8:00am local time

Hi All,

  Cochin is one giant photo-op with something interesting to see every day. Saturday we walked to Vasco da Gama Square to see the fishing nets, walk along the coast a bit and just be out and about.  Our neighborhood is the main tourist/souvenir shopping area of Cochin.  Sunday we were invited to lunch at the home of John Crabtree and his wife Fumio. In the morning I went out for a walk while Randal relaxed on the boat.  I walked to Jew Town to the embroidery shop of 89 year old Sarah Cohen and had a lovely visit with her www.sarahshandembroidery.blogspot.com is her website.  I’ll write much more about her and about John and Fumio and their friends Nick and Louisa in following emails.  This morning, Monday, some fellows are coming to help Randal clean the boat and I am returning, yet again, to our favorite Airtel shop because our 3G SIM card still doesn’t work.  We are using our phone cards in the meantime but they get used up way too fast.  To go there I’ll get a tuk tuk and show him the address we have written on a paper and he’ll take me and offer to wait and then I’ll come back.  Hopefully the cell phone will be working.

Ru

DoraMac

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Sunrise and we’re up with it.

Another little brown dog!

She and her friend started to run away when I opened the door but when I called she came back. I fed her some crackers. Here she is asking if she can come on the boat. I would hate to leave her behind so don’t want to get too attached. And we don’t need fleas on the boat to go with the mosquitoes. But she is very sweet and has just had pups, you could tell. Hopefully she’ll come back again.

Our neighbor doing her laundry.

There obviously are several generations in the small house next door. This woman was doing some of the laundry early in the morning. It involved the basins at her feet and pounding the item on the stone and then kneading and wringing it. I took the photo from inside our boat because it really would seem quite rude to stand there where she could see me taking the photo as if she were doing something odd. I’m always torn about these kinds of photos. I’m certainly not making fun of her. I am actually quite impressed. And lots of cruisers hand wash their clothes since many have no washing machines.

Our front gate.

When we come back after an outing we look for the blue sailing trip sign or the orphanage sign across the road or we would walk right by as we did the first night returning from the restaurant. There is no latch or lock during the day. At night the watchman locks it after we come back and opens it about 8 am in the morning. Today when we walked out a herd of goats walked in and had to be chased out!

Our hip, Stones loving watchman.

We are off to lunch at the Sea Gull so leave our gate and turn right on Bazaar Road.

More goats.

The one on the right is a tiny baby but you don’t see them squashed on the side of the road so they must co-exist with the cars, trucks, tuk tuks, motorbikes, bicycles and pedestrians.

Lots of waterways, a man-made island and canals here in Cochin.

When you look at the Kochi-Ernakulam map you see pieces of land and islands and lots of waterways among it all. We are in the area of Cochin (Kochi) called Mattancherry. “Kochi, formerly called as Cochin, came into being in 1967, as a result of the merger of the then neighboring towns and villages of mainland Ernakulam, Old Cochin, including Mattancherry (location of our boat yard) , Fort Kochi, Palluruthy and Thomppumpady (location of our Airtel 3G phone fixit office) , Willingdon Island (where we went through the lengthy paperwork to check in) , the suburbs of Edappally and the exurbia of Kalamassery, Thrikkakara and Kakkanad to the northeast and Tripunithura to the southeast. “ from the India Map Service Tourist Guide

Here we are at the Seagull waiting for lunch.

Randal has his Kingfisher beer and I have my No. 1 McDowell’s club soda with fresh lime juice waiting in the glass.

I always carry a paperback with me. I had just started House of Sand and Fog but while we were walking later I bought a used copy of The God of Small Things, winner of the British Booker Prize in 1997, written by Indian author Arundhati Roy. The book is set in Kerala. Cochin is located in Kerala so it seems a really good time to read it. But I did find the other book interesting so will go back to it another time.

We walked to Vasco da Gama Square and saw the Chinese Fishing Nets

The nets are suspended until they are lowered into the water.

