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Yet another beautiful waterfall en route to the coast, see the locals taking a dip.
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Jen with the waterfall!
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Some cool looking tourist!
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Mr Perera, our chauffeur for the whole week. Always there at the click of a finger, 1200 kms and only 130 quid total.
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Malc in pool at new hotel in Tissamaharama which is a couple of miles inland of the south coast and unaffected by the Tsunami.
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Jen with her grumpy spoilt "you don't love me" look!!
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All Cheered Up
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Milky curd like yoghurt is set into terracotta pots and sold on the roadside just in from the coast, always sold with bottled honey too!
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More curd pots!
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Honey bottles. Honey in Sri Lanka has nothing to do with bees, it is a natural extract from coconut palms and tastes similar to maple syrup.
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One of the colourful "Formula One" auto rickshaws in Tangalla on the south coast. Tangalla or "Ten Gol" as its known was virtually wiped out!
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A popular mode of transport in Sri Lanka, often used to tow lots of people around instead of using a bus!
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Jen on a coastal cliff next to a blowhole which wasn't blowing when we visited!
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A fish smoker who was happy to pose for us, nice man boobs!! Unlikely that the house he is standing by will still be there!
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A Buddha statue near Matara, another town devastated by the waves!
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A monitor lizard relaxing by the hotel pool at Mirissa. This resort Paradise Beach Club was flattened by the Tsunami.
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Stilt fisherman on coast near Galle, the dark colour you see to the right is tons of young tuna.
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You'd think they'd just use a net but this tradition dates back centuries and has been handed down through generations.
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We had to pay to take these photos but well worth it, sadly at 9.00 am in the morning most of these guys would have been active when the waves hit.
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Jen plus a load of Sri Lankan fishermen shouting "Look at the arse on that"!!
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The beautiful fort area of Galle, again this would have taken a pounding from the Tsunami.
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A film crew at Galle fort, no idea what or whom they were filming!
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Crystal clear blue waters. Galle fort again! This was an area developed by the Dutch from the Portugese in 1640.
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The grandmother of these lovely children invited us to cool off in her garden as we waited in intense heat for our driver to return.
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So happy with so little, brings a tear to the eye!
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Think you've seen this girl already? You haven't!
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Not sure who was more fascinated, them or us!!
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We fear for this family as their house is very close to the coast in Galle and would definitely have been hit badly!
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An old fruit and veg seller in Galle, he just picks the scales up by hand and throws a weight in one side, produce in the other.
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An obvious must do shot. This is Main Street, Galle. We saw this on the news and it is now a pile of rubble!
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Malc getting ready for first ever diving experience at Unnawatuna on the coast. This diving school was wiped out along with all this stretch of beach
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Nerves are kicking in. Look at the beautiiful coastline, now sadly unrecogniseable!
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Jen, cool and relaxed as an experienced diver!
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Malc about to take the plunge, backwards!
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Jen back on board after a long dive, Malc got out after 4 quick attempts after hyper ventalating and generally crapping himself!
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Ok, cleverclogs so there is actually something that you're better than Malc at!!!
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On the beach at Mirissa, the little bungalow in the background similar to ours is now gone!
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5.30 am on the beach at Mirissa waiting for the sun to rise!
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Watching the sun rise up behind Parrot Rock on Mirissa Beach.
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Simply Awesome
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Wait a minute, is that Bo Derek?
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Looks like some bronzed hunk out for a morning jog on the beach! Is it a bird, is it a plane? No its Supermalc!!
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Making rope from coconut husk!
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Amazing the strength and various use for this coconut rope!
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This is the lady at the other end some 15 metres away, the beach is immediately behind here!
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This guy was more intent on selling me drugs than showing me his rope factory, with the death penalty for drug use in Sri Lanka, I of course declined!
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Some kind of wind up!!
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1 day old turtles at Kosgoda Turtle Hatchery. Again, right on the beach and almost certainly would have been destroyed.
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Jen with the little critters at 2 days old!
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1 hard shelled creature being handled by another!
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Damn thing nearly broke my back, 40 kilos and still only a youngster, poor fella only had one eye though and wouldn't survive in the ocean!
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Rail workers at the level crossing close to where the train was hit killing 1300 passengers.
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More railway workers, same place between Hikkaduwa and Galle.
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Indiana Malc perhaps?? OK, perhaps not!
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Typical tourist, pratt!!
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A monitor lizard on a river trip at Balapitiya, there are 64 inland islands on this river.
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Its that Indiana Malc again!!
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A front view of the vast river heading inland.
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100 different birds and a whole variety of reptiles. We saw monitor lizards, a kingfisher and loads of cormorants!
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These guys hold their breath and swim to the bottom oof this deep river with buckets to collect sand for house building.
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They wanted cigarettes so one swam over and we obliged.
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Collecting 4 cigs wrapped in plastic, this delightful and thankful chap swam back over with one hand in the air.
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Ahh, romancing in the mangroves!
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This lady makes cinnamon in front of you along with coconut rope and palm leaf panels! This is one of the river islands we stopped at.
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The 6 year old son shows us a palm leaf panel that was made in front of us in about a minute, he was a great salesman too!!
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Giant squirrels on the river island of Koduwa Vihara, a 150 year old meditation retreat temple, home to 5 monks!
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More of the squirrels, could not believe the size of these!
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3 of these live on this tiny island permanently and are completely tame!
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This big fella climbed down the tree wanting to be stroked.
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A bridge to one of the islands with the heaviest transport allowed to cross it!
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This bridge looked unsafe to walk on let alone drive on.
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Jen with another of her strange looks!
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Our boat driver, such a friendly chap!
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King coconuts being prepared for us to drink at the roadside. About a pint of glorious coconut milk for just over 5 pence !!
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Top lopped off and ready to drink!
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Our final day on the beach at Hikkaduwa, this sand was simply too hot to walk on without the wet bits!
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Glorious clear waters with stunning tropical fish in abundance about 5 metres out from where I'm standing!
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Jen making her own little waves after snorkelling around Hikkaduwa.
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Soaking up the last of the sun before heading back to cold old England. 6th December 04
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A last view from our hotel before a nights sleep and off to the airport!
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All the boats in Hikkaduwa bay, most of which will be ruined by now. Quite simply one of the most memorable holidays of a lifetime. Support the fund
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Here is a pic of the Paradise Beach Club where we stayed in Mirissa, somewhere under all this is the bungalow that we stayed in! Unbelievable!
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