Mirissa Story Guest House, Sri Lanka

Our trip's first hostel began in Mirissa, a small fishing village and tourist resort around 150 miles from the capital Colombo. Upon arrival we were met by a young man Sam, his wife and their toddler. The man was very thin, with a friendly face and clear visible scars on his stomach. He extended his apologies and explained briefly that he had been in an accident. We were wondering what had happened to him but didn't want to intrude and quickly expressed that it was okay, before he let us choose our room.

Over the 4 nights we stayed, we were treated with so much kindness and we were introduced to a few other members of the family including his father and 4 pet dogs. Sam asked me if we would like to go on a whale watching trip as he could organise this for us. I knew Jake was keen to do this so we quickly agreed and Sam arranged for us to be collected at 6am the following morning. Unfortunately the boat trip was long, bumpy and involved no whales and only a few Dolphins. Once we arrived back Sam apologised and encouraged us to go on the tour again the next day - free of charge. We were undecided as the day had been so long and we were planning to move on the following day. He managed to persuade us to go and then began to tell us a bit of his back story.

Sam explained that he was driving a tuk tuk and he had fallen asleep and crashed into a lamp post. His brother had died in the accident and Sam suffered severe injuries due to the handlebars impaling his stomach. He broke 4 ribs and burst his intestines and now has to live with a colostomy bag. He said he used to be like Jake, a fit and healthy young man but with dreadlocks to his backside. Now he finds it difficult to walk and has to stay in his house all day. Before the accident he had his own whale watching boat and used to take tourists out on the trip we had just been on. Looking at this young, smiley man, it was hard to imagine the tragedy him and his family had been through.

We went on the whale tour again the next day and managed to spot a fin whale and a few more Dolphins. We asked Sam to arrange our transport afterwards to take us to our next stop, Dikwella. His father took us in his tuk tuk and I have to say it's the most sensible driving I have seen so far in Sri Lanka. He gave us a running commentary throughout the 1 hour journey along the coast - telling us all about the tsunami which hit Mirissa over 10 years ago, and he even pointed out where Sam had his accident. We chose to stay in a hotel in Dikwella, which is absolutely beautiful, with an ocean view from our balcony. As beautiful as it is, it means we miss out on learning about the locals here and hearing their stories. Sam's story really struck a cord with us, and showed us that you need to live your life to the full as you never know when something could change it. 

Pav & Jake 

xxx

Mirissa, Sri Lanka

On Monday, we checked out of our hotel and headed straight to the train station to make our way down to Mirissa. We weren't sure if the tuk tuks would be able to fit the two of us and two backpacks in, but they had no hesitation at all and did some tetris magic to get us and our bags off to the station. There were loads of locals outside who were happy to point us in the right direction and told us where to get our tickets. It was only 440 rupees for the both of us - that's just over £1 each for the 3 hour journey.

When the train arrived everyone scrambled on, after a couple of stops we managed to sit down. It was pretty decent and we even had 'air conditioning' (aka open windows and fans on the ceiling blowing around the warm air). The view was beautiful, it runs right along the coast for most of the journey and you're basically just looking out at the sea and Palm trees. We arrived at our stop and were greeted by off road tuk tuks that took us straight to our guest house hostel. After a quick shower we headed to Mirissa beach to meet my best friend Charl and her boyfriend Dan for dinner. They had been around for a few days so took us to a lovely restaurant right on the beach front.

After dinner we waved them goodbye and got a tuk tuk back to our guest house. Our driver had literally no clue where we were going. He stopped about 4 times to ask people for directions, and took us in a massive circle then dropped us off in the exact location where he picked us up. We went back to the beach to get some wifi and got the number for our place. We tried again with a tuk tuk and he called up to find out where our hostel was located. He was a chatty driver and stopped over in the middle of nowhere, to show me an email from someone requesting his tour services and showing us selfies on his phone from people he had shown around. We politely said 'oh wow' and then asked him to continue to take us to our place to which he replied 'yeah yeah in a minute'. We finally got there and were greeted by the 4 dogs that the guest house has as security. I was pretty scared as they were jumping up and surrounding us. Jake was fighting them off as I was hiding in the corner and putting my bag out for protection. The owners eventually came out to warn them off and after turning our key in the lock what felt like 1000 times, we finally got into our room.

We spent the following day out at Weligama beach - Jake and Dan dabbled in a bit of surfing, while me and Charl indulged in the 30 degree heat.

Pav & Jake

xxx

Colombo, Sri Lanka

We arrived at our hotel around 2pm local time, and the rest of the day/evening was pretty much a write-off due to severe jet lag. We did a bit of research online and headed out on a tuk tuk (Sri Lanka's best and cheapest mode of transport). After a bit of lunch we went to one of the temples on our list called Beira Lake, and were told our entrance fee would also get us into Gangaramaya temple. We decided to get a tuk tuk there, our driver Ali was really friendly and suggested a tour round Colombo - an hour and a half for $10. As we only had the one day in the city, we thought this would be a great way to see everything. He took us round all the must see sites, Colombo Lighthouse, Galle Face Green, Old Colombo Dutch Hospital, Independence Memorial Hall and many more. He then dropped us back to the temple we had planned on going to. The temple was okay, but it just seemed like a bit of a money making scheme and bit more touristy then spiritual. We headed back to our hotel to chill at the rooftop pool while the sun set. I'd read on a blog that Galle Face Green was great to visit in the evening, so we decided to go and get some street food for dinner. The atmosphere was lovely, right on the beach with street food stalls, balloons, lights, and kites for sales. It was pitch black though, we couldn't see what we were eating. This seems to be quite common for Sri Lanka as we had the same problem the night before - it was a good thing Jake is a geek and has a torch. The food was delicious though and so cheap. We then headed back to the hotel for our last night in luxury. Bye bye flash packer - Hello backpacker.

Pav & Jake 

xxx

New Beginnings

So today's the day. After years of dreaming and months of planning, our adventure is finally upon us. If you don't know us well already - I'm Pav & he's Jake. We've been together for 6 and a half years, and 5 and a half of those have been long distance. We're finally saying goodbye to spending the weekends driving up and down the country to see each other, and hello to travelling the world and finding our home. Follow us on our journey and we'll fill you in on all the stories, pictures, and places you need to visit.

Join us on the trip to our first destination... Sri Lanka.

Pav & Jake

xxx