Sri Lanka
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First impressions of Sri Lanka after leaving India are very favourable; streets are cleaner and traffic is more predictable. It is much hotter than Kerala with high humidity and stronger sunlight (of course I lost my hat and sunglasses soon after we arrived). Everything is about 1.5 times more expensive, the quality of Western food at the resorts is not as high as we recently experienced in India, but hygiene is better (no more stomach pains). Like Kerala, coconut trees are everywhere but there is an additional level of tropical lushness exhibited by a wide variety of fauna and wildlife.
We arrived at Nor Lanka Hotel in Unawatuna after a four hour journey (with a brief stop at Bentota Resort) and immediately went to the beach just as the sun started to set. The beach here has been the best on our trip so far, with very clean, fine sand and clear water. Shade is somewhat difficult to find and the following morning we trekked to a cafe on the beach close by to reserve a couple of chairs under some trees, where we spent the day swimming and playing in the sand.
Next morning, Ethan and I rented a motorbike and visited Jungle Beach nearby, while Carmen and Toby went to the local swimming pool at the nearby resort. We trekked down a path from a monument called the Peace Pagoda and fifteen minutes later came across two dogs who started barking at us. Fortunately the owner appeared, a German married to a Sri Lankan lady, with a guest house called The White Villa. He told me he was usually the only person at the beach and after a quick swim there, he showed us a short cut through the jungle to get back. He warned us about centipedes and scorpions (that usually come out after rain), telling us that one day his wife put on a motorbike helmet with a centipede in it and had to go to hospital for a cortisone injection. We followed him back to the guest house and met his wife and four year old daughter. After a tour with some coke and biscuits, he gave us a ride on the back of his motorbike back to the Peace Pagoda. That evening, we took advantage of baby-sitting to have dinner at the Jetwing Lighthouse Hotel in Galle. Since we arrived late, the food wasn't so good, but the hotel grounds and pool were excellent, so we went back and spent the entire day there. Turns out it's one of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World, sort of a UNESCO World heritage site for hotels, with pleasing aesthetics in all directions.
We are now planning a trip to the hill country of Sri Lanka, particularly Unawera Ellia and possibly climbing the famous Adam's Peak.