Midigama had not been as idyllic as we had hoped, so Chris and I decided to keep moving along the coast. We hopped on the bus at the main road and travelled around 20 minutes west, to reach Unawatuna. Unawatuna is one of Sri Lanka's main beach resorts and therefore incredibly popular with holiday makers. Consequently, accommodation was mostly out of our budget. But bartering King Chris managed to sway the manager of 'Daffodil Holiday Resort' to accept our average room price of £10. The room was also one of the nicest we had stayed in.
Daffodil was located near the beginning of the road leading towards the beach. We were interested to see the notorious beach, so went for a wander. With the rows of souvenir shops, clothes shops, cafes, hotels, and juice bars, it did not take much to distract us. In and out of several shops, and a few purchases later, we finally found the beach.
The golden sand beach was huge, with beautifully calm water, but a lot of people. It was also surrounded by an abundance of pricey restaurants, so we had to head back towards our guesthouse to find something more affordable. Hidden away was a rice and curry buffet ran by a welcoming family. At 350 rupees (£1.75 pp), it was the cheapest meal we could find in the area, so we grabbed a plate each and tucked in. There was plenty of variety of vegetable curries, as well as the common dahl curry, and crispy popadoms. The best thing for Chris was that they encouraged seconds, and thirds, and however many servings it took to ensure their customers were properly full!
Sure enough, we both left feeling 'super pooped' and an afternoon relaxing on the beach was definitely welcomed. We were relaxed until unexpectedly an entire boys school, all dressed in their white uniform, took over the beach and pondered over the sea. Most of them threw their shoes and socks to one side, rolled their trousers up, and played around in the shallow water.
As the afternoon came to and end, we headed back to rid ourselves from the sand and salt. Earlier that day I had met an elderly lady who had offered to custom make me a top for just £2! I went back to collect it, which undoubtedly fitted perfectly, and was very pleased.
For dinner we had been encouraged back to the rice and curry buffet, on the basis that the lady would cook different curries for dinner. Unfortunately only one curry was different! But we had already tucked in, so had to suffice with a repeated meal. On the positive side, the food was very good, so we weren't massively bothered.
In the mood for a beer we walked along the beach to search for an inviting bar. Eventually we found an area with decorated private platforms, with plenty of comfy cushions, so sat down and savoured the refreshing beer.

Galle, a major city in Sri Lanka with its UNESCO Old Town and fortifications, was just down the road from Unawatuna. Rather than move accommodation again, we decided it would be easiest for us to visit Galle on a day trip from Unawatuna. By 8.30am we were on the bus and, no more than 20 minutes later, we arrived to Galle. First on our agenda was breakfast, and luckily we didn't have to walk very far before spying a hotel. We tucked into some string hoppers, fish curry, and potato curry (a nice change away from dahl).
The Galle fort was built by the Portuguese in the 16th century, and the Dutch continued its development up until the 18th century. As we entered the Old Town through a large brick archway, a friendly local pointed us in the direction of some steps, leading up to the top of the fort wall. We continued to follow the wall around, admiring the spectacular views out to sea. The Galle fortress is actually the largest remaining fortress in Asia built by Europeans. Amazingly, the fort itself was undamaged in the 2004 Tsunami, but the inside town was completely destroyed. The water was barricaded by the impressive fort walls and the water found its way into the Old Town through the fortress gates! The breeze from walking along the forts sturdy walls was very satisfying! Despite it being the morning it was already unbearably hot. At any chance I had I was in the shade, whilst Chris battled the scorching sun to take photographs.
About two thirds of the way around, the Galle lighthouse sits at 26.5 metres tall. The existing lighthouse was built in 1939, replacing the original lighthouse, built by the British in 1848, which was destroyed by a fire.
A very tactical ice cream man was sat waiting under the trees near the lighthouse, and it was a challenge to spot a tourist without either an ice cream or ice lolly in their hands! Although it was only 10.30am, an ice lolly was required! The burst of ice cold flavour, sugar, and water provided the much needed pick me up we were desperate for.
We now had the motivation to keep exploring the fort and headed into the central area. There were plenty of quirky boutiques and interesting buildings to look at. We found the Dutch Reformed Church to admire and walked alongside the maritime museum, located in a 1671 Dutch warehouse above the Old Gate of Galle fort. If it hadn't have been for the extreme heat we probably would have wandered for longer around the fort area. As it was, we couldn't wait to get back on the bus and back to Unawatuna, to avoid the sun for a couple of hours.
We were enticed into 'Jina's restaurant' for lunch, by the advertising of avocado throughout their menu. However we were quickly disappointed when the owner apologised for not having any avocados that day! Between us we ordered a cheese and tomato club sandwich and hummus with homemade bread. Being accustomed to large portions of rice and curry for meal times, our tummies were left feeling a little unsatisfied. But luckily we had a fresh coconut to scrape at back in our room. We avoided the sun for a couple of hours, relaxing on our veranda.
The taste of western food at lunchtime had left us craving more. 'Bed Space' was highly rated on TripAdvisor and happened to be just around the corner from our guesthouse. The setting was lovely; a small garden area, lit up with fairy lights and candles. Chris ordered the lasagne and I decided on the pork belly roll, washed down with a glorious glass of red wine. Disappointingly the lasagne was very average and there wasn't a lot of pork belly in my roll. Although I left feeling full, the both of us felt a little underwhelmed.

