Day 5 - Beach bars

08:30
My sleep follows the same pattern - in a deeeeeep sleep by 23:30, only to take up clear as a bell around 02:00. I’m then awake until c. 04:00, when I fall back into a deep sleep for another few hours. I suspect it’s a hint of jet-lag. With the time difference, 04:00 locally is roughly when I’d be going to bed in the UK. I think my body might be thinking that my 23:00 bed time here is just a later afternoon nap, but 04:00 locally is a much more ‘normal’ time for me to be sleeping. With a footloose and fancy free day ahead of me, I’m sure I can build in some afternoon nap time to catch up a little.

As I fell asleep last night, there was some banging house music playing somewhere nearby. I’ve seen a couple of reviews of my guesthouse complain about this, as though it’s the guesthouse owners’ fault. I sleep with headphones in anyway, so it didn’t bother me. I do plan to head out tonight to find its source though. Mirissa’s not known as a big party town - for that you’d tend to head further down the coast to Unawatuna - but there are a couple of bars that have DJs spinning most nights.

13:30
I’ve made it all of 200m up the beach. I stopped near my guesthouse for breakfast, at a place called A++. I don’t know whether that’s the grade they’re giving themselves, or a search engine optimisation type thing. Their avocado toast with a poached egg is delicious - amped up a little with some subtle spicing. It’s gone 12:00 by the time I finish, and I reason that walking in the midday sun is for mad dogs, so treat myself to a glass of wine. Their drinks list includes 3 white wines - all of which are Sauvignon Blanc - outstanding variety there, lads. I send a pic of the wine list to Vicki, and can imagine the wrinkly nose as she reads it. The beach feels quite busy today. Less so at this end of it, near where I’m staying, but further down the beach there are tons of folks sunbathing, paddling, swimming. Most of the beach bars are doing some decent business, but nowhere near full. It feels like a fairly good balance.

I’ve been struck by the average age of people who are here. Had I to guess, I’d put it at around 43. There are a few people that are sub 30, and quite a few who I think are 50+. I find myself wondering whether Asia generally, and the sub-continent specifically are no longer the traveller’s destination of choice. They’re certainly not the massively bargain bucket locations they once were. I also find myself listening in to to conversations, less to eavesdrop, and more to work out where people are from. I hear English spoken more than anything else, but quickly followed by French, which surprises me. I get some German, a little Russian, and some other Slavic intonation - I want to say Baltic? Maybe Estonian. It’s a proper melting pot. My plan (if you can call it that) is to run a mini bar-crawl up the beach, in search of something better to drink than Lion Lager. I’m sitting at a bar midway up the beach, drinking an inevitable Lion, and starting to think this may be a thankless task…

15:30
I’ve made it to the far end of Mirissa Beach, and am perhaps 5 Lions deep. My quest ends in failure. OR - it’s been highly successful, depending on your perspective. I’ve rinsed a good selection of Mirissa’ beach bars, and can at least now say with a decent amount of certainty that it’s Lion or bust.

Mirissa reminds me so much of Palolem when I first stayed there in 2007. It’s got the same intangible atmosphere that just makes you want to put roots down and stay. The beach bars have much the same feel to them - just great places to pause for a while, and get out of the sun. It even looks similar. I’m rapidly considering sacking off my next stop, and just staying here a few extra days. This inclination is helped when I meet Suresh, who owns Lava - a beach bar near the middle of the beach. Moments after meeting, he tells me there’s a beach party later, if I want to go, and offers me smoke if I want some. I’ve got to be up at 05:30 for my whale watching trip, but tell him I’ll check in with him later, and head along for a while.

17:40
It briefly looked like a storm was coming in. Given the heat and humidity, this could only be a good thing. It transpires that it’s just some cloud, to really amp up the already insanely high humidity. I walk back along the road, to check out what’s what, and stop briefly to grab some room supplies - water, tea, snacks etc. There’s a bottle shop over the road from the grocery store, and I briefly consider grabbing some wine or beers for my room, but the store is highly closed.

Almost back at my guesthouse, I stop in at my favourite French place for a glass of wine, which rapidly becomes three. In my defence, they’re not very big. I sit and watch the surfers for an hour. The swell is getting up. It’s maybe 4-5 foot, and pretty clean. There’s one guy out in the water who’s seriously good. Fast, and with a dynamite cutback. I chat to the service team at the restaurant. I feel like I’m going to get to know them quite well…

It’s glorious to get back to my room and cool down. Would be helped by a G+T, but thems the breaks. Toughest decision I face today is where to go for dinner. There was a great looking place on the main Mirissa road, but I really don’t know if I can be arsed to walk all of 10 minutes to get back to it.

21:30
I read my book for a while, and my eyes start to tire, so I have a deluxe little 45 minute nap around 18:30. I’m a bit dazed and confused when I wake up, but snap out of it quickly enough. My alarm clock in the morning is the wrong side of 06:00, so I decide to stay local for dinner, and give the beach party a miss. I head back to see my new French friends, so much did I enjoy my meal last night. I’m pretty sure the ‘glass’ of wine they’re serving me is gradually getting bigger. I have some amazing chicken kebabs as a starter, and a traditional Sri Lankan yellow vegetable curry to follow. The curry is delicious - mildly spiced, with turmeric and some cumin, some fresh ginger and garlic, and I think a little tamarind. It’s run through with lots of mustard seed and I think also some nigella seeds. It reminds me very much of the food I ate in Kerala.

I find myself having a ‘isn’t this great’ moment while I’m out, which is immediately followed by what I initially think is a pang of loneliness - which would be my first on this trip. I quickly realise this is not that - I just wish Vicki was here with me, enjoying this journey as much as I am, as I think she would/will love it here. Almost immediately, I’m bitten by a mosquito, and I reason that there are things on which she’d be less keen.

Back at my room I can hear the beach party in the distance. I have a fleeting thought about going anyway, and fuck the consequences, but it’s comfy here, and very cool, and my alarm is going off in less than 8 hours, and there’s another one early next week, and….

22:30
I pick up my phone to wish Vicks a goodnight, and learn that the car is playing silly buggers in my absence, The battery in the key fob has run out, and she’s stuck at a Shell garage near our house with no way of opening or starting the car. These keyless entry systems are all very well and good until… We to and fro for twenty minutes, there’s some energetic Googling of options, a suggestion of a spare back at the house. Happily, all ends well. It transpires it IS possible to start the car with a flat fob battery. You’ve just got to know the precise order of doing things, which anonymous part of the car to hold the key against, and when to say the magic words. Satisfied that I’ve been a help, if not necessarily helpful, I roll over, and go to sleep.Read more