Arugam Bay - Days 111-114
- Meghann
- Nov 18, 2017
- 5 min read
We ended our Trinco stay with a beautiful sunrise viewing over Nilaveli beach. Ty and I both enjoyed it, but Ben was a bit grumpy about the early rise (get used to it, bud). Next up in our Sri Lankan adventure was a surfing town on the southeast coast called Arugam Bay. The drive was long, but our driver John was entertaining and easy to talk to ("Do you guys rave?")! On one of our pit stops, he took us to a small locals-only place and ordered us a bunch of tasties in Sinhalese. No idea what we ate but it was all delicious and all for $4.
We finally rolled into Arugam Bay and were pleased to see that it was a bit more developed (read: touristy) than Trinco. Nilaveli beach in Trinco was great, but it was harder to find places to eat, drink, etc. Arugam Bay seemed like a surfers paradise - lots of trendy shops/restaurants with a bit of a hippy vibe. Our hotel - Beachview Hotel - was in a great location and had a ping pong table right out front. The beach near us was quite steep so while not good for swimming, it was great for watching the waves come in fast and hard. Should be a fun few days!
We grabbed a few drinks to enjoy on our porch before our delicious ramen dinner at Spice Trail and introduced Tyler to Pass the Pigs. To be expected, he loves it. To properly celebrate our arrival, we headed to a beach bar with live music and a fire show (and strong long islands). It was super fun! Until the power went out that is. Then Ben stole a coconut and we left. Ended the night sitting along the beach and playing our made-up wave/coconut game. Ben was not very good at it.
Today we decided to give surfing a go! We rented boards from the shop out front and took a tuk tuk along a crazily bumpy dirt road to get to a peanut farm beach, a popular beginners surf spot. Beach was beautiful and there were already a few surfers out. After observing for a bit (we opted not to get surf lessons, probably not our wisest decision), we jumped in. Surfing is hard! Took me 45 min of fighting the strong waves to even paddle out. Ben and Ty are much better swimmers than I so they were able to get out much easier. It took more than a few tries to be able to stand and ride a wave, but we all got there eventually! I was first though, I feel like that is important.
After a much needed break, I headed back out so Ben could get a pic of me riding a wave. First attempt: I fell. Second attempt: I fell. Third attempt: I took a gnarly wipe out
and got a big gash above my eye from the surfboard. Blood everywhere. Luckily, a blonde, stereotypical looking surfer boy had a first aid kit and doctored me up. Fingers crossed for a fast heal! Obviously I was done for the day so found a spot in the shade to lie down while Ben and Ty got a few more runs in.
Exhausted and sun burnt, we returned to the hostel to cool down and refresh. Went to an absolutely delicious Indian restaurant (Tandoori Hut, currently #2 on TripAdvisor) for dinner. Ben's vindaloo dish finally had some spice/heat that we had been looking for. Still exhausted from the surf sesh, we took it easy with a few beers along the beach and played the wave/coconut game again. Ben is improving.
We lazily walked to the #1 restaurant on TripAdvisor (Bambini Cafe) for breakfast to see how it compares to the #2 Tandoori Hut. Conclusion: Pretty good, but Tandoori Hut was much better. With a few hours to spare before our afternoon wildlife safari, we played some ping pong at the hostels home-made cement ping pong table. The audience members would be pleased to hear that I was undefeated this morning (and yes, I did actually play Ben and Ty multiple times).
Our safari tour guide picked us up in the afternoon in a big ole jeep and we took another bumpy dirt road to a small town called Panama to have a traditionally cooked lunch in the home of the tour guide's friend. Dhal, eggplant, some green kale looking thing, fish curry, etc. We even ate with our hands! Right hand only though, as Ben and Ty learned. So delicious and super cool to have such a traditional meal experience.
Back in the jeep to head to a crocodile viewing spot. They were huge and neat to see up close-ish, but it was pretty scary especially knowing that a tourist had died the other day from a crocodile attack. Safe to say we kept our distance. Back in the jeep one more time and finally headed into Kumana national park. We saw an elephant along the side of the road before we even got into the park! He was a little startled when our jeep pulled up, but got used to us eventually and carried on with his bath. Cutie. In Kumana, we saw lots of buffalo, deer, more elephants, crocs, wild hogs, lots of birds. It's a really nice and large park. Always kept an eye out for leopards, but no luck. The park was about the close, but an elephant was blocking the road out! Our guide, Meru, got some leopard insight from another tour guide and quickly put the jeep into reverse and high-tailed it back into the park. Sure enough - a leopard! Just playing away like a little kitty. Soo pretty and had an amazing coat. We stayed as long as we could until it was absolutely critical that we leave or be stuck in the park overnight. Incredible.
Dinner and drinks at Hideaway - super neat and trendy bar area with tasty drinks and delicious food as well. I got the rosemary chicken which was delicious but took 3rd place in orders this evening, Ben placed second with the Hawaiian pork tenderloin, and Ty's prawn risotto was the overwhelming winner. There was a big Saturday night beach party at Mambo's tonight so we headed there for some overly strong long islands and dancing. A crazy local tried to teach me his hand dances, but they were too complex and intricate for me. Overall a really fun night! We stayed until about 2am, which was pretty good for us old folk in my opinion, but were told that the youths were still dancing and partying when the sunrise surfers went out.
As it turns out, we're too old to be staying out until 2am. We slept in real late then got some coffee and comfort food at Sun and Surf, per our coffee barista's recommendations. We posted up on beachside bed for the afternoon to read, listen to music, swim, etc. Very nice and relaxing. Spent the evening watching the Chelsea game at a bar and played pigs to see who got to pick our fish to grill and eat at Hakeem's for dinner. Ty won and picked a ginormous swimmer for the 3 of us to split - we think it was a trivelly? Given its huge size, it took awhile to cook but it was delicious! And we surprisingly at it all.
