A few idle days in Passekudah

We had a very pleasant 2.5ish hour ride from Arugam Bay to Passekudah (9 000 rupeahs, private a/c van). Although it was really hard to drag ourselves away from the Arugam Bay Surf Resort. We were totally ensconsed and had even made friends with the guy who ran the place. We unkindly nick named him Charley Mansion (for his looks not his behaviour).

However, we decided that if we didn't move on from Arugam, we'd end up spending the entire rest of our holiday there.

Passekudah bound.

So onto Passekudah it was. We drove through Batticoloa, a nice enough looking town but too big to stroll around, especially in the heat. 

Passekudah is a good 30 mins drive further north, from Batti. When our van arrived at Moni Guesthouse, I have to say we were somewhat taken aback. It was dusty, rural and in the middle of nowhere.

Moni Guesthouse and surprising great restaurant.

We picked our room, chatted to the extremely helpful manager, Satesh and headed out out the beach. 

Moni Guesthouse is literally between two beaches. If you walk right for five minutes you get to Passekudah Beach and if you walk left, for three minutes, you reach Kalkaduah Beach. 

Centera Resort, Passekudah Beach.

Wow - both beautiful, isolated and amazing. Our first stop was Passekudah Beach, which is more popular with the locals. There are a couple of very big and very new resorts (as Satesh advised us, everything is less than two years old, which is when the war finished). Mali Mali was the older of the two and Centera is the one we visited. Very beautiful, very helpful staff and very, very empty! To be fair, however, they had only been open for three months. We had lunch at Centera, the food was ok...... standard resort fare but still quite inexpensive by Australian standards.

Beautiful Passekudah Beach all to yourself (sorta..)

The water was sensational, warm, gentle and clean. After the wild surf at Arugam, it was lovely for us to have a 'gentle dip'. Also good for a spot of people watching, as all the locals were enjoying themselves, swimming and chatting.

By contrast, Kalkaduah Beach had nothing but a few fishing boats and a couple of buildings that are under construction. It is an beautiful sweep of beach and no doubt will become very, very different in a few short years. Lets hope the developments bring some wealth to the local people.

The short, monkey lined road between Passekudah and Kalkaduah Beaches.

Kalkaduah Beach.

So although we initially didn't find Passekudah quite as we had anticipated, once we settled into the extremely slow place, it was really delightful. The highlights are short and sweet:

1. Food at Moni was to die for. Best value in Sri Lanka. Huge portions and really tasty. Richie has always wanted to have a 'Singapore Girl' for himself. I'd settle for taking the young chef home with me! 

Delicious breakfast at Moni - best coconut roti ever (next to Sujatas).

We had a great fish supper, that was shared with a couple of pommy backpackers - Tom and Kate who had just commenced on a year travel, through Australasia. We gave them the benefit of our collective travel wisdom, over several beers. They were nice enough to listen.

Dinner at Moni - Rich said it was the best fish he'd ever had - high praise indeed!

Kate and Tom suffering enjoying us pontificate on all things travel!

2. A couple of doors down from Monis was Denis' Beer shop. Denis was pretty grumpy - I think we asked too many questions. "We'd like a cheeky, fruity, 3 year old vintage, my good man. What do you have in stock?" ............no not really, more like "how much for that bottle in the window?". But great, cheap beer and wine in a remote location, is not to be sniffed at........what more could you ask for?

Grumpy Denis - no wine for you!!!

3. Discovering a pack of black face monkeys, enjoying dinner on the roadside. Sadly they were most unaccomodating and were nowhere to be seen, when we returned to said spot, with our camera - Bastards! 

4. Tsunami memorial. Horrified to learn that the wave came in both sides - from Passekudah and Kalkaduah Beach, so there was no where to run - decided not to think about that too much!

Tsumani Memorial, Passekudah.

5. Enjoying vast expanse of beautiful, breezy uncrowded  beach. Jump in for a dip, come out and be dry again in about five minutes.

Locals enjoying Passekudah Beach.

6. Getting the low down from Satesh on all things 'people smuggling'. Passekudah is apparently the beach from where the people smuggler boats depart. According to our inside man (who is Tamil, as are the majority of those seeking asylum) if you plan to travel to Australia by the illegal route you must:

• Go to police station and report that someone is trying to kill you. 
• Pay police for copy of your report. 
• Show report to UN and get it endorsed as a genuine police report. 
• Show report to a SL Govt. Official and pay to have it endorsed as a genuine police report. 
• Get on rickety boat to Australia and claim asylum. 

Satesh, our man on the inside.

Also according to our man on the inside - no boats can leave Sri Lanka without the permission of the Sri Lankan navy - so a few backhanders later........

There are some bizarre billboards, up and down the roads, telling people not to get on an illegal boat. I think the weird guy in the picture is meant to be an Aussie. I will try to get a photo posted.....

So all in all, Passekudah was a very short, sweet, restful little sojourn and now we are ambling along the road to Trincomalee, where we hope to catch up with Sasha and Laura, for their last night, before they head back to Colombo.