Shipwrecks, night dives & underwater selfies: scuba diving in Koh Tao

Scuba-Luke is A-OK. Photo by Jan Tuerlings.

While travelling you can definitely live by the mantra "do something every day that scares you". In India this involved no more then getting on a bus or crossing the road, but in Thailand you have to try a little bit harder to get your kicks.

After the relaxation of Railay beach and Katie and Grant's wedding (that blog has gone down a storm by the way), Luke and I went to the island of Koh Tao on the east coast of Thailand and signed up to do our PADI open water scuba diving. We chose Koh Tao because it's one of the cheapest places in the world to get PADI certified and we had a recommendation for Planet Scuba dive school from a Nottingham friend who used to work there.

Before you're allowed to jump in the water at any great depth, the open water certification requires you to do a lot of theory work and watch A LOT of videos. Of the three-and-a-half days the course takes, I'd say we were watching videos for nearly half of that. They basically tell you about the many ways in which you could die while scuba diving - it turns out there are a lot.

There's a lot of this before any diving takes place.

Two days in we went out into the big blue to test of our new-found knowledge - thankfully in the pretty dive site of Japanese Gardens, in an area too shallow for you to actually kill yourself.

Our instructor made us do horrible things like take our masks off underwater (truly awful and makes your eyes sting); take the air supply out of our mouths and put in back in again; and use our buddy's alternative air source to practice what to do if you run out of air. All of these things are really uncomfortable and quite scary, especially taking out your air supply, but essential to practice for worst-case scenarios. We had two dropouts from our group at this stage which just shows how difficult it is.

Then we could get onto the fun stuff.

Our first proper dive was at a depth of 12 metres at White Rock dive site. It was a brilliant feeling to put all of our hard work into practice and spend some time under water. We were joined by a young lad from Chichester called Zak and together with our instructor, a Liverpudlian bloke called Scott Edwards, we were a bit of a dream team - we had good camaraderie on land but under water no one behaved like a loose canon.

Scott turned out to be a brilliant instructor - he's ex-military so a stickler for safety and detail (something definitely needed when scuba diving) but he was also a massive Mickey taker which kept us all laughing.

Zak, me and Luke checking our gear before heading into the water.

Being under water is a feeling like no other. First of all you can't speak so, apart from the odd hand signal to your buddies, you're completely on your own in an eerie kind of silence. The other thing is that this part of the world belongs to the fish, coral and other marine life - there's a definite feeling that you're a guest in their domain.

We also got to practice more skills such as pivoting on our fins and doing forward and backward roly-polys under water. My roly-poly provided Luke with his favourite moment of the whole dive course as, apparently, because I used my hands to claw my way upside down to roll, I looked like a cat trying to scuba dive!

Me, Luke and Zak after our first dive - awesome feeling.

After that we ventured into Junk Yard which is a man-made dive site full of, well, lots of junk. There's a car down there, an exercise bike, dumb bells and lots of other crazy stuff you wouldn't expect to find under water. It's relatively new but the fish are taking to it and making it their home - we saw a particularly beautiful Lion Fish which spent most of it's time hanging out under an upturned park bench. There was also a friendly Puffa Fish which thought it was a cat - it would come up to you to be petted and crawl up your arm.

After passing our PADI open water diving with flying colours, Luke and I decided to stay on and complete our advanced training - this is a lot more fun than open water as it's minimum theory and maximum diving. Unfortunately this is where we lost young Zak to the parties of Ko Phangan but gained a nice German girl called Alex.

Luke, Alex, me and Scott heading down the line. Photo by Jan Tuerlings.

The advanced certificate involves deep diving at 30 metres, navigation - it turns out I can't use a compass - and we also did a shipwreck and a night dive.

Our first 30 metre dive deep dive was at Green Rock and was a nightmare dive for me. First of all, as soon as we went down the line we saw a Trigger Fish which are famed in the scuba diving world for being nasty things that will actively come towards and give you a bite if they feel threatened. You know if they're going to bite because a spike comes up on their back -hence the trigger in Trigger Fish - and they dart towards you. Their teeth are so sharp that a bite can often require stitches. Seeing one in the flesh I was also alarmed at how big it was.

Trigger fish off Google Images - look at those teeth.

The dive then got more difficult as my mask fogged up - this was worrying being down at 30 metres for the first time as my nerves were already heightened. The mask being fogged up was possibly a blessing in disguise as, about 15 minutes in, I saw Scott do the hand signal for a Trigger Fish and then a quick about-turn in the other direction. I couldn't see clearly enough but I found out later that we'd encountered a "Trigger pit" of around 15 Trigger Fish who were paired up and mating - something which they particularly angry and being disturbed at. So that was a close call.

