( Overview
/ Sri Lanka 2024 - finally here!
Passikudah to Kalkudah Bay
Caught a tuktuk out of the hotel we were overnighting in and asked the driver to stop at a bottle shop, picked up a small bottle of Gin and the local hooch, Arrack. Drove through the area of Passikudah and although there are large hotels they all look fairly deserted and the area is fairly depressed which makes us feel very sad, particularly as this area has been hit with so much. They had the tsunami in 2004, amidst the civil war which didn’t end until 2009 and then we all know what happened in 2020! It’s a lot for a small island to cope with…
We drive for about 30 minutes and eventually end up at our hotel, Karphara Sands and what an oasis it is… definitely the best hotel so far for us in Sri Lanka.
We explored the beach and the room or rather we have our own lodge with garden and butler. He checked us in and then continued to pander to our every whim. We decided to extend our stay by adding on another couple of nights and promptly booked ourselves onto a three day Ayurveda treatment which starts on 15th… relaxed by our lodge in the afternoon, some yoga and then a sundowner before heading to the restaurant which was very lovely. I could get used to it here!
Wednesday 14th
A very happy Valentine’s Day in this paradise, purely a coincidence that we’re here. It’s all very lovely. We used a couple of bikes and cycled the 6k into town along the sandy tracks. People were so smiley and lots of waves, this really isn’t a tourist area. Found a small shop on the main road and bought some washing powder to wash some bits out with. Relaxed by our lodge and then another sundowner and a lovely dinner - grilled fish and roasted veg for me and J had the squid and coriander curry, delicious.
Thursday 15th
More of the same… although today we wandered the beach spotting the wildlife band sadly lots of rubbish, away from the pristine, not a stone out of place haven that we’re staying in it’s a rather different story. But we’re in the Bay of Bengal so what do you expect. Our first massage around lunchtime of three, J going first and me second. Over to the restaurant for a drink and dinner, I had seafood salad and J had devilled prawns and rice. They also served the most unusual yet lovely sorbets; pineapple with chilli and mango with shallot, I didn’t quite get the second one but loved the pineapple / chilli combo. May have to make this at home!
Friday 16th Feb
A leisurely start to the day, sleeping so well here. The Villa is lovely and dark and fairly quiet other than wildlife sounds. Spent too much time looking at our next stopping point; Ella. So much accommodation to choose from there and most of it fairly uninspiring. Went and had another magnificent breakfast and then wandered the beach, spotted a massive white bellied sea eagle (apparently they’re one of largest birds in the world) we continued walking for a while before finding a spot to read. I’m juggling a number of books at the mo but the most noteworthy by a Sri Lankan lady, Sonali Deraniyagala, such a sad and tragic story (no spoilers) but it does talk a lot about the island and it’s many treasures too. Had my massage booked for 2pm which was very lovely and then we relaxed in our Villa for a bit before heading to dinner. It’s really suiting us both to just eat breakfast and then dinner, food and staff are fantastic. I could so get used to it here. Catch up on a few more episodes of the Traitors, it’s getting very interesting now.
Saturday 17th
Our last day here and we need to move to a sea front villa, tough job but someone has to do it! We pack up our rucksacks and our lovely butler (I can’t quite believe we have one of those 😆) moves our luggage seamlessly to our new digs whilst we’re at breakfast, the new villa is also gorgeous. I then head out to read on our private bit of beach and have wonderful views of the sea, although sadly it’s still too rough to go in as it’s unusually windy at the moment. We’re not complaining because when there’s no wind it’s baking! Finish off another book that I’ve been reading in parallel and then head off for my final massage which is also gorgeous. I let all those lovely Ayurveda oils soak in and finally have to give in and wash it off before going to the bar for a drink before dinner. After dinner, we soak up the stars as there’s so little light pollution here. Before bed, we finish the last episode of the Traitors, which ended how I’d predicted.
Sadly I don’t have the best nights sleep, I’m up at 4am rummaging around for my headphones and phone so I can listen to some sleep meditations and I spot a cockroach in J’s rucksack crawling amongst his clothes, I use a glass to try and catch it to chuck it out but it buries itself deep into his bag… I go back to bed thinking that I must remember to tell him in the morning.
Sunday 18th
And just like that the fairy tale is over and we’re packing up and heading off. We had a brilliant breakfast and then watch the fisherman on the beach who have managed to get the nets out today for the first time since we arrived. Sadly we weren’t able to stay long enough to watch them haul it back in but it’s a huge job with at least half a dozen men and women plus a tractor. We have a chat with the wonderful Italian hotel manager, Umberto Piccolini (great name) who sends us on our way with a goodie bag for the taxi. We’ll definitely be back!
