Galle – Ian Louis Harris

Garden Cricket At the Frangipani Tree, Near Galle, Sri Lanka, As Reported On King Cricket, Plus My Journal For That Whole Day, 19 February 2011

This report for King Cricket relates to a small part of our India & Sri Lanka trip, for which the Ogblog placeholder and links can be found by clicking here or below:

India and Sri Lanka, 29 January to 26 February 2011, placeholder and links

Here is a link to the King Cricket piece, which relates to one of several games of garden cricket on that holiday – this one at the Frangipani Tree, near Galle, on 19 February:

Match report of garden cricket at the Frangipani Tree near Galle

King Cricket published the piece on 19 July 2011. Just in case the above link goes duff, I have also scraped the report to here.

Frankly, some of the comments are better than my report – it is worth reading for them. King Cricket can be like that.

Lord’s isn’t the only place where cricket and tennis intertwine

Here is my contemporaneous journal record for the whole day:

Very heavy overnight rain – some of Daisy’s things get wet – no point in even considering tennis this morning at seven – Daisy does hair drying instead.
We invent our own exercise regime.
Breakfast, reading (Kalooki Nights), lunch of grilled calamari, chips and bread! With beer.
World Cup [cricket] 2011 starts but we play our own garden version.
Five aside, Wojciech refuses to play but tennis ball cricket enables Daisy to have a go.
We make a respectable 89 for three of eight (I scored 15 in an open stand of 40 odd). We meet “Major General” Richard and his sporty son Chris (my opening partner) and daughter Millie and who knows we might meet the wife (Rosie?).
Our side loses as big fella Sanjay takes advantage of asymmetric field which helps left-hander with big hitting ability.
Even Daisy scores a run off my bowling.
More reading afterwards, followed by dinner of lamb tajine followed by chocolate ice cream washed down with a Spanish Crianza
Tough day.

Our album of Galle photos, all 31 of them, can be seen through the flickr album below:

001 14 Feb 2011 Cricket On The Western Ramparts Of Galle Fort P1010867

Our other Sri Lanka photos- 79 excluded from the album – can be found through the link below:

From Lighthouse Street, Galle To Frangipani Tree, Thalpe, 17 February 2011

Our album of Galle photos, all 31 of them, can be seen through the flickr album below:

The only downside to our amazing arrangements for the restful part of our holiday in/near Galle was the requirement to move on a couple of times. Yet the transfers were all smooth and the journeys only a few minutes, so we felt in retrospect it had been worth it. This was the first of those transfer days.

Again rise a little later. Get most of the packing done and take massage again at eight. Daisy has head and foot massage with Milton, while I had the full works with Roshan.
Then again we take breakfast while the oils settle.

Ged swims and then sunbathes for a while. Daisy showers and packs some more. We are collected at 13:00 – fond farewells with Praseeth, Roshan and Wanitha.
Then a 15 to 20 minute drive east to Thale, where [at The Frangipani Tree] we are greeted by our Polish hosts from Krakow, Wojciech Raus and Justyna.
Some confusion over our room, so we sit in a shady breezy spot & nibble some bread and hummus over a beer. We also order lobster for our dinner tonight.
We then go to our room and unpack. Ged takes a short late afternoon stroll but mostly we read before dinner. Daisy also ordered prawn samosas to share as a nibble, but veggie ones came by mistake. Comps!
Will try the prawn one is another day.
The lobster was delicious. Always wash down with a bottle of Valdivieso Chardonnay.
Daisy also tries a desert described optimistically as a pavlova, but all in all it was a lovely dinner.

Our other Sri Lanka photos- 79 excluded from the album – can be found through the link below:

Ducking And Diving In Galle, 16 February 2011

Our album of Galle photos, all 31 of them, can be seen through the flickr album below:

No tennis today, so rose a little later and took massage at 9 am. Back to Milton for Ged and Roshan for Daisy.

I think it was this occasion when I had a bizarre conversation with Milton, who was telling me all about his ancestors, whose names were Arthur, Alfred and such names. I said to him, “it’s interesting to me that everyone you have mentioned in your family has an English-style first name, until Roshan”. Milton went very quiet for a moment and then said, “but Roshan IS an English name!” That was me told.

We take breakfast after massage and rest a while to let oils settle. Ged tries hoppers with sambal.
Meanwhile Prageeth has gone off in search of a duck for us, which nearly turned out to be a wild goose chase but in the end was a successful wild duck chase.
He gets the duck from Labudawa Farm, near Labudawa Junction, circa 12 km from Galle and returns around 12 noon.

