One one things

After a couple of lazy days of recovery and catching up with friends the time has come to pen down some details of my 8 day trip from Colombo to Arugam Bay. There’s lots to say so it’s probably best to break it up into different legs of the journey.

Leg 1: Colombo - Unawatuna - Tissamaharama

On Sunday the 4th of September my alarm went off around 5.30am. After convincing myself that the alarm was not part of a dream I scraped myself out of bed to discover that it was drizzling outside. Bugger. Rain wasn’t part of the plan at all. We set off at 6, stopped for some cash and petrol and we were on our way. The drizzle was on and off but the gray skies continued all the way to the horizon, it looked ominous. We made it to Galle town in good time and within 2.45 hours we turned into Welle Devalaya road in Unawatuna to look for a place to spend the next 2 nights. The places on the beach itself looked nice but were a bit out of budget at 3500/4000 bucks a night for a twin room. It was to be just 2 of us for the first leg of the journey so each time we asked “uncle double room ekak keeyada?” we’d get an suspicious look. We eventually returned to a place we spotted a bit earlier called Zimmer Rest. Quaint looking place with about 7 rooms spread over a reasonably large area run by a genial and very enterprising character called Tilakasiri. We got an upstair double room for 1500 a night, the room was comfortable and well located. The only problem was the rain that had actually increased. So left with no alternatives we decided we would have to be introduced to Ms. Mary Jane a bit earlier than planned. After much clumsy rolling (and much encouragement from my Bob Dylan CD) we managed to get going. Topped up with a few Tequila shots (finally found a drink that I enjoy!) we waddled along to towards the beach to find a place to have lunch. There are LOADS of little restaurants and guest houses with exotic names like Shangri-La (yes, the right to copy law back in action), Hard Rock Cafe, Hot Rock Cafe etc. We decided that Hot Rock was the place to be so we ordered some devilled Calamari, prawns and rice and it was fabulous stuff, fresh, spicy and it really hit the spot.

That evening the rain had intensified and it was disheartening bc we had planned on several hours of sun drenched Unawatuna beach time. After much pondering decided that rain or no rain a beach is a beach so off we went. The water was cold, the rain drops piercing, the winds strong and the waves stronger. And yet for some reason it was quite fun. Unawatuna is a very safe bay, and you need to do something fairly silly to get yourself in trouble there, and somehow I got the feeling that we were asking for and eating dhal. There was quite a storm brewing and all of a sudden it rained so hard that it was impossible to see 20 yards away and the two of us were the only two idiots in the sea. It was an amazing experience, it felt incredibly peaceful and calm despite being in the middle of a thunder storm in the sea. The storm died down and we decided to make a move.

Headed back to Zimmer and chilled in the night splitting a bottle of wine and some cigars before heading off for dinner. Ate at Hard Rock Cafe and made friends with some of the staff whilst enjoying more fresh sea food. The two of us seemed to be the only Sri Lankan tourists, so we stood out quite a bit. Unawatuna has loads of character. The beauty of it is that it hasn’t been spoiled by large scale hotels and it caters more to younger tourists who don’t have loads of money to throw around. As a result it is a very chilled out place, and I walked around most of the time in Sarong and in the day time without a shirt. After dinner we finished the MJ and spent the latter part of the night chilling on the balcony arm chairs chatting and enjoying the mellow feeling that results.

The next morning was sunny and the beach had to be hit. Unawatuna has one of the best beaches in Sri Lanka bc the water is so calm and you can just relax in it for hours on end. Spent the whole morning in the sea and beach before going back to Hard Rock for lunch and to try renew our supplies. It turned out easier than expected as a guy selling those ethnic looking bead things you wear around your neck and wrist pretty much offered us the stuff. Bargained on the price a bit and managed to get a decent offer. In the afternoon we got beer and tonic along with some books to relax on the beach till sundown. In the evening we walked to a place called Jungle Beach and discovered 3 lovely little unspoilt beaches after a bit of trekking. Unfortunately the tide was rising so we couldn’t spend much time enjoying the place. Finally dropped into Welle Devalaya bc I had read some intersting stories about the place including something about a trapped sea serpent, but the place was not much to write home about. We’d been spending too much on food so that night we had a kottu and tea at a small place just near Zimmer. The Kottu was top notch and even the suddas seemed quite taken up by it. Tilakasiri gave us some fantastic fried fish on the house when we got back to Zimmer and we joined him in a game of Carrom and got duely thrashed. Our coordination wasn’t tops so we’re excused!

