Saturday 25th January - On to Galle
Today is a moving on day but our train is not until the early afternoon so we live dangerously and risk not setting an alarm. We awake at 08.00 and open the curtains to clear blue skies. Mr Unknown Comment Poster, believed to be from Manhattan, has suggested that we try egg hoppers and that is this morning's mission. We have done considerable research and take a 4km auto ride to Cafe on the Fifth, highly recommended by all and sundry. At the counter they tell us no egg hoppers today. Bum! To cut a long story short we utterly fail to find egg hoppers or any other half decent kind of breakfast and finish up with yoghurt, bananas, bread and cheese out of a supermarket. D managed to negotiate a late check out so we can pack at leisure and sort out things like cash. R is very taken with the banknotes here which feature birds.
At 12.59 we check out and take an auto to the station. We are dropped on the south side, a bit quieter with seating and, as it turns out, closer to the platform we need. R is parked with the luggage and D goes to check things out. Today's trip is a tiddler - just over 2 hours. Our train will leave from platform 5 which has minimal facilities so we just hunker down where we are. There is lots to keep D interested - a plinthed steam loco built in Leeds by the Hunslet Engine Company, a water crane plated 1929 and still looking good, some amazingly basic track chairs and lots of trains. Unlike yesterday the announcements include English, but only for some trains.
With 15 minutes to go we saunter over the tracks to P5 and join a throng of others. A train pulls in but cannot be the one as it has no first class. The announcements go AWOL. That train leaves and eventually a more modern multiple unit glides in. First class is easily recognisable by the A/c equipment on the roof over the doors. A very serious youth, decked out like the commissionaire at the Ritz, checks our tickets before admitting us to coach A. Most sealts are already filled but ours are forward facing, near the door and on the sea view side of the train. The assembled multitude watch aghast as D wrestles our enormous holdall onto the luggage rack. Not even a round of applause. The train pulls out only a couple of minutes late and we are soon skimming along the waters edge towards Mount Lavinia. This is the first stop. It takes about 45 minutes to clear the urban sprawl of Colombo and when we do the train's speed notches up considerably. An hour out of Fort we run out of double track but this does not affect progress. The countryside is reminiscent of Kerala but not easy to photograph into the sun through a grubby window.
The train arrives at Galle Railway Station only a few minutes late and we almost get caught out by the ticket inspection on the exit gate. In a senior moment D has left the ticket on the seat back table on the train and he has to move smartly back down the platform to recover it. We take an auto to the Secret Palace Guest House. This is accessed up a dubious looking alley, too narrow for the auto to negotiate. We have been allocated a room on the top floor which is a bit of a sweat with our large bag. R is miffed that the room has no window but it does have a balcony and A/c. Our host and hostess seem happy to take on some laundry for us so we will have something to wear next week.
By now it is around 5.30 and we step out to see the town which has been in turn occupied by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British. Most of the current batch of occupiers appear to be Russian. There are narrow streets, not much traffic and a complete set of walls around the Fort area where we are staying. A chap sitting outside his shop mentions that it should be a good sunset tonight so we head to the west side and spot a bar with a balcony and a happy hour. That will do nicely. The sunset is quite spectacular.
Entertainment over we head east in search of food. We finish up in a place full of Japanese tourists eating sashimi, grilled red snapper and delicious fish fingers. We will be growing gills shortly.
At 12.59 we check out and take an auto to the station. We are dropped on the south side, a bit quieter with seating and, as it turns out, closer to the platform we need. R is parked with the luggage and D goes to check things out. Today's trip is a tiddler - just over 2 hours. Our train will leave from platform 5 which has minimal facilities so we just hunker down where we are. There is lots to keep D interested - a plinthed steam loco built in Leeds by the Hunslet Engine Company, a water crane plated 1929 and still looking good, some amazingly basic track chairs and lots of trains. Unlike yesterday the announcements include English, but only for some trains.
With 15 minutes to go we saunter over the tracks to P5 and join a throng of others. A train pulls in but cannot be the one as it has no first class. The announcements go AWOL. That train leaves and eventually a more modern multiple unit glides in. First class is easily recognisable by the A/c equipment on the roof over the doors. A very serious youth, decked out like the commissionaire at the Ritz, checks our tickets before admitting us to coach A. Most sealts are already filled but ours are forward facing, near the door and on the sea view side of the train. The assembled multitude watch aghast as D wrestles our enormous holdall onto the luggage rack. Not even a round of applause. The train pulls out only a couple of minutes late and we are soon skimming along the waters edge towards Mount Lavinia. This is the first stop. It takes about 45 minutes to clear the urban sprawl of Colombo and when we do the train's speed notches up considerably. An hour out of Fort we run out of double track but this does not affect progress. The countryside is reminiscent of Kerala but not easy to photograph into the sun through a grubby window.
The train arrives at Galle Railway Station only a few minutes late and we almost get caught out by the ticket inspection on the exit gate. In a senior moment D has left the ticket on the seat back table on the train and he has to move smartly back down the platform to recover it. We take an auto to the Secret Palace Guest House. This is accessed up a dubious looking alley, too narrow for the auto to negotiate. We have been allocated a room on the top floor which is a bit of a sweat with our large bag. R is miffed that the room has no window but it does have a balcony and A/c. Our host and hostess seem happy to take on some laundry for us so we will have something to wear next week.
By now it is around 5.30 and we step out to see the town which has been in turn occupied by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British. Most of the current batch of occupiers appear to be Russian. There are narrow streets, not much traffic and a complete set of walls around the Fort area where we are staying. A chap sitting outside his shop mentions that it should be a good sunset tonight so we head to the west side and spot a bar with a balcony and a happy hour. That will do nicely. The sunset is quite spectacular.
Entertainment over we head east in search of food. We finish up in a place full of Japanese tourists eating sashimi, grilled red snapper and delicious fish fingers. We will be growing gills shortly.
Ging River cruise coming up? Does that make it #3 outta 5?
ReplyDeleteOn second thoughts #3 could be a place starting with an U.
ReplyDelete[since there are no prizes - guesses are unlimited. huruumph]
No Going River, nothing starting with U. Destination 3 will be revealed in Monday's blog.
ReplyDeleteWhere did the U come from?