We then go shopping with Prageeth. I buy sandals (two pairs) and three shirts – Daisy merely buys a pac-a-mac. We also buy a memory stick for the photos (8 GB) and discover that many boutique shops are closed for a local (Muslim) holiday.
Back to the fort, first to the ATM, where Ged [accidentally] drops his stuff in the bin before retrieving his card, only to have the card time-out and be swallowed [by the machine] while Ged picks up the bits. This proves to be a difficult problem with two days of public holiday in train.
But Prageeth at least find one bank employee who he knows, who assures us that if the card is in there – which of course it is – it will be held for me until Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

We then go to Exotic briefly, then KK Collection and buy gifties for Charlie plus some utensils for Ged and Daisy plus some nice rattan mats for Ged.
Then home for some beer, nibbles, sun, swimming, R&R, etc., before 18:00 yoga class (mostly for Daisy) and pool and then change for dinner.
We feast on the duck with pineapple in a coconut gravy with rice and salad washed down with the last of our wine. Daisy flakes, so Ged beats himself at pool a couple of times.

Our other Sri Lanka photos- 79 excluded from the album – can be found through the link below:

A Crabby Existence While Living In Galle, 15 February 2011

Our album of Galle photos, all 31 of them, can be seen through the flickr album below:

Of course the headline “crabby existence” is a pun. This was the day we went in search of crabs in Galle. Our few days of villa life in Galle Fort itself was far from crabby. We had been very lucky to be afforded the opportunity to hire an entire villa, 41 Lighthouse Street, (normally shared between half-a-dozen people at least), as it had just come back onto the holidays market after a couple of years in the hands of a long stay family. The owners wanted to test run the team with holiday letting again so were happy to give me and Janie exclusive use of the place for a few days. Utter luxury.

Rise again before six, coffee and biscuits and then tennis. Five all – both of us had chances to dominate and win.
Sadly, Mendis doesn’t have a court at 7 o’clock for the next couple of days, but we book 23rd and 24th February.
Then off to fish market in search of crab – no joy there. We then try Keells Supermarket, where Daisy/we bought nuts and nibbles and chocolate etc and rice.
We try one more supermarket – no joy – and then a fishing village just outside town near the Dewata Junction – our last chance and bingo!
We land the last two crabs in Galle. A thousand rupees ($10-ish).

Into town again and buy some coconuts on the way, plus red bear key ring to replace my broken camera strap; the crabs are meanwhile trying to break for freedom.
Back for breakfast then 12:00 massage today (we switch masseurs).
Then we release the team and enjoy swimming, R&R etc.

We take some king coconut and go for a stroll looking at shops (Barefoot and especially KK Collection highlights), then check out the Amangalla, home for write ups and dinner.

Our other Sri Lanka photos- 79 excluded from the album – can be found through the link below:

A Valentines Day Massacre In Galle aka The Day I Won The Ashes Single Handed, Galle, Sri Lanka, 14 February 2011

Our album of Galle photos, all 31 of them, can be seen through the flickr album below:

Rise before six and take coffee before setting off in Praseeth’s tuk tuk to Lighthouse hotel for tennis.
Ged wins 7-4 (6-2). Mendis looked after us there.
Went back to Villa for wash and ready for 9 am Massage with wonderful Milton and Roshan (Milton’s son) who looks about 15 but apparently is 28.
We take a herb-infused tea and a late breakfast, then relax in our villa most of the day while Praseeth, Roshan (the Villa) and Wanita fuss over us.
We swim a little and sunbathe a little. Then we cover ourselves in skeeta protection and go off to the ramparts with Roshan for cricket.
No one is playing and a few mangy layabouts don’t seem too keen, but the peace offering of an Indian red heavy tennis ball seems to do the trick. One lad runs off to get stumps and a bat – it’s game on.

A hoick to mid-wicket, where a you can just make out the stray Queenslanders

A stray Aussie from Brisbane watches for a long time and eventually decides to join in, after some baiting of an Ashes variety by Daisy, “to try and dislodge the pom” when I’m batting.

The Aussie softened a little when I suggested that he might be “Matthew Hayden’s evil twin (if that is possible)” after he played a half decent stroke.
Roshan and Praseeth played well, especially Praseeth’s batting, despite him “feeling un-special today” apparently.
Daisy stuck around & took the photos. When stumps were drawn, the locals asked if I would be coming again tomorrow. I said “maybe”, by which I meant, “probably not”.

The Sort-Of Ashes match element of this day has been reported on King Cricket, click here or below.

A match report from a man who claims to have “won the Ashes single-handedly”… in Galle

If anything ever goes awry with King Cricket, that piece is scraped to here.

