10th to 14th August - Arugam Bay
For several days now we've had a simple mixture of relaxing on bean bags, swimming in clear blue open sea, eating amazing food and socialising with the huge amount of people in our dorm. There's always a party every night here which keeps Ben and Dan happy, i've been attending the odd one but i'm normally happy to head out photographing or grab an early night. We rented mopeds again the other day and heading much further inland than we had done previously, four bikes with five people, it was actually incredibly fun! We got to see some views we'd never actually see, a beautiful backdrop of hills and mountains whilst every local we drive past waves and smiles, its a great feeling to speak and sit around with locals and nobody is after anything from you, people actually just want to chat. I felt like we rarely got that in India so i'm so happy to have decided that Sri Lanka would be a good destination to travel across. Once again, somehow, Dan got a puncture on the moped and we came to a stop in the middle of nowhere just before sunset, after a good 15 minutes we were in luck as a armed guard pulled over to check what was going on, one call and he had organised someone to come and collect the bike. With a quick warning that elephants kill people in the area we had broken down, he jumped back on his bike and left us to it.. Great to know, thanks. Not long after a jeep with several people arrived and picked the moped up and straight into the back, we followed to a small shack at the side of the road where a guy was attempting to fix the puncture, after a long wait and genuine effort put in by this guy he had bodge jobbed the inner tube enough that it worked! For over an hours work including pick up he charged a total of 200 Sri Lankan Rupees, exactly £1! Can't complain at competitive prices over here. Driving in the dark was interested, with me leading it was a further 30km back home and only my main beam lights worked, so every time i went past another car i was driving blind! I'm simply glad there was no elephants on the road this time.
Swimming has been great here, we've been hit by some huge waves over the last few days so its been fun to tackle the sea. I'm slowly but surely getting over my fear of deep water, then again, its not necessarily the water i'm bothered about, more whats in the deep water.. Sharks etc. Our friend here Nik has shown us some burns on his forearm was jelly fish stings, thats another thing i'm eagerly trying to dodge! Last night was one of the best for getting out and photographing the stars, i took along Lenard who is keen to learn photography so sharing a single tripod we walked across the beach towards the end of town where there was very little light. When looking up it was absolutely amazing, no amount of photographs can show what we could see, the milky way arched across the sky from left to right and filled the sky, i'm sure it was one of the best views i've had. Set up and we start photographing anything and everything when some time in, one of the new arrivals Steve walked over, god knows how he found us, apparently he'd been walking for ages just taking in the stars. With it being the meteor shower the sky was lit up with them. He showed us that when walking on the wet sand it lit up blue! It was the phosphorus! I've honestly always wanted to see that with my own eyes, it looks as it we were surrounded by stars above and below us. With Lenard all taught up about astrophotography that was our line into learning surfing, hopefully we will finally get out there on a board in the next few days. Today, once more i've planned to do absolutely nothing but relax and swim but i'm going to get organising a trip to Yala national park to see both leopards and elephants naturally, in a few more days we will be heading into the mountain ranges of Sri Lanka, i'm really excited to get hiking and shooting some landscape photography!
As an added note, i've come back to the laptop to get this posted and just a few hours ago when me, Steve and Dan were swimming we heard some guy from behind us start screaming help and splashing around in the water. Turns out this poor guy went under water and got caught by seaweed, when he finally got back up he panicked and started basically drowning! I swam over and grabbed this Sri Lankan guy, double the size of me and started dragging him back to shore, nobody seemed to help, i think most thought he was joking or something similar. As he's almost back to shore Steve comes and gives a hand as i'm struggling keeping this guy over the water line. The guy was glad to be back on land and really thankful but jesus christ, i don't even like open water as mentioned above, least i'm further over my fear now!
