After a long teaching semester and being a new team leader, luxury was what I needed and what I got. Another drive through the country side we finally arrived at Weligama Bay Resort for our eight nights of surf, sea, food and Christmas.
Coming from New Zealand and living by the sea I always took the ocean for granted, but after five years of living in Vienna I craved the ocean more than ever. Lucky me, at the resort we were first greeted by this amazing open reception with view out to the ocean. Every bone in my body wanted to drop my bags, strip off and run into that warm sea. But, this was a resort, and that would probably not be appropriate.
We were at a tropical resort with palm trees lining the way to the beach, surf boards for rent, restaurant by the sea shore, spa facilities, beach chairs with umbrellas and a swimming pool. What more could a girl want … maybe a nice room to stay in and that was exactly what happened. Our room was located on the second floor with wooden flooring, air conditioning, a balcony overlooking the ocean and a beautiful large bed with fresh flowers on it. (Daily our bed had fresh flowers placed on it and at night they came in and put new flowers. This is something I have never had in my life.)
Amped for some good lines
Our goals for Weligama was to surf, surf, surf and more surfing. Luckily the water was extremely warm, you could spend hours in the ocean without feeling cold. Every morning we woke up at six am and headed to the beach and in the evening, we would return at sunset. This was a one-minute walk max, and on the way, we were able to grab our surf boards which we hired for seven days for under forty euro.
B got relatively decent at surfing surfing small waves and started to head out the back after the second day. I was unfortunately bad at filming him and ended up only getting him falling off - Whoops! Me on the other hand did not get out the back to surf but managed to stand up on quite a few waves.
Food, food, food
Surf was not the only thing we managed at Weligama. I managed to gain three kilograms from all the eating. The food there for us vegetarians was extremely good. Some of our favourite places to hit up were:
Hangten Rooftop which served western classics, great juices and oh so yum brownies. This place was super cheap and good portion sizes which is why we ended up having two dinners there overlooking the ocean. We just wish we had found this place earlier.
Good Story Coffee Shop, this place was our modern hippy go to lunch spot. The bowls were delicious, the bagels were outstanding, the eggs benedict reminded me of home and the iced coffee was just what you needed in the heat.
Shady Lane Mirissa was another spot we visited when we spent an afternoon in Mirissa. This was very similar to the Good Story Coffee Shop just hidden in beneath a small garden area. This place and Mirissa are definitely worth the visit for an afternoon. You can head to the cliff side beneath the palms and get some amazing photos overlooking the Indian Ocean.
Weligama Kitchen at the Marriott Resort. This was a treat in Christmas day for dinner. We headed here for their Christmas Buffet Dinner on the 25th. What a treat, the deserts and sections were plentiful and delicious.
Aura Beach Club by W15. This place we went to twice for dinner because of the pizza and fish and chips. This was a lazy dinner sitting right on the sand beside the ocean. The food was good but very expensive.
Exibit A: Fruit bowl 
Exibit B: Eggs benedict bagel 
Exibit C: Double fruit bowl 
Exibit D: Sweet bagel A warm and unusual Christmas
Enough about food, and a little bit about what else we did other than surfing. One of the main things we did was sneak food from our breakfast at the resort to feed our new friend Malt. The dog on the beach we had made friends with. He was the most amazing beach dog with such a kind gentle nature. Every day he would get sausages and ham from us.
We also spent Christmas by the ocean. At our resort there was a gala dinner that you paid for. This was a fun evening with wine, bag singers, a very funny looking Santa in a mask, a bonfire on the beach and fireworks to end the evening. What we found out later was that the toy animal presents Santa gave the children from our resort were actually brought from a charity that supports the street dogs of Sri Lanka. This made me like this place even more.
A train ticket and an old Fort
As the saying goes though, all good things must come to an end and so our eight nights and nine days by the coast ended more quickly than they had begun. It was time for our last two nights of adventure before heading home.
We were going to Galle, and for that we decided to catch the local train (out of curiosity rather than necessity). It was also quite convenient as the train follows the coast directly from Weligama to Galle, allowing for views of the ocean on one side while having the lush jungle on the other.
It is also dirt cheap. At the station we were asked though if we want second or third class tickets, which did seem a bit unexpected. There wasn't that much difference in the price so we took second class, which retrospectively I can say is completely pointless. It will ensure you have a designated waiting area at the station, however once on the train it's a free for all. Anyway, if you ask me the best seats are directly on the stairs at the wagon entrences.
Our second to last night was spent in Galle at The Stairway. This place was in the middle of the old fort in a Dutch Colonial style building. Galle light house and fort were so close and we spent that afternoon exploring the city and B spent it shopping up a storm. I have never seen him buy so many items in his life in one go. This town you only need one day and night in so the next day we headed to Colombo.
The lighthouse in the old Dutch Fort 
Colombo was ok, if you don’t need to stay there I wouldn’t. We ended up spending the first day wandering around and just visiting the Dutch Hospital for food. There is not much to do in Colombo. The night although turned out to be great spending an evening at a pub sitting on the tables on the street listening to live music and singing our hearts out.
The next day we didn’t know what to do so we ended up paying roughly 25 euro each for a voucher to a pizza, beer and pool entry into The Kingsbury Hotel by the water. This was a good choice because the day was hot, we flew out at seven and had to check out of ours at twelve. The place offered showers after the pool so we felt refreshed before our flight.
The end had come to what I would say was the best place we have visited so far on our travels. We will definitely be back here. Here’s hoping to a return visit in April 2020.
