The pig swore
You could, of course, call it more cultural. For example, "Never say never. " But where am I and where is the culture.
A year ago, I swore and swore that there was no more foot in Sri Lanka. But tickets to Goa were still significantly more expensive, almost half, which does not fit in my head. And a visa too. Here and consider - 10000 UAH. savings on tickets plus $ 130 savings on visas. In this situation, I am ready to love Sri Lanka with all my heart and other organs.
Last time I jokingly titled my story A Handbook for Dummies. Some took it literally and criticized it to the core. This year, I corrected myself and did not call my writing "Manual-2", because I would not like someone to suffer, deciding on an adventure like ours. Namely - this time I decided to abandon not only the services of maintenance and maintenance, but also to abandon the insurance companies, and even booking.
Relying on the will of the Almighty, on Friday, running away from work an hour earlier, we went to the station. This time there were only two of us. Verka could not go, even if I asked her to.
Going into our compartment, we immediately realized that the holiday had begun. It smelled of such a powerful perfume that for a second it seemed as if we were already duty free. The neighbor smelled not childish.
The train has moved. Our fellow traveler fell asleep, and we began to celebrate the beginning of the holiday.
At night I felt a wild headache, which never passed in the morning. Vadik woke up and complained to me about the same trouble. I guessed it was from the neighbor's spirits. You can't have a headache from cognac, can you? At least not with us. But our fellow traveler did not have a headache. The mystery of nature!
Traditionally, right from the train we went to Puzatu hut. It was half past seven, but she was, as usual, already packed.
There was time before departure, at least spare, and I decided to save a little more and not go to Borispol by skybus. We flew without luggage, but with only two backpacks: Vadik's big one and my small one. So we took the subway to Kharkivskaya station, where, as a Kyiv resident cgistalker told me, a bus should go to the airport. And he really was there. Only the ticket cost as much as 60 hryvnias! And I naively thought that the hryvnia 15. Maybe it was also skybas. I did not deal with this issue. However, we still saved 32 hryvnias.
In Borispol, our good acquaintances, my mother and daughter, were met at the check-in quite unexpectedly. They turned out to be flying to Goa for Ayurveda. For 3 weeks. Ayurveda, of course, is good. Diet, enemas. 3 weeks. No sea. Only fresh water. Well well!
After registration, Vadik and I went to heal our heads. Took draft beer for 60 UAH. for a glass.
Just enough money saved on travel for one. Lviv "White Lion". God, what a mess! However, he lowered his head. We went through customs. A bottle of water passed calmly in my backpack. Gladly, grabbing the bag, she went to passport control. My aunt in the booth just stunned me with her question, why didn't I take a direct flight to Colombo and fly through Sharjah? The first thing that came to my mind was to grimace and ask her a counter-question: “With UIA ??? ? ? ». And then I remembered that their departure time was extremely inconvenient for me. Yes, what exactly is her business? Of course, I was already indignant about myself.
Gone. He sat down near the dutik. And the soul demands the continuation of the banquet! Let's have another beer? Come on! Stop! And where is the purse with money? And no! Passports, tickets are, but not! Kapeeeets! Run back to the border guards. I forgot, I say, everything that was gained by hard work. It turns out that I not only forgot my wallet there, but also my jacket.
Uncle in cellophane gloves asked, how did I get to such a life? I said the beer was to blame. And he told me - "Beer-beer-vodka? "No, I say, vodka hasn't even reached yet. And how do you prove that this is your thing? It's good that I had a name card there. They gave. Nothing is missing. So beer, as I suspected before, is not only harmful, but also useful. If I didn't want a beer, we would have left without a purse. How do you like the holiday option? Lesya and Regina had never seen such a thing in a nightmare.
We drank beer, after all. In this zone it cost already 100 UAH. for a glass. But at least it was more pleasant than the White Lion. It seems like even "Krushovice". Although, I remember, it should be much tastier.
On the plane I went to chat with friends. They were preparing for Ayurveda, warming up with tequila.
Then we met at Sharjah Airport. We had a very short dock. Acquaintances have the same gate, but later.
The dot, who had returned from the smoking room, asked for the third time, "Where are we flying to? " Putting on her vest to keep the men in the smoking room from staring at her chest, she went back. And we went in a long queue for inspection. To the credit of the airport staff, it must be said that they acted clearly and coherently. Shouting "Colombo, Colombo", they selected the passengers of our flight and spent without queuing.
We had one seat on the Sharjah-Colombo plane, and of course I took advantage of it. I can't say for sure if I slept but fell.
No problem, after receiving the visa on arrival, permission for which I received at home for 35 bucks, we went to change dollars. I decided that 500 for two should be enough for us. They gave banknotes of 5 and 1 thousand rupees. I asked to exchange one smaller piece. We swam, we know how they don't like to hand over the bus conductor.
