I woke up for my last long run of my backpacking trip (!!) at 7. I did 3 miles in the back streets of Hambantota, encountering one very aggressive stray, before doing the rest of my run on a big street looping around a reservoir. Although I’m really sad that my trip is almost over, I’m VERY excited to be able to run without the constant stress of a dog , a potentially diseased one, coming out and attacking me at any moment.
I didn’t realize until I hit the big street and was slightly bored that I forgot to bring my headphones. I had been running without listening to music this whole time.
I was so tired and sweaty when I got back to the guesthouse. Adrian was gone— I assumed he had woken up after me and gone for a run.
He got back a few minutes later after a short run on the beach.
We had breakfast at the guesthouse, which was a simple meal of toast with jam and fruits.
We checked out and were in our tuk-tuk around 10 am to make our way to Mirissa, a beach town where we would be spending our final few days in Sri Lanka.
At one point, an ambulance was behind us. Instead of using a siren, it just honked really loudly. Which probably isn’t the best way to alert others of an emergency.
The roads were pretty crowded and there was a bit more traffic than expected. We got to our guesthouse around 12:30, about 30 minutes later than I thought we would arrive. We were both starving, so we immediately left to get lunch. There was a local restaurant right by our hotel, Mirissa Beach Inn, so we went in and ordered 2 rice & curries.
The curries were eggplant, some strange root vegetable that I don’t know, daal, and a green salad. The rice was a red one, not the regular white, so that was also a nice touch.
We went to check out the beach, which was just across the street. We quickly realized that it was way too windy— our stuff wouldn’t even stay down on the ground— so we decided to go back to the hotel and just sunbathe on the roof.
We ate our leftover watermelon and chilled on the roof for a while, listening to music and reading.
Below are some interesting things I noticed at the hotel…
Around 5, we went out again to check out the town a bit.
Most of the little streets off the main road were just filled with guesthouses and hotels, so it was nothing special.
We went back to the beach and sat at a random bar for a beer.
It was nice to sit and chat as the sun went down for the day.
We were both a bit hungry, so we left for dinner once we were done with the beers. We found a small restaurant selling kottu and fried rice, so we both ordered veggie kottu and waited.
The portion was HUGE. I’m not sure why, but I ate it all. I felt disgusting after. Even when I was laying in bed watching “I Feel Pretty,” I still felt gross. I even felt a bit nauseous. Kottu always makes me feel a variation of this (sometimes I feel more gross than not, but I never feel great after), so I’m not sure why I keep ordering it. Maybe because I know I can only have it in Sri Lanka, so I want to eat as much of it as I can before I leave.