We arrived at Colombo airport at the ridiculous hour of 2:30am, so instead of paying stupid money for a taxi to take us the 30kms or so into the city, we waited until we could get the first train at about 6am. We didn't plan on spending any longer in the capital than we needed to, so after a wasted visit to the Indonesian Embassy where we were eventually told they don't issue 60 day tourist visas (Indo being our next destination after Malaysia), we just wandered around a bit before heading back for a much needed nap. That night we tasted a much-loved local dish called kottu roti, which is made of shredded roti (a kind of bread), vegetables, and your choice of meat and/or egg. All the ingredients are thrown onto a large, flat, heated cooking surface and then the fun begins - a deafening clatter as the two blunt metal blades used to chop and mix the kottu clash on the cooktop, before it's all piled onto a plate with a flourish. This distinctive and extremely loud sound can usually be heard in any town, and is the sign of kottu being prepared. It's usually accompanied by a dish of gravy/sauce, often a bit spicy that you can ladle on to your taste. We absolutely loved this dish and never got sick of it - probably a good thing since we had it nearly every single night for the entire month we were in Sri Lanka!
The second day we wanted to get out of Colombo and head to a beach on the south coast, so we chose Unawatuna as our first stop. We took the train which was very slow, but it was the perfect way to take in the gorgeous scenery which was unbelievably green and lush.
With the beautiful sandy beach and all the tourist accommodation and restaurants located about 1km from the main, busy road, Unawatuna is pretty chilled and probably the most popular beach on the south coast. Unfortunately it was hit hard by the 2004 tsunami, but thanks to donations from foreigners who holidayed there and foreign volunteers, reconstruction was faster here than anywhere else in the country. We found a great room right across the road from the beach, with a big comfortable bed (with a proper mattress!) and wifi for $12.50. We knew accommodation was going to be significantly more expensive than India, but the standards were also a lot higher.
We only had a couple of days here, but we made sure to check out Galle, which is a very popular tourist spot just 5km away. There's a massive Fort, built by the Portuguese and Dutch, which is a beautiful old place to walk around. There are plenty of hotels and restaurants inside, but that was way out of our budget, so we just walked around for a couple of hours before heading back to Unawatuna. Then we decided to go just a little bit further down the road to another beach.
Mirissa is only about 30kms from Unawatuna, but it's a bit smaller and more of a surfing beach. As we were walking around to find a place to stay it started to piss down, so we sheltered under a guy's porch. Of course he had rooms to offer us, and when he got down to 1,000 rupees (AU$8.30) we thought we'd stay for the night and see if we could find anywhere better. After dumping our stuff in the room he offered to show us a cheap, local place to eat lunch, so he took us to the main road and got us a good price for a shitload of rice and curry (a variety of vege dishes and fish). Then it was time for a swim, but when we got back Kurt checked our money to see how much we had, and discovered we were missing 4,000 rupees (AU$33) since that morning when he'd counted. Upon further inspection, we were also missing US$10. We didn't want to jump to conclusions, so we did all sorts of calculations on what we'd spent versus what we'd taken out since we arrived. But the only explanation was that the guy we were staying with (or his dodgy friend) had another key to our room and stole it while we were out. That left us with no choice but to pack up and leave immediately. Luckily we found a much nicer place down the road with a huge balcony, and for the same price we paid in Unawatuna.
We spent four days in Mirissa, swimming, eating cheap and delicious fruit (pineapple and mango) and kottu roti, and drinking beer. We usually buy beer from a bottle shop as it's way cheaper than in the bars and restaurants, but Kurt had read about a random local bar right on the beach, that was much cheaper than all the others. It was just a little wooden hut with a couple of benches and tables under thatched roofs, and it's run by the guys in the Coast Guard, which is right behind it. We spent a couple of nights drinking here, and while it's not the cheapest beer we've had, it was still pretty damn cheap at AU$2 a bottle (long neck).
