Pissed in Tissa

There's a town called Tissa (for short, the real name is something like Tissamahamasdkfjaiodfj that no one can pronounce, so they just call it "Tissa").

You can get safaris to Yala National Park and Bundala National Park there, which is basically why I went.

I then discovered that it would set me back approximately $100 to visit the park alone (which is not really within my budget)--so I basically had to wait to go along with someone else.  Problem is, no one was there that day.

I chose to pack up and leave rather than just keep forking over more money for disappointing experiences (which I had the feeling it would be if I stayed and tried to wait for another Safari-going group).

Turns out the dipshits put me on the wrong bus, and it was getting rather late in the day, so I just got off after an hour and went back to Tissa.  I assumed that the folks in the hotel would wake me up, since they said another couple were going on Safari the next morning...but they didn't.

So, it looks like I was right...it turned into a time-and-money-wasting disappointing experience.  It was just as well I went back, though, because I then discovered I had left my camera recharger and makeup bag in Unawatuna and had to spend the day retrieving that.  If I'd moved on, it would have made this even more difficult to do.

So anyway, no jungle safari for me. :(

A Couple of Daytrips

Using Unawatuna as my base, I did some more stuff:

First, I did a cooking class inside the town.  It was a bit overpriced, given that all I did was help a matronly lady cook an oversized meal...but I guess it's the experience that counts, right?

I made this, and ate most of it

Next, I visited Matara, where there's a fairly incredible temple on an island right across from the bus stand. 

Next, if you get outside Matara, you can visit a temple with a giant Buddha and pretty much the most wildest illustrations of the life of Buddha you've ever seen.

It's like an art museum where the pictures are painted directly onto the walls (including those of "other" benefactors to the temple, like various monks and a few soldiers.

The Giant Buddha (bigger than it looks here)

Augustus Caesar?

Illustrations of the life of the Buddha

You can also go underground where there are these giant catacombs filled with yet MORE illustrations of the life of the Buddha.  Same thing; cartoons cover every square inch of everything.  Of course, foreigners have to pay 500 rupees just to lay eyes upon it; luckily, some guy found me and bullshitted my way through with me posing as an archaeological student.

Take a look at the catacombs:

One of the "non-Buddha" paintings.

The catacombs

Pictures on EVERYTHING

Next to Matara is the Dondra lighthouse.  It's remarkable only for being the southern-most point of Sri Lanka.

Dondra lighthouse

There's also another temple at Belliatta, near Dickwella (emphasis on the DICK), which apparently has the largest Buddha in all of Sri Lanka.  It's also got yet another torture-of-sinners museum inside, which I kind of wanted to see.

It's easy to see from the roadside, so I stopped there.  The problem was that the guy tried to charge me 200 rupees to go inside (which was twice the amount printed on the ticket) so I just walked away, trying to imagine a church in the US charging someone the local hourly wage to go inside, then doubling that price.  LOL.

There's also a blowhole near there that I really, really wanted to see, but it was getting quite late in the day at that point, so I just continued eastward.

Galle: Revisited

I went back to Galle to catch a bus farther east (since many don't really bother to stop along Unawatuna road).  I took the opportunity to stop for a bite to eat and re-take some photos I personally was attached to.

Be warned, they are not nearly as nice as the originals, since the day was cloudy and overcast.  But, you can see what Galle looks like at least.

Near the entrance; you can actually walk around the tower and there's a lot of lovely, well-maintained greenspace.  I didn't care to do this a second time.  Sorry.

You can walk around the walls of the fort and get a lot of good ocean views.   These rocks apparently kept the fort from total destruction when the 2004 tsunami hit.

The lighthouse.

Famous mosque

Lovely streetside shops.

Keep It Clean

Bad design from the 1960s

Some horses live there; there's significant parkspace within the walls of the Fort.

Cool infrastructure.

Serendipity Arts Cafe entrance (I ate here the first time.  Recommended.)

ANTIQUES!

Anyway, that's not all of the pictures I took the first time, but some of the stuff I liked the best.  Of course, it's far lovelier to visit it in person.

Unawatuna: Awesome

I stayed for several days in Unawatuna (don't know how to say it) and used it as a staging ground for a series of explorations of the area and of nearby sites.  The town is in and of itself worth staying at, at least during low season--it's touristy so you can get a lot of Western food and other luxuries, but quiet enough that it's not obnoxious.

It's located on a peninsula with a number of very walkable points of interest.  It's a very nice place just to chill out and relax.

There's a mangrove preserve within about 2 km of the guesthouse area--so I walked there to see the mangroves.

What is a mangrove, you ask?  Actually, I didn't really know before I went.  Having been educated, I think it's a kind of tree with lots of roots that lives near the water and has it's own unique ecosystem.

A tree with lots of roots.

The mangrove swamp.

More mangroviness.

And more.

AND YET MORE!

Apparently, the roots form these unique holes in the surrounding terrain.

An observation hut.

Giant snails that live in the swamp

Cypress knees?

My so-called tourguide.

More tangly roots.

It's cool, right?

Then I walked around the beach.  It sort of forms a natural blue-green lagoon, and you can check out the temple at one end.  There's also a rocky point where you can watch the waves crash on shore (which I unsuccessfully tried to capture on film, lol).

The Beach Lagoon

 

Giant Buddha at the temple on the hill

This string is a blessing given to me by a monk.

Views of the waves and rocks.

Waves crashing onto shore.

Last, there's Jungle Beach, a small but idyllic perfect beach far away from the tourist center.  Going there was almost another lost quest, because it's on an off-road trail that I somehow overlooked.  But, I managed to find it on another day.  You access it by walking down a magnificent jungle trail, over boulders and streams and stuff.  It's a great walk, and a great beach.

Some shots of the Jungle Trail (apologize for the shitty photo quality due to the clouds)

Is this not The Perfect Beach??

I rewarded my efforts with a bottle of Ginger Beer.  It was the first time since childhood a beverage has made me feel like sneezing..

 

You can also walk around the peninsula a bit and look at all the wildlife and monkeys and trees and sea rocks and stuff:

Awesome trees

Rocky shores

Apart from that, there's a temple with a reclining Buddha you can visit in the nearby village and a wildlife preserve (which I didn't really have the desire to go to at that time of the day).

There's also the Peace Pagoda, apparently donated by a Japanese monk after the 2004 Tsunami.  This was the part of my time in Unawatuna that I like the very best.  It's one of those places you go, and you can tell that God really did touch it with his presence.

A memorial to the tsunami victims.

Unawatuna was definitely a great place to hang out.