How it works.

The red arrow points to the tip of the poles where the nets are submerged. The red line indicates the rope with rocks that acts as a counterweight. The nets are pulled up and there are fish in them? We guess that’s how it works though we’re not sure how they get the fish out.

Decorative wood stamps for sale.

Life is good when you live at a fish stall

Young teacher from China

The young man to the left of the photo with his sunglasses on his head is from Guangzhou, China. He and I were walking along taking photos of the same things so started to chat. He asked where I was from and I said USA. He said he was from China so I asked “from where?” He said Guangzhou. I told him we know Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Jingan and Baijiao and he was quite surprised. He teaches biology in a middle school. I told him about our friend Singkey who is a student in university in Guangzhou. When we got to this group of school kids he stopped to spend time with them.

Lots of kids

Very friendly, polite, kids who wanted their photo taken.

It’s always the boys who want their photo taken! And not one gave me the finger as I took the photo. That would happen now and again in the Philippines with the older boys. You wouldn’t notice until you actually really looked at the photo.

The walkway had several ice cream wagons.

Ice cream treat.

Randal eats his 10 rupee “Dixie cup” of ice cream (about ½ cup worth) with half of one of those wood spoons that come with it. It was cut lengthwise to make two spoons of one. But it worked and made the ice cream last longer.  And the spoons too.

Funny trash cans along the way.

Relic of Fort Emmanuel gunnary.

“The strategic fort was built in 1503 as a result of the alliance between the Maharajah of Cochin and the monarch of Portugal. It was reinforced in 1538 and later passed into the hands of Dutch and then the British. The fort was destroyed by the British and today relics of this magnificent structure can be seen along the beach.” India Map Service Guide

Lovely homes have been built along the walk where the fort must have been.

Conference of tuk tuk drivers..or how many men does it take to……

Our driver is the man just next to Randal. He was a very nice man who drove slowly and carefully. We needed to return to the Airtel shop to change our 3G service plan. We had the address written on a paper and they were discussing where it was and how to get there.

The Airtel (sounds like an airlines, not a phone service) office in Thoppumpady, a 100 rupee fare from the waterfront, but a 60 rupee fare from the boat yard. Both very reasonable.

Although India seems vast the land here in Cochin, or at least the street we are on, is precious. Very little is allotted for human traffic much less passage of automobiles, motorcycles, tuk tuks, trucks, and everything else you can imagine. This area or street is also used for parking. Sometimes it is difficult to figure out which vehicle is parked and which is moving. The secret of course is the moving vehicle is blowing its horn. Mingle all this with goats, dogs, and humans and you have an idea of what it is like. Tolerances are much closer here. Riding in a tuk tuk is an adventure unto itself. I’m sure if we continue we will eventually be involved in the negotiations between the tuk tuk driver and his victim. They come so close to pedestrians their tuk tuk luck cannot continue.

Everywhere you cast your eyes there is something of interest. Most buildings are on the verge of collapse. The roofing tile is simply defying gravity by staying aloft. I wonder how much it will hurt when one are more falls on one of our heads. There seems to be a great deal of grain distributors on Bazar Road near the dock where Dora Mac is berthed. These are small operations but the trucks that drop off the bags of grain are huge. I know a driver must grimace when he sees Bazar Road on his delivery sheet. It is so difficult that the trucks I have seen carry their own traffic organizer. He walks along in front of the truck motioning traffic to the right or left depending on the situation. He also guides the driver as there are only inches to spare on either side. I suspect more than once he has had to track down a parked car’s driver to encourage him to get on his way.

There never seems to be a sense of urgency. I suppose when the day ends the workers have the same amount in their pockets whether they get anything done or not. That’s the way it looks anyway. The waiters in the restaurant where we have eaten three times still doesn’t get it that I want a cold beer in my hand five minutes after arrival, and that Ruth wants a club soda with lemon. This is not a busy restaurant as we have never seen more than a dozen patrons at once. The waiter’s favorite past time is standing around chatting with other waiters.

