Let’s go cycling

Chilaw to Maho

Managed to escape the night’s accommodation without too much interrogation from the resident American pit bull, which clearly wanted to eat us 🙂

A very mixed day today, with long stretches of (almost) deserted sandy track intermingled with the craziness of buses, trucks and motos. It’s hot and humid, so many drink stops are required…orange crush is becoming a staple already!

A bigger day planned today but one of us was flagging so we stopped a bit short at “Lucky’s” homestay, which ended up being quite a lovely experience. Our host (suprisingly, named “Lucky”) gave us a map link to a nearby lake, so we promptly got quite lost and found ourselves in the care of a lovely young lady (Rashmi) and her little boy, who took us on a little tour through rice paddies and water courses to find said lake! The lake itself wasn’t all that much to behold, but it was a fun little adventure. Rashmi was quite determined to bring us to her home and proudly showed us the photos of her soldier husband. We came away with underripe wood apples, a passionfruit, and a new friend 🙂

Back at “Lucky’s” and we were treated to a beautiful meal prepared by our hosts. Amazing presentation and it all tasted pretty good too!

Fun facts
Accommodation $41
Food $35
quite expensive for a little backwater but it was a perfect little stopover
Temp around 34 deg but oh the humidity…

Maho to Anuradaphura- day 3

A bit longer day today but some cloud cover made it all a little more bearable as it took out some of the heat. Still managed to feel somewhat broiled by the time we arrived in Anuradaphura however!

Found another quiet little homestay off the beaten track and another homecooked meal-very different pricepoints here with obviously much, much more competion for the tourist dollar- although the westerners seem to be few and far between and English is fairly poor for the most part here. Those who have even a little English are very keen to use it so there are plenty of conversations along the way!
This place has a lovely garden and the birds come in to feed first thing in the morning.

Fun facts
Accommodation $9….Dinner + breakfast $7…

A “Rest” day and some temples

A lazy start to the day then a leisurely cycle around the ancient city in Anuradaphura.

We were “templed out” by midday so we went in search of some food and managed to find somewhere that also had beer- went down a bit too well in the heat! A few more westerners spotted today but they do still seem to be a rarity and the temples were very much visited by locals- we did feel a little like imposters in some spots. I expect that will change from tomorrow as we intend to head for the coast at Trincomalee and there will no doubt be plenty of tourists over there!

https://www.komoot.com/collection/2952667/-sri-lanka-to-india