Tangalle

From Galle, we had thought to spend a day or so in Mirissa, but literally, the entire town of lodgings seemed to be booked. We kept trying down the coast, striking out in Tangalle also. we did find a place that sounded great east of Tangalle and booked through Agoda, on online booking service. We hired a car and driver, turning down the first vehicle - no A\C and lousy seats. We drove through beach towns along the south coast, beginning to see the first of many cows. Our resort, Ranna212 is about 10 k beyond Tangalle. We turned down a road towards the ocean and drove another 2 k or so - leave it to us to find the most remote place. We arrived at a fancy gated resort and were met by a young woman and handed flowers and escorted to an outside lobby where we were given a coconut milk refreshing drink and cold towels. Heaven after 3 hours in the car. But did I say, it was pouring rain? It continued for the rest of the afternoon. Just before dark we could finally get out to the beach for a long walk. We met a young SL man on the beach who told us that the turtles had come in the night before to lay their eggs, and might that night and urged us to walk to the lagoon, which was only 5 minutes away. After walking for 10 minutes in that direction, we opted for dinner. Still, we had a good hour's walk.

The food is excellent and includes many local specialities. I had a fish curry. The side dishes weren't like any I had had before. One was a very spicy beet root dish with root and leaves and hot but also strongly flavored with cinnamon. There was also a very good spicy grilled eggplant curry. For starters, I had a grilled eggplant salad, and Mark had grilled tuna - oddly it was served over a cupped lettuce leaf with potato salad. Mmmmm. The other odd thing about this resort is that it must be heavily marketed in Russia. 80% of the other guests are Russian, though this place is by no means full. Several different vodkas are on the menu, which I've not seen before.

One more night here. Today was more beach walking (yay), some of it in the rain, followed by swimming. The pool is lovely, but nearly deserted. In fact, there are just not many people here. How is that bad? Next stop is Tissamahara and the Elephant Reach hotel. We'll visit Bundala National Park, renowned for birding.