Hikkaduwa Beach

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Its the start of my third week in Sri Lanka and I'm starting to feel like I actually know whats going on. I am more comfortable with taking the public bus and finding my way around. I also know about 15 words in sinhalese which is useful but I need to learn more because I end up using the same words over and over.

This weekend we went to Hikkaduwa beach. It was so nice to chill out and relax after 2 extremely busy weeks! We stayed in a lovely guesthouse that was literally on the beach and the views were amazing! (I will try and attach some photos.) On both nights we went out for a meal and we were all very excited to eat western food! We then went for drinks in a really cool beach bar. It had lots of little raised wooden areas with cushions on that you could sit or dance on. It was cool to be on the beach all the time! The bar was full of people that I'm working with but we also met some other travelers. My favorite quote from the night was from a Swedish guy who came up to us and said "There are 20 British girls in here and all they do it take pictures of themselves." But who doesn't love a good selfie?

On Saturday morning we went swimming in the sea with giant turtles which was amazing! I don't have pictures I can put up today but I will try at some other point. They were about 1 meter long and it was so cool! However one turtle did bite my friend on the stomach and another turtle scared my friend when it swam towards her and she dropped her iphone in the sea! whoops. Later that day we went to the tsunami museum as Hikkaduwa was hit hard by it. The museum was in the wreckage of a house that was hit. The lady who owned it managed to run and survive the tsunami and she was very interesting to talk to. She told us about how when the first small wave came up to their house and they heard people saying to run and they ran for 10km. The museum was full of photos and drawings and descriptions of what happened. On the way back we stopped at the memorial buddha that was built a year later. After this I couldn't quite look at the sea in the same way.

On the Sunday we just chilled on the beach and did some shopping (christmas presents!) I got to practice my bartering skills and was impressed when I got something down from 800 to 200 rupees!

Now I'm back into work and its very busy again! Its definitely not a holiday in the week but its great to have the weekends to get out of the city and see some more of Sri Lanka. Next weekend we're thinking about doing the cultural triangle which would be incredibly tiring but is a must see. I'll keep you posted!

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