Unawatuna Beach

Unawantuna is a costal village in Galle. It is famous for its beautiful beaches and corals.

Many independent travellers and backpackers visit Unawantuna beach, including a lot of Germans and Australians.

I went for a ride in a glass bottom boat and went snorkelling in the waters above the famous corals, but I only managed to see three fish!

Sitting on a glass bottomed boat

Snorkelling as the sun sets

I cut my foot on a coral and it was bleeding a lot, and as I was told there were sharks in the bay, I panicked and thought I was going to get eaten by a shark. So, I got back on the boat as soon as possible to avoid the inevitable shark attack.

We took a visit to Hikkaduwa, which is about half an hour away. As we were wating at the bus stop, the buses never stopped for us. Their was a tuk-tuk driver trying to get us to have a lift from him, but we wanted to travel on the bus to save money and for a better experience of Sri Lankan culture. After half anhour of all the buses near;ly stopping, then shooting off at the last minute we became very suspisious. Then, we saw that the tuk-tuk driver was shooing all the buses away, because he thought then we would give in and get a tuk-tuk with him! So we told him we would never get a tuk-tuk with him even if it was free and when the next buses came we jumped in front of him to block him from shooing the buses away. We eventually got a bus and the journey was along the beautiful coast line.

Hiding the tuk-tuk driver, as we wait for a bus!

We had to get off the bus in  a hurry because one of the volunteers was so desperate for the toilet she couldn't wait and we were in the middle of nowhere! We wondered around trying to find somwehere and everyone was staring at us, as if they had never seen white people! Thankfully, a kind lady let us use her outside toilet, and we carryed on our journey.

When we readed Hikkaduwa a storm was brewing and it was almost like  ghost town. We walked around trying to find a guest house to stay in but things kept creeping us out! There was a frog in one of the rooms, which a volunteer is really scared off, and then another volunteer fell down the stairs. We decided it was too creepy to stay, so we jumped on the first tuk-tuk back to Unawantuna!

Back on Unawantuna beach in the storm

There are hundreds of abandoned dogs in Sri Lanka, especially on the beach, so we made some dog friends, and they slept under our sunbeds!

The second weekend I visited Unawantuna, we went to Colombo Fort train station and got a train to Galle. At Colombo there was a massive market and managed to barter from 8000 rupees to 1500 rupees for a bag. They try and rip off all the tourists. There were dodgy people hanging around following us and I knew they were watching for the ideal time to pick pocket us so i put my bag on my front and stared at them, to let him know that I knew what he was thinking. They soon went away!


The train station is absoloutly crazy1 We got 3rd class tickets (1st class was recommended for tourists, so were slumming it a bit). We noticed that as the train arrives at the platform people jump on as it is moving for the only chance to get a seat. People even stand in the train tracks so they can jump on from the other side! I didn't want to be cramped and uncomfortable for the four hour journey, so as the train came to the paltform I took a running jump and rolled onto the train. I manged to save seats for people, and even though it was so busy I was quite comfortable, and enjoyed the beach views on the journey. As we got nearer our destination the train became very spacious and we sat in the doors and admired the amazing beach views. We even saw a load of slums, which was very interesting!

Sitting in the train door, admiring the views.

The guest houses are quite cheap, about 800 rupees (about 4.80) for a double room. Here is a picture of us outside our guest house, waiting for a monsoon shower to end.