We left Bali to fly to Sri Lanka. To get there we had to first land in Kuala Lumpur. Yes again… Third times a charm I guess. We were a bit unprepared for what awaited us on the plane, as we were looking at our seats. The seat number is the number two. We walked through rows and counted. One, two.. Huh… We stood there in disbelief. This is a first class seat. We were confused if this was our seat. It was! We couldn’t stop smiling after the realisation. Soon we got of the ground in the most comfortable airplane seat I ever sat on. The seat could fully recline into a bed and we got food, blankets and pillows. There was so much place for storage! We ate and then took a nap like a king.

We landed in Kuala Lumpur, knowing exactly where we had to go. We had been to Kuala Lumpur two times prior to this visit. Their immigration is pretty easy for our passport. You basically just have to show up… We went for some amazing food, found a supermarket and went back into the airport to take the second flight. This was one was no first class and we were crammed back in. When we landed we were exhausted, but greeted by a really friendly Sri Lankan host. He picked us up from the airport, gave us a drink and some food all without ever charging us for it. The next day he brought us back to the airport to pick up Marvin, a friend of mine and my former and future roommate. We were sitting down and we were waiting with all the other taxi drivers for Marvin to arrive.

After a few hugs and some chats on what was going on, the three of us went straight down to Colombo. This was a two hour drive and the traffic was crazy, however it was nothing particularly remarkable for Sally and me. The traffic was crazy in Latin America and in Southeast Asia, too. In the end you get used to it pretty fast. One hour in the the car driver suddenly had to stop hard for a pedestrian to cross the street. A few seconds later we hear a loud smack in the back. I saw a motorbike and two people flying by the right side. We were all in shock and didn’t really know how to react. In these moments you first question if you really saw this. Luckily some locals acted quickly and helped them up. Luckily they were both still alive and at least well enough to get up. One of them was bleeding on the fingers and the other one was hurt at the arm. The driver was in shock as well, but he told us to get a different driver. We all felt quite helpless in this situation and we didn’t know how to help. In the end you can’t really help so we pushed on, hoping these people would get the right treatment. The first accommodation felt a bit weird and it only felt partially safe to walk around in the neighborhood. A sign for such neighborhoods are the houses. A few indications give you a good idea. You better watch out in a neighborhood, if everything is fenced in and even has glass shards on top of the wall or some barbed wire. Of course we also got scammed by a beggar in a restaurant. You can’t really care about this, though, because for us it is a few Euros, but for them it might feed them another day. So may this money bring him happiness.

From here we wanted to take the train to Unawatuna. This is a small town in the south of Sri Lanka. We waited at the closest train station to hop on. Of course the train is two hours late. We kill the time by playing cards, talking about what happened in each others lives and comparing the delay to the Deutschebahn, the German railway system, which is also always late. A few trains passed, but these were not the rights ones. However we were not ready, when the right train actually arrived. After asking a few people we knew this was the one we had to hop on. The train was already rolling out of the station as we hopped into a random wagon. This resulted in ending up in the third class. Let me explain why this is a problem. The third class is the cheapest and every local is using it. This can get pretty crowded. By pretty crowded I mean people hanging on the outside of the train. The second class works with seat reservation and is almost never busy at all. The first class has air conditioning, but I don’t know how it looks from the inside. At the counters they usually sell second class tickets to foreigners. Foreigners are always seen wealthy in this country, so they are not really welcome in third class and are expected to pay the higher price. At the next stop we gladly changed to second class.

Second or third class we got there one way or another and finally in Unawatuna the vibe is completely different. No barbed wires, no glass shards and no fences. Instead a colorful street with a few restaurants and beautiful beach. It is finally time to relax again. The weather is more humid and more hot than in Indonesia. We were sweating all the time, as we were acclimatizing. It also was particularly fun to watch Marvin’s reaction on some of the things Sally and I had already been used to, like bargaining, burning trash and street dogs. Nonetheless it was fun to explore new things together, too, like the famous Sri Lankan cuisine, behavior of the people and the wild animals.

The majority of people are Buddhist in Sri Lanka. This means they commonly receive gifts from other Buddhist countries quite often. In this area they received a small pagoda from the Japanese Buddhist community. This is supposed to be a beautiful place and we decided to take a short hike to said place. While hiking there we also found a small other part we happily explored.

I also tried to go surfing in the early mornings. However it was not swell season in the south and I only embarked into absolutely chaotic waves… After a while I gave up and got back to the accommodation. We decided to check out Galle, which is a colonial city close to Unawatuna. This city was once occupied by the Portuguese, then by the Dutch and later by the British. This makes it already an interesting place. Yet the most interesting fact though is, that this place was already a harbor, even before the European occupation. The port did exist long ago and traded with the Persians, the Greek, the Arabs, the Chinese and many other cultures. This mix of culture is still visible to this day. A Buddhist pagoda is almost next to a Christian church and in the same quarter as a beautiful mosque. The houses have a Mediterranean look and feel. This makes the place a cultural gem in Sri Lanka, where many tourists visit.

From here we got into contact with Cosmic Woody. He operates a small restaurant and accommodation in the middle of nowhere. Before he picked us up, we checked out the turtle beach. Here we saw at least 15 turtles peaking their heads out of the water. Cosmic Woody lives as close to the teachings of the Buddha as it can get. This guy has lived his life being vegan, hurting as little animals as he can. He had some great insights and he was happy to share. We spend two nights here, which honestly felt more like an eternity. The place was very beautiful, though and surrounded by only nature and it was the two days I didn’t consume any sugar.

He had hammocks everywhere and soon everyone took a nap. We also did a cooking class with his wife. We learnt how to create a curry spice mix and how to make coconut milk and several curries. She also cooked a lot for us, which of course was also vegan, but nonetheless very tasty every time. The last evening we went to the Bay of Weligama. I saw some decent waves grabbed a board and had a decent surf session. The afternoon light was painting the ocean and the sky in an orange color. The beach was glimmering and the few locals and tourists were enjoying the time of the day. We went for an evening swim and headed back to the cottage. What an amazing day!

Thanks for reading and until next time. Cheers!