However, with the rough comes the smooth and next came my favourite dive of the whole week at HTMS Sattakut, Koh Tao's wreck dive. This Thai Navy ship was deliberately sunk in 2011 to create an amazing shipwreck at 30 metres. As we went down the line and the ship came into view I couldn't believe how beautiful it looked - it's quite a mind boggling sight to see something that far under water which isn't meant to be there.

As it's been established for three years it's become home to quite a few fish - some of which lurk in dark corners while others proudly swim around the outside.

Me swimming around the shipwreck. Photo by Jan Tuerlings.

Fish hanging out by the shipwreck. Photo by Jan Tuerlings.

Me giving the OK sign on the wreck. I look a bit cross-eyed. Photo by Jan Tuerlings.

As we were exiting the water we had to do a five minute safety stop (a precautionary measure to ward against decompression sickness) and while we were holding onto the line a huge school of Yellowstripe Fish  swam around us which was completely magical.

Next came the night dive which I'd been dreading and looking forward to in equal measure. Prior to doing the PADI course I didn't even know you could scuba dive at night, but it's actually very popular due to the fact that, using a torch, you can see more colour under water at night.

Luke, me and Scott on the boat before our night dive. You can see the fear!

So we set off just before sunset and waited for it to go down before heading down to Junk Yard. Initially I thought it was absolutely crackers to go underwater at night - I couldn't see a thing! - but once my eyes adjusted to the dark and we started to find things with our torches I understood. The colours are much more vibrant than in the daytime and you can pick out details that just aren't possible through the haze of water and sunlight.

Vibrant-coloured Nemo fish in their anemone on our night dive. Photo by Jan Tuerlings.

Not sure what this fella is but he's cute. Photo by Jan Tuerlings.

I'm not really eager to do a night dive again (it's definitely got to be a wreck first) but I would definitely try it again if I could find the right instructor who I trusted - I think Scott will vouch that I didn't venture much further than an inch away from him for the whole dive!

Surfacing after the night dive - looking relieved. Photo by Jan Tuerlings.

Out of everything we've done while travelling I think this has been the thing we've most enjoyed and got the biggest sense of achievement out of. It took us out of our comfort zone and gave us an experience we'll never forget. Most of all it gave us a certificate we can use anywhere in the world - the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, here we come.

USEFUL INFORMATION ABOUT DIVING IN KOH TAO
Dive schools: We went with Planet Scuba which is a great dive school near the pier at Mae Haad (turn left when you get off the pier). The instructors are mainly British which is always a good sign in my book! Our PADI open water diver cost 9,200 baht each (£184) including four nights' accommodation and the PADI advanced diver cost 7,650 baht each (£153) including two nights' accommodation.
Accommodation: As part of our diving courses we got free accommodation at Pier 24 which wasn't anything flash but was fine - you really do just sleep there when you're busy diving.
Getting there and away: We went to Koh Tao from Railay in Krabi using a joint boat/bus/boat ticket which cost 1,400 baht (£28) and took seven hours. From Koh Tao we went to George Town in Malaysia - the first leg was a joint boat/bus/train ticket from Koh Tao to Butterworth in Malaysia via Surat Thani which was 1,600 baht (£32) and took around 18 hours. We then took a boat from Butterworth across to George Town which cost 1.2 Malaysian Ringet (just over £1) - the train station is next to the boat port.

A Magical Wedding on Railay Beach

We were privileged to be invited to Railay beach in Thailand to see the marriage of our good friends Katie and Grant. Their wedding turned out not only to be an amazing day full of laughter, new friends and love - but it also gave us a luxurious break away from our current life as dirty backpackers.

For anyone who doesn't know Katie and Grant, they're our friends from Nottingham who now live in Adelaide, South Australia, with their little girl Bethany. Katie's a Brit and Grant's Australian which means the halfway point of Thailand made for the perfect location to ensure optimum attendance of family and friends from both isles. It's also a pretty spectacular place to get married.

Railay/Railei beach in Krabi, Thailand.

Most of the guests arrived a few days before the wedding in order to enjoy the hen and stag parties. The ladies' day was a classy affair with lunch in nearby Ao Nang overlooking the sea and an afternoon snorkelling off a junket boat with the odd cocktail thrown in for good measure. While the men had a day canoeing and an evening enjoying the night life of Railay. Considering it's not the wildest of resorts, I hear they managed to show themselves up in a way that only a large group of Brits and Aussies could... and I'll say no more.

