No room on the plane and a piece of paradise!

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I got up mega-early and went straight to the Emirates office to change my flight so I could at least stay an extra few weeks before figuring out what to do about job/ life dilemnas... Sadly the planes are full until the end of September. Humph! not only do I find this hard to believe but it also wreacs havoc with my latest plan to change the world by trying to become the BBC correspondent in Sri Lanka.

There's only one answer at the moment a few days fun and then back to England to earn some dollars. So I stuff my backpack full and bind it shut and head for the train station to travel southwards down the coast to the beach resorts for a couple of days sun before my flight back in only 4 DAYS eeeek!

Hikkaduwa Unawatuna Hikkaduwa Unawatuna Hikkaduwa Unawatuna Hikkaduwa Unawatuna Hikkaduwa Unawatuna Hikkaduwa Unawatuna Hikkaduwa Unawatuna Hikkaduwa Unawatuna. I can't decide which one to go to.

Hikkaduwa is a surfer's paradise packed full of bars and no doubt plenty of holidaymakers to hang around with. It's also much closer. I'm very tempted. But Unawatuna remains in my memory as a little piece of paradise that my brother and I enjoyed a couple of years ago as a stop off on our sailing voyage. Destroyed by the Tsunami when we visited in 2006 it was still being rebuilt slowly and was quiet, beautiful and full of friendly people. It's a difficult choice.

By the time I get to the train station I'm still undecided and get a ticket to Galle, working on the theory if I want to get off the train in a couple of hours at Hikkaduwa I still can. Or I can work backwards from Unawatuna up the coast. I decide at the last minute I really would like to go to Unawatuna again and as I'm short on time I should go there first.

So I stay on the train all the way to Galle, where shortly before the train pulls to a stop the Indian family sitting next to me magically morphs into Anne, an English girl travelling around Sri Lanka with her boyfriend David. They are friendly, fun and invite me to share a tuktuk into Unawatuna with them. I can't believe my luck and have to restrain myself from hugging them and wooping for joy about the fact that I have met some friendly backpackers!

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Photos

Paradise at last!
Unawatuna, a little piece of paradise

Let the flower garden festival begin!
Anne, David and I are sitting dangerously close to the fridges of beer and wine