We also paid a visit to a nearby temple, which has a massive 50m tall Buddha towering above. However, it's something quite unexpected that makes it unique compared to other temples. There's a hall of horrors which has life size models of demons and sinners, as well as paintings showing various and inventive punishments that lie in store if you don't follow the path to enlightenment. Things like being sawn in half, dunked in boiling cauldrons and disembowelled. Lovely. At least it made a change from the usual run of the mill temples.
Jumping on a local bus and changing twice we headed up into the hill country, to a small village called Ella. Surrounded by lush countryside, hills and tea plantations, it's a very pretty and relaxing place to spend a few days. Being in the hills it's still very warm during the day, but at night it's a bit cooler which is much nicer for sleeping. Again, we found a really nice room with probably the biggest bed we've ever seen and a nice bathroom, with lovely hosts. The main thing to do in Ella is walk/hike up hills - either to the top of Ella Rock or to Little Adam's Peak, which is a shorter walk. We chose this one, and it's a nice easy walk through tea plantations then up the side of a hill. We didn't want to walk up the steps as Kurt's got bad knees, so we followed the path which wound around in a more gentle incline. We lost the path at one point but luckily it wasn't too overgrown to forge our way to the top. There are a couple of lookout points, separated by a steep walk down and back up another neighbouring hill, but both are worth it. You can see for miles out over the hills and valleys below and really appreciate just how green this country is.
Unfortunately we were in Ella over the monthly full moon holiday so all the cheap local food places were shut, and we were left with just the western places to choose from. But we still managed to find a decent kottu roti for not too expensive. And we were able to get in before the holiday to try another local favourite called hoppers. It's basically like a crepe, but it's cooked in a small round pan so it comes out bowl-shaped and you rip it up and dunk it in dahl (lentils) or spicy sauce. We tried egg hoppers, which have an egg cracked into the bottom which cooks perfectly. Finger lickin good.
After a few days in the hills it was back out to the coast for some more beach time. From Ella to Arugam Bay was an all day affair, and we spent most of that on what has to be the most crowded bus we've ever been on. We were in the seats right at the front and there were people literally between our legs, with boobs and asses in our faces. That sounds a lot better than it actually was, I can assure you. Add to that the sticky heat and we were soaked in sweat by the end of it. But, unless you want to hire a private driver it's the only way to travel (when there's no train) and it's also the best way to interact with locals who are, for the most part, quite friendly. They're a bit more reserved than the Indians, but they also don't blatantly stare as much either which was a nice change.
Arugam Bay is the most popular surfing spot for foreigners in the whole country, with people coming from all over the world to fight for a wave during the peak season (April-October), which was just kicking in when we were there. Luckily we managed to find a nice cheap room just steps from the beach, so we thought it'd be rude not to stay for about a week. On our second night we were walking along the main street trying to find a cheap local place for our favourite kottu roti, when someone walking past us recognised Kurt and said hi. Turns out it was Rebecca and Gary, an English couple Kurt had briefly spoken to at the bus station in Jodhpur (India) a couple of months ago, and she obviously had a very good memory for faces. They were also on the hunt for kottu roti so we had dinner together and shared travel stories from India. We spent a lot of time with them over the next few days, drinking cheap beers from the bottle store and a bottle of arrack which we smashed back between us on the beach one night. Arrack is a local spirit which is distilled from the nectar from coconut flowers, and it's pretty potent stuff. The hangover's the next morning were testament to that! Rebecca and Gary stayed on in Arugam Bay a bit longer, so knowing we'd made more great friends and would keep in touch, we said goodbye to continue on up the coast.
We'd chosen to spend a few days in Trincomalee (Trinco for short), which is on the north-east coast of Sri Lanka. Well, we actually stayed just north in Uppuveli, which has a beautiful long stretch of beach. It's a very chilled out place with not much to do except swim, relax on the beach and eat delicious local food and fruit (Sri Lanka has the BEST pineapples in the world as far as we're concerned), so that's how we spent the next five days. We'd debated whether to go diving or not, but it was quite expensive and we weren't sure if it would be any good, so we decided not to risk it.
