The Sri Lankan Break

We got off at the main junction outside St. Mary's church and decided to do rest of the touristy things on foot. Each place had its own story to tell - St. Mary's Church, Negombo Fish Market, Dutch Fort and Negombo Beach. There was so much happening everywhere, it took some time to take it all in. I had never eaten Oysters before and Negombo seemed like the perfect place to get my first taste. We went to The Deck - Jetwing Beach and hogged on seafood. We walked around mindlessly, taking in the surroundings and headed back to our Airbnb. The following day, we went back to the market area in Negombo, got a drink and a snack at this cute road-side place called Rodeo Pub and Restaurant (highly recommended) and then proceeded to go to the beach to watch a thunder storm building up.

On day three, we went into Colombo to find out about trains we could take to Hikkaduwa. There are two trains that ply between Colombo and Hikkaduwa, both in the afternoon, an hour apart. We bought our ticket and got onto the train. The view from the train throughout the journey was mesmerising. We could see the sea, beaches, palm trees, settlements, sometimes all together. We got off at Hikkaduwa three and a half hours later and took a tuk-tuk to our Airbnb, another magical place. The house was on one end of the garden facing a swimming pool. A little further from the swimming pool was a deck that overlooked a creek. Tied to the deck was a little boat. The care-taker of the property showed us around and told that us we could take the boat around the creek if we wanted to. I went into the bedroom - a room with French windows that opened into the garden on one side, and into the bathroom on the other side. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the bathroom. There was a bathtub in one corner, and the rest of the bathroom had walls but no roof. It was out in the open in the middle of bamboo plants. I was so excited to take a shower in this bathroom, and each time I did, it was also raining.

We spent the rest of the evening at the beach. Being in the sea when it is pouring with rain is a thrill in itself (and dangerous). Being in the sea for ten minutes, I could feel the undercurrent getting stronger and came back out to the shore. I watched what everyone else was doing. There were a lot of foreign tourists on the beach, all enjoying the downpour. We ate a light meal and headed back to our Airbnb.

We spent the next day at Hikkaduwa beach. My friend wanted to learn how to surf and found himself an instructor. I sat on the beach, watching people doing their own thing. Some sunbathed, while others learnt how to surf and scuba dive. Since I don't know how to swim, I didn't want to be adventurous and try water sports. That afternoon, we took a tour of a part of the ocean in a glass boat. Hundreds of different fish came towards the boat looking for food. The glass bottom of the boat was the perfect way to see these fish up close. As we got off the boat at the beach and started walking back to the road, someone came running to us saying that there were turtles near the beach. We following the man to the nearby rocks where a small crowd had gathered. I couldn't believe what we saw. A bale of green sea turtles were swimming around, eating seaweed out of the hands of their spectators. This was something I wasn't expecting to experience. Green Sea Turtles are endangered reptiles and sighting them, so close to the shore, was a surprise. I went closer to get a better look. The guy who had come to tell us about them said that they came once a week to the shore and he fed them each time. We spent some time with the turtles before we made our way back to our stay for the night. The next day, we managed to get into the canoe at the Airbnb and go for a ride across the creek. It was a surreal experience.

We took an afternoon train back to Colombo, and had to catch a flight out to Chennai that night. An hour and a half after the train left Hikkaduwa, it stopped unexpectedly. There was a storm building up over the sea. I could see the lightning through the palm trees lining the shore. In the coach behind mine, I could hear people singing and playing various percussion instruments. I went to the coach to take a look and found a group of people jamming together. The sound was so fresh and unique. A few minute later, someone told me that they were a group of people who met on the train and were complete strangers to one another. The music they were making certainly didn't make it seem like these people had only just met. A few minutes later, an announcement was made to vacate the train as the engine had a technical snag and couldn't move ahead. We were short on time and got off with the other passengers. Luckily, we were next to a village that had access to the main highway. We dragged our luggage to the main road and waited for any form of public transport to cross us. We were finally able to stop a bus going to Colombo and got into it. By the time we entered Colombo, our flight was just about taking off. The airport was still 20 kilometres away. We managed to enter the airport with our ticket, but had to figure out another flight to get back to India. We were also on a major time crunch since all our flights within India to get us back home were connecting flights. After enquiring in several places, we had two options. Wait for three hours and take a flight to Chennai, or wait for an hour and take a flight from Colombo to Delhi via Dubai. I decided to leave the second option as an adventure for another day. I had a wonderful time in Sri Lanka, and will definitely go back some day in the near future. Sri Lanka has it all - beaches, wildlife, the city, the countryside and some insane hospitality.

Places that I stayed at (and highly recommend): Negombo - Airbnb Villa Barbara and Hikkaduwa - Airbnb PJ's Peaceful Holiday Villa