Beaches, Temples and No Turtles

Walking through the Neighbourhood

We have a relaxed morning at Wilson’s Place Guesthouse before starting to walk through the neighbourhood to Nilwella Beach also known as Blue Beach.

The locals have such beautiful driveway gates and details in the walls around their properties.

A tuk-tuk playing a loud rendition of Tchaikovsky drives by. We see these tuk-tuks often in Sri Lanka. They are like ice cream trucks but instead sell bread. They all seem to play the same song which announces their presence as they drive slowly down the street selling bread. The first number of bars are on repeat. I pity the poor bread vendor that has to listen to that all day. Click here for a short video.

Breakfast in a Family Run Restaurant

A few homes have small restaurant signs out front. I look into the laneway of one of these places and the next thing I know, grandma, mother and numerous kids are all smiling at us. They pull up a table and chairs into their open air carport. John and I order breakfast (Kottu) from the menu. I ask for a glass of cow’s milk but grandma comes back she says that they are all out so I request yogurt. She wobbles her head back and forth to indicate yes.

South Asians have a head wobbling form of communication similar to Western nodding. It means different things in different situations. Click here for a short but interesting explanation.

Our large portions of food arrive. It is good but John and I would have been fine sharing one meal.

Family life goes on around us as we eat. A twenty something year old guy drives up on his motorcycle, says hi and goes into the house. A bunch more women come and go into the house. A ten-twelve year old boy gets onto the motorcycle and drives off, returning a few minutes later. Monkeys run over the electrical wires and dog and cats are all over the place.

We can only eat half our meals so we take the rest with us.

Blue Beach

Nilwella Beach is nearby. It is small and pretty. A man comes over with a shopping bag full of still flopping fresh fish. Not sure if he was offering to sell us fish or just happy to show us his catch. I feel bad for the dying fish. We watch the crabs and fish in the tidal pools before heading back to our accomodation.

Wewurukannala Temple

I am feeling hot and dizzy so we take a brief rest in our cool room before catching a tuk-tuk to Wewurukannala Raja Mah Vihara (a Buddhist Temple).

.At the entrance, John and I put on our makeshift sarongs (our beach towels) that we brought with us. A women looks at me and shakes her head. I take off my sarong and she rewraps it around me correctly and tucks it in.

The temple boasts the largest Buddha in Sri Lanka. We go through a building which depicts Buddha’s life in statues but the real surprise is the Buddhist building of hell. Set in a long hallway, it has statues, paintings and engravings of the various punishments that happen to you in Buddhist hell if you commit certain sins in this life. Some torture depictions are incredibly gruesome.

I see a grandfather walking the hallway with his grandson pointing out various punishments.

Turtle Point Beach

Next our tuk-tuk driver takes us to Turtle Point. Unlike the place near Marissa, this is filled with people.

We rent some sturdy loungers and I go into the warm waves in search of turtles. Unfortunately not a turtle to be seen. The turtles are best seen in the early morning.

I head back to our lounger and take a nap. At 3pm, John informs me that it is time to go to the next beach. At one point we pass a blackened carcass of a baby dolphin on the otherwise picture perfect beach. It is in a quiet area with no one around.

Shopping for my Bottle Brush

We have to walk on a street for a short time to get across an impassable area of the beach before arriving at Dickwella Beach. I notice a local store jam packed with tons of stuff. I can barely get down the aisle. I ask the girl if they have any bottle brushes for cleaning my water bottle (which I suspect is starting to get scungey). She walks a few feet and reaches back past a ton of stuff on the shelf and comes out with a bag of bottle brushes. I am delighted and happily pay 44 cents CAD for my purchase.

Dickwella Beach

Dickwella Beach is a lot longer than Turtle Point Beach but a lot less crowded. We head to the end where we sit at a surfside restaurant/bar. We are hoping for a sunset but sadly, once again the clouds have rolled in. We watch locals fishing in the dying light.

We want to go to a nearby restaurant called Smoke and Bitters but it is all booked so we grab a tuk-tuk and head back to our accomodations for a quick shower before heading out to supper.

Off to Supper

Monkeys and peacocks are plentiful on the walk to the restaurant.

We have a delicious supper of fresh seafood and call it a night.