6:30 pm local time

Hi All,

  This is the story of the shave and haircut I promised.

Ru

Doramac

Shave and a Haircut

After our tour first at Fort Galle, we asked a tuk tuk driver to take us to the Post Office, an ATM, a haircut, and some fruit and vegetables. Our tuk tuk had cost us 200 rupee to go from our harbor gate to Fort Galle so we guessed it would be about 800 maybe making stops on the way back.

First we went to the Post Office and our tuk tuk man came in with me. I was mailing 3 post cards and a card with an envelope. The tuk tuk driver decided that he needed to handle the transaction for me. It cost 520 and I think the tuk tuk driver got a cut but I’m not sure and didn’t want to look like I was checking to see since it was such a small amount. Then we went off to an ATM but it limited the amount of rupees you could get so we went back to the Galle Fort bank..?… and used that ATM. Next we went to the barber.

Lots of traffic but not many cars, just tuk tuks or buses or minivans or motorbikes.

Tuk Tuk parked outside the barber shop.

Our driver thought that both Randal and I needed haircuts but I quickly corrected that to just Randal though I’m the one who really looks in need of a barber.

The “saloon” was in the center city outside of Fort Galle. It is less charming.

While Randal was being barbered I sat and chatted with our tuk tuk driver and the other barber. The other barber said Americans were “gentlemen.”

1. Getting started

2. How’s that so far?

3. Randal is smiling here because he hasn’t yet gotten the bill.

4. Now the shave

The man on the left is the other barber. The arm belongs to the tuk tuk driver who had to go watch Randal being shaved.

5. How much was that?

1500 rupee, about $14 and 3 times more than Randal paid in Singapore! I think our tuk tuk driver negotiated that fee too. Randal hadn’t asked the charge first because he was assuming Sri Lankan prices would be similar to Malaysian prices. That’s our tuk tuk driver in the light colored shirt to Randal’s left. Most cruisers say they are treated fairly by tuk tuk drivers and we have no complaints about any of the others.

After the barber we went to a book store but didn’t stay long and I only bought 2 pens. Then we stopped at the fruits stalls in the city and our tuk tuk driver helped me buy 4 mangoes and 2 oranges for 520 rupee. I have no idea if that is expensive or not. Nita on Passage said it sounded right. I’m starting to have no clue but if anything costs more that $2 I think it is expensive. I guess that comes from living in China where there was tons of fresh fruit and veggies and it the Philippines where there were less but it was still cheap.

The tuk tuk driver’s final bill. 1800 rupee. Fair? It seemed high but he did spend almost 2 hours with us. We should have taken a tuk tuk from place to place because we really didn’t need the driver to help with any of our tasks. Next time we’ll know better. And Randal tends to tip so if he had charged less he still would have done ok and we would have felt better about it. Meters would be a good thing rather than having always to negotiate.

The blouse ladies.

Subic Bay had the bracelet ladies and this small harbour has the blouse ladies who also sell expensive tea for 850 rupee. I picked 2 blouses but they were too big. So they measured me and made small blouses…that were too small. I went back for the third try and they made me try the too big and too small ones again and then decided to just take in the big ones. I agreed to that…they were just 350 rupee each; very light white cotton material and good for hot weather. And I’m a sucker for nice ladies selling things. I took them back to the boat and tried them on without a blouse underneath and they are still too big. I’d had to try them on over my own blouse because there was no place to do anything else. Tomorrow I’ll go back and ask what they can do. But they were nice ladies.