I can’t make derogatory remarks about the food though. It is wonderful and cheap. Today I had a beer; the beers here are the same size as a wine bottle, 650 ML. I had a rice dish with chicken. Ruth had her club soda and vegetable tempura and the bill was less than $7.00 USD.

The tuk tuks are also cheap. One will buzz you halfway across the island for 60 Rupee, about $1.30 USD. I’d love to have one back home but of course being the sides are open, it would be for fair weather only. If Ruth has not posted any pictures yet I’m sure she will.

We are still exploring and I’m sure there will be a barber shop in our future and maybe a longer car for hire ride.

7:55 pm local time

Hi All,

Randal and I left the boat about noon and walked down to the Seagull Hotel for lunch.  Then we walked to Vasco De Gama Square to see the Chinese fishing nets and to walk along the waterfront.  Lots of families and school groups there.  Then we went back to our favorite Airtel shop to get a more reasonable internet 3G plan.  Today has felt as if it were 1,000 degrees.  We still have no power cord so no AC so tonight it’s pretty warm in the boat.  We have to keep the doors and big front window closed because of mosquitoes.  Our other windows, port holes and hatches have screens.  Tomorrow we are having lunch with John and Fumiko and some of their friends so we will learn more about Cochin.  Maybe Monday we’ll go back to Jew Town to see the synagogue and try to start seeing more than just the Seagull Hotel and the Airtel office.

Ru

Photos of Cochin

On our first full day in Cochin we walked from our gate onto Bazaar Road and turned left.

I was impressed by the 1360 date.

Spices and the spice trade are a big part of India’s history.

Narrow streets and lots of traffic.

Goats everywhere. I think they are employed as street cleaners.

I like that there is a hospital for women and children.

Remember when everyone wore Shalimar

Most women we see dress in traditional Indian dress.

Lots of tiny shops selling drinks or snacks.

Of course I wouldn’t even spend $72 on a handbag.

Bovines really do wander around the roads.

Our tuk tuk driver took us to a street of fruit and vegetable stands. There were several wandering cows and a calf that I had to pat. It licked my hand, yuck.

We were told the round brown things were yams!

Not sure what the bumpy looking veggies are but I was told they had to be cooked.

A fruit and vegetable stand were side by side. I asked what the bumpy vegetable was and I was told to cook it. Everything here is cooked and everything here you just eat. That’s what the fruit man said to me first pointing to the vegetables and then to his fruit stall. We had bought strawberries, oranges, small cantaloupe and bananas from him and cabbage, tomatoes and cucumbers from the vegetable stall. All of the vegetables cost less than the box of strawberries which were more expensive than anything. 80 rupees for a small box of strawberries but they tasted great with ice cream that afternoon and with yogurt and wheat germ that night.

Crabtree Boat Yard across from the Muslim Orphanage on Bazaar Road

10:17 local time

Hi All,

  Just back-tracking a bit in this email telling about our arrival into Cochin Harbor and the offical paper work process.

Arrival into Cochin

We left Galle about 3:50 pm January 24^th to time our arrival in the daylight hours of Cochin. We really should have left later, but the harbor entrance is closed off at dusk for security reasons so we had no choice. Randal had estimated that it would take 60 hours at 6 knots. 60 divided by 24 = 2.5 days and get us there “not in the dark.” As it was we had to slow down a bit because we were arriving too early.

We also had to dodge hundreds of fishing boats all through the night and early morning.

DoraMac surrounded by fishing boats.

