Part of the appeal of starting our trip in Sri Lanka was the world renowned surfing. The trains, buses and tuk tuks make it easy to navigate the palm tree lined west and south coasts, which are dotted with towns ranging from sprawling local hubs to tourist towns with an uncanny resemblance to Bali with their beach clubs and hip cafes. There is a whole variety of waves to keep Josh occupied, and many a beach that I can sit on and read, or back streets to explore.
We chose our costal itinerary while at home in New Zealand, with information from guide books and blogs and tik toks to guide our choice of places to stop. It can be so hard to get an idea of the vibe of a place this way, but we were pretty happy with our decision when we arrived in our first stop, Hikkaduwa. We caught the train from Colombo, which was a beautiful costal line that took about two hours. We sat in second class unreserved, but in retrospect third would have been fine. The train only cost 400 rupee ($2.37 NZD) each!
Hikkaduwa is the original surf spot in Sri Lanka, boasting an A frame reef break and beach breaks to choose from. We spent much of our time in Hikkaduwa parked up at a cafe/surf rental spot on the beach called Mountain Surf, where I finished two books while pretending to watch Josh catch some waves. Hikkaduwa itself is situated on the main costal road, Galle Road, so to get respite from the local buses that thunder past and the many calls from the waiting tuk tuk drivers, walking on the beach or having our own scooter were the best options for getting around. The area has a small but busy town centered around the train station and then as you headed south this slowly morphed into shops and restaurants catered to tourists. We were staying slightly south again at Tamaro Beach, away from the hustle and bustle but still close enough to get in and around. We could see the ocean from our room, that was away from the main town center. It was small and quiet, with a great swimming spot right on our doorstep. The family who ran the place had two gorgeous children who spoke amazing English at only ages four and six.
While we loved the flat whites offered at Mountain Surf, we quickly discovered that outside of the tourist stretch was where we would find food that was much more within our budget. I think this is something we’ll find throughout our trip, while the sun loungers and bikini friendly beaches are great, there is much to be discovered in the local hubs that these tourist areas fringe. One example was the local fish market. We paid our 60 rupee (40 cents NZD) to look around the dock, and got invited onto the boat of a local guy, Banu. He showed us proudly his brand new V12 engine and storage areas for 15,000kg of fish (don’t quote us on this amount, it might have been lost in translation). We also saw a group of men meticulously fixing the fishing nets, a stark reminder of the culture of repairing and restoring here as opposed to the throw away mindset in the west. A lot of these men looked as if they had physical disabilities such as a lost leg or foot, which we would assume is from the war. After our private boat tour, we went into the market itself and selected some fish for lunch - oysters, squid and Marlin, all for 1700 rupee ($10 NZD), and then paid another 500 rupee ($3 NZD) for it to be cooked for us, local style. We took this back to our accommodation and feasted on this fish alongside roti, and mangoes for dessert. This whole lunch cost us the same as two coffees at our beloved Mountain Surf.
Other highlights in Hikkaduwa included a candle lit dinner on the beach due to another planned power outage to fix the monkey’s damage, egg hoppers for breakfast, finding a gorgeous natural pool surrounded by reef, and the great company from the local surfer dudes - cheeky as all hell and a lot of fun.
A sobering moment was learning about the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, which was completely devastating to communities along the Sri Lanka coast. The area we were in was where the train was hit by the wave, killing 1,500 people. The museum explained the damage done to the communities which outside the damage to buildings and loss of life includes a large amount of trauma for survivors. The Japanese built an incredible temple as a place of worship dedicated to those who lost their lives and were heavily affected. The Buddha statue, in an East Asian design, stands at 30 m tall to - the height of the wave.
Something we didn’t expect was the number of Russian tourists, most signs and menus were written in both English and Cyrillic, and we felt like a minority amongst tourists as native English speakers! This is due to visa free travel for Russians to Sri Lanka, who face a number of sanctions in a number of western countries. We have heard stories of Russian exiles who now run tourism businesses here, meaning that unfortunately not a lot of money ends up back in the hands of locals.
