Yes, yes, this was my second trip to the island nation of Sri Lanka in less than one year. While the first time I made the mistake of spending only three days exploring the southwestern coast of the island, I quickly made another mistake this trip by spending my five day vacation along the same coastline, without exploring any of the other sites.
What can I say?
The short 1.5 hour flight from Chennai to Colombo is the perfect escape allowing just enough time to enjoy all of the wonderful beachy things like delicious grilled jumbo prawns, clear blue-green water, and crazy dance parties. The amazing breakfast buffet at the Galle Face Hotel and the locally brewed ever-so-popular beverage, Arrack, are not too bad either.
The five reasons below are why I am already planning my 3rd Sri Lankan vacay... maybe for 8 days... Who's in?
5. The Milky Way (no, not the candy bar).
I'm not 100% convinced that it was the Milky Way we saw in the night sky, but regardless, it was one of the most gorgeous starry skies I've seen in a long time.
Coupled with the sound of crashing waves, the starry sky at Unawatuna beach was a not-so-subtle reminder of the beauty, serenity and power of nature.
The tequilla shots probably played a role, as well.
4. The People (yes, still).
From the tuk tuk drivers to the newly published young poet we met on the train back to Colombo and from the Czech scuba divers to the guest house owners, everyone we met was super friendly, helpful and romba interesting.
Also, SL is the one place where being from India is actually an advantage – as soon as we said 'India' every Sri Lankan beamed and exclaimed, 'We're neighbors!' and then promptly offered us pillows for our beach chairs and a discount on the room tariff (amounting to precisely half of what the Brits next door paid).
Holla slash sorry.
3. The DJ (I'm not sure he felt the same about me).
The super nice (and gullible) DJ welcomed me onto stage with open arms when he heard I was Chennai's #1 DJ (blame/applaud Namrata for that one).
The club could definitely not handle me on Friday night.
After awkwardly figuring out how to use the mix CD's with the mixers and turntables, I played some of my fav hip hop songs (ok, fine, with the help of my DJ friend).
I'm pretty much an international DJ though... right?!
2. The Double Rainbow (yes, it was just like the youtube vid).
On our last evening in Lanka, Namrata calls me to the window to show me what she thinks is an amazing single rainbow. At closer glance (and freakout session) we realized it was a double rainbow.
A DOUBLE RAINBOW.
What does this mean?
1. The Turtle (no, not of the awkward kind).
After the ocean ate my purse (and everything inside it, including my camera) we all began the search for my lost memories. (Btw, apparently you're not supposed to keep your purse on the sand during high tide. Who knew?)
Unfortunately, we were unable to find them... my memories (or the camera).
Fortunately, we found something even more amazing... a huuuuge sea turtle (like 3 feet in diameter) walking out of the ocean in search for a safe place to lay her eggs.
Unfortunately, she did not find an adequate place and returned to the ocean some 10 minutes later.
Fortunately, I did not make a youtube vid (see #2) because my reaction was eerily similar sounding.
Maybe it was an awkward turtle?
What can I say?
The short 1.5 hour flight from Chennai to Colombo is the perfect escape allowing just enough time to enjoy all of the wonderful beachy things like delicious grilled jumbo prawns, clear blue-green water, and crazy dance parties. The amazing breakfast buffet at the Galle Face Hotel and the locally brewed ever-so-popular beverage, Arrack, are not too bad either.
The five reasons below are why I am already planning my 3rd Sri Lankan vacay... maybe for 8 days... Who's in?
5. The Milky Way (no, not the candy bar).
I'm not 100% convinced that it was the Milky Way we saw in the night sky, but regardless, it was one of the most gorgeous starry skies I've seen in a long time.
Coupled with the sound of crashing waves, the starry sky at Unawatuna beach was a not-so-subtle reminder of the beauty, serenity and power of nature.
The tequilla shots probably played a role, as well.
4. The People (yes, still).
From the tuk tuk drivers to the newly published young poet we met on the train back to Colombo and from the Czech scuba divers to the guest house owners, everyone we met was super friendly, helpful and romba interesting.
Also, SL is the one place where being from India is actually an advantage – as soon as we said 'India' every Sri Lankan beamed and exclaimed, 'We're neighbors!' and then promptly offered us pillows for our beach chairs and a discount on the room tariff (amounting to precisely half of what the Brits next door paid).
Holla slash sorry.
3. The DJ (I'm not sure he felt the same about me).
The super nice (and gullible) DJ welcomed me onto stage with open arms when he heard I was Chennai's #1 DJ (blame/applaud Namrata for that one).
The club could definitely not handle me on Friday night.
After awkwardly figuring out how to use the mix CD's with the mixers and turntables, I played some of my fav hip hop songs (ok, fine, with the help of my DJ friend).
I'm pretty much an international DJ though... right?!
2. The Double Rainbow (yes, it was just like the youtube vid).
On our last evening in Lanka, Namrata calls me to the window to show me what she thinks is an amazing single rainbow. At closer glance (and freakout session) we realized it was a double rainbow.
A DOUBLE RAINBOW.
What does this mean?
1. The Turtle (no, not of the awkward kind).
After the ocean ate my purse (and everything inside it, including my camera) we all began the search for my lost memories. (Btw, apparently you're not supposed to keep your purse on the sand during high tide. Who knew?)
Unfortunately, we were unable to find them... my memories (or the camera).
Fortunately, we found something even more amazing... a huuuuge sea turtle (like 3 feet in diameter) walking out of the ocean in search for a safe place to lay her eggs.
Unfortunately, she did not find an adequate place and returned to the ocean some 10 minutes later.
Fortunately, I did not make a youtube vid (see #2) because my reaction was eerily similar sounding.
Maybe it was an awkward turtle?
2 comments:
so cute. wait, was it your fancy camera?? so sad!!
YOUR CAMERA!!!!!
Does this mean we're not going to get a photo blog update? Le sigh.
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