April 3, 2025
Cycle day 12 - Trincomalee to Pulmoddai
Trincomalee to Pulmoddai= 53km (Total distance on this trip so far = 769km)
Weather = ah the usual – a low of 25 with a top of 31 degrees and hot! A cloudy day to start and then turning sunny. Had rain last night so today the humidity is high – at 10am it was 81% we were sweaty as soon as we stepped outside! A crosswind today coming from the east but it was light.
Accommodation = Mango Hacienda = 8000 rupees ($43.24 AUD) – I know! Alot more than what we normally pay but there is nothing else here and as Neil constantly reminds me – it is cheaper than a Western Australia unpowered campsite!
Gosh we liked our accommodation at Trincomalee, in fact I really liked this town. The location of the accommodation as we had everything around us – dinner places, bakeries and there was even a material/textile store just around the corner but I resisted. There are 2 here in Pulmoddai!
We left a little later this morning as we only had a short ride up the road. We are now on a minor B road and once past all the resorts you are soon reminded that you are on a B road!
It was like this from Niraveli on as most of the resorts are between here and Trincomalee.
At first the road is just a little rough and not smooth but once closer to Kuchchaveli just before Pulmoddai your roads are like the photo above.
Up to Niraveli beach you see all the resort signs pointing down these laneways towards the ocean and you know they are these really expensive resorts that cost $200 AUD a night and I do wonder just how much of a difference they are compared to what we are staying at tonight! The township of Niraveli is nice and there are heaps of diving schools here and that is what Niraveli beach is famous for – snorkelling and diving in the reef I assume! Sort of don't investigate that sort of stuff as I can't see underwater without my glasses so diving and snorkelling is wasted on me!
The road is very quiet and (Oh I just looked up and realised this room has a TV!) and at times it was just us! We had a tuk tuk load of kiddies following us today and as they came up behind us all you could hear was Hi Hi Hi and the father would pull up alongside of us and they would immediately become all shy and giggle by the 2nd time they came across us the kiddies finally picked up enough courage to ask my name and then they repeat it back to me and are happy they get to practice their English. It is the girls that are quite good at English. We are suspecting that the girls in a family (regardless of religion) are the ones that learn the English the most or are encouraged to learn.
I liked this shrine – there would have been a great view from up there - Pallawanka Archaelogical Site apparently an ancient port approximately 4th century.
Since the road is quiet – alot of the beef livestock come onto the road as well as the big herds of water buffalo!
We get to the outskirts of Pulmoddai and are really early.
We find a small store selling papaya so Neil stops and I am just swamped with kids coming up to me. They are trying so hard to speak English but I think they are just so happy to see foreigners in there small community. They ask my name (as that is what they have learnt) “what is your name” and “how are you” I say it and then they giggle because I say “good thanks and you?” and they are not sure what I have said. I need to say back “how are you”!
Then we continue on to the other end of town where Neil finds a place to get some Samamosa (apparently we have been saying it wrong-they have an extra ‘ma’ in their samosas! It was right next to a school and the boys just swarmed me at their fenceline and again their English is not great and the one that could speak it was too shy! It was this group of 16 year old boys that corrected us on our pronunciation of Samamosa! There seems to be no issue with them or anybody asking our ages – it seems quite a natural question for them to ask unlike in the Western culture it is considered impolite to ask, especially to a woman!
Up here they all speak Tamil and in schools they are taught the usual maths, science, Tamil, Arabic and a little English.
We continue on and our accommodation is just on the edge of town. I wasn't quite sure on this place as it has come off booking.com and it was hard to find how to book but it does have a phone number but we were not sure on if they would be able to understand us. So I saw on Google search a facebook link so I contacted them via messenger and voila made a booking. So happy we did, despite the price, it is a lovely place and we are happy to pay this price. It is beautifully maintained. The gardens are lovely, the villa has 2-3 other rooms but we are the only ones here at the moment. Brekky is included and they will cook chicken fried rice tonight for our dinner.
Tomorrow we are at Mullativu.
Today's ride: 53 km (33 miles)
Total: 810 km (503 miles)
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Wow that is very nice accommodation & well worth every cent compared to unpowered tent site in WA 😀
2 weeks ago