Sunday 1st Feburary
It was time to say goodbye to Mirissa and head to Tangalle. We had a nice Tuk Tuk driver who gave us his card and this one of many we actually used to arrange the drive. The journey by Tuk Tuk takes about 1 1/2h and you would be amazed who much luggage one can fit into a single Tuk Tuk. We managed to cram our 2 huge backpacks behind the passenger seats and still head enough room to put our small backpacks in front of us. Unfortunately we forgot to take a picture 🙂
As usual the ride was super interesting. Seeing so many new villages and all the stuff going on there is just amazing. We could do that forever. The highlight of the drive was a quick stop a the Dickwella temple.
Dickwella Temple
Dickwella is the location of one of Sri Lanka’s largest seated Buddha statues. Is is about 50 metres tall and you can walk up to the head in a beautiful decorated 8 story staircase behind the statue. Inside the staircase all the pictures depict scenes from the life of the Buddha and punishments of miscreants. Besides the huge statue there is another temple building with tons of small statues where we were even aloud to take some pictures. So we did.
Tangalle
For Tangalle we decided to go again with a Lonely Planet recommendation and checked in at Sandy’s Cabanas. For the first night we wanted a cabana as close to the beach as possible. The beach at this area is fantastic and very scenic. But the sea is not ideal for swimming. The tide is quite strong and the waves are big. The good thing is that there are some natural basins with big rocks about 30m away from the beach protecting you about 1km away from Sandy’s. This was our preferred place to swim a bit.
As there is not much going on around you have breakfast and supper buffet included in the price which is a good thing. Especially the supper buffet with fresh seafood on the grill is spectacular. And taste the chicken too, it is mindblowing.
Accommodation in Tangalle and Sandy’s Beach cabanas.