Tuk-Tuks

So driving has been an adventure in both India and Sri Lanka. We don't drive we are driven.  The Sri Lankan auto rickshaws are called Tuk-Tuks and they are much more colorful that the ones we've seen in Hyderabad, which are all yellow.  In Sri Lanka we have seen green, blue, pink, black, red, and only one or two yellows.  They seem to have better seating for the drivers and are more up to date, more bling including advertisements and some of them have some sound systems in them!

The driving we've seen mostly has been on smaller roads, where busses, tuk-tuks, motorcycles and cars share the road.  And they pass a lot. Its a game of chicken sometimes or it feels like it. I'm glad I'm not driving.

The stereo on this one was pounding!

Fresh Seafood Unawatuna

Seafood is abundant here, not surprising as it is an beach front town. Every night at dinner time restaurants have fresh fish out so you can pick your actual fish you want grilled if you want.  There is lots of fresh fish curry, as curry and rice are a Sri Lankan specialty (not as spicy as Hyderabad which is nice! but very tasty).

The kids are having fun with the camera, so here are a few pics they took of the fresh fish display at dinner last night

Not absolutely sure but I'm going with probably red snapper, butterfish and maybe coral fish. 

These are not even the jumbo prawns!

These are the jumbo prawns I think!

These for sure are red snapper, butterfish and coral fish (only because we asked this night at dinner)

Breakfast and Dinner at Ridee Villa

There are many perks at staying in a small guest house/boutique hotel. I'm not sure what you'd call Ridee. It has 12 rooms, and two hosts that are amazing.  They will arrange car rides for you (see trip to Galle in the vintage car), get a Tuk-Tuk, make sure someone comes and gets us quick when one of the kids hurts themselves at the beach and then brings us supplies to clean it.   The kids have asked to stay with Sumith and Vasana while we go to the beach, I think they like it here.

There is a very nice breakfast each morning, with lots of fresh fruit, fresh fruit juice (have you ever tried woodapple or sour sop juice!), eggs and some local treats, hoppers, roti, these crepe things they call pancakes with jam inside and buffalo curd (yogurt), which I'm sure is home made.

One of the other perks is Sumith and Vasana and their staff will make you dinner.  Wow what a spread, we're not eating here every night because we can't possibly eat that much!

Fresh seafood is abundant in Unawatuna!  I don't think we asked what type this was but we have seen red snapper, cuttle fish, coral fish, butter fish to name a few. 

There far one was an okra, middle was potato and onion curry, the near one, I'm not sure but was some fresh herb and garlic or something, very refreshing.

The one on the left was a green been curry.

The fish, oh and the coleslaw has pineapple in it (definitely adding that at home) and lentils.

One of our new friends was nice enough to take a family photo.

And dessert, was custard with fresh pieces of banana in it.

We were stuffed!!!


Other than that, they'll always bring you a king coconut or fresh fruit juice, or lots of candies and chocolate for the kids (no wonder they like it here)!

A Trip to Galle care of Ridee

We are staying in a town called Unawatuna, about 15 minutes from Galle which is a larger town and has an old fort and lighthouse, a fish market, etc.  On our first day at Ridee Villa, our host sent us in his vintage car with his driver for a short tour of the Galle which mainly included the Fort and a stop by the owners brothers jewelry factory.  Attached are some pictures of the car, oh and of Galle!

National Cricket Stadium

Vintage Car and the clock tower in Galle Fort

Galle Fort 

Lighthouse in Galle Fort

Fish market in Galle - this was just the start of probably 50 m of fresh fish caught that day for sale. 

The family overlooking the cricket stadium from the fort.

Bride and Groom

Sunset at Galle Fort

Going into the Fort

The fort walls

A silver bracelet being hand made. All of the individual stone settings are being joined together by hand, then they'll add the stones. 

The men at the shop creating masterpieces by hand. We saw bracelets, earings and rings being handmade.  There is a larger factory/shop in another town, but there are 6 silversmiths here that work on repairs/custom orders for those in Galle.

And the vintage 1956 british car, that Sumith said is very hard to find spare parts for now!

Ridee Villa

So when booking accommodations in Sri Lanka, we didn't really have any plans other than beach and near Koggala (in hopes we can get on the air base to see the memorial to L's great uncles WWII squadron).   So we used some online booking sites and found Ridee Villa.   WOW, we've been spoiled.

http://www.rideevilla.com

The driver they sent to the airport to get us, stopped at the grocery store for us since we needed to buy some items we couldn't pack on the plane.  And when we pulled over because we thought one of the kids was going to be sick, he bought two king coconuts so we could drink the coconut water.

Upon arrival at Ridee we were created by owners Sumith and Vasana, cool face clothes, delicious fresh (we heard the blender going) pineapple smoothies and two bottles of local Lion Lager in the fridge in our room!

The villa is located just off the beach and is three stories tall. All concrete, with beautiful inlays in the floor. There is a terrace out back built into the hill that overlooks the building out to the ocean.  We thought we were going to get a cot in our room for our extra bed, oh no its a four poster single bed that matches the king fully equipped with mosquito net.

The Villa building has been here for a long time.  Prior to the Tsunami it housed Sumith's silver workshop and business.  That was wiped out by the Tsunami.  Apparently the water was about 10 feet high, which would be the entire ground floor.  After that they opened the villa where they make you feel like you're home.

Bathroom

Ridee - top two floors

Path to terrace

View from terrace

Villa at night from across the street

First view of the beach

Sri Lanka Here We Come

So we headed to Sri Lanka, flew into Colombo and then drove by car to Unawatuna on the south coast.   Here are some pictures of the flight.

Its a propeller plane

Girls on the plane

Boys on the plane

Somewhere outside Madurai, India

above the clouds

Somewhere off the coast of Sri Lanka - thats the Indian Ocean

West Coast of Sri Lanka outside Colombo