Batticaloa in Rear View Mirror, Beach Ahead

We are on the road to Batticaloa on the East Coast of Sri Lanka. A friend we are travelling with takes us to a house his grandfather had lived in. It's nearly 100 years old. The owner and his doctor wife give us a tour of the house. My friend says there is no change since he was here fifty years ago. The courtyard looks like the setting of a movie, and only 30 feet away there is a massive lagoon and a great view of the old city walls. 

Our tour of this city starts with the Dutch Fort with their VOC emblem over the main entrance. It was built in 1638 by the Portuguese and handed over to the Dutch, who better fortified it after handover in 1796. It has four bastions linked by ramparts, part facing a large lagoon. There is a need for some serious cleaning up, but some restoration is going on and we are all enjoying the history and the water views. There are about 36 forts on the island of Sri Lanka and having seen many, this one is more impressive and photogenic from the outside than the inside. Inner buildings are still being used as offices and the central area is currently a haphazard sort of car park. In 1886 the boat service between Batticaloa and Colombo started, superseded by rail services commencing in 1927, then suspended due to civil war . Today it is a congested road to enter/ exit from the city.

We drive round the colonial mansions; beautiful, old, big properties impressing everyone in the vehicle. The Whinging Pome Random Rule No. 211: "Don't ask what the British Empire did or didn't do for your country, ask what have you done since they left." Running out of time in this commercial city of Batticaloa is known by many as “Batti”, we don't get to our other target locations; the heritage museum, the city gate, Gandhi Park and the famous Hindu temple. I would say you can “do” what's worth doing as a tourist in Batticaloa if you have a day. Most tourists would just drive through the town. In fact, the best view of the town , for some , is in the rear-view mirror.

We head off to our  favourite beach to stay on the East Coast,  Karpaha Sands thirty kilometers away. To get to the luxury camping resort after getting lost, and at one point I’m walking in the water- filled road to check its depth, having listened to the van driver who says it’s too deep. The staff welcome us, but the best greeting is from 'Milky', a beach dog who lives mainly on the resort. Our tent is palatial, unusual design  with an outdoor shower, spacious bathroom and bedroom. Lots of lavish furniture, unusual lighting and lots of features.

The resort sits in the middle of the very long bay of the Kalkudah flattish beach and sea. In the fishing season, the beach is dotted with fishing boats. We notice boats go out twice a day and drop nets , then after some time, these nets are pulled in by people on the shore.  We walk the beach which is wide and reasonably clean and come across a lagoon. For centuries Sri Lanka has restricted some rivers to flow fully into the sea, thus creating lagoons for fishing water supply and assist in better living. The locals say a nearby building was destroyed in the 2004 tsunami. Our resort manager tells us it was the home of the LTTE sea tigers. These fighters were known to include suicide dedicated fighters who would ram their small boats into larger boats of the Sri Lankan Navy.

One thing I notice in my decades in Sri Lanka is that when you show any interest in a block of land or a house, someone always pipes up "It’s for sale"; here is no different. Land on the bay was being sold very quickly straight after the war and today’s prices have made many millionaires. This glamping resort has a large number of artworks and quirky statues with well-designed use of space. I personally dislike dark pools, and this has dark blue tiles with overly complicated and badly designed access. The infinity pool is salted water, which I much prefer to the chlorine pools. Sunset behind us through the trees is amazing. All the sandals in the photo , baring one are from beaches in the area, taken by the writer.