The hens on board the junket boat.

Katie moved to Australia nearly five years ago and since then I've been doing my very best trying to talk her into coming home. But after meeting all of her Australian friends and family I know I've got a job on my hands - they're friendly, generous, funny and they obviously love Katie and Grant very much.

The ceremony itself was held at Railei Beach Club which is a collection of ornate, traditional wooden houses on the beach front. They chose to get married in House Number 1 which is perfectly shrouded by trees from the gawping eye of sunbathing tourists but has the dramatic scenery of Railay beach and its limestone cliffs as a backdrop.

House Number 1 at Railei Beach Club set up for the wedding ceremony.

Me and Luke before the ceremony.

From the moment me and Luke arrived and got handed stubby holders with our names on, I knew it was going to be a wonderful and thoughtful day full of things that are typically "Katie and Grant".

Katie is the kind of person who always puts extra special effort into everything she does - not only will she remember your birthday but she'll hand make you a personal card. This was reflected in her wedding as she and Grant had thought of everything from giving fans and a bottles of water to all of the guests, who were wilting in the heat, to providing buckets and spades for the kids.

Personalised drink holders (pic courtesy of Conor and Elva, forgot to get one of ours).

The order of service was written on a blackboard and hung on a tree.

Katie and Grant's photo tree of their best memories.

The guests were given a Poloroid camera and hung their photos up.

Along with another of their Nottingham friends, Emil, I was given the role of doing a reading which was both an honour and a source of great anxiety. I read the lyrics of All I Want Is You from the film Juno while Emil read The Book of Love by The Magnetic Fields. Emil's Indonesian-print batik shirt was also a big hit of the day.

Me and Emil practice our readings before ceremony while the groom fans himself! 

I'm not a big cryer at weddings but when the time came for Katie to walk in with her dad I think the whole congregation had a little tear in their eye. Not only did she look beautiful, but also so happy and delighted to see all of her family and friends, both British and Australian, in one place for the first time ever.

Katie arrives with her dad.

One of the most memorable parts of the wedding was the Sand Ceremony which saw (slightly pebbly) sand from Katie's hometown beach of Shoreham and (much softer) sand from Grant's hometown beach of Adelaide being poured together. They then kept some of the sand as a keepsake and the rest was poured into Railay beach - meaning there will always be a little bit of the UK and Australia swilling around on the shore where they got married.

The sand from Adelaide and Shoreham.

Grant and Katie during the sand ceremony.

Katie and Grant wrote their own vows which meant there wasn't any of the "honour and obey" crap and instead they spoke words that meant something to them and everyone around them. The wedding celebrant was also a fantastic chap who'd devised a little poem about how they met.

Happily married.

The newly weds with both sides of the family.

By the time the ceremony was complete and we'd all had a glass of South Australian pink wine, kindly brought over by the Australians in their suitcases, the sun had nearly set and we all had dinner on the beach. The setting was amazing - it was so quiet in front of Railei Beach Club it felt like we had the beach to ourselves.

Katie, Grant and Bethany (The KGB) on the beach after the wedding.

Wedding dinner set up on beautiful Railay beach.

In another "Katie and Grant" touch they had named all of the tables after places they've travelled together and did the table plan on a world map.

Map of the world table plan...

We were on the Great Britain Table, of course!

The party on the beach was pretty epic and something I'll remember for the rest of my life. If the amazing setting wasn't enough, they'd planned entertainment in the form of fire dancers who were probably the best I've seen in Thailand (and believe me, you see a lot of fire entertainers in Thailand!). I think everyone's heart was in their mouth when fire dancing Mr.Ting brought Katie up and danced around her (and her dress) with his flaming torches. I think the ladies will also forever remember Mr.Ting's rippling muscles!

Katie plays with fire with Mr.Ting (photo stolen off Nick Donovan's Facebook).

After the party there was an after-party on East Railay where the congregation headed for more cocktails. Again, the bride and groom thought of everything and at midnight a man arrived on a bicycle with loads of pizzas for the tipsy guests.

As well as the tradition of throwing the bouquet, the Brits were also introduced to an Australian tradition where the man takes off the bride's garter using only his teeth. Grant actually did a pretty good job, rather worryingly.

Katie doesn't like Australian traditions!!

After that there was just enough time for Kayten to challenge everyone to a press-up competition and for the Best Man to whoop his ass.

