Hikkaduwa on the other hand was everything we don’t like. I mean, the actual beach is lovely but it is situated on the main road (with no pavements, like most of the rest of Sri Lanka) and is full of holiday makers. Craig escaped his idea of tourists from hell on a scooter and took Phoebe with him. I think it is safe to say that Phoebe will be joining Craig on two wheels as often as she can (apologies to the grandparents!). We visited Turtle Beach which was sadly full of Russian tourists ignoring the signs and feeding the touching the turtles. It was amazing to see them so close, although I am not sure how natural this is given that many people feed them from bags of seaweed sold on the beach so the turtles seemed quite tame.

Our Airbnb was possible the best one we have stayed in so far. I spend my life trawling reviews for the perfect abode and on this occasion we struck gold! After spending a couple of weeks all in one room we spread out over the apartment and made the most of having our own space, the TV, the washing machine and a fully stocked kitchen! Travelling is tiring so we loved this chance for a break and some home comforts.

Craig visited the nearby tsunami memorial, the world’s worst train disaster happened when the Colombo bound train from Hikkaduwa was engulfed by the waves. The sea inundated the coastal railway tracks in Sri Lanka, killing around 1700 passengers on the crowded train.

This nearly marks the end of the Sri Lankan chapter as tomorrow we fly to Malaysia. Thank you Sri Lanka, you have been great!