Georgeous Galle and Paradise Beach in Unatunawla

Unatunawala, the paradise beach town I'm headed to tomorrow, just a few minuites southeast of Galle

Galle New Town, which looks like a typical Indian city, but I did find the fastest email, I'm sitting on the 4th floor of one of the buildings you are looking at

from the balcony of my room at Mrs. Khalid's guest house, looking out at the ramparts of the town wall that largely saved historic Galle from any damage during the Tsunami though all the towns on either side were nearly destroyed.

Old Dutch Church, the graveyard at this church was fun to look at, a lot of the graves are in the church floor

Old Dutch church that is now a Mosque, there is a substantial Muslim community in Galle


streets in Galle

A beautiful street in Galle at sunrise

Finally the pleasure of fast email! This morning at dawn I took a short ride to Unatunawala, the beach town closest to Galle and wandered around the cresent shaped beach and up to a white Buddhist temple on a hill, you can just see it at the far end of the photo. I had breakfast at a beachside Italian cafe, read a few newspapers with increasing news about what seems to be the final days of the Tamil Tigers after 30 years of civil war. I then checked out a few possibilities of staying here for my last two days before going to intense huge Colombo on Monday afternoon. There are many more tourists here than in lonely Galle, but a fraction of the amount that a typical Indian beach town would have at this time of year. It can't be that this is an undiscovered paradise (there are nice beach towns east of this and all along the coast but this is reputed to be the nicest and its proximity to Galle make is even better for those who want more to than roaming around the beach) it must be people feeling that Sri Lanka is not yet safe or memories of the Tsunami. They said it was nearly wiped out, but with help from the many Europeans who come here all the time, it was rebuilt more quickly than any other part, and I must say, again, compared to the Indian beach towns that develop uncontrollably, its very tasteful with nice architecture but they certainly are not thinking of another possible Tsunami, as some places are built so close to the water I had to walk into the waves to get around them.

Owners of the hotels I visited were nearly begging to give me a room, dropping the prices as I hesitated, only because I wanted to explore more options. I opted for a beautiful old historic bungalow on a narrow lane leading off of the beach, it was cooler, shadier and cheaper even than my room in Galle. I move in tomorrow morning, Saturday. The room is huge with mosquito netting, and a generous balcony and the other rooms in the house are common for all. I met a nice man having breakfast who said he has been here for weeks and comes often, that it is a very hard place to leave, I can see why. When I get into the "beach town mood" I also get into roaming around all the little shops, some tacky, but some, like in India, with beautiful fabrics and clothing and many many choices of places to eat.

Galle is just gorgeous, I love wandering around,there are lots of interesting shops to pop in and out of and one beautiful building after another, and I like painting on my balcony, but the sidewalks roll up about 8pm and last night I had a sumptuous meal at the beautifully restored mansion, the Galle Fort Hotel, on a large verandah protected from the street by elegant louvered shutters, I sat there for two hours sipping an ice cold local beer and having the fusion Asian food the place is known for and aside from two white and gray spotted kittens who were begging for my prawns (I did share) I was the ONLY person at the place, it just feels too weird. I'm now also the only one in my guest house and the young man who runs it is starting to treat me like family, but "will you be home for lunch" is maybe a bit too much like family, one thing I like about traveling alone is a sense of personal privacy.

Galle reminds me a bit of Dutch Cochin and Portuguese Goa in India, but at the same time is very different. I do look forward to Colombo, after a few days on a beach, I'm always ready to be back in a city and there seems plenty to do there, I regret I'll only have 2 1/2 days but I must get back to India to take down the student show and then on to Ahmedabad to be a visiting artist at my friend Sharmila's university.