Nilaveli

As we were standing in the driveway of our hotel complex yesterday afternoon looking for a potential driver on Google, a young guy pulled up and said “Do you want something?”. We’re getting used to automatically saying “No, thank you!”, but before I could get that out Ant said “Are you a driver?”. In a nutshell we’ve secured ourselves a driver from here to Nilavelli for a reasonable price - we’d be saving so much if we were taking public buses...but we’d be risking losing our nerves and our stuff in the process!

After a pre-breakfast walk and a “near death experience” (Ant was almost taken out by a falling tree branch), we ate our last servings of hoppers and fresh fruit before running back to our room to pack. The bags are pushing their limits - they’re doing us proud!
We checked out and collected yet another business card with the attached request for a Trip Advisor review. It’s becoming a full time job I tell you, good thing I love it...
Our driver was bang on time and after we stopped at an ATM (for us) and a grocery store (for him), we headed down the road. Thankfully it was only 120km to Nilavelli and the roads were supposedly in really good condition in comparison to what we’ve been travelling on so far. Great news if that meant less time in a car!

About half an hour into the journey and both of us had suspicions that what he was drinking wasn’t orange juice. A quick google of the brand and it soon became clear that his breakfast beverage of choice started with B and ended with RANDY. It’s becoming clear that having a bottle of booze next to the driver’s seat is not abnormal (as we’ve noticed the last 2 days with seperate drivers), and the local authorities don’t seem overly concerned about it (having been pulled over for a license and insurance check, with the bottle in plain view). But whatever, it’s just drinking and driving...

We got here in one piece, I was so relieved that I nearly kissed the ground! I think it’s a firm NO to his offer to drive us back to Negombo in a few days time.

We were shown straight to our villa, despite being a few hours early, and met one of the workers, Niru. Apparently the owner Amal, who we’ve read is a great host and an AMAZING cook, is in hospital so unfortunately we won’t be meeting him. But the three guys running the show while he’s gone all seem lovely, and there are only 3 villas which means it’ll be nice and quiet.

About 30 minutes after we arrived we sat outside on our small verandah and before we knew it the heavens opened up and for the next couple of hours it rained. And rained. And rained. And we had no food. So the minute it stopped we quickly ran 2 minutes down the beach to ‘That’s Why’ beach shack/restaurant/cool dudes hangout, where Niru had said to try for food. I was immediately complimented on my hair by my male hair twin, so I was happy - the food was equally as soul warming!

For the rest of the afternoon we walked northward up the beach and found a local supermarket where we stocked up on emergency snacks, then scored a lift home from Niru in his tuk tuk!
The sun had finally appeared so we made ourselves comfy on the sun chairs that the villa supply (we are right on the beach!) and it didn’t take long for us to get into the water. We’re not going to lie - it was pretty nerve wracking as the waves were huge, the drag back out was really strong and it would’ve been too easy for either one of us to have been carried out. We played it safe like the others around and stuck in the shallows, but that didn’t stop me carting 2 kg of sand back off the beach in my bather bottoms!

We went back to the same place for dinner and it was pretty disappointing - the only beer was the bog standard Lion (which we’re both sick of) and the fish was over cooked. Maybe we’re getting picky, but it wasn’t super cheap and we expected more from a place that is apparently so popular. Ah well, you live and learn!

We ended the night watching YouTube videos - keeping it real everyone!Read more