The beach...finally -

On our way down to the beaches of the South Coast we first witnessed the real effects and devastation of the Tsunami. Many thousands of people died in 2004 and as we drove down our driver pointed out the towns and villages that had literally been wiped out. Unfortunately, there are a lot of problems with aid money reaching these areas due to problems with the government and we saw many people living in small huts or shacks covered in plastic. A return to real 3rd world existence compared to the relative normality of their brick houses and electricity and TV of before. Our driver lost 3 members of his family and as we reached the beaches we were staying there was hardly anyone who hadn’t seemed to have been affected in one way or another. Indeed as we arrived in Mirissa, the hotel we hoped to stay at that we’d seen in the Lonely planet wasn’t even there anymore, it had been completely wiped out.

Mirissa was a nice quiet beach with some decent waves as well. I hired a body board and managed to catch about 2 waves...seem to remember it being much easier when I was 16 on the coast of Cornwall! Unfortunately, there was still a fair amount of rain and the guesthouse we stayed in saw the return of the bedbugs we’d experienced in a few places in India...so we moved on to Unawatuna, a slightly bigger beach where we stayed in a place called Thambopani. We had a lovely little tree house at the top of the hotel and had some great meals. We also used the swimming pool at their sister resort round the corner which was very relaxing and pleasant. It was in Unawatuna that Vanessa convinced me to have a go at Yoga. I know there are lots of people that swear by it..but I’m sorry, I just couldn’t get into it. It just seems like a lot of stretching and breathing and I didn’t really find any karma. In fact I just got bitten by a load of mosquitoes and sweated a lot! Vanessa enjoyed it though which was good and the location was very peaceful and idyllic in a little pagoda in a garden owned by a Dutchman.

Our time in Sri Lanka came to an end when we took the train back to Colombo to see Pam for the last time and to catch our flight to Bangkok. Sri Lanka had been an excellent part of our trip and very enjoyable. There was so much variety from beaches, to elephants, to tea plantations to ruins and temples we can definitely recommend it! And we’re so glad that we stayed an extra 10 days to see as much as we did. Food was also amazing...string hoppers and gravy for breakfast is a must!!!