beach holiday

It’s another day at the office. Hours of staring at a computer screen with short breaks for lunch and sickeningly sweet tea. Sri Lankans seem to have a huge sweet tooth and I really hope they don’t go the way of India with the diabetes explosion and obesity in cities. Bakeries are very prevalent and so are western-style desserts. Every meal is followed by a tasty, but super sweet, dessert like chocolate mousse or cheesecake. I know that I am sliding down a slippery slope but it’s so hard to resist all of the various forms of pastries they have in this country. I can eat a fish pastry for lunch followed by a jam pastry for dessert. Yum!

This weekend was also a weekend of deliciousness for me. I went with a few friends and many acquaintances to a place called Unawatuna. It’s a beach town 2 hours South of Colombo close to the Southern tip of Sri Lanka. It was a pretty interesting drive down as the people I went with decided that to beat the traffic we should leave at 6 am. Of course rather than have to suffer the inconvenience of waking up early it was better that we stay out all night and then leave.

So, on Friday night I went out for expat happy hour, followed by a visit to a club called R&B where there was a live band, followed by Onyx, the club at the Taj, Colombo’s equivalent of Insomnia. Onyx was great and interestingly enough there was actually enough room to dance around. Sri Lankans have really good taste in music so it was lots of fun. I, being a dork, got sleepy at 4 and had to work hard at hanging on until 6 when I promptly fell asleep in the car all the way to Unawatuna.

The few times that my eyes opened I was surprised to see that many of the homes along the coast were totally trashed. This was all tsunami damage. It was really shocking to see the extent of the damage and this is years later. The damage was so extensive that the government hasn’t had the time or money to clean everything up yet so things are just left as is and people have built new buildings elsewhere.

The beach was lovely though and it had a bit of a Goa vibe with small hotels and guesthouses on the beach. It was nice to see a lack of giant resort hotels. We stayed at a smallish resort with nice rooms and meals provided. Access to a buffet was exactly what I have been needing so I got to try all the Sri Lankan food like hoppers and dal curry that I was wondering about. So spicy, yet so good.

All in all it was a good trip. I didn’t do much but it’s the first time since arriving in Sri Lanka that I have been able to relax. I didn’t have to worry about work or where I am living or what I am eating and I could just enjoy the satisfaction in existence that comes in doing nothing and floating in the sea.