South Sri Lanka Jungle

Vikram was our go-to tuk tuk driver

and he did an awesome job showing us around the jungle.

Spice plantation, tea plantation and snake doctor

were on the agenda for the day.

First up, the spice plantation. 

This place grew everything - seriously everything...

cloves, cinnamon, ginger, garlic, pineapples, mangoes, 

papaya, and the list could go on and on...

Next up, the tea plantation.

Virgin Tea is grown here. 

(it's never been touched by bare hands)

Along with lots of other teas... such an interesting and hands-on process.

They also had rubber trees, peppercorn, papayas everywhere.

Beautiful.

Finally, the snake doctor.

Umm... freaking scary.

The guy is a third generation snake doctor.

He's been bit 5 times by a cobra and just one-week before a viper.

And his father,  35 cobra bites.

No hospitals, no antibiotics - just natural remedies.

insane.

 

 

 

 

I hate snakes.

definitely hate them.

xx

the mcgees

Sri Lanka | Unawatuna & Galle

Forty-minute flight and we've landed in paradise.

Unawatuna was our first stop, and we quickly realised 
we could explore much of south Sri Lanka 
within a 30-min scooter/tuk tuk ride.

Sri Gemunu is a great small hotel with amazing balcony views. 

It's in a perfect location near 

beachside restaurants, Unawatuna Village and Galle.

After a bit of tuk tuk exploring, we found the surf breaks...

obviously the most important thing! 

And spent an afternoon wandering around Galle.

It's peppered with Dutch-colonial buildings, 

and the Fort is filled with restaurants and shops.   

We stopped for lunch at the well-known Mama's restaurant for some 
traditional Sri Lankan cooking... yum!

We loved Wijiya and Talpe Beach restaurants in Unawatuna

and found a great gallery in Unawatuna Village called Saffron Gallery.

We came away with a few great paintings by a local artist!  

Sri Lanka is known for its sapphiresand of course, 
I had to take advantage!

A beautiful a sea foam coloured stone was set by a local.
It's perfect.

 

South Sri Lanka is a mini piece of heaven.

seriously. 

xx

the mcgees

India | Kovalam

Our last stop in Kerala was Kovalam,

and we splurged to stay in Niraamaya Resorts.

My goodness it was worth it... well worth it.

We had the most beautiful villa called "Mosque View" 

because it had a perfect view of the sea (from our bed)

as well as views of the mosques.

Everything about Niraamaya was spot on...

the staff, the private beach, infinity pool and property.

Because the property was so gorgeous, we took full advantage.

We spent time at the pool and at the private beach

before exploring the nearby city, Kovalam.

A tuk tuk took us to the mosques, the beaches of Kovalam, 

the lighthouse and through the very poor fishing villages

which is what I would imagine were the slums.

My heart hurt going through these poor areas.

And I couldn't bring myself to take photos...

How dare I take pictures of their lives while I buy nothing 

- only selling fish -

and I get to go back to this amazing resort, have as much food as I'd like, 

enjoy a warm shower and have clean drinking water...

I know it's life, and I know they find happiness

in all they have but it was a humbling experience.

And I was thankful... incredibly thankful

for a chance to experience this and for the life I live.

 

India was an experience...

lovely, colourful, exciting and humbling all rolled into one.

xx

the mcgees

next stop... Unawatuna, South Sri Lanka

India || Varkala

We started our move south...

next stop - Varkala.

Hotels, homestays and hostels are all cliff-side

and overlook the Arabian Sea...

and it's a backpackers, hippie, yogi heaven.

We stayed in a perfect hotel, Blue Water,

made up of individual villas with amazing views

 and slightly away from the touristy part of the beach. 

Varkala has enough to do though still feels incredibly relaxing.

We walked along the cliffs, got hassled by shop owners

and enjoyed our first beer of the trip... 

Holiday finally felt official.
(Kerala will soon be a fully dry state!)

Ian surfed for the first time, and I relaxed on the beach... 

in a bathing suit!

We had to try a traditional Ayurvedic massage.

It was interesting... can't say 100% enjoyable, but an experience.

And that's what it' all about, right?!?

Varkala is touristy (sorta!), but we wouldn't consider it "touristy".

It's still fairly untouched.

While in Alleppey, we saw roughly five white people (seriously!)

and there were more in Varkala but still... 

it's nothing like other places we've visited.

Varkala is charming and full of traditional working fishing villages.

Each morning, boats and people were hauling in their catch.

Made for beautiful pictures,

and we felt life in this part of Kerala.

On our last morning, Varkala had one of the best swells in months.

And of course Ian was out there...

with only about 8 other people! 

One of the prettiest beaches I've seen.

Fishing boats, men working and young boys swimming.

Downside: poop.

human poop.

I didn't notice it along the water's edge until I was calling Ian out of the water.

Thank G.

I mean... I know it's life, and their life.

And honestly... where else would they go? 

No toilets. No running water.

still... it's sh*t... human sh*t.

To not deter you from Varkala (or Kerala) with my poop story, 

I'll leave you with some beautiful pictures.

 

And we will continue south to our last stop in India.

xx

the mcgees