VERY quiet here. Pretty much nothing going on apart from the locals and some dogs. Arrived with nothing booked and walked up and down the high street speaking to locals. The room rates here seem to vary wildly. This town has (apparently) one of the top 10 surfing breaks in the world, and regularly holds competitions. The best surf is in May, but some guest houses hold their high prices all season. Have they never heard of supply and demand?
I bargained hard and got a 700 rupee room on the beach. I later ask about the tsunami and how it affected him. He tells me that it flattened his house and business and 5m of water gushing over the beach nearly killed his family - they managed to get inland quickly. The tsunami only reached 100m inland. Nothing near the scale of Thailand but equally terrifying. I felt bad about bargaining hard and in the end I paid a little extra.
The beach is wild. You can see the hyped offshore break and there's a few surfers pootling about on it but it was small. I walk miles down the coast accompanied by a pair of rowdy dogs! There's lots of tsunami damage: house foundations, broken trees and even black palm trees, though i'm not sure how they got to be this colour. Found what I thought was a football washed up on the beach, but was a fully inflated puffa fish.
In the evening had a real German beer in a Thai bar owned by a real German and his Thai (I can only assume) wife! Delicious. Grabbed some incredibly spicy (and cheap) rice and curry from a local hotel over the road and went back to the room. Not much else to do!
I think my little toe was up against the mosquito net in the night as it got painfully munched.
Next day, had another trust episode with Sri Lankan men while waiting for a bus. I was 99% sure the bus came this way, but got told by tuk-tuk drivers, and locals who had tuk-tuk driver friends, that there was no bus, or the bus wasn't until the evening. I shrugged them off then later a lady hotel owner came over and told me that there IS a bus and it'll be there at 11:30. Sure enough 11:30 came and so did the bus. I'm now only speaking with women!
You can see all of the photo's here
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| The high street |
The beach is wild. You can see the hyped offshore break and there's a few surfers pootling about on it but it was small. I walk miles down the coast accompanied by a pair of rowdy dogs! There's lots of tsunami damage: house foundations, broken trees and even black palm trees, though i'm not sure how they got to be this colour. Found what I thought was a football washed up on the beach, but was a fully inflated puffa fish.
In the evening had a real German beer in a Thai bar owned by a real German and his Thai (I can only assume) wife! Delicious. Grabbed some incredibly spicy (and cheap) rice and curry from a local hotel over the road and went back to the room. Not much else to do!
I think my little toe was up against the mosquito net in the night as it got painfully munched.
Next day, had another trust episode with Sri Lankan men while waiting for a bus. I was 99% sure the bus came this way, but got told by tuk-tuk drivers, and locals who had tuk-tuk driver friends, that there was no bus, or the bus wasn't until the evening. I shrugged them off then later a lady hotel owner came over and told me that there IS a bus and it'll be there at 11:30. Sure enough 11:30 came and so did the bus. I'm now only speaking with women!
You can see all of the photo's here
"The tsunami only reached 100m inland. Nothing near the scale of Thailand but equally terrifying."
ReplyDeleteI really do not think you know what you are talking about. I was in Arugam Bay few days after the tsunami.
Thailand Dead: 5000/displaced: 7000
Sri Lanka: Dead: 40,000/displaced: 500,000 (it is assumed over 50,000 died due to thousands of missing never found)
We get a lot of tourist who think they know everything. These poor men try to get them in their tuk tuk to make a $3 from you, but thats how they feed their kids. One tourists demanded a Land cruiser for his trip because he paid the same amount for the car rental in Thailand to get a Land Cruiser. But of course he did not know our government charges $200,000 duty on a land cruiser...
Hi, thanks for the comment.
DeleteThis is what a local who lost his business and family told me, and i was referring in particular to Arugam bay.
What about the bus drivers? surely they need to feed the families too! Don't get me wrong, i've met some nice tuk-tuk drivers but that day everyone was lying to me to try and get me in a tuk-tuk, when i knew there was a bus. Apologies if I offended any tuk-tuk drivers anywhere :)
There are 100 tuk tuk drivers but few of them like this many of them nice and good giving information correctly if you mention tuk tuk drivers every one will be upset.
ReplyDeletearound the world 99% business say lies and tricky.
I said to every one meet the correct person get the correct information. then you will be fine and can enjoy your holiday.
meed fred Miller or go to Siam View he will give correct information and he have experience more then 20 years with local community in ARUGAMBAY.
Hi,
DeleteSri Lankan's are genuinely lovely people, so friendly and happy! This is why it's so frustrating when someone obviously tries to take advantage of you, you can feel venerable.
Thanks for reading, and the comment
stu