For several days now we've had a simple mixture of relaxing on bean bags, swimming in clear blue open sea, eating amazing food and socialising with the huge amount of people in our dorm. There's always a party every night here which keeps Ben and Dan happy, i've been attending the odd one but i'm normally happy to head out photographing or grab an early night. We rented mopeds again the other day and heading much further inland than we had done previously, four bikes with five people, it was actually incredibly fun! We got to see some views we'd never actually see, a beautiful backdrop of hills and mountains whilst every local we drive past waves and smiles, its a great feeling to speak and sit around with locals and nobody is after anything from you, people actually just want to chat. I felt like we rarely got that in India so i'm so happy to have decided that Sri Lanka would be a good destination to travel across. Once again, somehow, Dan got a puncture on the moped and we came to a stop in the middle of nowhere just before sunset, after a good 15 minutes we were in luck as a armed guard pulled over to check what was going on, one call and he had organised someone to come and collect the bike. With a quick warning that elephants kill people in the area we had broken down, he jumped back on his bike and left us to it.. Great to know, thanks. Not long after a jeep with several people arrived and picked the moped up and straight into the back, we followed to a small shack at the side of the road where a guy was attempting to fix the puncture, after a long wait and genuine effort put in by this guy he had bodge jobbed the inner tube enough that it worked! For over an hours work including pick up he charged a total of 200 Sri Lankan Rupees, exactly £1! Can't complain at competitive prices over here. Driving in the dark was interested, with me leading it was a further 30km back home and only my main beam lights worked, so every time i went past another car i was driving blind! I'm simply glad there was no elephants on the road this time.
Swimming has been great here, we've been hit by some huge waves over the last few days so its been fun to tackle the sea. I'm slowly but surely getting over my fear of deep water, then again, its not necessarily the water i'm bothered about, more whats in the deep water.. Sharks etc. Our friend here Nik has shown us some burns on his forearm was jelly fish stings, thats another thing i'm eagerly trying to dodge! Last night was one of the best for getting out and photographing the stars, i took along Lenard who is keen to learn photography so sharing a single tripod we walked across the beach towards the end of town where there was very little light. When looking up it was absolutely amazing, no amount of photographs can show what we could see, the milky way arched across the sky from left to right and filled the sky, i'm sure it was one of the best views i've had. Set up and we start photographing anything and everything when some time in, one of the new arrivals Steve walked over, god knows how he found us, apparently he'd been walking for ages just taking in the stars. With it being the meteor shower the sky was lit up with them. He showed us that when walking on the wet sand it lit up blue! It was the phosphorus! I've honestly always wanted to see that with my own eyes, it looks as it we were surrounded by stars above and below us. With Lenard all taught up about astrophotography that was our line into learning surfing, hopefully we will finally get out there on a board in the next few days. Today, once more i've planned to do absolutely nothing but relax and swim but i'm going to get organising a trip to Yala national park to see both leopards and elephants naturally, in a few more days we will be heading into the mountain ranges of Sri Lanka, i'm really excited to get hiking and shooting some landscape photography!
As an added note, i've come back to the laptop to get this posted and just a few hours ago when me, Steve and Dan were swimming we heard some guy from behind us start screaming help and splashing around in the water. Turns out this poor guy went under water and got caught by seaweed, when he finally got back up he panicked and started basically drowning! I swam over and grabbed this Sri Lankan guy, double the size of me and started dragging him back to shore, nobody seemed to help, i think most thought he was joking or something similar. As he's almost back to shore Steve comes and gives a hand as i'm struggling keeping this guy over the water line. The guy was glad to be back on land and really thankful but jesus christ, i don't even like open water as mentioned above, least i'm further over my fear now!
Going for a quick swim in the warmest water ever
This is how happy i'm actually in a photograph for once ^
Ben looking smug on his moped
The gang having a five minute breather, did a total of 220km that day!
I never look impressed in photographs...
One of the mountains on our travels
On the road
Little houses scattered across the country side
My off road, speed machine
Dans second flat tyre
The cheapest mechanic i've ever known
Drinking games at the YMCA hostel
Milky way tail over the sand dunes
Silhouetted tree with the milky way
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