At night the boats show up as purple blots on the route map or as blots on the radar screen. The problem is absolutely trusting the radar to be showing every tiny boat or fishing stake. The fishing stakes had blinking lights and I would see them as we passed them (thankfully not going over them and their dropped line.) During my 9:30 pm to 12:30 pm watch I had to wake Randal a few times. During my 3:30 am to ….. I woke him about every 20 minutes. I just don’t have any confidence in my interpretation of the blots. And in the Philippines where we first encountered fishing boats, they would be anchored or too slow to move so we had to go around them or their nets. Our friend Bill from Estralita said to just maintain a course and the fishing boats would deal with us. Sometimes the fishermen would flash lights at us to warn us away from their nets. I actually prefer dealing with the giant big tankers because you know exactly where they are and where they are going and how close they will get. And they play by the same rules we play by. And unless you are passing by Hong Kong or Singapore, you aren’t surrounded by hundreds of them.

Local fishermen.

Can you imagine being out on the ocean is something so small!!!

The darkest hour is just before dawn.

The fishing boats came in size small, medium and large with the larger boats towing a smaller boat. And then occasionally there were those “awful diesel trawlers” pulling nets.

One of the big boys!

As we were entering the channel to Cochin harbor we had to pass this giant tanker. The tanker was on our left and the channel marker on our right indicating shallow water. As Randal just explained it to me, “The tanker was about to make a turn. It was aiming for our starboard side, then our bow, and then turned to pass us on our port.” He was correct and that’s why he’s captain and I’m not. Of course with my librarian training I would have gotten on the VHF radio and asked the tanker what he was planning and then, no problem. They really do discuss their maneuvers with other boats near them and we hear that chatter going on all the time over the VHF.

Chinese fishing nets further than my camera could get a clear photo.

“Huge cantilevered fishing nets are the landmark of the Malabar Coast. The nets were introduced between 1350 and 1450 A.D. by traders from the Court of Kublai Khan in China. The nets set up on teak wood and bamboo poles can be seen along the entire stretch of the coast and are mainly used during the high tide.” Indian Map Service Kochi-Ernakulam

From the Court of Kublai Khan! We saw smaller versions being used on the Yellow Ocean River that runs between Jingan and Baijiao past the Seahorse boat yard. So we weren’t so surprised by their design. They are a major tourist attraction here.

Meters in tuk tuks

The meters are just for decoration….you negotiate with the drivers but it is really very cheap so far.

Buying our phone and 3G computer cards.

Randal is behind curtain number one with our tuk tuk driver, another customer and the shop owner. Small passport photos are needed along with proof of your passport to get SIM cards. One phone card had a problem. The card for our 3G phone wasn’t right either but we didn’t know that until we tried to use it. So we spent a large part of the next day dealing with that. Still seems a problem because we paid 500 rupee for the 3G SIM card and minutes and it lasted one night. Randal thinks it’s a regular phone card because for 98 rupee you get unlimited time for a month. We’ll go back again today to sort it out.

In between the Chinese fishing nets and the tuk tuk meter we spent about 4 hours on shore checking in. We had dropped anchor at the quarantine anchorage at 8:45 am and were visited by “the spirits of what is yet to come,” within the hour. We were visited by 2 boats with two sets of officials one after the other. We filled out paperwork both times. Then we had to go to shore to fill out more papers. There was some confusion how we would get to shore but finally at 11:30 am a small boat came by to take us and he charged 2 cans of beer. We immediately went to the wrong building, from wrong office to wrong office. But we were led from place to place by kind folks trying to help us. I think we had asked for the wrong office because we actually had to go back to the first building and several offices there later in the process. Piles and piles and stacks and stacks and even burlap bags full of paper everywhere. In the U.S. when you have a computer issue you call an 800 number and get someone in India. That’s funny because nothing in the long check-in process was computerized. Carbon paper is used! But when we went searching for an Internet Café the following day I was told they weren’t profitable because everyone had the Internet at home.

