Hikkaduwa is a great little coastal town on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka. It’s about 100km south of the capital Colombo, and you can get there by road or train. We chose the train. Bad move.
I say bad move, but really I look back at the experience as an experience. I’m glad I tried it, and I would do it again if need be, but it really was a packed out train, and when I say packed, we were sat (luckily) on our backpacks in the aisle. There wasn’t any room to do anything.
The best thing was when the train stopped at towns along the way and people selling refreshments would get on and clamber down the aisles. I first thought there’d be no way of getting down, but where there’s a penny to be made, they just seem to manage it.
Hikkaduwa is a surf town, a bit of a party town in Sri Lanka, and we got there the day after Christmas – Boxing Day. A few friends just ready to chill and party for a while. We hired bikes and explored the inner and outer south of the country.
Hikkaduwa beach is a long stretch of golden, windswept, quiet yet popular place to spend your time. It really is beautiful. A great place for an early morning run, sunbathe and take surf lessons through the day, and party at night.
Twice a day, every day turtles come to the same place of the beach and it’s great to see them. Some of them are huge. Obviously they draw attention and sometimes it can get a bit crowded, but they spend a while there so you can get time with them. You get the odd dickhead who tries to pick them up just to have their photo taken with them, but mostly the people are respectful of these amazing creatures.
We hired a bike and went into the middle, which is farm and jungle all around. Getting a bike on an island is a great way to experience places tours won’t stop you at. Some of the scenery is so lush, and just being in the open with all the nature environing us makes for a perfect ride.
We saw some beautiful little villages, stopped to chat with locals, to play cricket with some of the local schoolkids. When they realized I was from Yorkshire, England they were shouting ‘Joe Root, Joe Root’ to me, and they all wanted to test their batting and bowling skills against me. Need I say they were all better than me.
A night out in Hikkaduwa is a riot most of the year, but New Year’s Eve, it’s something else. After an amazing buffet meal at a nice hotel, the night’s entertainment didn’t really interest us so we headed down to a few of the many bars on Hikkaduwa Beach.
