Batticaloa first full day

In the morning we went to Celene's office. It has air-conditioning!!!

One of the staff there lent me a bicycle so I was able to explore Batticaloa on my own for a while. I first went to Kallady Beach. A nice long beach with light sand. A popular hangout with locals, but the land drops too steeply under the water so it is too dangerous for swimming. There are also a lot of fishing boats lined up along the beach.

This place was hit hard by the tsunami in 2004. There is a temple near the beach that was rebuilt after the tsunami, but some of the damage was retained, as a testament to the power of the tsunami.

By late morning it got extremely hot. I went to Celene's office to cool off for a bit, and we went for lunch. She has a favourite lunch spot around the corner that serves curry and rice. A different thing about restaurants here, is that they sometimes bring other items to your table that you didn't order, but you are only charged if you eat from them. 

I waited for late afternoon and ventured out again. It was still very hot. I rode over to the Dutch Fort. This is an old fort that was originally built by the Portugese in the 1600's, and then taken over by the Dutch. 

Right now it houses government offices, but you can take the stairs up to the top of the old wall and walk around. 

After Celene finished work we went for dinner with a nice couple: Viki, who Celene met through the office since he does some IT work there, and his wife Veena.