3 weeks in Sri Lanka - scratching the surface
In November 2018 I met Jo in Sri Lanka with little planned, only the first 3 days and this is how we usually like to travel as it leaves us free to stay a little longer if we like somewhere or take peoples advice on spots they recommend and we are glad we did it our way.
We kicked off our trip in Ahangama in the South staying at The Kip Sri Lanka this was an amazing little spot off the main road tucked away nestled in banana palms and lush jungle. The guys at the Kip were nothing short of amazing and made our first 3 nights pretty damn special. From here we explored the local area, surfed some little waves at Weligama island, ate some good food and generally just hung out getting used to island life. We then made our way down to Mirissa and stayed for a few nights enjoying a bit more beach time and the chilled out vibe of Mirissa, this was pretty amazing place to shoot with the palm tree lined point break. Favourite eatery here was a place called Dew Mini which was a roti restaurant at this lovely families house, they served everything from traditional roti’s to Jo’s favourite the Banoffe Pie Roti.
After our time in Mirissa we made our way down to Hirikiteyia with no expectations but found out this place was an amazing little spot, super secluded, less tourists and a bit more off the beaten track, here we stayed with an amazing family at their airbnb, called Kingsley’s house - I would highly recommend this, his wife cooked us amazing food and was perfectly located. Here we surfed, ate roti and kotthu’s and not much else.
Again we extended our stay in Hiriketiya as we absolutely loved it, the waves were super fun and it was an amazing spot. We then jumped in a tuk tuk and made our way up to Ella, this was a 4 hour journey on a Tuk Tuk which was a laugh. Arriving in Ella the weather was most definitely cooler and wetter, here we went up little Adams Peak, checked out the nine arch bridge, met some great people, hiked up Ella Rock and got lost, did a cooking course which was amazing and took the famous train from Ella to Kandy, this journey was pretty special seeing the highlands of Sri Lanka and life happening as we passed by.
We arrived in Kandy to some pretty horrendous rain that did not want to stop, we checked out the temple which was pretty amazing, again ate more amazing food. We woke up the next day tried to check out more of Kandy but the rain was not stopping so we decided to jump in a car and make our way back down to the South to get a few more days of sun and surf and we were pretty glad we did as again it did not disappoint.
If we were to do Sri Lanka again I would say we would travel the other way, take less stuff (we had too much stuff as we were moving to Melbourne and it made actually travelling a bit challenging, wouldn’t let myself get stung by a sea urchin, eat more roti and kotthu.
Highlight for me of Sri Lanka definitely would be the warm nature of the people, they really are amazing people who show some incredible hospitality.
