Day 11:
The bus ride from Mirissa to Hikkaduwa was like the other. Always hoping you will not hit any other car, Tuk-Tuk or Scooter driver, since road since do not count. After a 1,5h bus ride we finally arrived in Hikkaduwa and went to our homestay. We are just a 5 min. walk away from the beach and have great hosts (Hannah and Amila, a British/Singhalese couple). Hannah’s mother is in Sri Lanka for visiting her daughter and welcomed us warmly. We were talking about travelling and she gave us nice tips where to go in our next countries. She started travelling after her kids grew up and it is fascinating to see on which places on earth you can go! J Knowing that we can leave our backpacks for 4 nights at the same place and not have to pack them again in the next morning we went straight to the beach. (Covered with Tshirt and Shorts, since we are still little sunburned from MirissaJ. Compared to Mirissa the beach in Hikkaduwa was not that crowded and so we had a nice time relaxing at the beach and watching the surfers. Back home we changed our clothes for dinner and went to a restaurant, called Harbour (Tip from Hannah’s mom). We had some good dinner and met some friends of Molin, who are staying as well in Sri Lanka for 3 weeks. It is always great meeting people from back home at the other end of the world. Before everybody went home we had a drink together with some others at the beach! Unfortunately we still struggle with our mosquito-stitches. We definitely have to come up with a better protection than our European mosquito spray! :D Therefore we ask our hosts what we can do or buy! She advised us to buy Soffer or Citronella (I smell like a lemon after using it). We hope it is working and we do not have to worry about our itches anymore.

Day12:
Today we had a really relaxing day! We enjoyed a Singhalese breakfast from our host mom (Dhal (lentils), fresh fruits, Singhalese bread, eggs). After that, we had a little rest at our apartment and went later to the beach, hanging out in a sunchair with a roof, because we are still a little bit sun-burned. It was nice seeing all the surfers lying in the line-up. In the afternoon we wanted to see the turtles, which we were told can be seen in the afternoon in the end of our beach. We walked up there but we could not see at least one. Then a guy told us they would be there in the mornings and a women, talking German asked us out of the blue if we want to change accommodations, since she has a really nice stay! After all, we went to a really nice typical Singhalese food shop with lot of locals and had fried rice for dinner, which was really good! For our evening drink we went again to habour, which had tonight good music and not like yesterday Eastern Europe Dance Music!:)

Day13:
This day was all about surfing. Our host Amila is a surf guide and so we went to Galle for a surf lesson. After a short introduction we went straight into the water with some big softboards. It was really great and I have to stay, learning by doing is still the best way! After our surf lesson we went to see Galle Fort, or how the Singhalese would say: Gohl. At the first sight it isn’t such a beautiful city but Galle has an old city centre (built by the Dutch, which might have been inspired by some small Spanish or Portuguese villages) surrounded by a big wall. Unfortunately it is very touristic and therefore the prices are really high. As we decided to visit Galle right after our surf, at lunchtime, it was crazy hot and we melt like two ice cubes in the small roads. We decided to head back to Hikkaduwa for a refreshing bath in the ocean and some cooling juices at the beach. The only challenge was the public bus, which was awfully full and the drivers didn’t want to stop at our station. Talking about the public buses in Sri Lanka, you have to say it is not easy to hop off at the right station, since the bus does not stop longer than 3 seconds and either you are off or not. They dropped us off at the main station of Hikkaduwa which is at the other end of the town so we had to walk back in the hot sun, melting, thirsty and super hungry. On the way home we made a stop at a small restaurant to get a fresh coke and a piece banana bread. Very tasty!
After the small break we decided to go to the beach and enjoy the sea breeze. We had the best passion fruit juice which is really refreshing during such hot days.
Amila had invited us to his home to cook some German food for him and his American friend, who is staying at one of their new apartments in the middle of the jungle. So we had a quick shower and got picked up by his driver. We had decided to cook a German Schnitzel and smashed potatoes, which is not that typical German as Maultaschen or Spätzle would be, but this would be really hard to cook here. Amila had bought everything we need and he had prepared some coconut roti dough and pumpkin curry. Molin was honoured to make the rotis, which are prepared on a banana leaf and then, flat as a pancake, baked in a pan.
Furthermore, Amila had bought some fresh tuna with sashimi quality and served it with soy sauce, lime and wasabi! Normally we would definitely not taste a raw fish in a hot country like Sri Lanka but on the one hand, we didn’t want to be impolite and on the other hand, we knew that at the coast, the fish is really fresh. We experienced it during our surf sessions, where some fishermen brought some new fish to the coast, to sell it directly at the market next to the beach.
All the spices Amila used, were growing in his garden AND luckily he had some Aloe Vera plants in the backyard, so Lisa and I could cool our sunburn with a fresh cut leaf.
We really enjoyed this local cooking session which was accompanied by a strong and refreshing rain.
After dinner, Amila and his friend went with us to Harbour, a beach bar where we’ve been the evenings before with Molins friends Katja and Kati.
We were really tired and took a Tuktuk home to have an Aloe Vera bath and then finally go to bed.
This day was probably one of the best days we had here in Sri Lanka.

Day14: Hikkaduwa
This was our last full day in Hikkaduwa and we really like staying here. After a delicious Singhalese breakfast, we decided to spend some time at the beach, after we tried to put all our stuff together, since we had to leave the other day. We took a nap at the beach and went home at about 2, since we thought our host would take us to Galle for surfing but instead we went having dinner at 4.40pmJ. For this we walked along the main road and were looking for some local food shops. Finally we found one and we had great dinner for just 400 Rupees (2,25€) in total for both of us. Molin tried Kottu with prawns. That’s roties cut in very small pieces with egg. We had a nice chat with a German woman about travelling in India and Sri Lanka. After this we went back to our place. On our way back, we stopped at our favourite restaurant harbour, because we wanted to say good bye to Peter. Suddenly a motorbike went hurtling towards Molin and the guy sitting on the motorbike ripped off Molin’s handbag. They went straight off and it was impossible to follow them. For luck, no passport or credit card was in the pocket. The locals around us, told us to go to the police. There we described what happened and to cheer us up, they gave us a king coconut. Our host somehow knew what happened and came to the police station. He as well wanted to cheer us up and so he invited us to stay one night at their apartments. They are a little more far away from the beach in the inland of Hikkaduwa, but beautiful located between cinnamon as wells as aloe vera trees. The apartments are just great! Open air shower, huge beds and a great breakfast from Amila in the morning.  It was just great to come down after what happened. Day 15: The next day we had to say good bye to Hikkaduwa. This was really sad, because we enjoyed it so much staying there. Unfortunately we had to leave at 3pm, because that’s when our train left straight to Colombo. But for sure, we could not leave without having a last drink at harbour! Passionfruit for Lisa and for sure Mango for Molin. The train ride was nice, but not really exciting. We were glad as we arrived in Colombo Fort, the train station of Colombo and could make a great deal with 4 other, who also had to go to the airport to share a cab.

Next stop: Bangkok…..