Day 14

Together with Sammy we got on the bus to drive back to the same hotel where we spent the first two nights. We drove north along the coast and it was clear how close the ocean is to everyday life there. Fishermen would be in their boats on the beach gutting fish, while this fish was being sold only 3 or 4 meters away at stalls right along the road. You just cannot imagine what it must have been like when the 2004 tsunami hit this place (and hit it hard). However, except for a few abandoned ruins, most parts had been rebuild (some with standard tsunami houses) and there was not much left to of the devastation of this terrible event. We briefly stopped at the monument in Hikkaduwa, commemorating almost 2000 people getting killed in a single train that was hit by the tsunami. After this we continued to pick up some group members that had stayed in upgraded resorts during the past few days.

When we approached Colombo, we saw traffic lights again (in the rest of the country traffic is mostly organized by humans). We drove through the city with a few stops at tourist sites and then had a late but tasty lunch in a hip restaurant that used to be a hospital during Dutch colonial times. After, Sammy guided us through the city some more and we briefly stopped to watch a cricket game that was taking place right there on the streets. Of course none of us knew the rules, but somehow it did not make this less exciting.

Once we were back in the hotel, I took a last stroll down the beach, with waves coming in strong. Somehow this tsunami was still in the back of my head and I could imagine how completely powerless a person would be along that coast with a tsunami hitting. I was stopped by an old fishermen sitting by some boats. He was now too old to fish himself, but his sons would still go out every day and he really wanted to share his fishermen stories with a willing listener. He was very glad to hear I was Holland people, as according to him “Holland people are better, they come and talk”. He probably meant “listen”, so that’s what I did for a while.

That evening we had drinks and dinner with the group one last time. They were serving ‘sate sticks’, which is always a big hit with Dutch tourist, however the young cook clearly had no idea what to do with this, so he was kind of stir frying them.