Sri Lanka’s South; beaches, beers and bikes, part one

Taking off again for another adventure, this time not alone but hand in hand with my love, Sean. We hugged out our love and appreciation with my beautiful parents, brother and sister in law who once again kindly dropped us to the airport. As tears rolled down mum’s face she whispered ‘just please come home safe.’ Those words echoed with me as we passed through security and into the airport.. Hidden behind the feeling of excitement, adventure and experience there’s always some shadow of fear and vulnerability in leaping into the unknown. However choking those feelings become, its important to know they pass.. Because we can not live our lives in terror and hide from opportunities so great. 

Boarding the plane on time just after midday, we took flight on Malaysian Airlines, Via Kuala Lumpur and onto our first stop; Colombo, Sri Lanka. We arrived in about 1am (about 5am Aussie time..so it had been a big day). Stepping off the plane into the humid thick night, we passed through Colombo airport hoping to purchase a camera. The duty free area consisted of about 10 electrical shops which appeared more like separate garage sales, or that of what you would see at a market. Unsuccessful, we left the airport and dived into eager men fighting for our money. ‘Tuk tuk madam’, ‘taxi’, ‘where you want to go’, ‘I take you’… We broke free and walked away from the hungry group whilst we could catch our bearings. A tuk tuk pulled up beside us and gave us a price to go to our hotel. Not a price that we knew we should pay but exhausted and disheveled we climbed aboard. No more than 10 minutes of darting in and out of traffic we arrived at the hotel; Guest Ryan. We were greeted with a dirty room, smelly damp bathroom and a bed. At least it had a fan so before we could complain our heads hit the hard pillows and light were out. 
Checking out just on 11am we stepped into a sunburnt lane with some idea of where we would find a train station to take us to the city. Dragging ourselves and our heavy backpacks we finally found it, only to read the the train wouldn’t arrive for another hour and a half. We clambered back down the steps and followed the road until we found a tuk tuk to haggle with. We both agreed on the equivalent to $15 for a big 35km ride into Colombo. We weaved in, out and around other honking traffic through chaotic streets, and head to head with oncoming traffic. The sounds, sights and smells took me straight back to India!!! If I hadn’t known better I would have through the we’d mistakenly flew into Delhi! A little shy of two hours and we finally arrived to Havelock Town (an area in Colombo) and into BED.. (Our hostel). Paula, an English gal checked us in and showed us to our dorms where we offloaded our heavy packs. In need of some cold hard cash (we’d spent what we had exchanged already) and coffee we set off to find a bank in a tuk tuk after being unsuccessful in finding Hansa - a local coffee shop near by.. (Only to drive past it). 

Cashed up and ready to spend we set our sights on food which found us at a restaurant called Sugar bistro and wine bar. It was a little fancier than our budget but we hadn’t eaten since being on the plane so we splurged; two anchor beers, a prawn curry and a seared tuna salad, it was a little ‘western meets fancy Indian’ but it filled the hole and service was with a smile. And after all, it didn’t break the bank and came to just $25 Aussie dollars! Fed and fuelled we went back to Hansa to enjoy well made coffee from farmers up north. The man that started the coffee shop apparently gave these farmers the beans and showed them how to look after them and then he would buy them back off them to roast himself and sell retail and in bulk. It was here that we met Henry, a late 60 year old man who decided to live happily ever after in Sri Lanka about 25 years ago when he worked out that he hated America. He gave us great tips and places to eat in Colombo and made us feel very welcome! Then it was back to the hostel to shower and headed to Galle Face green to watch the sunset. The whole boulevard was speckled with tourist and locals, taking photos and throwing balls, food trucks were set up to feed the hungry, whilst enjoying the glorious colours of the sun setting over the sea!! We opted for Burger’s King for dinner; which Initially thought was a miss-printed ‘Burger King’ but to my relief was an authentic Sri Lankan burger joint! A local boy tried to sell us to some other Indian place then followed us around until we caught a tuk tuk home, purchasing a bottle of red on route we retired in front of the TV! 

Breakfast at the hostel was nothing to write home about; white toast and jam, incomplete without a good coffee we set out to catch the local bus up to the Fort…(which cost us a total of $0.15). We jumped out just after the train station and it was bustling with people and transport. Men came from all directions to ask us what we were searching for, only to tell us what were were looking for was closed and they had a better option (sales tactic), so in order to escape the men and the 11am HOT heat, we found ourselves a fancy tea room in the old Dutch hospital for an iced coffee and a second breakfast. Next stop was the Pettah Markets which were small streets filled with junk and a creative chaos. Sweaty and stressed, we headed back to BED for some downtime and then headed for Barefoot for a 5pm jazz session…only to be fronted with a closing Barefoot and a driver that thought maps didn’t work when you don’t have wifi (they do!!! And without them we would be paying a lot of people ripping us off!!!) THANKS GOOGLE! We walked back through the the streets trusting our maps and found a fast food Curry Bowl. Beggars can’t be choosers and we were hungry. This mean curry made my eyes water and sweat drip from all four corners of my face!! We called it a night after that! 

