Travel Talk

Goodbye Unawatuna, Sri Lanka?

It’s 7:40 in the morning in what feels like a monsoon. The rain is coming down so hard, it woke me up. I am leaving Unawatuna today and making my way to Negombo which is 20km from Colombo the capital city and where the airport is. From there will be flying to Dubai to Ethiopia to Tanzania. From there I will catch another flight to the base of Mt. Kilamonjaro.

I’ll be frank with you, Unawatuna is one of my favorite places on this planet. It’s basically got everything I wish for except a great timezone in sync with the stock exchange.  I have been staying at Sunil Guest House which is across from the Hot Rock cafe. I love this place. It’s $10uS a night with private bathroom and free wifi. The room is nice and spacious and the staff are friendly.

The food is great and the people are pleasant. It’s a series of small beaches bordering turquoise ocean. The town itself is very small, a series of a few roads but it has everything you need. The first few days the weather has been amazing, now the weather isn’t so great, good time to leave.

If peace remains the theme in Sri Lanka, I see the tourism industry growing substantially which will help raise the standard of living for most. Look at Thailand, where would it be without the ~1,000,000 tourists dropping cash in its borders at any time?

Sri Lanka has it all from beautiful beaches, safari and exotic wildlife, mountain ranges and delicious curry. Another great thing about this island is that it is not that big, you can go from hill country to beach in just one day if you hire a private mini-van.

Taking a tuk tuk to Galle. From there taking a train to Colombo Fort, from there a train to Negombo.  My flight leaves tomorrow at 1pm and I have a lovely 12 hour layover in the Dubai airport, hooray. Not ready to leave but it is time.

Hopefully I’ll visit again but if not, its been fun. We’ll see if there is internet at my next guest house. If not, talk to you from Dubai or Tanzania!

Thanks Sri Lanka.

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