Sri Lanka is cheap.
Sri Lanka is beautiful. Sri Lanka is warm. Those were the reasons for
the next section of my trip, spending time in the sun on the beaches.
Getting from Ella
to Mirissa was easy, but took about four hours. It also took me from
the cool temperatures of the highlands to the heat and humidity of
the coast.
Sri Lankans don't
spend time at the beach, at least not like foreigners do. Sri Lankans
come to the beach to go fishing, or to have businesses catering to
foreigners, but not to lay out on beaches and soak up sun.
I'm glad I'd booked
a place to stay, as there were plenty of touts waiting when I got off
the bus. My place was a room in a family home, a couple streets off
the main drag. I had a mosquito net over the bed and a fan, so life
was good.
My room included
breakfast which was usually toast with butter, tea, an egg, and
fruit. More than enough, considering I burned very few calories over
those few days. My walk to the beach was about ten minutes, then I
laid out in the sun, then walked home. During the walk home I picked
up water and/or snacks from the supermarket.
One morning I got
up a little earlier and walked down the road a bit to a place called
Coconut Hill, or something along those lines.
It's nothing special at
all, but has sortof become insta-famous. It is a small hill, with a
lot of coconut trees, overlooking the water. Very pretty, and full of
people trying to take the best photo.
My favourite part
of this walk was the tiny little beach I had to walk over to get to
the hill. Very quiet, very rocky, very pretty.
Another day I took
local transport to another beach called Kogala. I was hoping to see
some Sri Lankan fishermen, many of whom fish in the traditional way.
They sortof sit on stilts, and when they work depends on the tides.
For many of these fishermen they've realized they'll make more money
by asking tourists to pay for taking photos of them, so you don't see
all that many fishermen doing the work they used to do. At least not
in places easily accessible to tourists.
I didn't see any
fishermen, but I did see plenty of the stilts sticking up out of the
water. Very photogenic. The beach at Kogala wasn't as good as the
one at Mirissa, but I'm happy as long as there is sun, sand, and
heat.
One afternoon I
walked to the local marina in Mirissa, just to see all the local
boats sitting around. It wasn't nearly as pretty as I had hoped,
mostly because there was so much rubbish all over the place. It was
everywhere.
After a few days in
Mirissa I took the bus up the road to a town called Unawatuna,
another beach town. When I booked my place I hadn't realized how far
away from the beach I'd be, but that ended up being okay.
Not far from my
room was a Buddhist temple, which I visited one morning before going
to the beach.
Another morning I
walked all the way to the Japanese Peace Stupa. It's big, white, and
simple. A 10 minute walk near this stupa is another Buddhist temple.
This time I actually saw monks around, I hadn't seen any at the first
temple I visited.
The beach at
Unawatuna is different from the one at Mirissa. It's wider, and the
sand is darker. It's also longer, and completely lined with cafes and
shops. Even figuring out how to get to the beach from the road
involves walking through a cafe, or a small alley between cafes.
Unawatuna is also a
town that mostly caters to tourists, so there wasn't much available
in terms of restaurants for locals. Oh well. I stuck to fruit, and
some of the cheaper places to eat.
One afternoon,
after the beach, I went to Galle, which wasn't that far away. I'll
write about that in the next post.
I'd be happy to
return to the beaches of Sri Lanka. They're not Sri Lankan, but I'm a
sucker for beaches, especially when accomodation is cheap, and food
is cheap. The island has heaps of beaches, so maybe next time I'll
try new beaches.
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