Sri Lanka - a place where you want to return
Rested in January at the resort of Hikkaduwa. At Chaaya Tranz Hikkaduwa. Highly recommend both the resort and the hotel. The resort is full of various establishments. If you take only breakfast at the hotel (which we did), you can spend your time quite varied. We went for lunch and dinner at various places. I would especially like to note the establishments: Moonlight (opposite the Chayya Tranz hotel) - tasty, inexpensive, good service; The Den - a bar near the ocean (walk along the coast or down the street towards Galle), good food, insanely delicious cocktails and you can smoke a hookah, overlooking the ocean; Tigri - on the shore on the other side of the hotel, delicious, comfortable, Russian-speaking waiter. Not far from the hotel there is a good place RottiSpot - there you can taste local Rotti cakes with various fillings. Inexpensive and satisfying. If you go further towards Galle, you can find several beach discos. Near the hotel there is a lagoon and a coral reef. You can swim in the lagoon at any time (even when there were strong waves - it was calm in the lagoon). You can feed turtles near the reef. Locals sell seaweed for feeding. We ourselves vomited from the left of the hotel and came to feed the turtles. Feed carefully, because they can bite. One bit me in the leg. Not very painful, but unpleasant. Therefore, those who rest with children - be especially careful. Near the reef you can swim with masks. There you can see corals, fish, moray eels, the same turtles. You also need to swim carefully, the currents there are very strong. In general, ocean is not the sea. We have seen more than once that rescuers took away people who could not get to the shore on their own. There are strong currents there. We went on several excursions. 1. In Kandy - a varied excursion during which you visit the elephant orphanage, spice gardens, tea factory, Temple of the Tooth Relic, Koral Botanical Garden. All "gallop across Europe", but interesting and colorful. 2. Excursion with a local scourge - to the Laguna. I liked it very much. We went with him on a tuk-tuk, which added color. during the tour we visited the tsunami museum (photos there are not for the faint of heart), rode a boat on the lagoon (during which we managed to peel the legs with fish, look at the production of cinnamon, hold a small crocodile in our arms, walk around the local temple), stop by a turtle farm (not impressed at all), and on the way back to the moonstone mine (but this is more likely not an excursion, but a scam to buy jewelry). 3. We went to the Galle fort on our own. The tour from the agency cost $50 per person. We took a local bus and spent $1.50 on the road. Near Galle, locals say: a) "that the port is closed, and let's go, I'll show you what is there in the area" - do not believe it, the port is a city, it is always open; b) "that it is difficult to get around it on foot and it takes 5 hours, but let me take you by tuk tuk" - you can really walk there for a long time, but that's the charm. We walked there for about 4 hours. During this time, we walked along the streets and through the ruins, went into Catholic churches, even had time to freshen up in the ocean, and go to the archaeological museum. Walking there on foot is much more interesting. . We also wanted to go on an excursion to the Yalu Reserve, but there was not enough time. In general, I really enjoyed my stay in Hikkaduwa. There are places to walk, places to go on excursions. Beautiful nature (however, as elsewhere in Sri Lanka). Be sure to ride a tuk-tuk, and a local bus (for flavor : ), be sure to go to the market for fruits, and taste the local rum with a pleasant vanilla smell, and of course shrimp, crabs, lobsters - the must. Sri Lanka is a wonderful nature, always a warm ocean, little animals : ) (chipmunks, lizards, turtles, monkeys, elephants), abundant fruits, smiling Lakians. What to watch out for: strong currents, turtles that swim up behind : ), and mosquitoes that gnaw not for life, but for death, and "divorce" from the locals. In any case, the positives far outweigh the small flaws. Therefore, I highly recommend! And we will definitely return to Sri Lanka.