But as bureaucratic as it all was, it was all very polite and the officials who came on the boat never asked for any alcohol, cigarettes or hats. Officialdom tends to frown on photo taking so I didn’t. Just imagine a visit to the Motor Vehicle Department combined with a visit to the doctor or dentist and you just about have it. The officials who came onto the boat asked us to affix our stamp to the papers we signed. We have a stamp. Jane from the boat yard in China had given us one. We didn’t think to take it with us ashore so when they asked for our stamp, Randal stuck his thumb into the ink and stamped it onto the paper. Randal just said to tell you that he was very tired but it is just a very Randal reaction to repeated requests for the same information on 12 different forms. Funny enough all of the other cruisers there had fancy all in one stamp and pads while the Indian officials had hundred year old stamp pads wrapped in newspaper to keep the ink off everything. Immigration was the last office we had to visit. Just down the street behind the black gate we were told. “Just down the street” doesn’t say to me that we would need a tuk tuk to get there, but we did. How crazy is that having the last office so far away you really don’t want to walk there. Randal believed the tuk tuk driver who said it was too far even as I was still saying it’s just down the street. Tuk tuk driver was right. He drove us to the ATM and then to the not so great Airtel stand.

This morning we were visited by 2 small brown dogs. One ran off when I opened our door but one came back when I called. She is a sweet little thing and would have come aboard with just a bit of encouragement. But when we leave I’d hate for her to feel left behind and also, we don’t need to add flea bites to our mosquito bites. But I fed her crackers and will give her treats when she comes to visit.

Another lady, older than the one in the photo, is out now pounding her laundry clean. Boy, am I spoiled with my washing machine. But it is a good lesson in hand laundry. It might even work better on the really dirty stuff.

So that’s it for now.

Ru

Mattancherry, on the Fort Cochin Peninsular, across from the quarantine anchorage

6:13 pm local time

Hi All,

  Just a quick email to tell you that "we are arrived in India!"  Which seems actually more amazing to me than anyplace we have been cruising.  India for heavens sake.  Cochin isn’t the India of "The Jewel in the Crown."  Monsoon Wedding and Slumdog Millionaire is more like it.   It’s the India of BRIC: Brazil Russia, India and China whose economies are supposed to be incredibly strong in the future.  We have some money in a BRIC mutual fund so I told Randal that when we spend money here we will be making money!  Of course when a whole bag of veggies , cucumber, cabbage and tomatoes costs 60 rupees and 44 rupees = $1 I’m not sure we’ll be building our portfolio based on the spending of cruisers like us.  I’m sure we’ll buy more than veggies because the cotton clothing is very tempting and the spices are wonderful. 

  We are staying in a small boat yard on Bazaar Road just a ten minute walk from "Jew Town."  More about that in following emails.The yard is owned by John Crabtree and his partner Fumio who helped us with the lines and to get settled.  John is Irish by birth and a doctor.   Funio is Japanese but both were living in the UK before coming here to develop their boat yard.  They have invited us to go for lunch with some of their friends on Sunday. 

   Yesterday, after 3 nights and another rough passage we dropped anchor about 8:45 am, were visited by officials, went to shore about 11:30 am, checked in, ATMed and got phone cards for our cell phones and the computer 3G phone and arrived back on the boat about 5pm.  Moved the boat at 6pm when the tide was best and had a late dinner, came back and finally showered and then went to sleep.

  Today we walked to Jew Town looking for an Internet Cafe of which there are few because everyone has a mobile or wifi, so I was told by the Idiom Book shop.  He offered his for us to use as did other merchants in Jew Town but we needed to get the cell working, which hadn’t,  so we went off to do that and it was another all day affair…but now it works and we met a lovely tuk tuk driver who took us around and showed us where to buy fruit and veggies and we will call him again.

On the dock where we live.

Standing on the bow and looking to our left.

Our neighbor and her baby .

Because of the way the land goes between the yard and her house, we can’t just walk there from our dock and visit. We would have to go out onto the street and turn left.

