SS Quah's Anything Goes: Sri Lanka: Day 6, Part 1 (Negombo)

This is the picture of the sunset which I couldn't locate for my previous episode on my Sri Lanka travels. Now that I've found it, here it is in all its glorious darkish red hues, topped with a moon in the sky. Two cameras are seldom alike; while the previous photo was taken with my Olympus EPL7, this one came from my Realme mobile phone.

By 6.30am, I was fully awake. Outside, the day was getting lighter. I opened the French window and stepped out to the sight of a huge swimming pool. Beautiful. Beyond it, a row of wooden fencing separated the hotel's land from the shoreline. Ah, the sea wasn’t too far off. I couldn’t see it in the darkness, but now, in broad daylight, the shoreline was very close indeed.

My thoughts went back to 26 December 2004 when the Indian Ocean tsunami struck. Sri Lanka was one of the coastal nations that bore the brunt of the waves. Although the southern part of the island was the most badly affected, the Negombo coastline also suffered considerable damage. I heard that around here, the water had risen about five feet. This Club Hotel Dolphin, being so close to the shore, was also in the path of the waves. My room was on the ground floor, which meant that if another bout of tall waves had hit here, I could have been in serious trouble. Not a very comfortable thought, indeed!

The whole lot of us, minus the monks, spent the hours between breakfast and lunch exploring the public beach and shoreline, walking a stretch of some 400 metres from south to north. Along the way, we appreciated different aspects of the area. To the north and south of the property were two seawalls, each about a hundred metres long, constructed from rocks and boulders. These seawalls, built to mitigate erosion and protect infrastructure from sea-related damage, must have been part of broader coastal management efforts. The definition of a seawall itself is that it is a structure built parallel to the coastline. designed to protect the land behind it from strong waves and prevent significant coastal erosion. It would be interesting to learn of their history. Were they constructed before or after the 2004 tsunami?

So there are these two seawalls to the north and south of the Club Hotel Dolphin. Behind the seawalls, enough sand sediment had deposited to form a land formation resembling jetties. We noticed several small businesses had sprung up in these areas, offering local tours, jet-skiing services, tailoring and souvenirs.

Back at the hotel around 10:00 am, we decided to have tea or coffee, along with some apom and hoppers. I searched for a coffee machine but only found a dispenser with a rather tasteless brew, highlighting the lack of a coffee culture in Sri Lanka compared to Malaysia. If anyone thought that after this second round of breakfast we would be too full for lunch, well, they were mistaken because at 1.00pm, we all trooped back to the restaurant to have another fulfilling meal from their buffet spread. Only this time, of course we couldn't eat as much as the previous night.

By 2pm, we had checked out of the hotel. We drove through Negombo town again and stopped along the main road to pop into a few shops. Porutota Road, as it is known, is a lively and popular area, bustling with tourist activity. The road is lined with an array of small budget hotels, restaurants, bars and shops, reflecting its vibrant nightlife and diversity from fresh seafood to traditional Sri Lankan dishes. Its proximity to Negombo Beach adds to its charm, making it a hub for beachgoers and travellers seeking both local culture and modern amenities. Friendly atmosphere and easy access to other tourist attractions makes this road a true Sri Lankan cultural melting pot. But the important question was what were we to do once we reached Colombo? Our flight back to Kuala Lumpur wasn’t until midnight, so we had quite a lot of time to kill. As it turned out, there were still plenty to do. I'll pause my narrative here and continue with the final episode later.

Club Hotel Dolphin