27th December 2021 – 1st January 2022

The second part of our winter holiday in the sun was living in a beach cabana at Arugam Bay; heaven for surfing in the season of May to September, but now a quiet town with deserted beaches apart from one small section where the fishing boats come ashore and locals enjoy the water.

After having to say a farewell to the beautiful Uga Bay resort, we all managed to fit in a 7-seater minivan and set off for the 3 hours journey to our next destination, not knowing what we were about to embark on.

Once we arrived and saw the cabanas and the pool, the sandy garden, the palms and the beach, the simple life, we felt like we were in our dream place to spend the next 5 days, just chilling and being together.

I had a go at surfing with Misa and Emi whilst Steve took photos, but it was hard work and the beach where we went was full of people as mentioned so we stopped before hitting someone with a big board out of control.  One afternoon we went to the Kumana safari park as Steve gas posted; a once in a life time experience we will not forget, especially grandma in a car driving away with our driver being chased by an elephant.  Seeing nearly fully grown beautiful leopard right at the end topped it off. 

Our new years’ eve dinner celebration was a Tamil Sri Lankan curry feast with a healthy twist to it, drinking king coconut with rum at midnight and jumping into the pool fully clothed during a brief light shower of rain!  A celebration to remember – and yet more mindfulness moments to think of who was with us to celebrate with.

5 days was just perfect for feeling lazy, spending time doing nothing, larking around mainly in the pool, eating simple but tasty food whenever you liked and relaxing and reading as much as you could.

The long 7 hour journey home was actually ok, with one stop for an ice cream and the second for an early dinner and to drop Nikolka’s family, my mum and Emilka off in Galle for a couple of days.

We came home and felt we had been gone forever, which I think is a sign of a good holiday.

We wish you all a healthy year 2022, because if you have health, the rest will follow.

Rennie