So there it is. Surely a contender for Wedding of the Year 2014?

USEFUL INFORMATION ABOUT RAILAY BEACH
Getting married: Jeeez! Don't ask me, Katie and Grant did all of the hard work - I just rocked up and enjoyed the day. The best place to start would probably be at Railei Beach Club as I know they used their wedding planner. Just say you want the "Katie and Grant Special".
Accommodation: We stayed at Railay Garden View Resort which is a brilliant mid-range option at 1,240 baht (£25) a night for a double room including breakfast. We then moved on to 500 baht (£10) a night huts at Phutawan Resort which were the cheapest huts we could find in Railay and were fine, if a little depressing after a week at Garden View.
Eating: By far the best food we found was at The Organic Thai restaurant, an unassuming little place located on the pathway between East and West Railay. For Western food then Joy Pizza on East Railay does really tasty stone bake pizzas.
Getting there and away: From Bangkok to Railay we took a night train, bus and long tail boat which was a joint ticket and came to 1,350 baht (£27) and took 15 hours. To get from Railay to Koh Tao we took a long tail boat, bus and catamaran, again a joint ticket, which came to 1,450 baht (£30) and took 7 hours.

Kanchanaburi: The Bridge over the River Kwai

Anyone who knows me will know that I'm a big fan of Thailand and, although we've been there three times already, including six months living in Chiang Mai in 2011, we keep coming back because it's such an interesting country with diverse and varied landscapes, warm people and incredibly tasty food.

Kanchanaburi is only 2.5 hours from Bangkok but it's like being in another world. Gone are the congested streets, tall buildings and back-to-back food stalls, shops and bars. Instead there are lush green paddy fields, wide roads with the odd moped whizzing by and a much slower pace of life. 

Of course it's also where thousands of prisoners of war (POWs) and Asian civilian labourers who were forced to work, spent harrowing years of the Second World War building the 415 kilometre Burma Railway between Bangkok and Rangoon, now commonly known at the Death Railway.

In anticipation of our trip, I read Pierre Boule's 1952 novel The Bridge over the River Kwai which is also a 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai, actually filmed in Sri Lanka where we'd just come from. The book paints quite a rosy picture of the men all banding together to humiliate the Japanese guards and being, well, jolly British and stoic about the whole thing. In reality I don't think the men had the opportunity to pull rank in such way and were so ill treated that their main aim was to just survive.

Our first port of call in Kanchanaburi was the Death Railway Museum (120 baht, £2.40) which is located next to the War Cemetery and tells the true story of what happened while the railway was constructed and 90,000 Asian labourers and 12,399 prisoners of war, 6,318 of whom were British, lost their lives.

We spent a whole morning there and it's potentially one of the most well put together museums I've been to in Asia. Quite often museums in this part of the world can be ill thought out and neglected (who can forget that museum in Pondicherry?) but this set absolutely the right tone - as well as being informative it's also a good tribute to the men who died building the Death Railway.

They also had some photos up from Colin Firth's recent visit as part of his research into the film The Railway Man (2013) in which he plays Eric Lomax. I was very sad to see that I'd missed the lovely Colin Firth by just a few months!

The Death Railway Museum, Kanchanaburi.

The War Cemetery opposite the museum. 

We then went to see the bridge over the River Kwai itself, which was one of the most gruelling tasks the POWs and Asian labourers were made to do complete. It didn't really look how I expected - in Pierre Boule's novel he talks a lot about a wooden construction but the bridge itself is made of concrete and steel. In fact it turns out that Boule's novel is inaccurate in many ways - the bridge wasn't actually built over the River Kwai but in fact the Mae Klong River but when the film came out the accommodating Thais changed the name of the river to Kwai in order to take advantage on the bridge's new-found notoriety.

Me on the bridge over the River Kwai.

It's not a particularly special or unusual bridge by today's standards but when you consider the men were working in the glaring sun (it was up to 40c while we were there and that's in winter) with sub-standard tools and limited rations, then it's a wonder it ever got completed and it's testament to their hard work (even if it was done under duress) that it's still standing today.

The bridge over the River Kwai is steel and concrete and not wooden.

After seeing the bridge, normal service resumed when we visited the adjacent museum which was to the usual incredibly bad standard. It was called the World War and Jeath Museum and was possibly the worst museum I've ever visited. The artifacts were randomly ordered and there was a picture gallery that managed to make the jump from the Second World War to Hannibal in one step, then jumped back to World War II and then off to Napoleon. A lot of things were unlabelled or the labels were pealing off and parts of it just looked abandoned. It was so bad it actually made me quite angry. To add to the strangeness there was a massive lizard thing hanging about the entrance which looked overfed and a bit unwell. Entry was only cost 40 baht (80p) but even that is a complete rip-off in my opinion.

