Surfing Hikkaduwa

When in surfers land, one must surf. I actually think if I didn’t have yearly breaks from surfing that I could be quite good. From the first wave I was standing and surfing. Were they huge waves, no but could every adult in the family stand up, well no.  Sebastian took a little convincing as a bit rougher and not as blue as Barbados. But he came and was a little pro quite quickly.  We came back to the hotel to find that two families had moved in. One with two boys, and even bigger bonus speak English! Sebastian has been great with us, but boy was he happy to find some friends.

Galle Fort Day

Today we spent the day in Galle.  We were originally staying there for two nights but felt that we were jumping around too much for Sebastian.  Thankfully, our hotel is only 20 minutes away and a 5 dollar taxi. It is fantastic and we probably should have stayed there. We know for next time. We spent the day there today and will spend the evening another day.  The fort was originally built by the Dutch and added on when the British took over.  It is very impressive, and inside is just lovely.  We enjoyed walking around and visiting the spice market outside of the city walls.  We are all looking forward to returning for one more evening.

Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka

After our amazing place at the safari, Hikkaduwa had lots to live up too.  I spent ages looking for the right spot. What I loved about every beach I looked at is there are no big resorts.  The beaches all seemed to have small places, usually family run.  I chose this beach due to proximity to Galle, Colombo and reputation. Suite Lanka, the place I chose is a beautiful small boutique hotel.  They upgraded us to the pent house (only 10 rooms) and actually chatted us less than the regular double room. It is way beyond what I thought it would be. The hotel is lovely, the beach is huge and reminds me a lot of the East Coast of Barbados. Downside is we cannot swim directly in front of the hotel, upside it is nice to get a walk in before going in the Ocean.

Udawalawe National Park

I was in between two national parks for quite sometime, and in the end I chose the less popular one Udawalawe National Park. I definitely made the right choice.  One our hotel was beyond fantastic. It did have 9.7 with 1000 reviews on booking so I was fairly confident it would be okay. But still it blew my mind.  We spent me night in the hotel and had a wonderful buffet vegetarian dinner.  They made us a lunch when we just arrived hungry, for free.  The breakfast was great and they arranged our 4 hour private safari.  We saw 30 wild elephants, crocodiles, wild buffalo, a million beautiful peacocks, mongoose, eagle up close (that Sebastian spotted), water buffalo, it was fantastic.  When we left today and I went to pay the bill the total for everything was 106 pounds.  All our meals, the safari, several beers and a couple wines, the night and the great hotel.  I could not believe it! Worth ten times that.  From other people we met this park surpassed Yala National Park and it was an exciting day for all of us.  The highlights being the baby elephants and the peacock mating dance that we were so lucky to see.

And came back to this breakfast. Altogether amazing.