Say no to cutlery

On the first of January Sri Lankans celebrate with a brunch of milk-rice, curry and Sri Lankan sweets.

Correct etiquette dictates eating with your hands whilst not getting any food on your palms; it actually tastes better that way as you get to blend the food before you taste it.

Hikkaduwa Feedback Loop

On Boxing Day the surfers paddled out to a point off the main break and joined hands in a circle to remember the people who died in the Tsunami on Boxing Day 2004; it's something the surfers in Hawaii do when a surfer dies. The waves off the main reef are too big for a beginner like me to handle.
Another day watching the sun going down.
Stumbling home along the beach one night I came across a group of people watching something on the sand; it turned out to be a turtle returning to the same spot as last year to lay its eggs. The turtle had been disturbed so its starting to dig a new hole to lay its eggs. Coconut pickers are probably the fastest tree climbers in the world with the aid of a looped piece of rope around their feet.
I've been going down to surf in Hikkaduwa every weekend for the last 2 and a half months and I intend to keep heading down for the next 3 months; every weekend is kind of like Groundhog day, but one that I'm not bothered about escaping from.