Our two nights in Hikkaduwa went by quickly, and before we knew it, we were packing up and walking down the road to brave the bus to Unawatuna.
We chose our costal itinerary while at home in New Zealand, with information from guide books and blogs and tik toks to guide our choice of places to stop. It can be so hard to get an idea of the vibe of a place this way, but we were pretty happy with our decision when we arrived in our first stop, Hikkaduwa. We caught the train from Colombo, which was a beautiful costal line that took about two hours. We sat in second class unreserved, but in retrospect third would have been fine. The train only cost 400 rupee ($2.37 NZD) each!
Hikkaduwa is the original surf spot in Sri Lanka, boasting an A frame reef break and beach breaks to choose from. We spent much of our time in Hikkaduwa parked up at a cafe/surf rental spot on the beach called Mountain Surf, where I finished two books while pretending to watch Josh catch some waves. Hikkaduwa itself is situated on the main costal road, Galle Road, so to get respite from the local buses that thunder past and the many calls from the waiting tuk tuk drivers, walking on the beach or having our own scooter were the best options for getting around. The area has a small but busy town centered around the train station and then as you headed south this slowly morphed into shops and restaurants catered to tourists. We were staying slightly south again at Tamaro Beach, away from the hustle and bustle but still close enough to get in and around. We could see the ocean from our room, that was away from the main town center. It was small and quiet, with a great swimming spot right on our doorstep. The family who ran the place had two gorgeous children who spoke amazing English at only ages four and six.
While we loved the flat whites offered at Mountain Surf, we quickly discovered that outside of the tourist stretch was where we would find food that was much more within our budget. I think this is something we’ll find throughout our trip, while the sun loungers and bikini friendly beaches are great, there is much to be discovered in the local hubs that these tourist areas fringe. One example was the local fish market. We paid our 60 rupee (40 cents NZD) to look around the dock, and got invited onto the boat of a local guy, Banu. He showed us proudly his brand new V12 engine and storage areas for 15,000kg of fish (don’t quote us on this amount, it might have been lost in translation). We also saw a group of men meticulously fixing the fishing nets, a stark reminder of the culture of repairing and restoring here as opposed to the throw away mindset in the west. A lot of these men looked as if they had physical disabilities such as a lost leg or foot, which we would assume is from the war. After our private boat tour, we went into the market itself and selected some fish for lunch - oysters, squid and Marlin, all for 1700 rupee ($10 NZD), and then paid another 500 rupee ($3 NZD) for it to be cooked for us, local style. We took this back to our accommodation and feasted on this fish alongside roti, and mangoes for dessert. This whole lunch cost us the same as two coffees at our beloved Mountain Surf.
Other highlights in Hikkaduwa included a candle lit dinner on the beach due to another planned power outage to fix the monkey’s damage, egg hoppers for breakfast, finding a gorgeous natural pool surrounded by reef, and the great company from the local surfer dudes - cheeky as all hell and a lot of fun.
A sobering moment was learning about the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, which was completely devastating to communities along the Sri Lanka coast. The area we were in was where the train was hit by the wave, killing 1,500 people. The museum explained the damage done to the communities which outside the damage to buildings and loss of life includes a large amount of trauma for survivors. The Japanese built an incredible temple as a place of worship dedicated to those who lost their lives and were heavily affected. The Buddha statue, in an East Asian design, stands at 30 m tall to - the height of the wave.
Something we didn’t expect was the number of Russian tourists, most signs and menus were written in both English and Cyrillic, and we felt like a minority amongst tourists as native English speakers! This is due to visa free travel for Russians to Sri Lanka, who face a number of sanctions in a number of western countries. We have heard stories of Russian exiles who now run tourism businesses here, meaning that unfortunately not a lot of money ends up back in the hands of locals.
Our two nights in Hikkaduwa went by quickly, and before we knew it, we were packing up and walking down the road to brave the bus to Unawatuna.