Sri Lanka Adventures - part 2

I never captured the beach in the sun.....too busy napping and soaking up the rays.

The stilts that the fishermen use.

I would be hesitant to brave the ocean in one of these....especially after my whale watching experience.

Happy whale watchers.....pre deathly seasick and wanting to die.

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New Sri Lankan friends sporting my sunnies.

Muddy Tangalle waters.

Frangipani Guesthouse.

Saying goodbye to Tangalle.

Cows are everywhere and remarkably street smart.

Yes those are bats, yes they are monstrous and yes there are trees FULL of them.

Do you see all the bats?

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Water Buffalo may be my new favorite animal.

Taking the wise words of our breakfast host to heart, we hopped in a tuk tuk and headed for Mirissa, a little beach about an hour away along the coast. The drive was nice, although the tuk tuks are rather small and get cramped after awhile. Lots of beautiful coastline and quaint little towns.

Mirissa is a tiny little town, more like a wide spot in the road than anything, and is primarily a tourist spot for Blue Whale watching and the little cove beach. We looked at a number of guesthouses and ended up settling on one that opened out onto the beach for $20 a night per bungalow. Most of the guesthouses were in rather poor repair and it was fairly obvious that tourism is still a relatively new endeavor or at least one that hasn't been fully capitalized on. You could stay at the swanky hotel with a pool, spa, etc. for $55 a night but we were going the budget route.

We spent a lovely couple days in Mirissa with intermittent sun and showers on occasion. We both managed to soak up a lot of sunshine....perhaps a tad too much. Lots of lounging, napping, reading and eating fresh seafood.

Coming from Lao, we had high hopes of cheap massages and spa treatments but found that Sri Lanka hasn't quite figured that aspect out yet. We went for a stroll following some well made English signs about yoga classes and Ayruvedric spa treatments. However, the spa was usually someone's house, the guy teaching yoga looked like he couldn't get close to touching his knees, let along his toes and "the doctor" in charge of treatments needed to be consulted for prices. So we decided to leave the spa idea until later and explore some other activities.

I attempted a run while in Mirissa. I started out going up and back along the beach a couple of times but the cove was rather small so I finally broke down, put on my trainers and ran out on the road. Of course, by this time in the morning, all the locals were out as well. And apparently seeing a young woman running in a tanktop and short shorts is quite the novelty. All the men....and women for that matter stare unabashedly and the kids all shout hello. I wasn't too bothered by this as I just turned up my Ipod and kept my eyes on the uneven roadway. However, there was one teenage boy who took it a little far as he continually peddled up and down the road on his bicycle saying hello every time he passed.

Mickey Water Buffalo.

Kerryn was excited to go whale watching and against my better judgement (after the Thailand seasickness adventure) I went along for the ride. We went with a great group called Raja and the whales who seemed very passionate about protecting the whales and despite spending 2.5 of the 3 hour trip desperately trying not to vomit, it wasn't all bad. We saw a couple of Fin whales, which are apparently slightly smaller than Blue whales, and a school of dolphins. However, I do believe I've finally learned that the ocean, boats and I are not compatible.

After whale watching, I wasn't too keen for a bus ride (the buses are known to make you motion sick all on their own), so we negotiated another tuk tuk to Tangalle, another hour down the coast. Kerryn had found a lovely little guesthouse called the Frangipani that was right on the beach. It turned out to be an excellent find, with great hosts (the first Sri Lankan men who didn't make us uncomfortable with their staring), a lovely little restaurant and nice rooms. The only failing was that due to rain in the mountains, the ocean was filthy right out in front of our guesthouse, so swimming lost it's appeal.

This fat iguana can hardly move after we watched him raid a birds nest inside this tree and have an afternoon snack.

I did manage some lovely walks, we visited some markets in town and had more tasty seafood meals. One night we hired a tuk tuk to go to the beach where turtles lay their eggs. Sri Lanka has five different species of sea turtles and most nights, they can be spotted laying eggs on the beach. The organization that helps to protect the turtles allows tourists to come out and observe the turtles for a small fee. We sadly did not see any turtles, as it is out of season and we were just unlucky.

Boys and their sticks. Cricket, cricket, cricket.....EVERYWHERE!

New Sri Lankan Friends.

So we left Tangalle and headed to Tissa via the local bus. A harrowing experience and a test of our patience and cultural sensitivity. Kerryn sat in the back and was accosted by a man wanting to be her friend. She said that she watched the guy standing above me look down my shirt for 20 minutes but then he got off and the woman who took his place did the same thing.....what can you do?

Gorgeous little temple that survived the tsunami miraculously.