Ahangama and Mirissa (Sri Lanka)

After a small travel break in Germany (working and earning money), we continued to Sri Lanka in February. Arriving at the airport, we took a taxi to our hotel in Negombo, where we wanted to stay for one night to recover from the long flight. The taxi ride was quite eventful, we narrowly avoided an accident several times. Just like in other Southeast Asian countries, the traffic here is very chaotic, with honking and everyone driving wild, according to the motto: he who hesitates, loses! The next morning, we took a taxi to Colombo train station. From there, we wanted to take the train to Ahangama. The train station was a huge adventure. Fully packed trains arrived to take even more people. The train ticket itself was super cheap, I think around 500 rupees for a second-class ticket, which is about 2.50€. We stood the entire train ride, as all the seats were taken. Except in first class, but it was freezing cold there because of the air conditioning. We stood right by the doors and could look outside, and when it was too hot, you could just travel with the doors open and enjoy the pleasant breeze. In our accommodation - the Southern Gate - we had a great view of the sea and could hear the sound of the ocean in our room. We enjoyed the first few days in Sri Lanka on the beach, took a trip to Mirissa, visited Coconut Hill and the dreamy beaches there. And at the beginning, we treated ourselves to an Ayurvedic head massage, where hot oil is poured onto the forehead for three-quarters of an hour. My friend Manu had a bit of bad luck. He got his forehead burned. Ouch! Luckily, my travel pharmacy included first aid supplies. The next day, we ventured on a whale watching tour. It was not cheap, around 50€, but it was offered everywhere in Mirissa, and we really wanted to see whales. We had to get up early, and at around 7:00 a.m., our boat started from Mirissa with about 30 other people out to sea. The waves were quite high, and we eagerly searched for whales. But besides other boats, we didn't see anything at first. The crew was in radio contact with the other boats, because every now and then, all the boats steered in one direction and then in another. So we kept going back and forth, but no sign of any whales. Slowly, my stomach started to rumble when we noticed that half of the boat was lying on the seats below - with vomit bags in hand. It looked like a hospital ward. The waves became more and more intense, and shortly thereafter, our stomachs couldn't handle it anymore either. While the whole boat was vomiting, we finally had success - a whale! With vomit bags in hand, we jumped up and saw a whale for about 2 seconds - or a small part of a whale. I think it was its back. Then we saw it spray water like a fountain before our stomachs distracted us from watching. And just like that, the whale was gone again. We were completely exhausted and felt so sick that we were really relieved when we arrived back at the harbor. Off into the tuk-tuk and back to the hotel...the rest of the day was all about relaxing in the hammock. Our favorite restaurant was Follow the White Rabbit in Ahangama. It had a great view of the sunset, delicious food, and good wine. Even though it was a bit more expensive, we treated ourselves to that for the last two evenings there before heading inland.