9th – 10th September

Mirissa Beach

I left Ella the next morning on the bus. I deliberated the transport method for this journey for a while the day before, and nearly ended up in a tuk tuk all the way down the country!

TIP: Tuk tuks are fun and a nice way to do short journeys around your base. They’re not suited for longer journeys – the driving here is crazy and there are no seat belts and little protection if anything goes wrong! Plus no matter what the tuk tuk drivers may tell you, they are slower as they have a max speed slower than cars. Other tuk tuk TIPS: get a metered taxi or agree a price in advance, check the vehicles has no obvious damages (shows a bad driver) and never get in if you suspect the driver has been drinking!

I was a little nervous of taking the local bus as I’d seen the driving in the towns! After looking online and speaking to a few people I decided to go for it, and it was fine! There were quite a few other tourists getting on too, which made me feel more confident. There was even a toilet break (although I had a panic that the bus had left without me whilst I was peeing, everyone is so helpful though).

I shut my eyes as we swung round the bends down from the hills, and 5 hours later I reached the city of Matara. With a road block just before the bus station, we were told to jump off early. I thought I was the only tourist who’d done the whole journey, but one German guy, Daniel, got off too and I checked where he was going. I couldn’t decide between Matara and Mirissa, but as he was going to Mirissa we shared a tuk tuk and when we arrived, I settled down to food on the beach to find a hostel.

The Mister Hostel was cool offering food & drink and I found someone to have some dinner with, so after chatting to the rents we went to enjoy sundown…. and WOW, what a paradise!

I had a FaceTime with Tom & Cali later, which made me miss them so much! It was so nice to see them though 💜

The next morning I had a lush peanut butter smoothie bowl for breakfast with a couple of German girls from my dorms (was so yummy but way too filling) and then went for a long walk along the beach. The black sand appeared again!

I’d been recommended to try another beach too called Unawatuna, so I decided to check out, hop on the bus and check out the next beach! (Another great surfing desitination). I found a hostel, but there were no others staying and it was pretty horrible, so I ran out and found a guesthouse before I had to pay! I’m trying to do hostels to meet people, but a nice guesthouse, with an ensuite room to myself for cheaper when there was no one at the hostel was a no brainer! There were monkeys playing in the trees outside  at La Villa 😍🙊.

Daniel from the bus down here had also come to Una, so we met up for cocktails on the beach and dinner. Nice relaxing evening.