Returning The Steed

Locals making a house boat

We started the day by wandering downstairs and enjoying a buffet breakfast. There was toast, scrambled egg, fruit, omelettes, Sri Lankan noddles, curries, cereal, tea, coffee and juices. It will be nice to have that for the next 6 days.

The next job was to return our trusty steed to Unawatuna, the final 30km. With next to no petrol (as we had picked it up like that) we were praying the whole way that we would make it. When we arrived we needed to get more Rupees to pay the man. He informed us that the closest ATM was 4km down the road, so back on the bike we got for another 8km of praying that we wouldn't run out of petrol. Luckily we didn't run out nor did the guy we rented the bike from hear the "strange noise" the bike was making. We did 1850km in 14 days on the little 125cc motorcycle. It only dropped out of gear half a dozen times and started making the "strange noise" in the last two days. I think that's a pretty good effort.

After dropping off our wheels it was back to public transport. We caught the bus back to Mirissa. It reminded us how happy we are to have had the bike. We couldn't have gone the places we did nor could we have done it in the time we did. The buses are so slow even with the crazy bus drivers. However, the bus rides are good for entertainment. In this short trip we saw a boy with a large fish in a plastic bag full of water, a man playing a wooden flute and asking for money, a gear stick that was over a meter long and plenty of crazy overtaking on hairy bends.

Locals playing beach cricket

Once back in Mirissa I laid down by the pool to commence my relaxation. As I did, two kids swam and I wondered briefly where their parents were. I watched to see they could both swim ok before letting myself relax. As I did so, I noticed one of the kids flailing a little by the edge. Initially I thought he was in trouble, then I thought he was pretending to be. By the time I thought to do anything he had reached the edge and pulled himself out. He sat there a while and still, I thought he was attention seeking as he looked around for his parents. When the manager of the resort came though, they spoke Sinhalese and he seemed concerned, walking the kid to sit down. A small crowd of staff gathered and they all looked over at me as if I had somehow caused the incident. I went over, made sure the kid was ok and, in a panic, claimed I had had my eyes closed until it was too late and he had made his way to safety. I questioned the manager as to where the kid's parents had been only for the manager to tell me he was the boy's father, that the boy can swim and that he had stepped away only for a minute. I was questioned as to whether I saw anything, as they trawled through video footage, and I wondered whether he was questioning why I didn't act, or whether his son was indeed attention seeking. Distressed, I went upstairs before again going down to apologise for not having kept an eye on his son. I found them both back in the water and told myself that this meant that surely, the child could not have been too distressed. I was probably the most worried out of everyone, kicking myself for not having jumped into the water rather than sitting to think.

Thankfully, nobody was hurt and whether the boy was actually in trouble or not remains a mystery. In future, I vow to jump in and pull the kid out whether I think they're pretending or not. Better to be safe than sorry.

We spent the afternoon walking, swimming, lazing, snacking, blogging and wifi-ing. And, because we hadn't had a good kottu since we were in Mirissa last, we headed back to our old haunt for a couple of big plates of the stuff as well as a banana and a chocolate roti. Mmmmmmm!

View from our balcony

Note: We have views of the ocean from our shower and toilet. If at all possible, I would like this feature designed into our house back home.

Tuk Tuk wisdom: "Don't let them change you."