Little miss burny, will she ever learny?

The journey from Kandy to Mirissa was long, slightly stressful, tiring and beautiful. We had two three-hour ish train journeys, both second class because that's just the way it happened at the station ticket office. On the first we managed to find a seat right at the back of the train, and just about squished in with our rucksacks. There was an especially beautiful moment when a Sri Lankan woman and man came into our carriage playing a guitar and singing in a weird and wonderful voice, whilst I watched the stunning hilly landscape unfold. Most people gave some sort of donation, I gave a few rupees too. There seems to be a lot of compassion going on amongst the Sri Lankan people. On most of the public transport we've been on, beggars seem to be widely listened to and given contributions, which is a pleasant contrast from the averted eyes and feigned ignorance taking place on the London underground.
Other highlights of the trip were eating an incredibly spicy rotti, which I thought had made me deaf for a bit, but trying not to show it because I didn't want to lose face on a carriage full of locals...and sweating more than I thought possible, whilst every now and then passing out and snoozing in an uncomfortable position. Even though the train arrived at Colombo ten minutes late, we managed to run and just make our connection. Didn't have as much luck finding a seat though, and stood for an hour, eventually getting enough space to sit back to back on my rucksack in the aisle, every five minutes ducking and attempting to move out of the way of guys and their baskets selling lunchpacks, shrimps or other misc items. A lovely little woman kept smiling at me, then gave us a beautifully tasting banana each, and her own cup of coffee (so sweet!), and eventually we got a seat for the last bit of the journey. Unfortunately I got a bit of a creeper sitting behind me who kept wiggling his fingers on the back of my seat, but I just sat back hard on my littler bag which must have crushed is hand a bit and given him the message. A couple helped us with the right stop (incredibly difficult to tell as there were no bloody names) and we had to properly jump off the train onto the dust. The old lady waved lots as the train rumbled off, and we felt rather chuffed with ourselves for completing the entire 7/8 hour journey, with no hiccups, for only 360 rps - less than 2quid!!!

We met Emma and Luke, checked into their place, and spent a few days being total beach bums there..dancing till 3 in the morning at a beach party on the first night, where the sea stole Lukes flipflops and we sang all the way home..wading into the sea and being attacked by the waves..eating lush food and drinking more coconuts. The first day of properly being in the sunshine came to a bit of a surprise to our unsuspecting pale skin, and I've managed to burn random areas including my hands and feet, whilst Beth is sporting a dashing shade of lobster pink. Little miss burny, will she ever learny?
Despite this, and the fact that everything I own is covered in sand, we are very happy and chilled, especially in my new floaty hippy trousers. (which I have now very annoyingly lost)
We all piled into a bus one morning, rucksacks and all, it taking off the moment the last persons foot had left solid ground. It was the loudest journey ever - the brakes needed some serious investigation, as they screeched louder and for longer than the horn blew. Jumped off at Utawatuna, a slightly bigger beach area, where we found a beautiful place to stay, a new development with a huge room for us all to share. Clean white tiles, really smart bathroom, a huge princess bed with a fourposter mozzie net for the girls to share..and we agreed on 3,500rps a night..bargain.

We're drawing near the end of our time in Sri Lanka now, and have been spending the past 5 or 6 days in Utawatuna, living a lazy lifestyle of beaching, eating and bimbling about. On our first day of arrival, we had lunch on the beach and watched a torrential rainstorm unfold over the sea - sending fish jumping out of the water and sea birds swooping around catching them..which was all rather exciting. We checked the weather forecast later that day, and it predicted rain for the next week! Turns out it's been beautifully hot and sunny everyday apart from a rather fierce hour-long downpour each afternoon. We mostly managed to time this well, being just arrived back a the room or in a bar/cafe, though didn't on one particular occasion and all got thoroughly soaked walking home. It was a welcome part of the day, clearing the air and cooling us down.
One slightly more cloudy day, we walked to Jungle Beach, a bit of a trek to a lovely secluded little beach with nice swimming and a little bar. On the way we saw purple faced langur monkeys in the trees, with their big white whiskers and long tails. Have seen a fair bit of exotic wildlife actually...loads of little lizards and geckos, a HUGE monitor lizard which was a little scary, lots of squirrels (pretty different from ours), and we spent one afternoon watching a turtle appearing every now and then out in the sea. Later that night, after dinner and drinks at a bar called pink elephant, we returned there for a beach party. We took a tuktuk there, all cramming into one, and found it hilarious that they had bouncers in the middle of nowhere. It was a very entertaining night, lots of dancing to awful cheese music, meeting people and drinking arrack, the local spirit..and we all felt a little worse for wear the next day.

Apart from these more energetic antics, we've been doing proper relaxing. Finding time on our hands for playing card games and reading..Beth's on her 3rd book! We've had some brilliant food here..the best rottis in my opinion, and a beautiful Indian dinner at a vegetarian place. We recently tried hoppers for the first time too - cooked like a pancake in a wok shaped pan, so that they're shaped like cups, with an egg broken into the middle and a bit of cheese. Absolutely delicious.

Cannot believe how fast the time is going. In a few days time we will be saying goodbye to Emma and Picky, arriving in Thailand with a renewed sense of adventure and a whole new place to discover!