In Sri Lanka there are plenty of tourist sites to visit, but they're all very expensive. For this reason we'd chosen to do just one - the rock fortress of Sigiriya. It was only a few hours on the bus inland from Trinco to the small village of Sigiriya which is located near the rock, and in fact you can see the towering formation from most guest houses which is an added bonus. The rock itself, also known as Lion Rock in English, is part of an ancient palace and is 200m high. The King built his palace on the top of this rock, and it gets its name from the massive gateway halfway up the rock that's shaped like a lion (only the paws and staircase remain today). After walking across the moat and through the gardens, the ascent up the rock begins. The climb up the stairs isn't too strenuous and it only takes about 25mins, but we'd chosen to start early (7am) to avoid the heat of the day. Good decision by us, because when we got to the top the sun was already blazing down. The remains of the palace on top of the rock are fairly sparse (understandable after 1,600 years), but the 360 degree view is spectacular. The $30 entry fee and climb were worth it just for that. On the way down we realised we'd missed something, so we had to go against the flow of people now on their way up to get a look. There's a spiral staircase that leads up to a small cave-like area where extremely well-preserved frescoes of topless women are painted all over the rock surface. Nothing like a bit of ancient porn to round off a visit to a historical site.
Moving down to the central part of the country, we stopped off at Kandy for a couple of nights. It's the second largest city in Sri Lanka and is also considered the cultural capital. It's in quite a pretty location next to a lake and surrounded by lush green hills, and if you have the time, inclination and money there's quite a few things to see and do. We had none of these things, so we were content to just spend our day wandering around town. And finding cheap and tasty local food of course. There were significantly more tourist shops and restaurants in Kandy, but why pay $10 for a meal when you can pay $2?
With only one more night before our flight to Malaysia, we headed back west to Negombo, which is a coastal town right by the airport. It's a much nicer and more convenient option than going all the way back to Colombo. We found a great room with a balcony and sea view right out in front (unfortunately not a nice beach for swimming though), and managed to get in a final feeding of our beloved kottu roti as well as the ridiculously cheap and delicious pineapple and mangoes on offer.
We enjoyed our month in Sri Lanka as it was a quieter, less hectic version of India, and so intensely green and beautiful. And while it was a nice break, it was perhaps the lack of intensity and daily sensory assaults that gave it a slight feeling of lacking in something. It has some great beaches and amazing scenery though, so we'd definitely recommend it to people. But now we were more than ready to dive into the Malaysian food scene and eat to our heart's content.
The second day we wanted to get out of Colombo and head to a beach on the south coast, so we chose Unawatuna as our first stop. We took the train which was very slow, but it was the perfect way to take in the gorgeous scenery which was unbelievably green and lush.
With the beautiful sandy beach and all the tourist accommodation and restaurants located about 1km from the main, busy road, Unawatuna is pretty chilled and probably the most popular beach on the south coast. Unfortunately it was hit hard by the 2004 tsunami, but thanks to donations from foreigners who holidayed there and foreign volunteers, reconstruction was faster here than anywhere else in the country. We found a great room right across the road from the beach, with a big comfortable bed (with a proper mattress!) and wifi for $12.50. We knew accommodation was going to be significantly more expensive than India, but the standards were also a lot higher.
We only had a couple of days here, but we made sure to check out Galle, which is a very popular tourist spot just 5km away. There's a massive Fort, built by the Portuguese and Dutch, which is a beautiful old place to walk around. There are plenty of hotels and restaurants inside, but that was way out of our budget, so we just walked around for a couple of hours before heading back to Unawatuna. Then we decided to go just a little bit further down the road to another beach.
Mirissa is only about 30kms from Unawatuna, but it's a bit smaller and more of a surfing beach. As we were walking around to find a place to stay it started to piss down, so we sheltered under a guy's porch. Of course he had rooms to offer us, and when he got down to 1,000 rupees (AU$8.30) we thought we'd stay for the night and see if we could find anywhere better. After dumping our stuff in the room he offered to show us a cheap, local place to eat lunch, so he took us to the main road and got us a good price for a shitload of rice and curry (a variety of vege dishes and fish). Then it was time for a swim, but when we got back Kurt checked our money to see how much we had, and discovered we were missing 4,000 rupees (AU$33) since that morning when he'd counted. Upon further inspection, we were also missing US$10. We didn't want to jump to conclusions, so we did all sorts of calculations on what we'd spent versus what we'd taken out since we arrived. But the only explanation was that the guy we were staying with (or his dodgy friend) had another key to our room and stole it while we were out. That left us with no choice but to pack up and leave immediately. Luckily we found a much nicer place down the road with a huge balcony, and for the same price we paid in Unawatuna.