Praseeth takes us home in the tuk tuk via the off-licence where he slightly prangs the tuk tuk but the other tuk tuk driver seems relaxed about it.
The lads set up a candle-lit setting for a Valentines dinner – prawns with a lemon sauce, then tuna with mash and salad. Prawns the highlight.

I spend ages trying and eventually succeeding in backing up photos, while Daisy slopes off to bed early.

Our other Sri Lanka photos- 79 excluded from the album – can be found through the link below:

From Chennai, India, To Galle, Sri Lanka, 13 February 2011

Rose early to pack and take breakfast. We leave the hotel at 9:15 and Muhtu picks up “Wing Commander” Senuwasen along the way, who chats a lot but ultimately does little for us.
We check-in, buy some cancer sticks for the Duchess and hunker down in the club lounge, where I write up quite a lot.
Board early, Take off early and land early. We actually make contact with the driver, Tuma, before the time we were even due to land!

Some confusion over our destination (41 Lighthouse Street, wheras he thought the Lighthouse Hotel). Then a money stop, water stop, and several attempts to borrow a knife or scissors to liberate Daisy’s medicaments.
Daisy spends much time on phone to Aranthi (a.k.a. George).

Met by Prageeth and Roshan at 41.
We have booked dinner at Galle Fort Hotel. Lovely ambiance, but set meal – still quite a good one. Thai fishcakes, followed by chicken malaise style (not) with a gado-gado salad with corn fritter, prawns, and kerpuk, followed by sorbets (home-made) washed down with a Rose D’Anjou – probably will eat in from now on though.

A Touring Day With Sunil, Including A Near Death Experience Off The Shore Of Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka, 29 March 1995

Trip out with Sunil – went to Galle and saw Dutch museum/shop and market (not much to buy).

Then on to Hikkaduwa for ill-fated very choppy coral trip for snorkeling. I felt sick on boat and Jane felt sick in the sea.

That ghastly snorkeling trip really does need to be explained. There were two problems with it. Firstly, it really was too choppy for snorkeling – even very experienced swimmers, who might have been up for the swimming challenge if mad enough, would have agreed that it was simply too choppy to see anything worthwhile with the snorkel.

The second problem was our mad boatman, who seemed especially keen to surf the waves and make the boat trip as “exciting” as possible. I suppose Hikkaduwa is surf territory, but I thought he was truly mad and dangerous. I was so unnerved by him, not least him seeming to turn back for more when we asked him to take us back to the shore, I abandoned the boat and swam for it, to ensure that he followed me back. Probably not the safest idea I have ever had.

This tale reminds me a little of our (rather differently unpleasant) boating experience in Nicaragua more than twenty years later – you might even recognise a similar expression of disgust on my face in the photo:

Nicaragua, Morgan’s Rock to Mukul, 16 February 2016

Washed and dried off – then on to New Moonbeam restaurant for deviled crab – then look round shops.

Sunil & Daisy, who looks pretty-much revived by the Hikkaduwa crab

Yes, Ged revives quickly too when there’s Hikkaduwa crab to be had

Went on to turtle hatchery and then home.

Truly out of my comfort zone with a big turtle, although i look surprisingly comfy

Janie looks less sure with her albino turtle

Daisy gives the baby turtles some sage advice afore they go

Practised snorkeling some more in the pool.
Then went to seafood barbecue in evening – excellent meal .

Part Two of our two-part photo album for this Sri Lanka trip can be viewed through the flickr link below – there are 75 photos therein:

01 Tea pickers in hill country, near Nuwara Eliya SRI_J4 (18)

Real gluttons for photo punishment can see raw scans of all 430 photos we took unedited and unlabelled here:

Hambantota To Ahungalla Via Galle, 24 March 1995

Rose early for a drive round the coast to our hotel. Beautiful sea views plus coconut shell rope makers…

…and stilt fisherman.

Farewell lunch just outside Galle, then into Galle for a look round Church & fort etc.

Then on to gem, lace etc. factory and goodbye to tour.

…lace making…I SO was not going to miss this type of touring

Then on to Triton hotel (very tired) – unpacked, swam, changed, hot drink and flambé supper at supper club (very good) and to bed.

Free at last! Yes, Janie was especially taken with that flambé supper option at the Triton (now renamed the Heritance Ahungalla), I think we did it several times while we were there.

Part Two of our two-part photo album for this Sri Lanka trip can be viewed through the flickr link below – there are 75 photos therein:

Real gluttons for photo punishment can see raw scans of all 430 photos we took unedited and unlabelled here:

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