Monkeys on the roof!

We woke early this morning to the not-so-subtle sounds of Hanuman langurs leaping around on the roof of our chalet!  A nice goodbye from Yala.

Stanley picked us up at 8:30 am after breakfast and we set off for Galle.  Stanley was on strict instructions that we didn't want to do anything en route to Galle.  We were keen to make the most of the boutique hotel at the end of our journey, as friends who've stayed there praise it very highly indeed.

Thankfully, once away from the Yala area, the roads returned to normal and, other than the obligatory swerving and near-missing that constitutes Sri Lankan driving, the journey was very smooth. We stopped briefly, by Tangalle beach, for a pee stop and to let Stanley fortify his lungs with more tar.

I managed to get a photo of a dead, dessicated fruit bat hanging from overhead wires, across the road from the gift shop.  I'd been planning to get a photo of this for most of the trip, as we've seen so many dead bats hanging from wires, but hadn't had the opportunity until now.  Fruit bats are widespread throughout Sri Lanka and forms colonies hundreds strong.  Fruit bats don't use echolocation, relying instead on their eyes to navigate.  Because the bats are mostly active at night, the black phone cables are all but invisible to them.  As a result, it is not uncommon for bats to fly into the wire, get tangled up, and die.  It's tragic, but very much a part of the scenery here in Sri Lanka and I was keen to get a picture to capture this fact.

A few hours later we arrived in Galle.  Stanley was keen to impress upon us that Galle was a very interesting place and insisted that we should stop and have a look at a few things before heading to our hotel.  He's not wrong about it being interesting:  Galle has some fascinating history, having been a Portuguese colony from the 16th century and a Dutch colony in the 18th century.  The architecture very much reflects this.

Galle fort is a World Heritage Site and, according to Wikipedia, the largest remaining fortress in Asia built by European occupiers.  Galle is also home to a cricket ground, the Galle International Stadium, which was rebuilt after the 2004 tsunami.
 
Galle was surprisingly nice, reminding me a lot of Granada in Nicaragua, thanks to the lovely colonial buildings and chilled out vibe. We were keen to get to our hotel, so we ended up on a whistle-stop tour, taking in a Dutch church, the wall around the old town and the lighthouse. Definitely a place to revisit and appreciate in a more leisurely fashion on a future visit.

Happy that we had given Galle the respect it was due, Stanley drove us to our final hotel, Aditya, which is situated part way between Galle and Hikkaduwa.  We arrived around 2 pm.

The Aditya hotel is situated between Gaqlle and Hikkaduwa and is totally hidden down a narrow alley with apparently very little to advertise its existence from the main road. It's a hidden gem. A fact which became very apparent when we arrived and were greeted by smiling faces and garlands made from frangipani flowers. We were then sat down and offered cold, lemon-scented towels and fresh pineapple juice.

What a hotel!  Our room (Daksa) is the lowest tier room room they offer and it was still beyond belief.  Intricately carved wooden head board over a spacious bed, open air bathroom complete with his and her sinks, huge mirror and rain-shower, private jacuzzi pool, big plasma screen with Bose surround sound playing relaxing music.  All artfully decorated.  Absolutely stunning.  We even got a congratulatory honeymoon chocolate mousse cake and a selection of petits-fours.  To cap it all they had a pillow menu, so you could order exactly the type of pillow you'd like to sleep on!  On the bedside cabinet was a copy of the Kama Sutra.  They are obviously used to providing for honeymooners:  This is certainly the first hotel I've ever stayed in that provides condoms (with added benzocaine for endurance, no less) in the vanity kit! 

Once we finished gawping at our room, we walked down to the relatively deserted beach and strolled along the sea front for a bit.  A beautiful slice of coconut-palm-lined tropical paradise.  Interestingly, the sand was covered in hundreds of tiny trails made by baby turtles that had hatched the night before, desperately trying to find their way to the waters edge.  Shame we didn't get to see any, there are several small turtle conservation centres set up along the coast here with concrete holding pools.

After the beach we headed back to the hotel to make the most of the lovely swimming pool, until the sun dipped below the horizon.  There was a pair of

A few more episodes of 'Californication' before dinner, which was absolutely delicious.  Unfortunately for Amber I decided to order Singapore crab, which was wonderful, but took me a very long time to eat.  I didn't want to waste anything.  The sauce was fantastic.  The chef obviously knew what he was doing.  He even came out and did the rounds of the tables.  We heaped on the praise, but he did rather overstay his welcome, loitering by our table longer than was comfortable.

We had a big surprise when we returned to our room.  The lights were off and the staff had laid out a total of 25 tea lights around the room.  They had also turned on three black-light strip lights to illuminate an incredible diorama of the night sky, painted onto the ceiling in fluorescent paint (totally invisible under natural light).  Amazing!  They certainly know how to create the mood in this place.  Amber was awestruck.  Certainly the most impressive turn-down service I've ever seen.

We watched Al Pacino do his thing in 'Simone' before calling it a night around midnight.  A wonderful end to the Sri Lankan leg of our trip.