Thursday, October 16, 2003
Day 10 in Sri Lanka, Day 2 in Mirissa
Mirissa is a lovely beach with just enough surf to body surf, which is what I did for most of the day. I saw this one guy who was not trying to catch waves by thrashing his arms around in a loose free-style but lying with head down, arms out and fingers pointing out. He was catching them right until his belly was scraping the sand. I thought I would have a go at copying his technique as the aforementioned was not going so well. I caught the first wave I tried and the second, this was easy. Then I didn't catch any more for about 1/2 an hour :( The water is so warm you could stay in all day, it is fantastic.
Lou spent the day relaxing by the pool and finishing her book (now she has stolen mine!) Mixed with a couple of brief excursions into the ocean.
Day 11 in Sri Lanka, Hikkaduwa
Well mum we are here after all. We got up reasonably early to catch the 9:25 train. It didn't arrive until 10:30, we weren't too worried the LP had warned us about the Sri Lankan railway system. What really worried us was when we reached Galle (pronounced gar-lee Lou). We found out that the track ends at Galle. Before we knew what was happening we were traveling back the way we came. I flicked through the LP desperately for some mention of this strange occurrence, were we supposed to switch trains? I tried to ask some locals, they didn't speak English but didn't seem worried when we told them we were going to Hikkaduwa. We just rode it out going backwards all the time, going past places we were sure we had already seen. Then the train stopped at a station, and we were there! We had to rush to get out of the train! I have no idea how it happened but I was so relieved that I let the first tout that grabbed us drag us out and into his waiting three-wheeler. Once I convinced the tout that I did actually want to stay at the hotel we had selected, not his "recommendations" we were there.
Lou was not feeling so well after the heat and motion of the train so I left her to bask in the cool of the air-con and hit the beach. The sand is much more coarse than Mirissa and the waves much larger. On my way down the beach I was offered "ganja" twice, probably a common occurrence here but it has not happened anywhere else on our travels (for the record I declined both). While catching some waves I met a Kiwi called Ben who is on his way back to NZ from the UK we had a chat and will meet up for a drink later. I am not going to make a habit of hanging out with Kiwis in London by the way, this is strictly a holiday thing. Time to checkout the shops and stuff.
Mirissa is a lovely beach with just enough surf to body surf, which is what I did for most of the day. I saw this one guy who was not trying to catch waves by thrashing his arms around in a loose free-style but lying with head down, arms out and fingers pointing out. He was catching them right until his belly was scraping the sand. I thought I would have a go at copying his technique as the aforementioned was not going so well. I caught the first wave I tried and the second, this was easy. Then I didn't catch any more for about 1/2 an hour :( The water is so warm you could stay in all day, it is fantastic.
Lou spent the day relaxing by the pool and finishing her book (now she has stolen mine!) Mixed with a couple of brief excursions into the ocean.
Day 11 in Sri Lanka, Hikkaduwa
Well mum we are here after all. We got up reasonably early to catch the 9:25 train. It didn't arrive until 10:30, we weren't too worried the LP had warned us about the Sri Lankan railway system. What really worried us was when we reached Galle (pronounced gar-lee Lou). We found out that the track ends at Galle. Before we knew what was happening we were traveling back the way we came. I flicked through the LP desperately for some mention of this strange occurrence, were we supposed to switch trains? I tried to ask some locals, they didn't speak English but didn't seem worried when we told them we were going to Hikkaduwa. We just rode it out going backwards all the time, going past places we were sure we had already seen. Then the train stopped at a station, and we were there! We had to rush to get out of the train! I have no idea how it happened but I was so relieved that I let the first tout that grabbed us drag us out and into his waiting three-wheeler. Once I convinced the tout that I did actually want to stay at the hotel we had selected, not his "recommendations" we were there.
Lou was not feeling so well after the heat and motion of the train so I left her to bask in the cool of the air-con and hit the beach. The sand is much more coarse than Mirissa and the waves much larger. On my way down the beach I was offered "ganja" twice, probably a common occurrence here but it has not happened anywhere else on our travels (for the record I declined both). While catching some waves I met a Kiwi called Ben who is on his way back to NZ from the UK we had a chat and will meet up for a drink later. I am not going to make a habit of hanging out with Kiwis in London by the way, this is strictly a holiday thing. Time to checkout the shops and stuff.
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