Where in the World is Claude Amarasinghe?

Unawatuna

After a terrible sleep, we woke to the sound of a radio being tuned in. We assumed they were trying very hard to find a channel broadcasting the Boxing Day Test but unfortunately only found Sri Lankan music at 6am.

After brekky and packing up our things, we boarded a local bus. It got us to Weligama. So we boarded another one which got us all the way to Unawatuna. All up 116 LKR for the both of us. We figure we were overcharged but when it cost us 88 Aussie cents, we can't really complain.

After checking in at our guesthouse, Sea Breeze, we began the hunt for Claude Amarasinghe, who Pete lived with in Unawatuna in 1978. After an elderly local man approached us we asked him if he knew Claude. He explained that Claude no longer lived in Unawatuna and was like Batman in that nobody ever really saw him. He took us to Amma's Guesthouse which is apparently run by Claude's family. The owner was unimpressed and wanted nothing to do with us. He claimed he had no idea what we, or the elderly man, were talking about despite our pestering. Next stop...tourist information.

Suni was extremely helpful. He rang his mother because "she knows everything" and got us the contact details for Claude's nephew. He also explained that the guy at Amma's Guesthouse was part of the same family but was 'strange.' We set off to find Mr Sahabandu (the nephew) who owns Rock View. Little did Suni know, Rock View had been demolished and was now a construction site. A friendly Tuk Tuk driver showed us into the site. Mr Sahabandu was rebuilding and was extremely helpful. He rang one of Claude's daughters and put us in a Tuk Tuk, driven by one of his staff, to take us to her property...she too was building a guesthouse. Next thing we knew, I was on the phone to Claude himself and he had invited us to see him in Baddegama on the 29th, "when the house will be clean." Back at Mr Sahabandu's place, we all sat together and realised that Claude's daughter did infact know of the Westerners who stayed with her father and built the Coconut Cabanas in the 70s, despite not having been born herself until 1982.

Claude still owns what seems to be the majority of beachfront land in Unawatuna and his family members are thriving off this fact, building restaurants and guesthouses to cater for the masses of tourists. With the map drawn for us by Mr Sahabandu and best wishes from Claude's daughter we will be heading to Baddegama with Arak in hand in a few days.

Our path to our jungle beach

We decided to take a shortcut back to Sea Breeze following the advice of an official looking sign. As we waded through ankle deep water which covered the path, I questioned whether we were going the right way. Chris responded nonchalantly with "there are fish on this track." We forged ahead and made it eventually.

What a morning! We rewarded ourselves with dahl and devilled fish at a local establishment, with a ginger beer to wash it down, and tried our best to avoid the throngs of Europeans that rolled around like lobsters on the overcrowded beach. We were exhausted. But that never stopped us before, so we set off once again.

We made it to the Buddhist Temple at the far Western end of the beach, took in the sight of some drunk local guys dancing in the sun to the beat of their own drum, literally. Next we went bush in search of Jungle Beach. The number Tuk Tuk drivers offering to take you there made us think it would be easy to find. And maybe it would have been if we stuck to the main road. We didn't. And it was so worth it.

Our path to our jungle beach

We trekked through jungle, across streams, over rocks and under trees and found our very own Jungle Beach. This place was not in any guidebook and, considering the path to get there, for good reason.

Our very own Jungle Beach

The real Jungle Beach

We did eventually find the real jungle beach where we swam to relieve our sweaty brows, and backs, and arms. We and sweat coming from places we didn't even know could sweat. After a refreshing dip though we were back to it.

 

Peace Pagoda, Unawatuna

We visited the Peace Pagoda and some big Buddhist shrine where a monk wrapped white cotton around our wrists and put herbal oil on my head...all for a fee of course. To find our way home, we followed the directions of numerous locals who led us through no man's land and back again. Let's just say we got to see the real Sri Lanka and made it back to Unawatuna in one piece. After a stroll down the beach to get home, Chris' high-tech watch (which I have finally admitted was a useful purchase) told us that we had clocked up 18 kilometres of walking.

I think we're finding it difficult to really enjoy the natural beauty of Unawatuna, knowing how different it is now to when Pete was here. It really must have been paradise back then. However, you've got to respect that the people are rebuilding after the tsunami took their everything, even if they are building right on the darn high tide mark.

As a side note...the Fur Elise playing Tuk Tuk seems to have followed us from Mirissa. Looks like it'll be stuck in my head for another three days. Goody.

Unawatuna