Checking out, we decided to leave our backpacks full off African camping gear and head south bearing just our day packs! Back on the hot sweaty and pumping bus we headed for the station to purchase tickets to Hikkaduwa. The train station was dirty and cramped, we found our train and jumped on… Turns out second class tickets doesn’t even guarantee you a seat! We were left to sit in the corridor by the open door until more seats came available. Before too long the engine started to turn and we were moving; following the coast for the good part of the two and a half hour journey! Lined with palm trees, tin shacks and make shift clothes lines contrasting the million dollar resorts harassing the coast line, it made for an interesting ride! 

We jumped off the almost moving train around 1pm and with a little trouble finally stumbled upon our hostel; the Hikka train. I use the word hostel lightly as we walked through the gates and found a few other travellers we were then greeted by the owner. It was literally like a 3 bedroom dirty house with only one bath room.. She then asked us if we wanted boy/girl dorms and we said we had booked mixed… So she threw me in the boy dorm (voíla - mixed). The room was dingy and the only cooling factor was a shitty blow fan that didn’t stay on. The lady that ran it seemed lovely but it still didn’t make for a comfortable stay! 
Swallowing our fate (we were locked into one night) we ditched our day packs and headed down to check out the small but bustling beach town of Hikkaduwa. We headed down our lane and onto the main drag spotting a restaurant across the way which had beach views. We attempted it but the friendly chap sent us away as he had no power. We compared a few menus of some shack like restaurants and it all seemed much of a muchness so we settled on one. Two lassies (mine was a lukewarm mango juice,) and two curries later (we couldn’t tell the difference in taste between the bony fish and the beef,) we payed our bill and kept walking. Clothes stalls and cafes lined the small road, with lots of stray dogs looking for food and small cats looking for affection. The clothes stalls were filled with hippy like pants, scarves, and loose dresses in elephant and Hawaiian type fabrics very much like in India and Bali! (Basically all that shit you justify buying then get it home and never wear it again!). We found the beach, with murky aqua water, boggling boats and lots of tourists (mainly Russian couples and families!) The heat of the sun was enough to make you melt so we dived into the water hoping it would cool us off… however it was more like a warm bath! Nice enough to have a quick splash and then dry off. Thirsty for a cold beer we headed to JLH; one of the beach side cafes that overlooked the water, for just $3 a cold anchor (big bottle) we couldn’t stop at one! On route back to the hostel we watched the beautiful sun set from parrots paradise (still with no electricity so he let us BYO) before heading out for steak and prawns.

A pretty sleepless hot night battling mosquitoes and men snoring we packed up our stuff after breaky (the little lady made us an egg on toast and coffee) and went down the road to check into ‘Lovely Guest House,’ which the man from parrots paradise had introduced us to the night before. There we scored a private, double, clean room and bathroom for just 1000 rupee a night (about $10 Aussie dollars)!!! 

Stoked at our luck we had a long, brilliant shower then went down to collect our scooter we were hiring for two days for just $5 a day! It felt good to get on the road on our own terms, wind in our faces and freedom! Sean soon adjusted the the Sri Lankan road etiquette sounding the horn and weaving in and out clustered traffic! Making way south we followed the coast via Galle Fort (which in my opinion was nothing compared to the rave reviews it gets,) until we came to a patch of sand and a nice enough beach to make a quick splash before heading onto Unawatuna, the drive took just over an hour. 

We drove past cute cushioned cafes and little trinket shops, for me it was the Byron Bay of the South! The beach was a stunning, still, murky-pearl-turquoise colour and perfect to float in! The sand was stalked by many cafes all selling the same thing, we decided on one which was at a little distance from the rest and enjoyed fish and salad! (I love the tropical salads here/ they are finely cut cabbage, carrot, tomato, and pineapple!) 

That morning, in attempt to make our own fruit salad, we went to the supermarket and purchased a bunch of things to cut up at home.. In hindsight it’s definitely cheaper and less of a hassle just to eat out!  Fuelled but not full we drove north, not really sure what were seeking we just rode until we came to Bentota! The beach itself was rough and polluted with expensive resorts, with all the holidayers lazing on their deck chairs behind massive wire fences. We wanted to visit a turtle sanctuary but were unsure which ones were actually doing good, as a lot are just set up to make money from tourists without caring for the turtles wellbeing! We pulled into a spice garden and were harassed by many men trying to ‘give us a tour’ and sell us over priced tea and ‘lose weight’ creams. We didn’t leave without paying a price, I dropped my phone and the screen cracked into a thousand plates! Parking our bike back at Hikkaduwa beach we swam out to see the day away and also sighted giant 100 year old turtles surrounded by all of the tourists slapping their backs and posing for the photos! 

Hungry for more curry we made our way down a side street to ‘Home Grown Curry Restaurant’ (starred in the lonely planet, and we had to pre order it as it is off season and not many tourists are around.) We were greeted by a friendly elderly lady who ushered us to sit at one of the half a dozen tables (we were the only customers there,) before too long a smorgasbord of treats were presented to us; 3 ramekins with different items, (one was the chicken curry and the two others were veggie curries all to be mixed together) and to our delight - brown rice!!! It felt like a truly authentic dining experience and the lady didn’t stop smiling whilst her husband was our chef!! We walked back via the ‘wine shop’ and grabbed a few cold anchors to enjoy in the darkness of our garden view balcony! It was a lovely last evening in Hikka!