5th September - Negombo to Hikkaduwa
This morning thankfully we are heading out of Negombo and down to Hikkaduwa which is a better known tourist beach destination, so hopefully more life than Negombo. We got a mini van which was supposed to take 2 hours costing $100 taking 2 highways, we even haggled down the price (this is comparable to a London price, not what we expected here). After 2 hours we had still not yet hit the highway and were going around deserted one way streets ... we thought we were being kidnapped. The driver just kept saying 'yes highway'. Darkness had fallen and thankfully we made it out of the empty streets and onto the highway, making it to Hikkaduwa in 4 hours. We had pre booked a hotel for 1 night, Citrus, costing 3138 rupees for deluxe room B&B, about £15 which is a bargain. Our room was huge with a balcony facing the ocean. As it was so late we headed down into the hotels beach front restaurant and I had the usual gigantic portion of curry and Shaun had a western/Thai buffet.
6th September - Hikkaduwa
After a decent night sleep we tried to re-book for another night but apparently there is a beach party tonight so the hotel is fully booked along with most of the other hotels along the strip. The hotel recommended somewhere for us to stay which we agreed for 10,000 rupee. We chilled out at Citrus by the amazing pool which overlooks the long beach for most of the day. The waves here are still huge and the wind is still mad. In the afternoon we got a tuk tuk to Moon Beam and checked in ... it was the most horrific hotel we have ever seen but we had nowhere else to go. We pulled apart the twin beds to check if the sheets were clean and to my absolute horror we found a giant cockroach perched there!! Shaun then checked the cupboards which looked like they hadn't been opened in 50 years finding disgusting spider webs ... it's going to be a long night!! We headed out and had a curry at The Tree House which was pretty good and headed to the 'beach party'. We got charged at by a pack of dogs which followed us through the hotel down to the bar. Well turns out it was one bar, Mango bar, sectioning off a piece of beach in front of the bar charging people to go in. There were a fair few guys there (no girls), mostly Sri Lankans, but it looked like a school disco with the guys hovering around and nobody dancing. It has nothing of Koh Phangan full moon! We decided to give it a miss having a beer next door before the rain came. We were hoping for a mad night to keep us out of the hotel ...
7th September - Hikkaduwa to Galle
Worst night sleep ever. We had jacked the door with a chair for our safety and the middle of the night we kept thinking someone was trying to get in. It was coming from the cupboard .. nope it was coming from the bin. I made Shaun go to investigate opening the lid and a lizard jumped out on him!! Not so scary after all!!
Early morning, after a coffee and breakfast at a coffee shop we went out on a tuk tuk tour around Hikkaduwa costing 6500 ruppee with the Sri Lanka version of Joey from Friends! First off we stopped at the Tsunami memorial. Our guide told us the horrors of when the tsunami hit where him and his family had to run from their shop on the beach. The crazy thing was that the water had drawn back from the beach so people were flocking to the beach to see what was going on then the wave hit. Then people went to the beach to help and see what had happened and then the big wave hit wiping out everyone in its way, over 35,000 people lost their lives just in Sri Lanka. It's awful to think what it must have been like on that day.
Then we went to go on a boat trip on the lagoon. Our skipper was literally about 12 years old!!
We hopped onto the boat and slowly made our way down the river and through the mangroves to a temple. The temple is in the middle of the lagoon and only 3 monks live here. The oldest monk showed us their religious script which was over 100 years old. We also had a look around their living quarters which are very basic, no electricity and scorched black kitchen.
We also stopped by a fish massage farm! Big pools of fish you stick your feet in and they nibble the skin off your feet, so gross! There was also a man with a baby croc which was shoved into Shaun's hands for a photo.
On the way back the kid decided to go back through the mangrove at full speed and guess what ... we crashed into a boat coming the other way! Neither skipper seemed to mind and carried on but to our disbelief. Then onto a Spice Garden where a 'doctor' showed us around explaining the health benefits of each plant and herb finishing with a facial and a back massage!
Now the exiting part, the turtle sanctuary which was really cool. They had different pools of turtles, some just born due to be released and some that the breed. They also have lots of blind and injured turtles from fishing lines, some with one leg missing and some with none which cannot be released. This includes a 50 year old albino turtle which is extremely rare and considered good luck which people keep trying to steal so they have to lock him away at night.
On the way back we stopped at the Tsunami Photo Museum which is run by a lady in what used to be her house before the tsunami hit. Around the dilapidated walls are photos and letters from the event and the aftermath. It was really shocking to see the devastation and hear the stories.
We finished around 4pm and we switched into a mini van we booked to take us to Galle. There still isn't much going on in Hikkaduwa, and the nice hotels are really expensive so we decided to move on to Galle further down the coast. We pre-booked and amazing looking hotel on Expedia called Jetwing Lighthouse. We decided to treat ourselves after the hell hole we stayed in last night and booked 2 nights for 18847 rupees (about £50 a night). The journey took about half an hour along the coast. We pulled up and it already looked awesome. They took us up the awesome staircase onto the veranda overlooking the ocean and offered an iced tea whilst we checked in. Then onto our room ... o my god our jaws dropped!! It is absolute luxury with an entrance hall, bathroom with a huge bath and double shower, walk in wardrobe, then through the next door to the bedroom with a 4 poster bed, sofa and a balcony overlooking one of the 2 pools, it even had a doorbell!! We've lucked out!!!
After a proper shower we headed to dinner in one of the 4 restaurants!
A la perchoine
Jodie and Shaun
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Visited Hikkaduwa beach on May 2015
http://homestaysrilanka.blogspot.com/2015/05/hikkaduwa-beach-sri-lanka.html
Less crowded but still awesome waves