Across the way is the small quarantine anchorage where you drop anchor and wait for the officials to come and do an initial check and then give you permission to go ashore and go through the formal, slow, check-in formalities. The Malabar Hotel is just there too.  No greedy officials like in Sri Lanka.  Just lots and lots and lots of paperwork.

Small ferry terminal.

Further down past our neighbor’s house is a ferry terminal that takes you around the different parts of the area by small ferry. You can also go by tuk tuk over the busy roads and bridges. The big white cruise ships are actually across the channel.

Looking right from our starboard side.

A ten minute walk along the road in this direction is the Sea Gull Hotel and Family Restaurant. We ate there last night and lunch today. We returned for lunch to see if I’d left my RED SOX hat there! I saved it from the officials in Sri Lanka only to leave it in a tuk tuk is what I think. On our way back after dinner we passed the small gate to the boat yard and wondered back and forth along the road finally getting into a tuk tuk. My sciatic leg is at it again. When we finally saw our gate and got out I guess I left my hat in the tuk tuk. It doesn’t seem to be anywhere on the boat and the restaurant said they didn’t have it. Only consolation is that the last time I lost a Red Sox hat, in Sai Kung, Hebe Haven, Hong Kong 2007…they won the Series. Maybe better than buying charms is losing my hat. Now I have my old green made in Olongapo fake B hat.

We walk off the dock and down the path to the metal door and go out onto Bazaar Street.

You can see the metal fence gate and the building across the road with the windows.

Wish I had noticed it when we had left for dinner but it had been a very long several days with little sleep and then the long check in process. We did notice the area was quite charming and seemed very safe as we walked back in the dark.

Now I tell tuk tuk drivers to take us to the Orphanage on Bazaar Road and they know where that is.

We have some jump ropes and school notebooks and such on the boat. I’ll bring them to the orphanage before we leave.

Getting on an off the boat is actually very easy…especially compared to the blue plastic peril in Galle.

Concrete dock, wood pilings, board tied with ropes, fenders, Doramac’s hull.

The fenders separate us from the board and the board keeps us away from the pilings which is what the dock is attached to.

Sunset tonight.

You can see the light on in the boatyard. Our watchman is sitting there but you can’t see him. He is the cartoon stereotype of an Indian with a bright turban and sarong and skinny legs. He seems pretty elderly. When we returned to the yard after today’s adventures he was sitting listening to the Rolling Stones!

Ru

DoraMac

Arrived safely in Cochin, India at 8:40 AM Jan 27, 2011

DATE: 1/26/11

TIME: GMT +5.5 12:00 NOON

POSITION: 08 12.777N 077 04.017E

SOG: 5.0 KNOTS

COG: 307

WIND: ACTUAL 4 KNOTS FROM THE NW

SEAS: ½ METER

SKIES: SCATTERED CLOUDS, MOSTLY SUNNY

TEMP: 31C 88F

DISTANCE MADE GOOD: LAST

TO DESTINATION:

TIME TO DESTINATION:

ONBOARD: RUTH & RANDAL JOHNSON

COMMENTS: WHAT A DIFFERENCE 24 HOURS CAN MAKE. WE TOOK IN OUR PARAVANES THIS MORNING AS WE NO LONGER NEED THEM BUT THEY SURE DID A GOOD JOB WHEN WE DID. RUTH AND I FEEL MUCH BETTER TODAY. YESTERDAY I WAS SO SEASICK I COULD NOT DO THE NOON REPORT.

WE SHOULD ARRIVE IN COCHIN TOMORROW MID DAY. WE HAVE A 1.5 KNOT ADVERSE CURRENT AND I DO NOT KNOW IF THAT WILL CHANGE.

FOR THOSE OF YOU BACK EAST OF US I SUGGEST YOU WAIT FOR A BETTER WEATHER WINDOW. THE 2 TO 2.5 METER SEAS AND THE 25 KNOTS OF WIND FORECAST WAS TRUE BUT THE WAVES WERE FAST, STEEP, AND BREAKING. WE ONLY GOT RELIEF FROM THEM WHEN WE HAD THE INDIA TIP EAST OF US.

