11th September

Jungle Beach

Daniel had mentioned to me he’d walked along to jungle beach, a small secluded beach facing Galle Fort with jungle as it’s back drop. It didn’t look far, so the next morning I got up early and walked there. I thought I had the beach to myself, until a blonde model-looking girl asked me to take her picture. Course I obliged, but before I was able to take a snap she decided to get changed, do her hair and then land herself in a modelly type pose. Feeling a bit awkward as she kept lifting her leg up through the slit in her long skirt I took a few pics (then she wanted ones in a different backdrop). I asked if she was a model, turns out she’s a dancer from Ukraine, probably with a LOT of Instagram followers! Weird one!

(Me unable to do sexy poses 😂)

Galley Galley gosh

Mini picked me up from my guesthouse in Una and we went to Galle for breakfast and a mooch. Galle is a lovely city, filled with colonial style building, cafes, shops and grandeur hotels. There were loads of classic cars around too. We shared a classic Sri Lankan breakfast (curry 😂👍) then had a wander round Galle Fort, built by the Dutch. We then did some shopping and stopped for a much needed ice cold sprite! (I was thirsty for hours waiting for that! 😳)

Swimming with giant turtles 😆😆😆

The next stop up the cost for us was Hikkaduwa, another pretty beach and coastal street lined with tourist shops. Aside from a shop mooch, our main reason for stopping here is the not particularly well know site to swim alongside wild giant turtles, straight off the beach. I was so excited and it was just how I’d imagined! There were 3 beautiful, HUGE turtles just swimming around the bay close to the shore. I swam with them for a while and took some goggles to dip my head under the water – totally in my element!! 😍🐢💚

Time for reflection

We headed back to Moratuwa for dinner and a catch up. But on the way, another short drive up the coast took us past the small tsunami museums. We stopped at one and I went in to look. The first room was all about earthquakes and tsunamis and how they occur, it was really interesting, but the next 2 rooms brought home the reality of the devastation they can cause. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami affected many countries in the south of Asia and claimed tens of thousands of lives, as well as people’s homes, towns and health. Sri Lanka was badly affected and they had no idea it was coming. Seeing the harrowing photographs of the destruction, injuries and dead bodies was really tough. As it was September the 11th there was a lot on my mind that day about world events such as these and a reminder of how lucky we are and how precious life is.