We spent four days in Mirissa, swimming, eating cheap and delicious fruit (pineapple and mango) and kottu roti, and drinking beer. We usually buy beer from a bottle shop as it's way cheaper than in the bars and restaurants, but Kurt had read about a random local bar right on the beach, that was much cheaper than all the others. It was just a little wooden hut with a couple of benches and tables under thatched roofs, and it's run by the guys in the Coast Guard, which is right behind it. We spent a couple of nights drinking here, and while it's not the cheapest beer we've had, it was still pretty damn cheap at AU$2 a bottle (long neck).
 |
| The best bar in Mirissa |
We also paid a visit to a nearby temple, which has a massive 50m tall Buddha towering above. However, it's something quite unexpected that makes it unique compared to other temples. There's a hall of horrors which has life size models of demons and sinners, as well as paintings showing various and inventive punishments that lie in store if you don't follow the path to enlightenment. Things like being sawn in half, dunked in boiling cauldrons and disembowelled. Lovely. At least it made a change from the usual run of the mill temples.
Jumping on a local bus and changing twice we headed up into the hill country, to a small village called Ella. Surrounded by lush countryside, hills and tea plantations, it's a very pretty and relaxing place to spend a few days. Being in the hills it's still very warm during the day, but at night it's a bit cooler which is much nicer for sleeping. Again, we found a really nice room with probably the biggest bed we've ever seen and a nice bathroom, with lovely hosts. The main thing to do in Ella is walk/hike up hills - either to the top of Ella Rock or to Little Adam's Peak, which is a shorter walk. We chose this one, and it's a nice easy walk through tea plantations then up the side of a hill. We didn't want to walk up the steps as Kurt's got bad knees, so we followed the path which wound around in a more gentle incline. We lost the path at one point but luckily it wasn't too overgrown to forge our way to the top. There are a couple of lookout points, separated by a steep walk down and back up another neighbouring hill, but both are worth it. You can see for miles out over the hills and valleys below and really appreciate just how green this country is.
 |
| Tea plantations in Ella |
 |
| At the top of Little Adam's Peak |
Unfortunately we were in Ella over the monthly full moon holiday so all the cheap local food places were shut, and we were left with just the western places to choose from. But we still managed to find a decent kottu roti for not too expensive. And we were able to get in before the holiday to try another local favourite called hoppers. It's basically like a crepe, but it's cooked in a small round pan so it comes out bowl-shaped and you rip it up and dunk it in dahl (lentils) or spicy sauce. We tried egg hoppers, which have an egg cracked into the bottom which cooks perfectly. Finger lickin good.
|
| Tasty egg hopper |
After a few days in the hills it was back out to the coast for some more beach time. From Ella to Arugam Bay was an all day affair, and we spent most of that on what has to be the most crowded bus we've ever been on. We were in the seats right at the front and there were people literally between our legs, with boobs and asses in our faces. That sounds a lot better than it actually was, I can assure you. Add to that the sticky heat and we were soaked in sweat by the end of it. But, unless you want to hire a private driver it's the only way to travel (when there's no train) and it's also the best way to interact with locals who are, for the most part, quite friendly. They're a bit more reserved than the Indians, but they also don't blatantly stare as much either which was a nice change.