The strange, sick-looking lizard thing outside the World War Museum.

I thought Kanchanaburi town itself was going to be uninspiring place with just the bridge as an attraction but it turned out to be a charming little town. There was quite a cool little night market to wander around in the evenings and we found two great places to eat - Nut's Restaurant and a small cafe named On's Thai-Isaan. Lovely On's was purely vegetarian and run by two of Thailand's most hard-working ladies who churned out amazing curries and papaya salads (not to mention one of them managing to fit in the odd breast-feed for her one-month old baby) from dawn until well past dusk every day. They were quite remarkable to watch.

We stayed on a floating river raft on the River Kwai (or should I call it the Mae Klong?) which was more stable than it sounds and provided beautiful sunrise and sunset views across the vast water.

The view from our river raft guest house in Kanchanaburi.

I was hoping to take in the swim in the river but then I saw a couple of these chappies hanging about in the water and was put off!

Huge lizard chilling out next to the river.

Overall I would definitely recommend a visit to Kanchanaburi - it's thought-provoking, beautiful and the people are lovely. Just don't go to that crappy museum!

USEFUL INFORMATION ABOUT KANCHANABURI:
Accommodation: We stayed at Sam's Riverside Raftouse which was in a lovely location and good value for money. They have cheaper rooms at 300 baht (£6) a night and much nicer rooms which are newer and have tiled bathrooms for 500 baht (£10) a night.
Eating: It's got to be Nut's Restaurant which has a very friendly and helpful owner or On's Thai-Isaan which does great food. Both are on the main road through Kanchanaburi.
Getting there and away: Surely there's only one way to travel to Kanchanaburi and that's by train on the original Death Railway route? It's really quick, easy and cheap (120 baht, £2.40) from Bangkok and there are two trains there and back each day. Everything you need to know can be found here.

A week in beautiful Sri Lanka

You may have noticed from my last blog that I had grown tired of the hawkers, gawkers and conmen of India. Thankfully Sri Lanka proved to be the perfect antidote to this.

Although so close to India they almost touch, Sri Lanka has a completely different feel. For a start the women seem less opressed - they look happy and actually smile. I also saw females working in quite important jobs and, shock horror, the Sri Lankan men didn’t seem to mind. I’m not saying they’ve managed to pull off the seemingly impossible (and by that I mean equality) but they’re certainly a step ahead of India.

After arriving at the airport in Colombo we went into the city to the bus station and Luke went off to find out about bus times. While I was waiting alone no one stared at me or asked for a photo and I felt perfectly safe to be on my own – this felt very liberating after 10 weeks of constantly feeling like I was only safe by Luke’s side.

When we were planning our week in Sri Lanka we initially devised an ambitious itinerary which involved three nights in the hilltop station town of Kandy, a night or two in Sigiriya to see Lion Rock and then the remaining few nights by the coast in Mirissa. However, we decided to learn from the mistake we made in India (an overambitious itinerary) and headed straight for a week by the sea in Mirissa. This turned out to be a good base as the beach was beautiful – perfect for lazy days – but there were also a few interesting places nearby for day trips. More importantly there were more roti shops than you could possibly visit in a seven-day period.

Tranquil Mirissa beach in Sri Lanka.

We hired a moped for our first day trip and went to the town of Galle which is a 50-minute moped ride from Mirissa. After Indonesia, Sri Lanka was the second most affected country in the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami but driving along the coastal road, there was no evidence of the devastation it caused. The biggest loss on the day was 1,700 people who were in an overcrowded train from Colombo to Galle which took the full impact of the huge wave and nearly everyone on board was killed. In total 35,322 people in Sri Lanka were killed and over 500,000 people displaced.

Today, the coastal path is busy with shops, hotels and restaurants and palm trees line the shore. In our travels we hadn’t yet visited an area which was badly affected by the tsunami and I went to Sri Lanka expecting to see some physical evidence of the impact – but all I saw was a perfectly normal tourist area. The ever-smiling locals didn’t speak of the psychological effects it had but you can’t help but think there must be some.

Sri Lanka has also made the headlines recently, particularly the Channel 4 News in the UK, due to its alleged war crimes and human rights abuses during the final stages of the civil war which recently came to an end. Again, it's hard to imagine these atrocities taking place somewhere that looks so much like paradise.