After changing our pants for shorts in the toilet, we went out into the damp, warm darkness. We changed into slaps back in Borispol, and took off our sweaters there. After crossing the road, we came to the bus stop. In my opinion, it was 5 am. There was a commercial bus to Colombo for 300 rupees, which was about to set sail. We refused the offer to get on it, because I know that at half past five there will be a state bus for 130. We sat on a bench. The local people rummage here and there. He sits down on the bench, leaves, returns. With small children. Where? Why?
The next bus arrived at the place of the departed one. And again commercial. And already half past five. And where is the state? And no! The people slowly began to fill the bass. We had no choice but to follow their example. In order not to put things next to the driver, as is customary here, we sat at the very end of the bus and took things with us.
When there were no seats left, the conductor began to place people in the folding seats in the aisle. And then I noticed the glowing electronic clock above the driver's seat. They showed 5.20. How so? I thought it was ten past six. Damn! I forgot that the time difference is not 4 hours, but 4.5. And here comes the big state bus, which we rode last year. But there was no way to escape. The entire aisle was clogged with passengers. The state began to signal furiously that the commerce should be fired. And we set sail.
It was still quite dark. In the window of the bus we saw a movement - a demonstration of women in white robes with some Irish flags. And people do not sleep!
When we arrived at Colombo bus station, it was already dawn. We looked for a bus to Unawatuna. We were pointed to some. Colombo-Kataragama.
I had no idea where this Kataragama was, but I had no reason not to trust the man. Sit down, let's go. The conductor approached. I call him Unawatuna. He nods and hands me tickets from the box office. I stared at the price. Jump-jump? 256 rupees from the nose! However! Last year we reached 130, though only to Hikkaduwa, but, according to my calculations, it could not be more expensive than 200. But you can't argue with the cash register. Having given the money, she began to study the tickets more carefully. And I seem to understand the trick. This zhuchara has flattered us in a way that no one has flattered us before. He gave us tickets not to Unawatuna, but to the final one, Kataragama. As I later learned, this very Kataragama is fig knows where. Further Matara, and even further Velavaya. Somewhere deep in the island. And we carefully prepared before the trip. Sunbathed up to the Shrouds to come as white (sorry, black) people.
I was about to leave, but decided to ask just in case, whether there are free rooms here, and whether there is a kitchen. Yes, everything was. But expensive - 4000. I promised to return, if anything.
But we didn't come back - we found what we were looking for.
The dearest host showed us a choice of several rooms. But for some reason all at one price. On the ground floor with air conditioning for 2.5 thousand, on the second without Conder, but with a balcony at the same price, on the third floor - without Conder and balcony, but with kitchen. If you connect the gas, it will also be 2.5. The other rooms had the opportunity to use a shared kitchen and refrigerator on the ground floor. However, refrigerators were on each floor, but, apparently, the load of the villa was low, and the owner has not yet included them. And the last room we chose was also on the third floor.
It was without a balcony, without a kitchen, without a condor, but with a long common balcony, which was in our exclusive use. And the owner gave it to us for only 1.700 rupees. That is, for 10 bucks. However, he asked not to tell the other residents about it. After paying for 4 nights, I passed out. Finally, you can relax and not worry that we will have to spend the night on the beach on a towel.
Dropping things, we went to say hello to the ocean.
From the villa in a leisurely step of 3-4 minutes evenly. I like Unawatuna. There is a great bay without waves. The sunset, however, is quite sharp. But for us - that's it! Only this year there was an innovation. The landscape was rather spoiled by the construction of a huge hotel. The owner of the villa said it was the prime minister building. Understandably! Everything is as everywhere!
But with the products in Una, as it seemed to me in previous visits - not very much.
Fruit, of course, is. There is also an alcohol shop somewhere near the track. But there is no place to buy fish here. So we went to the supermarket in Halle. And on the way we went to a diner, where they baked all sorts of local delicacies. Took a roll with egg. How I missed them! But this time they cost 60 rupees instead of 50. The rupee, by the way, fell slightly in a year, from 152 to 172. Apparently, for this reason, and maybe for another, the fare to Halle was 25 rupees, compared to last year's 17.
As I approached the bus station, I noticed a long queue, which seemed to me to consist exclusively of Europeans. I have never seen so many whites in Sri Lanka at the airport. They crowded around the cricket field. Apparently, it was the turn of the box office. Everywhere hung flags with the words "cricket championship", which seemed to be national. But we were interested in much more prosaic things - fish, shrimp, beer, arak and various other pineapples.
Before going to the supermarket, we went to the fish market near the fort.
