Sri Lanka (Day 21 - 26)

Day 21 Unawatuna

After our last breakfast in Mirissa, we went surfing one last time. Afterwards, we packed our things and set off for Unawatuna. After about an hour in a crowded and hot bus, we arrived in Unawatuna.

We decided to go for lunch first because we could only check into our apartment after 2 PM. We chose a restaurant right by the beach. The food was relatively expensive but didn’t convince either of us.

After that, we headed to our accommodation, which was another 15 minutes away by tuk-tuk.

Upon arrival, Jan was handed the phone by someone. The man said there were some issues with the accommodation.

When I got the phone again, I was told that we couldn't stay in the accommodation because it had already been booked by someone else.

Now we were being handed the phone every few minutes, talking to various people. The landlord suddenly told us that the accommodation was being renovated, which was obviously not true as there were guests on site.

After a brief shock and disappointment - the accommodation had a pool - I tried to find a solution. I complained and asked why they hadn’t canceled it earlier or why they accepted our request at all!?

Of course, I didn't get an honest answer.

They just told me to cancel the apartment on Airbnb. I naturally didn’t do that since I would only be partially refunded due to the last-minute cancellation. So I insisted that he needed to cancel the accommodation! He said it wouldn’t work for him.

I certainly didn’t want to leave here without my money since I had already paid for the accommodation. I called Airbnb customer service and explained the situation. Thankfully, they were able to help me and canceled the apartment for me.

Additionally, I also received a discount code for my next booking.

While we were sorting all this out, we of course still had to find accommodation for the night. After a while, we found a sort of hostel near the beach and booked it.

Here we luckily could check in immediately.

In the end, we were really lucky with our new accommodation since it was well located, even had a kitchen and washing machine.

After the turbulent journey, we took a little break at the accommodation and then went to have coffee at the beach. We watched the sunset and the surfers.

Finally, we bought some vegetable roti and roti from a nice woman by the roadside.

Day 22 Unawatuna

I woke up at 6 AM and had to kill time until 9 AM because Jan was still sleeping after watching football last night.

After breakfast, we set off for the beach. We rented surfboards for an hour. Surfing was getting better, even though we still spent more time in the water than on the board.

Next, we took a bus to another beach where many sea turtles were supposed to be. Upon arrival, we saw many people in the water and immediately spotted several very large turtles.

Of course, we jumped into the water and looked at the animals. Some of the turtles were really big and came very close to us. Many people were also feeding the animals with seaweed.

I found that really beautiful, but I have to say I’m always frustrated by humanity. Some people were almost laying on the turtles or grabbing them by the tail. I believe some people just lack basic common sense.

Afterward, we went to eat something and made our way to another beach. There we wanted to visit a turtle hatchery or care station. However, we arrived quite early, so we went to the beach again.

The beach was truly breathtaking! There wasn’t a single person in sight, which surprised us a bit.

After about two hours, we returned to the hatchery.

Here we learned a lot about turtles and why they are here. Most of them had lost a flipper in fishing nets or were injured by fishermen. The other part was there because they had eaten plastic, which they easily confuse with their food, jellyfish.

There were also hundreds of baby turtles and turtle eggs here.

At the end of our tour, everyone got to take a turtle to the sea. At 6 PM, we returned to watch the remaining baby turtles being released into the sea. That was really beautiful and fascinating. A rather sad piece of information was, however, that only about 1 in 1000 turtles survive. This is because they swim for 72 hours and then often can’t find food and starve.

After this information, I was even angrier about the fact that humans are almost the only threat to adult sea turtles.

Afterward, we wanted to take the bus home and were of course continuously approached by tuk-tuk drivers while waiting. I must say I was really annoyed by now since we were being approached constantly by the drivers.

Anyway, a driver stopped and offered to take us for the bus fare. We were really surprised by this, as it was really cheap and normally wouldn’t happen. The man then told us on the way that he wasn’t a taxi driver but was just going home from work. This was of course easy money for him and a cheap ride for us.

Lastly, we got a little something to eat at the roadside for dinner.

Day 23 Galle

In the morning, we went surfing right after breakfast again. After that, we were on our way to Galle.

The bus ride only took a short 20 minutes, thankfully.

Upon arriving in Galle, we went to the harbor. This is the city’s landmark and looked really beautiful. The harbor is surrounded by a fortress. Inside the fortress is Dam, a small town with many little alleys and shops. So we decided to walk through the little alleys and all the small shops. That was really something special because we hadn’t seen so many shops in one place in Sri Lanka yet. There were many clothing stores, where I had to hold back since I didn’t have much space in my backpack. In the end, I only bought a few postcards as a souvenir.

However, my absolute highlight was the vegan ice cream. Those who know me a bit better know that I love ice cream above all.

Day 24 Travel Day to the Last Accommodation

We took it easy in the morning and had breakfast in the accommodation. At 12:00 PM, we continued to our next and last accommodation in Sri Lanka.

We traveled about an hour by bus to Hikkaduwa.

Upon arriving in the town, we first went to eat something and then to our accommodation. This was one of the coolest places so far since we had a pool. Upon arrival, we jumped straight into the pool.

In the evening, we ate at a small restaurant nearby.

Day 25 Hikkaduwa

In the morning, we had one last traditional breakfast. Afterwards, we went back to the accommodation to enjoy the pool. Our plan was actually to go to the beach for surfing at 11 AM. Unfortunately, it started to rain. In the afternoon, we finally managed to go to the beach.

Here we decided to go eat curry at a restaurant. Unfortunately, it would turn out to be a mistake!

After that, we walked along the beach and found that the waves were a bit too high for us.

For sunset, we went to a beach bar and I ordered a cappuccino and a vegan cheesecake.

Day 26 Hikkaduwa

This was our last day in Sri Lanka, and we had a few things planned. However, we had to abandon everything as we both seemed to have upset our stomachs with the food from the day before. We spent the entire day in bed or in the bathroom with terrible stomach pains. Fortunately, by the afternoon, I felt a bit better and was able to go into town to buy us some bland food and medication.

Day 27 Travel to Thailand

In the morning, we were feeling better. We spent the last few hours in the pool until it was time to leave at 12:00 PM.

First, we took a tuk-tuk to the bus station. When the bus arrived, we thought we wouldn’t fit in since the bus seemed totally overcrowded. However, the bus driver thought otherwise and urged us to get on. We initially stood like sardines in a can. Luckily, it was an air-conditioned bus.

I was fortunate enough to get a seat after a short time. Jan had to stand for a bit longer. After more than four hours, we arrived in Colombo. Here we had to transfer to a bus going to the airport. After another hour and a half, we finally arrived at the airport. However, we then had to wait another seven hours because our flight was at 12:55 AM. The flight only lasted a little over three hours, and we landed in Bangkok at a little after 5 AM local time.