodate three lanes of traffic, and for cars, tuk tuks, bikes, buses and wagon drivers to all dip and dive into these three lanes quite erratically.  Today however, we were treated to even more pandemonium.  Anyone crossing the road or walking nearby seemed to be taking their lives into their own hands.  Time and again it seemed that the vehicles around us were going to hit us or each other, or the pedestrians and stalls at the side of the road.  When our driver wanted to turn onto a busy road, he did just that.  He didn't wait for oncoming traffic to stop, he just drove in front of it.........

But he got us to the fort undamaged, and we enjoyed a pleasant walk along the the walls. Me being me, I looked out for the wildlife, and I'm very pleased with my photos.

I think this is a young bengal monitor lizard - it's also know as a land monitor lizard or a common Indian monitor. 

Red-wattled Lapwing

And this kingfisher, which has a stunningly beautiful turquoise blue back is a white throated kingfisher.

I also managed to get a few pictures of the fort and it's surroundings.

Cattle grazing up on the fort walls, who'd have thunk it? I suppose it saves mowing the grass. 

The views from the walls were quite lovely

Interesting shapes left behind

And more lovely views 

We'd agreed with the driver that he would take us back to the port and he'd been keeping a beady eye on us as we walked along, not wanting to lose out on his investment.  Our drive back was as bonkers as before, but this time we stopped to get a few photos of the mayhem.  This did mean joining the mayhem and trying to cross the road.  You have to be quick!

As we reached the port, the driver started talking about how other tuk tuk drivers were getting 35-40 dollars out of their passengers. Peter and I had already agreed that we'd give him $5 dollars as the fare (despite agreeing $2 with him), because we didn't have anything smaller.  At the port entrance he started begging us for more, which was demeaning and embarrassing.  I'm sorry about that, because it spoilt what had been a very pleasant morning.  I handed him the $5 dollars and then left.

That may seem a little harsh, but we'd learnt yesterday that the average fare of the tuk tuk driver is less than $1, and $5 was well over what we'd agreed.

We'd got back in time for the last tender back to the ship, and spent the rest of the day enjoying the cruising experience.  On the top deck, I joined many other passengers on whale watch as the area is known for blue whales apparently.  Sadly, no whales, but we did get another downpour.

Tomorrow is a sea day and Peter will run his first art class. We have no idea what to expect because the ship isn't full - fingers crossed it won't be too busy.