940009: Hikkaduwa Sunset

S. M. Owens posted a photo:

Sri Lanka: Hikkaduwa, Sunset

I took the photo above on my first visit to Sri Lanka in 1983; it was taken virtually from the back garden of the Curry Bowl. Unsurprisingly, and not just because of this view, it is a place I have always wanted to revisit. Fortunately, on occasions I have been able to do so.
In 2014 I stayed at the Curry Bowl, for a week, and used Hikkaduwa as a base for visiting Galle and Matara…. see photo next door.
During the time I was there, it was pretty quiet: no surfers to be seen; but the atmosphere was much the same: beautiful sunsets, with turtles frolicking in the surf. After dark, I’d see a few transient Chinese and Russian tourists wandering about, looking for somewhere to go, but in Hikkaduwa, there isn’t anywhere: by 9 p.m. the place is all-but shut.
In 83, Hikkaduwa was quite a scene, but, it has been through ‘hell and high water’ since then. I’m not exaggerating when I say this; during the long civil war tourists avoided the country, and then in December 2004 Sri Lanka was hit by the Boxing Day Tsunami. When I visited in August 2005, the Curry Bowl was being rebuilt and I was the only guest. The place was busy with NGO’s, but there were hardly any tourists – there hadn’t been in 2001, nor when I visited in 2009. I half expected there to be more around in 2014, but there wasn’t.
With our present day predicament, it remains uncertain as to when tourist/travellers will be able to return to Hikkaduwa to enjoy the magical sunsets.
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Photo: 1983; and text: 2014/21:
© S. Owens
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