Sayonara Sri Lanka

Apologies for the long break. The last few weeks have been characterised by a long period of bumming on the beach which led to an acute lack of motivation for blogging, followed by a flurry of activity from which I have only just surfaced.

This, dear readers, will be the final chapter of the Adventures of Excited and Nervous. So please excuse the length of this post and bear with me as I bring you up to the present moment, with me sitting in the common room of an NGO is Kuala Lumpur preparing for a year alone in the jungle. (It's the last post- I have to be dramatic)

Lunch at Wijaya Beach

Let me take you back 3 weeks ago in order to pick up where I left off. As you know, after Ella we hitched a ride in a car to the south coast to re-reunite with Dan, Andrea & Zsofia whilst they were on holiday for Eid al-Adha 

The Brothers Not-So-Grimm

Dan & Andrea stayed at the lovely Apa Villa in Thalpe, with an infinity pool in which Zsofia gave Rich some bubble blowing lessons in exchange for the privilidge of pulling his beard

tuna sashimi

We based ourselves in the popular coastal village of Unawatuna which has a plethora of budget accommodation, of which we chose to reside at both the charming & humble Amma's Guesthouse and buzzing hangout Pink Elephant. We slowed down time for a week with sunbathing, swimming, drinking and eating seafood fresh from the ocean. Occassionally raw.

Ayervedic treatment and massage is popular in Sri Lanka. We visited the Sanctuary Spa to experience this ancient therapy and both had a delightful massage. For anyone doing the same, the oils used on your head require actual shampoo and hot water to rinse clean. If you only have access to soap and cold water, you may have to live with hair that always looks wet for a couple of weeks...

Any words here would be superfluous.
Whoops.

Beside the whole 'doing nothing in paradise' part, it wasn't all rosy. Poor Rich broke a tooth and suffered a few days of toothache before we decided to make a trip to the hospital in Galle for some dental attention. 

Rich's colourful mix of antibiotics

Extending our day out, we went to Galle Fort (yet another UNESCSO World Heritage site), which did a remarkably good job of withstanding the tsunami and is described as 'an urban ensemble which illustrates the interaction of European architecture and South Asian traditions from the 16th to the 19th centuries'. So there you go.

Lighthouse at Galle Fort

There were a couple of cool graffiti murals about protecting the ocean.

We also visited a turtle hatchery in Koggala where they protect the eggs before releasing them back onto the beach for them to make their way into the ocean as unfortunately many of the eggs laid in this area are stolen for sale on the black market in order to use as an ingredient in illegal soups and medicines. They also nurse rescued turtles back to health before releasing them.

 

If we thought Unawatuna was paradise, then it was only because our limited life experience meant we couldn't even imagine somewhere more chilled out, until we moved 30 kilometres East up the coast to a place called Mirissa. Mirissa is popular with surfers so its easy to while away the days watching them catch breaks whilst sat in a hammock sipping coconuts. I will let the pictures speak for themselves this time.

Fresh seafood was another highlight...

...after working out which bits you can and can't eat

When all this relaxing and eating in beautiful surroundings got too much, we decided to put ourselves through a five hour stomach endurance test. Well, it was sold as a whale watching tour, but this might as well have been the tagline. Mirissa is famous for being one of the best places in the world to spot blue whales.

Mirissa harbour - the calm before the storm

Getting to see a blue whale would have been priceless, but as it turned out we paid £30 to watch twenty Europeans wretch into little plastic bags for 5 long hours on rough seas. Five out of the German family of seven we sat next to were begging to be taken back to shore between passing their full sick bags back to the crew in exchange for a fresh bag. I've never seen anything like it- but the crew persevered with the tour. It was miraculous that neither Rich nor I got seasick, along with only a handful of others on board. We even survived the storm on the way back which drenched everyone and had the not-insignificantly-sized boat moving forward at a permanent 45degree tilt. 

On the up side, we did see some dolphins and a hammerhead shark - which was very cool. Photos were impossible in the conditions. Not sure if anyone would really want to see them anyway... Instead, here is a photo of what a blue whale might have looked like had we seen one.

On the topic of nature, here is a pic of our first land monitor in the garden outside our hut in Mirissa.

Big fella

The Mirissa bubble eventually had to end and we packed up, jumped on a public bus and headed to Colombo, the capital, for our final few days. The city is very much under construction, but if you look for it there are little pockets of interesting buildings and views hidden among the throng of cars and tuktuks.

Rich's backpack broke so we headed to Pettah Market for a bargain replacement

We visited the National Museum Colombo, set in a lovely garden which makes a nice break from the city's roads. Established in 1877 it's Sri Lanka's largest museum and another colonial legacy.

On the final couple of days we treated ourselves and paid to use the pool at the fancy Cinnamon Hotel.

After this final bit of luxury it was time to catch our flight to Kuala Lumpur.

And so, this brings me up to the present. Before our Sri Lanka adventure was up we made a few changes to our plans, hence this being the final post in the Adventures of Excited and Nervous. I am now two weeks in to a one year contract for an Asian NGO, currently undergoing training in Kuala Lumpur in order to be posted out to run a community centre in rural Malaysia in the next few weeks - I've yet to learn where exactly I'll be going. As I write this, Rich is in Penang, an island off the west coast of Malaysia exploring the jungle and meeting turtles on empty beaches! He is spending a couple of weeks here before heading to Japan. First stop is Tokyo, then onto Sapporo to visit the delectable Paul Hanlon, a friend from university. After Sapporo he will be going to South Korea and then into Thailand for Christmas. To say I'm jealous would be an understatement! 

What this does mean folks, is that this blog is now complete as we head in different directions to have our own adventures - still excited and perhaps both a little less, and a little more nervous.

Thanks for reading - love to all!