Savage to Sri Lanka. Dummies' Manual (episode 2)
Arrived in Hikkaduwa. Unloaded things. I stand, I wait, in the hope that it is almost impossible to get lost in this part of Sri Lanka. And the buses run every half minute. So far, she took out a printout of the hotel reservation from her suitcase and began to examine the numbers on the houses. On the side closest to the ocean, the numbers were even. And the number of our villa is odd, although it was marked on the map from that side. Strange!
They came, finally two for. lance. Shampoo, you see, was stale. Leaving them to guard things, I went to look for the address. Near the local barber's shop, she pestered a local guy with a question where it was, poking him with a printout with the address. He took my bag and entered the room. I follow him. He showed the address to the hairdresser who had abandoned the client. Then they connected the client, sitting under a sheet strewn with freshly cut hair. Potryndev a little, gave me an escort, who led me somewhere around the corner.
There was some kind of shop where my paperwork was shown to some other man, who finally guessed to call the number indicated in the armor. After chatting with someone on the phone, the guy went back to the hairdresser, where he told me to sit. A couple of minutes later, a boy of office appearance drove up in a passenger car. After heartily thanking the entire barbershop, I went to load things and companions.
The villa, where we were soon brought, turned out to be a squat one-story building, standing not exactly on the first line... No, there were no buildings in front of it, only the road and immediately a strip of beach and the ocean. If you stand with your back to the "villa", then immediately to the left is the Hikka trans hotel (formerly Chaiya), and to the right is the cheerful Dolphin restaurant in a radical purple color. The location is generally good. But in front of the fence, a foundation pit was dug, in some places filled with concrete. No builders, however, were observed. Bye…
view from our fence
The "butler" came out with a tray with three glasses. . . no, not with champagne! With papaya juice. Showed us our room, hall and kitchen. In principle, everything is not so bad. Plumbing is new, black. The bed and towels, on the contrary, are white, but also new. There is a stove in the kitchen and even with gas. In the hall there is a sofa, an armchair, a refrigerator and a plasma TV. At first glance, everything, in general, is very good.
Booking's price list was $176 for 8 nights. I give the manager 200. And then he starts rubbing something on me. Since my English has not improved since last year, I intuitively understand that he wants something. And it's easy to guess what. I'm trying to figure out why, exactly? Like because we have a king size bed. And what? It's listed in the price!
In short, last year's story with a divorce for grandmothers for a mattress for Verka was repeated, almost a tyutelka in a tyutelka. Only this time we didn’t have Sasha’s guide, who would have sorted out all our misunderstandings! Mom said, learn English!
I'm insanely tired. She pushed Verka forward, explaining to her the essence of the problem. Verka explained to him in Russian, loudly and in syllables, that everything is included with us! He seemed to understand, but still stood his ground. In short, I say, how much do you want? Total? After conferring with the majordomo (apparently, how much you can put shoes on us), the office plankton begins to calculate something on a piece of paper, and, as a result, he first came out with 280 kopecks, it was crossed out and 230 was written again. Verka wrote 200 below and circled. He tried to object, but to no avail. Reinforced concrete Vera insisted on her own! Well, at least it's of some use!
Leaving us to the housekeeper, the manager drove away. They started taking things apart.
Only now there was absolutely nowhere to hang them! There was only a drying rack. Quite small. And a couple of chairs. Having taken out a printout with a list of promised bells and whistles, they revealed a whole bunch of shortages. Somehow: mosquito net, barbecue accessories, clothes hanger, bottle of water, toothbrush, shampoo, shower cap, adapter, hair dryer, iron, trouser press. Of all the above, the only thing I really needed was a mosquito net and maybe some BBQ supplies as we were going to cook fish. But the servant said there was no barbecue. Perhaps it will be next year. Why write if there is none? And the mention of wine / champagne is just laughter! The safe was a lockable desk. Yeah! So go to unverified places! Okay, we'll survive the lack of a trouser press somehow.
What about breakfast? I wanted to eat incredibly. And breakfast will be tomorrow!
Ohohohonyushki! Let's go look for a cafe. We did not go to the coastal ones, knowing from experience that it is more expensive there. We chose some, opposite the Lanka Supercoralls hotel, in which we rested on our last visit to the miracle island. We sat on the second floor overlooking the street. From hunger we ordered so much that we could not eat everything. We were wrapped up.
Let's go to the supermarket. We didn't find anything interesting there. We bought aloe vera gel in case of burns, a tiny tube of toothpaste with cloves, and a tiny bottle of avocado shampoo. And also masala tea in bags for myself and ground coffee for Verka. We did not buy beer, remembering that it is warm there. We bought it in a shop near our villa. I read that in addition to the rise in price of rum, they also began to sell beer, to whom how much they like. But it seems that someone bought 200 in Hikkaduwa a few months ago. No matter how! She gave the sellers, of whom there were at least three, 600 rupees for three bottles - not enough, they say!
It turned out that it costs as much as 280! Kapets! We found the price on the bottle - 230. I poke my finger into it. If I understood their indistinct gurgling correctly, this is an extra charge for the fact that the beer is COLD!
