Sunday, December 21. Galle to Tangalle.
We had a delightful un rushed breakfast overlooking the pool just before 8 am and then went for a short walk, up to the English Church where we had sheltered the previous night, and then round the block. Then we packed up and were ready for a 9:30 am start.
We were driven to a cinnamon plantation about 30 minutes out of town. Here we had a 30 minute walk along the road and tracks to view the cinnamon plants – quite intriguing. Once back at the owners farm we were shown how they scrape the bark off the pieces of wood collected that day and then shape them into various size cinnamon sticks to be dried overhead for several days. After this we went across to the kitchen where we were introduced to the owner‘s wife who took us round her vegetable garden and collected okra, green pepper, and various herbs. She took these to the chefs table, where she chopped the okra with garlic and onions and multiple herbs and powders. All this took a considerable time and there was nothing much to see for about half an hour whilst various things were cooking in the background over a fire of discarded cinnamon wood. We then received a feast of 10 to 12 dishes on the table including rice, lentils, spinach, okra, tapioca, prawns, tuna. And quite surprisingly I really enjoyed it all except for perhaps the lentils which were quite spicy. This was followed by a buffalo yogurt. So we left this at about 1:30 pm after an embarrassing interlude when it was suggested that we should tip the family involved.
The drive to Tangalle was only another hour. First along a really narrow road and then motorway. At the Last House Hotel we were showed into our ground floor suite, one of just six rooms in the hotel. The hotel was built as a private house by Geoffrey Bawa, who had built the Colombo parliament house amongst others. This house was the last he built before his death, hence its name. The inside of our suite and the public rooms were truly delightful, all a continuation of one another, but the outside of the building was certainly no architectural triumph in our opinion. We settled in and then went for a walk along the beach passing other small hotels and many fishing boats, some of them seemingly haven’t been abandoned since the 2004 tsunami. More reading and then a swim in the large pool which was very pleasant. At 7 pm, we went across to the main building and had one of the houses cocktails. We sat on a sofa overlooking the lawns and at one stage had a long chat with the manager. Then back to the room for a light snack before turning in for the night.
Monday, December 22. Tangalle
David looked up his web site for 1973 and discovered that we had in fact stayed at the Galle Fort Hotel then but neither of us had recognised anything about it. A relaxing day on the Wild Frontiers itinerary!. We woke up early and I ventured out to see if there was a sunrise but there was not. I then went for a swim before going to breakfast about 8:30 am. DJ picked us up at 10 am and took us into the Tangalle harbour where the fishing boats came back to port every morning, and sold their fish. The boats were very colourful but there was not actually much fish being sold.
Then back to the hotel for the rest of the day, mainly sitting on the patio outside our room look towards the beach. We went for a walk along the beach again. A colourful fishing boat was being dragged into the water by 10 men. On our return we sat and enjoyed a mango and passion, and a coconut and banana milkshake. I had another swim and then we had some fruit on our patio before looking at a video of the Amazing Hotel that we are to stay at for the next two days. This was one of the series that Rob Ryder and Monica had visited in the TV programme of that name.
We had been asked by one of the staff if we wanted lobster for dinner and when we declined, they talked about fish and the soup that we said we didn’t eat soup. When we went across for a drink before dinner we assumed that they would produce a menu, but none came. So after sitting with our drink for half an hour, we went to a table set out on the lawn, and waited for them to produce the menu. Then followed a confusing period of us saying we still wanted to see a menu which eventually appeared and we chose one of the two fish dishes on it. But no food appeared for well over half an hour and we left the table and took our drinks back to where we had sat previously. At this point the manager appeared and apologised profoundly perhaps being kept waiting so long for some food and offered us a complimentary meal which would appear within five minutes. I had also asked for a very small portion, but the normal size appeared. However the fish was really good,so I did not mind too much but I could’ve done without their pudding. Anyway, this scenario kept us occupied for two hours of the evening so we did not end up in bed too early.
At the cinnamon plantation we had a walk with the owner to see the actual cinnamon tree. They cut a small area daily and take the wood back to their farm
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At the farm the bark from the trees, which is what we know as cinnamon, is stripped from the trees, and made into bundles of different sizes. The bundles are then dried, and sent to market. The rest of the wood is used as firewood
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We then saw the lady of the house pick the necessary ingredients of our lunch from her garden. The lunch was then cooked for us and we sat down to enjoy it.
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We stayed at Last House Hotel, which is, would you believe the last house designed by Geoffrey Bawa, before he died. A really nice small boutique hotel. It is right on the beach, with direct access to the long sandy beach A great long walk along the sand to a group of local fishing boats, and four or five beach restaurants/bars
They probably over push the Bawa connection. The exterior is in fact a bit nondescript. Bawa’s vision is in the interior design, We had a lovely room, with its own patio. And with all seven doors and windows open it was really bright and airy The original Bawa furniture, which is quite striking, has been replaced by cheap modern plastic chairs in places. The manager is particularly pleasant and helpful
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We walked the length of the beach at |Last House, and saw the great efforts needed to launch one of the large fishing boats that has been hauled up on the beach
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The port of Tangalle is a regionally important fishing port, situated on one of the largest bays in Sri Lanka, which is protected from the ocean by an enclosing reef. My feeling was that it was not worth the hour or so excursion to get there and back as there was little to see
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The following mornig , we left Tangalle to drive to Hatton and the central tea country