On our way to Galle we got as close to a con as you probably get in Sri Lanka. We’d heard of the iconic stilt fisherman of Ahangama and when we saw five of them lined up, we decided to jump off and take a photo. It turns out this must have been happening for years because, almost immediately, a man popped up with his hand out and demanded 200 Sri Lankan Rupees(lkr), so £1, before we were allowed to take a photo. Wanting the iconic photo, we decided to pay up.

The stilt fishermen of Anhangama, Sri Lanka.

As we neared it became obvious that the men weren’t even real fisherman – they had no lines off their sticks and were just sitting there, bobbing the sticks up and down for show. Therefore I have renamed them the Fakerman of Anhangama.

A stilt Fakerman of  Ahangama hoping to reel in money rather than fish.

It must be quite a lucrative gig as, in the five minutes we were there, about three minivans pulled up with people dutifully handing over wads of cash in order to be allowed a few camera clicks – on public land, might I add. Stupid tourists and I’m including myself in that statement.

Tourists pull over to hand over wads of cash to take photos of fake culture.

Galle itself was well worth the journey (and sore bum on the moped). It’s a pretty Portuguese/Dutch colonial town with narrow streets, a pretty harbour and pristine lighthouse.

Pretty Galle town.

It's also home to lots of quite expensive restaurants and coffee shops which tourists seem to love so much. Thankfully, we found a cute and reasonably-priced restaurant called Lucky Fort where we enjoyed a feast of ten vegetable curries and rice. This is a traditional dish of Sri Lanka and something we fell in love with while we were there - the curries were always fresh and really healthy without too much oil. Generally it was five curries and rice, so having the offer of ten with rice for just 900 lkr (£4.50) for the both of us was heavenly.

Me chowing down on 10 curries and rice.

Lucky Fort restaurant, Galle.

In Mirissa we lived on rotis which came in every flavour - egg, vegetable, cheese, chicken, nutella, chocolate - and are basically really thin pancakes that are folded over whichever ingredient you choose to put inside. They were delicious and cheap (about 80lkr, 40p) and we found a really friendly place called Dewani No.1 Roti Shop which we think sold the best - the perfect level of saltiness.

On another day trip we went to the nearby surfing beach of Weligama which was the perfect beach for beginners as it was really long, therefore less chance of collisions, and the waves were nice and predictable. This gave Luke a chance to hire a board for a few hours hone the skills he learned during our surf lessons in Varkala.

Unfortunately it looks like quiet, laid back Weligama won't be that way for long. I spied a monstrosity of a Marriott hotel being built on the sea front - it's a whopping 12 storeys. I'm not sure how they got planning permission but when it opens it will undoubtedly oust any cheapo surfing backpackers.

Laid back Weligama with the looming Marriott hotel on the horizon.

On the whole Sri Lanka is more expensive than India and our £35-a-day budget was tested, but the standards were oh so much higher – things were clean, like properly clean, there was toilet paper in the bathrooms and we stopped feeling the need to smother our hands in anti-bacterial gel every five minutes. So the extra few quid for accommodation and food was worth every penny in my book.

Sri Lanka was a bit of an accidental addition to our itinerary (we extended a stopover on our way to Thailand) but I'm really pleased we went there. The people were warm, the food was good and it turned out to be a tonic after the stresses of India.

I think it's safe to say that: Sri Lanka, we will be back.

USEFUL INFORMATION ABOUT MIRISSA:
Accommodation: We stayed in a lovely family-run guest house called Sahan Guest House on Vihadagoda Road, a five minute walk from Mirissa beach. It was spotlessly clean and cost 2,500 lkr (£12.50) a night.
Eating and drinking: We loved No1 Dewani Roti Shop which was across the road from our guest house. On beach days we'd normally head to Sunny Side Up Restaurant which is part of Mirissa Bay Resort - it looks posher than the rest of the restaurants but the prices are actually the same as everywhere else along the beach.
Getting there and away: From the airport in Colombo we got a bus to Colombo Bus Station (120lkr, 30 mins) and then got a air-conditioned 'express' bus to Mirissa (400lkr) - however, this turned out not to be express at all and took nearly six hours. On the way back we got a tuk-tuk from Mirissa to Weligama (150lkr) and then took the express train to Colombo which took three hours and only cost 100lkr - this was much more relaxing. We then hopped on a bus to Colombo Airport (100lkr, 30 mins).