Woke up early the next morning to leave for Tissa. It was sad to leave Unawatuna and Zimmer in particular. Said bye to Tilakasiri but not before he gave us some useful information on Arugam Bay to help us out for the rest out our journey. The drive was very pleasant, shutters down, sea breeze flowing through and not too many bus fumes. I took over the wheel at Hambantota and the road to Tissa was lovely bc it’s brand new, massive and almost empty at the time. Got to Tissa in time for lunch which was marvellous. 9 curries and rice along with top of the range curd and treacle for 350 bucks, can’t really get much better than that. Had a nap and drove up to Yala at 4. I wasn’t expecting to see a lot of wildlife bc it’s the height of the dry season and we only had one round in the park, nonetheless I was very excited bc Yala is Yala. Picked up the tracker and we were off at 4.30. Saw about 4 Jackals shortly after entering the park which is rare bc Jackals are usually solitary or in pairs. We then headed up to Patanangala to see the bungalow destroyed by the Tsunami. It was quite emotional bc I had stayed in that bungalow on the 14th of December and one of the bungalow keepers called Jayatissa had died. Found out that the cook, Nishantha, had received a call on the 25th and had gone home narrowly escaping a similar fate. We saw 4 elephants in Rukvila including two calves and watched them for a few minutes. We then proceeded to Thalgasmankada hoping to see the male leopard who frequents that area, and after a few minutes of driving the tracker gave a muffled yelp of “kotiya kotiya kotiya!” There was a magnificent male making his way towards the thicket. Unfortunately the sighting wasn’t prolonged but it was awesome nonetheless. One of the interesting things about Yala is the trackers, and if you’re lucky you come across some real gems. Our guy was quite interesting and I loved the way he spoke in very old fashioned Sinhalese. We drove off and came across a lone Tusker feeding on some of the scarce greenery. This was my first tusker sighting in Yala and it’s supposed to be fairly rare. We then drove towards the Rakinawala watering hole and promptly heard the alarm call of a Deer. The frequency increased and we killed the engine and waited in anticipation. Our ears were peeled for each rustle or the give away saw-like call of a leopard. But we were to be disappointed. Dusk was fast approaching so we drove up to Buttuwa weva to try and spot some bear and as we came close there were several vehicles parked just near a clearing. Apparently a pair of Sloth Bears had emerged from the bushes but retreated shortly afterwards. We watched and waited a few more minutes and did another round but we didn’t see them.

Thoroughly satisfied at the evening’s haul we left the park and returned to Tissa in the dark. Stopped at an Aappa kadey and had a lovely meal of hot-hot hoppers with killer lunu miris and some fresh Kelwalla. Got back to Tissa rest house and talked for hours about this and that before calling it a night around 1am. The next morning we would head for Ampara, a long drive that proved to be a lot more arduous and challenging than expected.

I just did something I thought i’d never do. Was listening to YES FM and they had their routine trivia, asking which countries have their Independence Day today. There are 5 of them and they named three and said to name the other two countries which begin with the letters H and N and are in South America. Being a sucker for such trivia I took a guess and sent a text saying Honduras and Nicaragua and didn’t put my name. A minute later I get a call from an unknown landline number ending with 895. Shit shit. But then I thought I might get a prize so I picked up. Some bugger says hello in a very chirpy voice. Shit..it’s them. He asked my name and some basic questions like what I do and that they’ll put me on air and not to use any profanity! I said noooo!! I had more than half a mind to cut the line but that would have been chicken so i hung on getting very nervous in the process. I’m very very bad at talking in public and had I any time to think about this I would never have done it. Just the thought of several ppl hearing me gives me the shivers.

I put the radio off so that it won’t create that horrible feedback noise and sound like an idiot. After a minute or so the song finished and I heard those two buggers talking on air and then I heard my name and a “hello? can you hear me?” I barely could, but said hello in a voice that was much too squeaky for my liking. They asked me a couple of questions on air again about what I do for a living and which university I’m planning on going to. They heard LSE as LSD which was quite funny. I was probably very incoherent bc well I’m incoherent at the best of times. In the end I think I said good night! But overall it was fun enough and I’m glad I didn’t hang up. Another thing to tell the grandkids

P.s.
I didn’t get a prize!! The girl who called in afterwards got to request her own song and chose Lonely by Akon! Gulp. I would have requested Jerk it out by the Caesers..so there.