We then caught a second bus back to Galle. We day tripped it to Talalla to check out Secret beach which Lonely Planet says is the next big thing.
We arrived and Secret beach is the perfect name for it. With only one resort nearby it's camouflaged by grasses and trees. The beach stretched for a good kilometre and was completely untouched. There were four other Westerners and us there, one local fisherman, maybe a dozen little fishing boats and the stock standard number of mangy dogs.
It really was exactly what you see on a postcard. Exactly how you imagine paradise to look, well with the exception of the middle aged Russian swimming in her g-banger bikini!!
We bit the bullet and decided since we had the time we may as well sneak in a scuba dive as well. Unfortunately for us the conditions were not ideal with strong currents and poor visibility making it difficult to swim around the underwater rock formations, not to mention the huge jellyfish that were everywhere. They probably should of told us they weren't poisonous at the beginning and I might of sucked down on a bit less oxygen!!
Due to the shitty conditions we canned our second dive and headed back to Colombo.
We arrived in the early evening and went to one hotel that had a sign welcoming dignitaries and a rolled up red carpet. In our grotty singlets we asked if they had any rooms available. We had roughly been budgeting $12 a night for accommodation, their cheapest room....$222! We left pretty quickly!
With accommodation completely booked due to Colombo hosting a meeting for all the Commonwealth leaders we got yet another bus (I was over buses by this stage) to Negombo, but not before telling the Sri Lankans that if they wanted to keep Tony Rabbit they were welcome to him!
Negombo is one of the more popular beaches for Westerners. It's close to Colombo and also the airport.
We wandered into the main part of town, past the prison and all the visitors waiting for visiting hours to begin and into the fish market which apparently is a must when in Negombo.
Thongs were a poor choice of footwear. I hate street juice flicking up the back of my legs at the best of times, but fish juice is taking it up another couple of levels in the grossness stakes!
A friendly fisherman wondered over for a chat and then took us on a "tour" along the beach to explain the processes they go through to preserve the fish. From drying it under the sun, to the woman gutting it to stop it from smelling, to the young men washing and curing by salting each of the fish.
I though wiping a stanger's bum was gross, but working in a fish market takes the cake and they are paid about $3 a day...!
We've ticked off vegetable and egg rottis, vadai, devilled chicken and prawns and sipped on the local Lion beer.
This gem bobbing in the middle of the ocean is where it's at. Yet to be corrupted by tourist, or greed that so often is accompanied by tourism.
The people are genuine, the natural beauty of the country that no description or photo could do justice (i wish my eyes could upload what they saw to Facebook!), the food is the best and when you request spicy you get a cheeky smile of approval in response. Almost as it's a challenge for both sides, how hot can they make it and how hot can you take!!
People still charge local price or a very minimal skin tax, start a conversation because they're generally interested about you and ask for nothing, but for you to come back and to bring your friends with you!
The only thing that confused us a bit was the head wobble. Shaking their heads while saying ok or agreeing with you in an accent that took me a little while to get!
All this and we didn't even make it to the north or east where culture, language and religion are completely different. I'll be seeing you again hopefully in the not too distant future Ceylon!!
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