Time gmt+5.5 12 noon Position 07 24 25 N 078 52 06 E

2 metre seas wind n ne 25 knots

Way too bouncy. This is no fun. Meals are ice cream and cake but that isn’t even fun in this ride. Randal says the further north west we go the smoother it will get. At about 5.2 k average speed that will take a while but still should only have 2 more nights.

Written by Ru so not very technical.

We will be departing Sri Lanka sometime this afternoon, Monday the 24th. The weather between here and the tip of India is not ideal but apparently normal for this time of year. It is likely that once we are out of the protected harbor we will go more northerly than the direct route and stay close to the Sri Lankan coast gradually turning to the NW to avoid the biggest of the waves. The tip of India and protection from the NE wind is roughly 200 NM away so it will take a day and a half to reach. Once we pass that mark wind and seas will be greatly diminished.

We should reach Cochin sometime Thursday the 27th.

6:35 pm local time

  Randal and I returned to Fort Galle today because we had enjoyed our first visit.  Sunday is kind of a slow day there but we had a nice lunch and walk.  And we used up some of our Sri Lankan money that is only useful in Sri Lanka.  Tomorrow we are off to Cochin, India.  Everything that needs to be fixed is.  Everything that must wait until Cochin will wait.  The weather is as good as it will ever be, a bit windy with swells.  That’s better for sail boats than for trawlers.  Our friends on Voyager just made the trip this past week.   Tomorrow morning I’m going to the nearby grocery store and load up on ice cream!  The heck with fruit and veggies!  Actually we’ve hardly made a dent in the supplies we stocked up on in Langkawi so we’ll be fine.  The fresh veggie selection here isn’t so great, anyway.  We’re opting not to do inland travel here because we just don’t feel comfortable leaving a heavy boat like DoraMac tied to this plastic pier.  And we’re anxious to get to India.  We’ll leave tomorrow late afternoon to time our arrival in Cochin during the daylight hours.  It should hopefully be a 3 night passage if we average six knots to cover the 350ish miles.  So my next email to you all will be from Cochin, India.

Ru

DoraMac

Fort Galle Second Visit

Our first stop was lunch.

I had basil chicken and Randal had curry chicken. Both were quite good and but more food than I needed even without eating my rice. They didn’t serve beer even in coffee mugs so we both drank iced lime juice. The bill came to 2140 Rupees, $19.50 which included a 10% service charge. We have certainly eaten more cheaply other places, but the Fort area is really where tourists eat and the prices reflect that.

We walked around the fort walls to walk off the meal.

Biodegradable drink container…a coconut.

Ramparts Hotel serves lunch but we opted for Mama’s the other day.

Many of the strolling women had their heads covered.

This interesting lock appeared on many of the doors.

Of course I had to go into the art shop.

The lovely clerk.

I bought a postcard or the “Galle Fort Map” by Catherine Hewapathirana which you see on the wall. It actually is a good representation of the fort area. She is standing in front of the light house but you can see the mosque to her right.

We left the fort area but you can see the walls are still mostly intact.

We didn’t take a tuk tuk because I wanted to walk back to the city center to buy veggies at a stand I’d noticed on our way earlier.

The fishing harbour

I’ve taken to spelling harbour the British way. These are some of the boats we had to avoid coming into Galle in the very early morning darkness. They do have lights, thankfully but still, Randal had to drive most of the time until it really was daylight and I thought I could see the boats more easily.

You know this fish is fresh!

Just outside the harbour gate is this compound where we went to speak with our “agent.” I think this might be the family home.

The shutters are to keep out rain and maybe some sun, but don’t have to be efficient to keep in heat.

The lovely front porch that can serve as a sitting room.

Many of the homes in the Fort area looked like this; low and open with large windows front and back for ventilation.