Here we go to Hambantota

Srath comes and meets us at the hotel 30 minutes late. We go to Galle, driving  along the coast. The traffic is very dense on this Sunday morning, it’s about 30°C; Lydie is fine, I appreciate the air conditioning in the Hyundaï. As soon as we leave Colombo, the police and military presence is less important. But at the entry of each town there are the same checkpoints.

We pass through Kalatora, place of pilgrimage where is situated the biggest Buddhist dome in the country. It’s surrounded by Koltambers, trees found all over Sri Lanka, with large leaves. Thanks to these trees there are zones of shadow in parks and hotels. While approaching Galle we can see more and more marks of the tsunami in 2004. A lot of devastated and abandoned houses. Srath explains to us that the owners still haven’t been reimbursed by the government. In the same areas we see a lot of buildings in progress. It’s the paradox here where the presence of NGO and other associations is everywhere and very active. Everywhere we can see boards telling the money given by countries or organizations. All over the country there are building sites. Whether on the roads, in towns or in villages, the Sri-Lankans are at work. Even on this Sunday we meet a lot of workers, often women by the way, who take part to the repairing of the roads and the numerous bridges along the A2 motorway linking Colombo to the South East of the country.

At the entry of Galle Srath shows us the place where the train linking the capital to the South of the country was taken away by the tsunami. 1500 dead!
 We have lunch at the restaurant of the “ramparts” (written that way). Srath joins us to have a cup of coffee, we still have half the way to reach Hambantota.
After Galle the reconstructions are still more numerous even we can see from time to time some tents along the beach. The police are discreet even if their presence is deterrent. Srath tells us that the speed controls are frequent. That’s why we go between 40 and 70 km/h maximum. We understand better why it takes five to six hours to cover the 240 km between Colombo and Hambantota. After going through Matara the road goes further inland; it seems to me we’ve left the motorway. Looking at the surface of the road, I think I’m right. There’s asphalt, but how old is it? We get a bit shaken about despite the low speed. The private buses haven’t slowed down. They hoot their horns like mad to overtake us. I feel like acting in the film “Duel” by Spielberg. After a few kilometres we see the beach on our right again. We are still on the A2 motorway but we’ve changed district hence the difference of the state of the roads. There are still a lot of dogs along the road and even sometimes lying on the roadway. There are cows too, walking nonchalantly, paying no attention to the traffic.  Thanks to the rather low speed of the various vehicles, people can avoid them almost every time.
Arrival at the Oasis hotel two kilometres before Hambantota. The setting is charming, the garden goes up to the beach. It is inhabited by birds, squirrels and two or three wandering dogs. We can even see a two-metre long varanus which disappears in a copse when seeing us. Tonight we’re having dinner outside (the temperature won’t go below 25°C) and tomorrow it’s the big day ...