Toddy Tapping and off to Hikkaduwa

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On our final day in Negombo our travel guide took us to see a “toddy tapper”. We drove to a neighbourhood nearby and went into a local man’s garden. He used coconut husks which were tied to a palm tree to climb up the tree. He climbed the tree in no time at all like a ladder. Once he’d reached the top he cut into the palm tree with the blade he was carrying and collected the juice that came out of it inb a bucket. He walked between the trees on ropes. He collected the “toddy” from about 4 trees.This is a Sri lankan tradition. We had a chance to taste some of it but neither of us actually liked it!! Can’t describe the taste for the life of me.

To our surprise our guide (it was actually his day off but had wanted to show us the toddy tapping) took us to his house for a cup of tea. We had a chat with his wife. They were so proud of their home and garden, they actually lived in the best part of the town. We both really liked our guide, like a lot of people here he always had a wide smile.
He dropped us off at the train station and we made another long journey down south. Travelling by train was quite an experience. We had to sit in 3rd class on the floor as all the seats were taken. We sat there with some other backpackers from Spain and Australia. The guy from Oz was actually planning to travel thru Asia for 2 years! Everyone here seems to stare at me! Dan says I seem to attract too much attention! So I have loads of luggage with me and I fan myself so what lol

So we are now in Hikkaduwa, a surfer resort. It is actually low season at the moment as its monsoon period. But its still nice and warm. Our hotel is lovely, with a balcony and view of the ocean. We have a pool and got in it as soon as we arrived. I took some great pictures of the beach as the sun was setting.

Had a meal in a restaurant this evening which was a few metres from the sea. We could see crabs walking on the sand, and a few hermit crabs managed to crawl onto the terrace. Some mean Frenchie pulled one of them out of out of its shell so it bit him . ha that is karma for you.

Off to bed for me now. Hope to do a bit of snorkelling tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

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