I made it back to Hikkaduwa 2 weeks after my aborted trip on Christmas day. I'm getting better at dealing with the amount of people that approach me and have pretty much perfected the talk to the hand technique. When approached by anyone you don't want to talk to, hold up the palm of your hand as if to push them away and look in the other direction. Also don't break your stride and it works virtually every time. I left Colombo at 4pm in the sunshine and by the time I was an hour out of the city the sky had turned black, it was bucketing down and the sound of thunder was getting louder. I was beginning to wonder if I'd made the wrong decision. The lights and fans on the train started flickering as I neared my destination and the train eventually ground to a halt 3 miles from Hikkaduwa. With the light outside quickly disappearing and the train in darkness due to a power cut, I grabbed my gear and walked towards the road. Sitting in a shack like cafe by the side of the road, I watched the rain whilst eating cup cakes and drinking a coke. The 2 lads who ran the shack tempted me with an egg fried on top of pancake batter, which you roll into a wrap and eat seasoned with pepper. I wasn't going to walk any further in the rain, so the lads contacted their mate with a tuk to drive me into town. 300 rupees later and a few unorthodox driving maneuvers to avoid other vehicles with no lights, I arrived in Hikkaduwa. The hotel was a bit expensive at 12 pounds a night but I didn't care, as I was just glad to have somewhere to sleep. I grabbed a beer and ordered some vegetable chop suey. The chop suey somehow came with seafood and when I explained I was vegetarian they apologised and said they wouldn't charge me for the seafood. I've picked meat out of my food before so I got on with eating and spat out anything chewy. After that I headed out to see if I could find the location of Mambo, as that's where the skate ramp was located. It was too late to skate but I had nothing else to do. By a happy coincidence Mambo had a party on.
Their spelling isn't all that but they know how to throw a party. I think just about every party loving European in Hikkaduwa and all the local surfers where in attendance. I got chatting to the locals and started to feel a lot more relaxed. A couple more beers later I'm even more relaxed and the pumping drum based house music is reminding me of nights out in London in the early nineties, although wearing shorts on the beach in January is a nice twist. I took a photo as I stumbled off along the beach back to my hotel. The blue light is the video screen playing surf movies and the music had slowed to a more jiggy flavour by then.
Sand crabs scuttled across the sand in front of me as I walked and lightening flashed miles away on the horizon. I was feeling more relaxed than at any point since I left the UK.
Back on the road a cow wanders past the Farm House Restaurant that obviously doesn't consider it that sacred as they have beef on the menu.
Back at Mambo the next day I skated the ramp with a little local kid who brushed the sand off the surface while I supped a sprite and waited for the ramp to finish drying out.
After about an hours skate I chatted to some of the locals from the night before and asked how much it would cost to replace some of the knackered pieces of plywood.
They gave me some toasted sandwich to eat as we chatted and I watched the surfers ride directly in front of Mambo. The break is the smallest one, which is supposed to be ideal for learning, but it still scares me as I'm such a poor swimmer. Whether I surf or not I'll head back in a few weeks as they have a party every Saturday and they've got the only skate ramp in the country.
She may be huge but because she moves so slowly you don't feel like you're going to get crushed.
The only bit that does move quickly is the trunk. I was given a bunch of bananas to feed her with and being the dumb westerner I am asked if I needed to peel them. The only thing you need to do is let go when she grabs the whole bunch and shovels them into her mouth.
Apparently there were 2 more elephants but they were down by the river cooling off. The 2 guys looking after the elephant come from 3 generations of elephant handlers. An elephant and handler form a bond. There was a photo in one of the Sri Lankan papers of an elephant protecting its handler. The handler had overdone it on the booze and was laying comatose on the pavement. The elephant was stood over the guy watching out for him until he came round.