We couldn't let the opportunity to hire a tuk tuk pass us by, which we managed to hire for a very reasonable £10 for the day. The owner of the rice and curry hotel was happy for us to take his tuk tuk out for the day. He jumped in with Chris in the driver's seat, just to check and ensure Chris could ride it. Of course Chris had no problems, but he did say it definitely wasn't as easy to ride as it looks. The gears and clutch were both on the left handle.
We tucked into a local breakfast at the tuk tuk owner's hotel; milk rice, dahl curry, sambal, and roti. Then we took to the roads.
It was a little jerky at first, but soon enough Chris got the hang of it and I sat back and enjoyed being chauffeured! We poodled east along the coastal road and stopped at Wijaya beach. A fellow backpacker had recommended this beach for snorkelling with turtles and seeing the real stilted fisherman. One of the most iconic photographs of Sri Lanka is of the stilted fisherman. Sadly most of the photos seen are of posing locals asking for money to have their picture taken. Allegedly they can earn more money from posing than they can from actually fishing. However, around the corner from Wijaya beach was a small area of stilts, with real fisherman hard at work. We were conscientious about taking photos. The last thing we wanted was for them to feel as though they were animals in a zoo. Or for them to look at tourists in annoyance.
The sea was quite choppy, with some strong currents, so we decided to return later to search for turtles. We continued along the coastal road and eventually found ourselves back at Midigama. It was the perfect spot for some pictures in the tuk tuk and for me to have a little go at driving. After a ropey start, I managed to pull away carefully and just about managed to find second gear! Chris urged me to pull over before the main road - I don't think I filled him with much confidence!
We found a small shop selling vegetable and fish rottis so purchased a couple to take with us to the beach for lunch. Returning to the same spot as earlier, around the corner from Wijaya beach, we tucked into our snacks and admired the stilted fisherman. Having spied some turtle heads breeching the surface, Chris headed out in search of them. Unfortunately the waves were crashing around the rocks and the current was still strong. Chris spied a broken stilt dangerously sticking up from the sand, which could have serious consequences if the current pushed someone in that direction. Straight away he returned to the beach and we accepted that the turtles were out of reach.
Feeling a bit restless, we ended up taking the tuk tuk further on from Unawatuna in search of 'Jungle beach'. As it turned out, there were two Jungle beaches. The struggle to drive the tuk tuk up the steep hill indicated that we would have to walk back down to find the beach.
It was a short walk through the jungle, down a fair few steps, to find the first Jungle beach. A nice beach in a protected cove, but it was very busy due to it being the weekend. We decided to check out the other Jungle beach, which was a little further along the coast. Chris managed very well to drive the tuk tuk down the rocky track to reach the car park. We parked up, placing a rock behind one of the wheels, as the handbrake didn't work! We had another short walk down to find the beach, but before we saw it we could hear the crowds. It sounded even busier than the other beach, and the car park had indicated the crowds. Unanimously, we turned around and decided to return to Wijaya to watch the sunset.
On our way to Wijaya we purchased a small watermelon, the perfect size for two people. It was a desired refreshment after the hot day. As we lay our towels down on the beach one of the local fishermen approached us. We soon got chatting and he asked Chris if he wanted a little go at fishing, using his simple bamboo rod, 6ft of line and a lure. The fisherman pointed Chris in the right direction to stand and fish, whilst a few other fishermen perched on their stilts didn't batter an eye lid. Chris casually watched the stilted fishermen to suss out their technique. They were catching fish practically every 10 seconds, but so far, Chris had not been so lucky. Not one to give up easily, and with a lot of patience, Chris stayed in the water for a good half hour to forty five minutes. Because he wasn't allowed onto a stilt, Chris was nearly up to his shoulders in water and kept being bashed around by the waves. But he could see the small silver fish swimming around and was determined. Meanwhile, I sat with two of the local fisherman and found out about their families and lifestyle. Both had been fishermen all their lives, and apparently this year had so far been an excellent year for fishing. They were both confident that Chris would catch something! Which eventually he did! Although he nearly lost it as it slipped from his hands back on the beach. He looked relieved to have finally caught one and to be able to add another fish to the fisherman's bag. Understanding that the tiny lure cost the equivalent of 35p, we gave the fisherman a little bit of money to purchase a few, and as a little thank you.
Another local was walking his Dalmatian puppy that evening, who was especially playful. Chris enjoyed teaching her to play fetch and try to build her confidence in the water. She would creep in slowly to retrieve the plastic bottle she was playing with, but would not enter voluntarily.
Unfortunately the sunset was nothing spectacular, so as darkness fell we returned the tuk tuk to its rightful owner. It had been such a novelty to have our own tuk tuk for the day and great fun.
For dinner we paid the rice and curry buffet one last visit. The curries were mostly different to our previous two visits and as usual, we left feeling very full.

For breakfast we both tucked into a banana roti from next door, and on our way to the main road bought some clementines. We jumped on the crowded bus heading further west along the coast, ultimately to reach Hikkaduwa.