Arugam Bay is the most popular surfing spot for foreigners in the whole country, with people coming from all over the world to fight for a wave during the peak season (April-October), which was just kicking in when we were there. Luckily we managed to find a nice cheap room just steps from the beach, so we thought it'd be rude not to stay for about a week. On our second night we were walking along the main street trying to find a cheap local place for our favourite kottu roti, when someone walking past us recognised Kurt and said hi. Turns out it was Rebecca and Gary, an English couple Kurt had briefly spoken to at the bus station in Jodhpur (India) a couple of months ago, and she obviously had a very good memory for faces. They were also on the hunt for kottu roti so we had dinner together and shared travel stories from India. We spent a lot of time with them over the next few days, drinking cheap beers from the bottle store and a bottle of arrack which we smashed back between us on the beach one night. Arrack is a local spirit which is distilled from the nectar from coconut flowers, and it's pretty potent stuff. The hangover's the next morning were testament to that! Rebecca and Gary stayed on in Arugam Bay a bit longer, so knowing we'd made more great friends and would keep in touch, we said goodbye to continue on up the coast.
 |
| View from outside our room |
We'd chosen to spend a few days in Trincomalee (Trinco for short), which is on the north-east coast of Sri Lanka. Well, we actually stayed just north in Uppuveli, which has a beautiful long stretch of beach. It's a very chilled out place with not much to do except swim, relax on the beach and eat delicious local food and fruit (Sri Lanka has the BEST pineapples in the world as far as we're concerned), so that's how we spent the next five days. We'd debated whether to go diving or not, but it was quite expensive and we weren't sure if it would be any good, so we decided not to risk it.
 |
| Uppuveli beach |
 |
| Alternative accommodation right on the beach |
 |
| Individual little pods with a sea view |
In Sri Lanka there are plenty of tourist sites to visit, but they're all very expensive. For this reason we'd chosen to do just one - the rock fortress of Sigiriya. It was only a few hours on the bus inland from Trinco to the small village of Sigiriya which is located near the rock, and in fact you can see the towering formation from most guest houses which is an added bonus. The rock itself, also known as Lion Rock in English, is part of an ancient palace and is 200m high. The King built his palace on the top of this rock, and it gets its name from the massive gateway halfway up the rock that's shaped like a lion (only the paws and staircase remain today). After walking across the moat and through the gardens, the ascent up the rock begins. The climb up the stairs isn't too strenuous and it only takes about 25mins, but we'd chosen to start early (7am) to avoid the heat of the day. Good decision by us, because when we got to the top the sun was already blazing down. The remains of the palace on top of the rock are fairly sparse (understandable after 1,600 years), but the 360 degree view is spectacular. The $30 entry fee and climb were worth it just for that. On the way down we realised we'd missed something, so we had to go against the flow of people now on their way up to get a look. There's a spiral staircase that leads up to a small cave-like area where extremely well-preserved frescoes of topless women are painted all over the rock surface. Nothing like a bit of ancient porn to round off a visit to a historical site.
 |
| The lion's paws and staircase which still remain |
 |
| View from the top of Sigiriya |
Moving down to the central part of the country, we stopped off at Kandy for a couple of nights. It's the second largest city in Sri Lanka and is also considered the cultural capital. It's in quite a pretty location next to a lake and surrounded by lush green hills, and if you have the time, inclination and money there's quite a few things to see and do. We had none of these things, so we were content to just spend our day wandering around town. And finding cheap and tasty local food of course. There were significantly more tourist shops and restaurants in Kandy, but why pay $10 for a meal when you can pay $2?
 |
| Another cheap and tasty kottu roti |
With only one more night before our flight to Malaysia, we headed back west to Negombo, which is a coastal town right by the airport. It's a much nicer and more convenient option than going all the way back to Colombo. We found a great room with a balcony and sea view right out in front (unfortunately not a nice beach for swimming though), and managed to get in a final feeding of our beloved kottu roti as well as the ridiculously cheap and delicious pineapple and mangoes on offer.
We enjoyed our month in Sri Lanka as it was a quieter, less hectic version of India, and so intensely green and beautiful. And while it was a nice break, it was perhaps the lack of intensity and daily sensory assaults that gave it a slight feeling of lacking in something. It has some great beaches and amazing scenery though, so we'd definitely recommend it to people. But now we were more than ready to dive into the Malaysian food scene and eat to our heart's content.
No comments:
Post a Comment