We sat on the beach under palm trees, drank beer and went home to take a nap. After a couple of hours of rest, they finally gathered to swim. Let's go to the turtles. In the lagoon, the water was insanely muddy and dirty. Swamp swamp. In a puddle with turtles crowded with a dozen onlookers. Maybe that's why, or maybe just for the second time it was not interesting, and we indifferently passed by to plunge into the depths, glancing at the turtle's back. Verka also showed no particular curiosity. She's generally kind of inquisitive and uninquisitive.
It was overcast. Having changed at home, we went to look for a fruit stand for dinner. It was getting dark. The sun went behind the clouds long before 18:00. And where is the beautiful Sri Lankan sunset? And no! Pichalka. I want to Goaaaa!
It's raining.
It's good that there was a rather wide shed around the house, under which we sat, enjoying a whiskey with fruit.
Wandering back and forth, the supply manager said: “OOO, whiskey! ". The hint was rather thick, but had no effect. Muzzle will not crack with pleasure? After the morning trading, he did not cause sympathy in me.
I slept without my hind legs that night. And no wonder.
At 7 am, as I requested, we were served breakfast. Not in bed, on the veranda. Through the efforts of the housekeeper-guard-cleaner, and in combination, a waiter and a cook. When I asked him his name, he introduced himself. But we could not even pronounce this set of sounds. Accordingly, and forgot in a minute. Breakfast consisted of teabags, sliced fruit, and a couple of toasts with butter and jam. There wasn't even an egg. You won't get burned. But, basically, I had enough.
I decided to go to Unawatuna today to find the mysterious Jungle Beach. By bus. And better without a change in Halle. So we went to the bus station and tried to get on the Colombo-Matara bus. Aha! Right now! It was half past seven. The bus was packed and took only schoolchildren. I had to take the Hikkaduwa-Galle bus and change there. Well, if that's the case, then we'll show Verka the fort. And for starters, a couple of Shiva temples - one white, one painted.
We wandered around the fort.
It was hot. We need to move to the beach. Having reached Unawatuna, they did not undress on the local beach, because I thought that the path to the scourge lay through a Buddhist monastery on the mountain.
Therefore, without stopping, we proceeded to the foot of the hill, where we decided to sit down in a cafe and have a drink. Ordered two mango and one pineapple. 250 each. We sit and wait. The waiter came and said that there was no pineapple. Okay, bring three mangoes! Gone. I wanted to surf the internet. I asked the waiter who came again for the password from the Wi-Fi. He said there was no wifi. And no juice either! Yes, what is it? We got up and moved on. After walking five meters, we saw a stand with a menu near the next cafe. There, fresh juices were already listed at 170. It’s good that there was no juice in the previous cafe! We drank here. True, they also did not have Wi-Fi, for some reason.
We climbed the hillock. We walked around the stupa, took a picture and moved on.
But the road, which, according to my ideas, should have led to the beach, ended in nowhere! Whoa, damn it! I went to ask the monk for directions.
He said that we need to go back to the foot and go further along the road. Come down, let's go. We met a Russian-speaking family with two children. They asked if we were on the right track. They said it was right, but to go for half an hour. Looking doubtfully at our shoes, they said that there were stones and we would not be able to pass! Ha! Yes, we wrapped a good mileage in the mountains in flip flops in the Crimea! Funny!
The road turned into the village. I didn't see any pointers. I had to ask the locals again. Having risen a little, we saw yellow coconuts for 100 rupees in one yard. On the beach of Hikkaduwa, coconuts allegedly cost 150. You could even find 200 if you tried. Even further up the road, they already cost 50. Therefore, I could not pass by.
Then the road turned into a path in the middle of the jungle.
In one place it was crossed by a stream, which had to be overcome barefoot.
I bought two pieces fried in breading, I don’t know what, and a triangular pie. Both were spicy. Verka could only eat the dough from the triangle. And we really liked it. I asked the owner, what was it? The first is a roll with an egg, and the second I forgot the name.
It cost 50 rupees apiece. Delicious, cheap.
We arrived at Halle and went to a supermarket near the bus station. Nadin65 gave me invaluable information that you can buy shrimp there. While you won’t find them in the market during the day with fire. The shrimp did indeed exist. 1400 per kilo. Bought a pound. As well as fruit, which turned out to be cheaper here than in the Hikkaduwa market. And also fermented milk product kerd (allegedly, this is how it is read). In India, they also say they have it, but we never tried it. We didn't see it because we didn't look for it.
Leaving Vadik to boil the shrimp, I rushed like a wild boar to the beer stall, not forgetting to grab yesterday's bottles. Therefore, the beer cost me 250.
By the way, it was a pleasant surprise for us to find out that garbage is taken out at Sh-L, and even... sorted! Despite the fact that plastic bags have not yet been banned there and are given out for free in any store separately for each product, these same bags do not develop, like flags on roadside trees, like ours, for example. And nowhere have I seen mountains made of plastic bottles. Nicely!
And there was no sunset again today. Moreover, such a thunderstorm began! It rumbled so much that I wanted to crawl under the bed. Perelyak was treated with pouring (sorry, pouring).
I didn't sleep well that night. Our bed with Vadik was really king size, but this did not save us from Verka's snoring and mosquitoes. The conder was blowing straight at me, we could not change the direction of the flow. I had to turn it off.
It's hot under the sheets. Open up - you will be bitten. The fan rumbles. There is no happiness in life ...
