JAN 15 GALLE AND DEVIL DANCE

GALLE
We wake up to purple face leaf monkeys swinging in the branches outside our room.

We finish breakfast and catch a bus to Galle about 5 kilometres down the road. Bus transport is a bargain here. The ticket costs 15 cents each. GALLE is an old Portugese and then Dutch trading town and the Dutch built a substantial fortress around the original GALLE settlement to protect there interests in GALLE which was a critical link to the spice and gem trade in the region. The area in now an UNESCO heritage site and is gradually being restored.

We walked the perimeter wall with lots of other tourists both local and from countries all over the world. We would take photos of them but more often than not others wanted to take photos of us posing with them.

We visited the local temple.

Many of the buildings are being turned into trendy shops and we window shopped looking at local art, woodcarvings, lace and fabric stores. We have a 10 course curry meal with rice shared for 2 for $10.

We checked out art galleries and lace shops. Later in the afternoon we catch the bus home.

THE DEVIL DANCE
That evening we attend a local performance of the Sri Lankan devil dance at the Temple of Sri Celuththara Ramayana. It is just a 5 minute walk up the road to the temple. The show starts at 7:30 pm. Monks and dignitaries are on one side, paying guests on the other and a throng of non paying locals waiting breathlessly between us. The first hour or so various dignitaries give speeches in Sinhalese. Finally the show starts There are 18 sections to the stiory with 2 drummers and two dancers telling the story. We are served tea and various treats throughout the performance. We leave before midnight after 7 or 8 sections are danced but can hear the drumming into the wee hours of the morning.