I wanted tuna. I never tried it fresh. Only canned. As for me - dry. But you have to try. Both small and large were sold on the market. I definitely didn't want a little one. And for the steak from the huge asked 1000-1100 rupees / kg. It seemed expensive to me. Began to bargain - do not give up. Smelling the offered steaks, I was dissatisfied with the smell. Still, it was noon, and the fish was walking. I wonder what they do with the missing fish?
Without buying anything, went to the supermarket. Here I was pleasantly surprised. Prices, compared to last year, did not rise, and vice versa. The tuna steak cost 960 rupees here and was absolutely fresh. Hefty shrimp cost only 1.160 rupees, while last year the price reached 1.400. The alcohol department even had price tags for strong drinks.
Calypso rum cost 2.500 (we paid 2.600 in the Hikkaduwa shop), arak 1.450 (1.600 in the shop). And Lyon beer cost 200 rupees along with the container. Parasites from the Hikkaduwa shop beat me for 280 per bottle, however, last year the price on the bottle was 230, and now 160. Miracles!
After buying groceries, as well as 100-gram bottles of shampoo, toothpaste and aloe vera gel, we got on the bus and returned to our village. After frying tuna in coconut oil, they used it with a cold lion.
After an hour, we went to the beach, but on the other - Jungle Beach. On the way in one of the yards they bought drinking coconut for only 50 rupees. Before reaching the end of our journey, we decided to turn onto one of the paths and see what's there. There was a pile of stones, with the surf beating against them. Well, a small waterfall. A little garbage. And so - nothing special.
The jungle in the jungle was good this time.
In our last visit here was not ice - from Galle caused all sorts of garbage, and the beach itself is almost completely flooded. Now the water was pure, the sea was calm. Only the sun hid behind the haze. So I didn't manage to sunbathe. After shopping, we went back. The day lingered with us. It's time to have dinner and sleep.
For dinner we had arak, kurd and pineapple with mango.
It rained at night, it was cool. I even closed the windows and covered myself with a sheet, not including the fan. Slept well.
It rained all night. And in the morning he also drizzled. Not a thunderstorm, not a downpour, just rain. Today we planned to explore the area south of Unawatuna. There must have been, according to the map, a long beach. Judging that we would still be wet, the divers put on some backpacks and took them in their backpacks.
Preliminarily, of course, had breakfast with scrambled eggs, kurd and fruit.
The rain seemed to have stopped, but the sky was not optimistic. It was very gloomy. It took me a while to walk to the long beach promised by the map. So I had to get dressed somehow.
Finally went to the beach.
Well, what can I tell you? I would not like to live in this part of Unawatuna. Solid stones. The beach is very conditional. There is no place to swim. Moreover, the weather is quite disgusting. The rain charged again. Here, damn, hit! If this continues, all my plans will go to waste. It's good that I didn't have any hotel bindings. Basically, I could change everything according to the circumstances.
We came to a place where fishermen's seats were sticking out of the water. And they even had a place there.
I read in the reports that the fishmongers are sitting there purely for blizzards - they do not catch nifiga.
More precisely, they catch, but not fish, but tourists who want to take pictures of them. But, perhaps, because the weather was not photohygienic at all, there were no tourists, poor fishermen had to fish. Everyone had a ball in which something was visible. Presumably a catch. And they didn't even pay attention to us. They did not try to pose and did not demand a den. But I still took pictures of them from under the silence, going behind the stones.
Further along the course, a pile of stones went into the sea. Two Chinese women, dressed almost in spacesuits, jumped on the stones with such serious photographic equipment. And I in a bathing suit with a phone in hand also climbed to take pictures of the surf. Thank God it didn't drop!
I forgot to tell. The night before, I took the batteries out of the camera and inserted them into the charger. And nothing!
The light bulbs did not light up. Apparently, the batteries, which served faithfully for many years, crackled! Catastrophe! There are, of course, two phones. But in my memory, like a 90-year-old grandmother. For a couple of photos. Vadik has more, but you can't shoot everything by phone. Inconvenient. So we decided to buy batteries. But it will be in the evening, and for now, I was filming on the phone. The quality is appropriate.
I already wanted to go further. Nothing interesting was seen on the horizon, the rain did not subside. And only 5 km passed. Hiding under the aloe bushes, they changed into dry clothes and went to a stop.
Arrived in Halle. The rain seemed to have stopped. Almost. They wanted to go to the fort, but changed their minds and went to the supermarket. Tuna cost only 760. But we didn't buy it. They wanted shrimp. And beer. And another arak. We didn't like him yesterday. A local guy was buying some for 1700.
Said he was good. Well, we also bought it.
The shrimp were as wonderful as the beer. Arak was strange, different in taste than the previous one. But I also didn't particularly like it. Let's move on to Calypso!
