Hmmmmmm… Sleeping in the car in a tropical climate is not fun!!! Thought, having parked up by the beach, it would be lovely and romantic – waking up with the sunrise and listening to the waves crash over sand. Reality?!? Sweating to death in a micro oven or opening the windows to be devoured by mosquitos!! Jayne opted for the front seat, whereas I made myself a little cocoon in the back balancing on the spare wheel and wedging my feet between door and boot. Surprisingly, I actually got some sleep although Jayne was less fortunate being on another one of her mosquito murder missions again. Watched the sunrise over the houses whilst the beach became alive with early morning surfers. Sat watching them whilst eating some sweet bread and drinking Milo’s (made everything seem better!!). 
Had a chat about what to do over the next few days and decided to head towards the Marine National Park in Hikkaduwa, just south of Colombo. Managed to find a very nice and clean guesthouse just off the main road and after a quick shower to wash off the layers of car sweat(!), we headed to the beach with our new masks and snorkels. The reef just off the beach had some amazing marine life and within minutes of getting into the water, we had spotted a turtle and some massive parrot, unicorn and napoleons wrasse fish. 
We decided to snorkel over to the reef by the big rocks that all the fishermen were trying to convince us to pay them to row us over. The reef was nice as it was less damaged by morons walking all over it and the marine life seemed quite large compared to up north in Kalpitya. Decided to head back to the guesthouse after about an hour for a much needed sleep in a real bed (we’re both clearly getting too old for sleeping anywhere other than a mattress!!). Woke up and headed back to the beach, via the wine store to pick up a couple of beers. Found a nice spot with a washed up log to sit on to watch the sun set as surfers continued catching waves around us. 
Slightly embarrassing moment watching Russian women pose like playboy models in the surf for their boyfriends and a very pasty white surfer trying to show his skills in front of the Sri Lankan ones… Who outshone him in every possible way! Continued walking along the beach until we stopped at an Italian restaurant for dinner. Had a massive three course feast of chicken liver pate, prawn salad, pizza, carbonara pasta, chocolate cake and Nutella with vanilla ice cream pancakes. Waddled back to the guesthouse, past TukTuk drivers who would wait in the shadows until you were about to pass to jump out and ask if your needed a taxi – they were lucky I didn’t punch any of them out of fright! A quick shower to wash off the sea salt and we both passed out!
Sunday 21st February 2016
Trans Travels 