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Published: November 26th 2006
With Colombo done and dusted I decided to head down the south west coast to Hikkaduwa, a beach town known for its white beaches, surfing and chilled back lifestyle, and surely enough it has not disappointed. There’s not to much to do here other than swim, drink and eat. Not bad really, I actually feel like I’m no holiday and with beer prices of 110-50 rupees ($1.50) for a litre bottle you can’t really complain. I think I’m going to like this place.
To get there I had my first experience of the Sri Lankan railways, a two and a half hour train journey for 91 rupees (that’s about $1.05), unbelievable considering the bloody tuk tuk cost 500R to get to the station. So traveling between towns can be cheap and easy but not hassle free. It’s the con artists and touts you have to be careful of. These guys are relentless, everybody wants to be your friend, they strike up a seemingly innocent conversation, continuously talking etc etc, then after 10 minutes of ground work they hit you with ‘oh my brother runs a guest house, I’ll take you there’. The response of no thank you doesn’t really hit
Train Ride
The beach doesn't get much closer than that!the spot, so after a while you just have to be blunt… or down right rude.
On the train trip one old bloke sat next to me, started the conversation about his family, my family, the cat the dog (you get the point), before telling me today was his birthday. Lucky man I told him, but he though maybe I should give him some rupees to celebrate. I regretfully declined. He then asked if I had a pen he could borrow, which I obliged, before putting the pen in his top pocket saying thank you. Ok, by this point I had had enough, removed the pen from his pocket (to his disgust). After a few choice words to me he buggered off all pissed off like it was my fault… wanker.
Other than the train and station touts the people here are generally friendly and will do almost anything to help (or earn a quick buck).
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