Caught a tuktuk out of the hotel we were overnighting in and asked the driver to stop at a bottle shop, picked up a small bottle of Gin and the local hooch, Arrack. Drove through the area of Passikudah and although there are large hotels they all look fairly deserted and the area is fairly depressed which makes us feel very sad, particularly as this area has been hit with so much. They had the tsunami in 2004, amidst the civil war which didn’t end until 2009 and then we all know what happened in 2020! It’s a lot for a small island to cope with…
We drive for about 30 minutes and eventually end up at our hotel, Karphara Sands and what an oasis it is… definitely the best hotel so far for us in Sri Lanka.
We explored the beach and the room or rather we have our own lodge with garden and butler. He checked us in and then continued to pander to our every whim. We decided to extend our stay by adding on another couple of nights and promptly booked ourselves onto a three day Ayurveda treatment which starts on 15th… relaxed by our lodge in the afternoon, some yoga and then a sundowner before heading to the restaurant which was very lovely. I could get used to it here!
Wednesday 14th
A very happy Valentine’s Day in this paradise, purely a coincidence that we’re here. It’s all very lovely. We used a couple of bikes and cycled the 6k into town along the sandy tracks. People were so smiley and lots of waves, this really isn’t a tourist area. Found a small shop on the main road and bought some washing powder to wash some bits out with. Relaxed by our lodge and then another sundowner and a lovely dinner - grilled fish and roasted veg for me and J had the squid and coriander curry, delicious.
Thursday 15th
More of the same… although today we wandered the beach spotting the wildlife band sadly lots of rubbish, away from the pristine, not a stone out of place haven that we’re staying in it’s a rather different story. But we’re in the Bay of Bengal so what do you expect. Our first massage around lunchtime of three, J going first and me second. Over to the restaurant for a drink and dinner, I had seafood salad and J had devilled prawns and rice. They also served the most unusual yet lovely sorbets; pineapple with chilli and mango with shallot, I didn’t quite get the second one but loved the pineapple / chilli combo. May have to make this at home!
Friday 16th Feb
A leisurely start to the day, sleeping so well here. The Villa is lovely and dark and fairly quiet other than wildlife sounds. Spent too much time looking at our next stopping point; Ella. So much accommodation to choose from there and most of it fairly uninspiring. Went and had another magnificent breakfast and then wandered the beach, spotted a massive white bellied sea eagle (apparently they’re one of largest birds in the world) we continued walking for a while before finding a spot to read. I’m juggling a number of books at the mo but the most noteworthy by a Sri Lankan lady, Sonali Deraniyagala, such a sad and tragic story (no spoilers) but it does talk a lot about the island and it’s many treasures too. Had my massage booked for 2pm which was very lovely and then we relaxed in our Villa for a bit before heading to dinner. It’s really suiting us both to just eat breakfast and then dinner, food and staff are fantastic. I could so get used to it here. Catch up on a few more episodes of the Traitors, it’s getting very interesting now.
Saturday 17th
Our last day here and we need to move to a sea front villa, tough job but someone has to do it! We pack up our rucksacks and our lovely butler (I can’t quite believe we have one of those 😆) moves our luggage seamlessly to our new digs whilst we’re at breakfast, the new villa is also gorgeous. I then head out to read on our private bit of beach and have wonderful views of the sea, although sadly it’s still too rough to go in as it’s unusually windy at the moment. We’re not complaining because when there’s no wind it’s baking! Finish off another book that I’ve been reading in parallel and then head off for my final massage which is also gorgeous. I let all those lovely Ayurveda oils soak in and finally have to give in and wash it off before going to the bar for a drink before dinner. After dinner, we soak up the stars as there’s so little light pollution here. Before bed, we finish the last episode of the Traitors, which ended how I’d predicted.
Sadly I don’t have the best nights sleep, I’m up at 4am rummaging around for my headphones and phone so I can listen to some sleep meditations and I spot a cockroach in J’s rucksack crawling amongst his clothes, I use a glass to try and catch it to chuck it out but it buries itself deep into his bag… I go back to bed thinking that I must remember to tell him in the morning.
Sunday 18th
And just like that the fairy tale is over and we’re packing up and heading off. We had a brilliant breakfast and then watch the fisherman on the beach who have managed to get the nets out today for the first time since we arrived. Sadly we weren’t able to stay long enough to watch them haul it back in but it’s a huge job with at least half a dozen men and women plus a tractor. We have a chat with the wonderful Italian hotel manager, Umberto Piccolini (great name) who sends us on our way with a goodie bag for the taxi. We’ll definitely be back!
Sign in with Apple 
Log in with Facebook